Monthly Archives: January 2022

Back to the Basics of Service

Sunday Morning Sermons

Back to the Basics of Service

Pastor Don Carpenter

Back to the Basics / 2 Corinthians 9:6–8; Matthew 20:28

A first grade teacher asked her students, “What do you do to help at home?”

One little girl said, “I dry the dishes.”

One of the boys said, “I sweep the floor.”

Another one said, “I feed and water the dog.”

Every student in the class had something to contribute except for one boy sitting in the back. The teacher looked qt him asked, “What do you do to help out at home?”

He said, “I stay out of the way.”

That’s a problem in the church. Too many church members just stay out of the way. A Gallup poll discovered that only 10% of church members are active in any kind of personal ministry in their church. 50% said that they have no desire or interest in serving in any ministry.

(From a sermon by Michael Luke, The Demonstration Factor, 5/5/2011)

 It’s hard to believe this is our last week together in our Back to the Basics sermon series. So far we’ve covered prayer, scripture, confession, and today we’ll be talking about service. Or said another way, serving others.

Truth be told, we could probably do a “basics” series for another 3 months as there are so many good and profitable practices and rhythms that we as followers of Jesus can commit to. I pray our time together over the past few weeks will serve as a springboard to you and that you will spend future time exploring other topics like sabbath, giving, communion, and so many others.

One thing I know for sure, spending time with Jesus is profitable. As we’ve already discussed, prayer and scripture are things we should be committing ourselves to on a daily basis. And not because we need to check some ambiguous religious box off our righteous to-do list. But because that’s where Jesus is, that’s where we reconnect with our Savior and King. That’s where we get the fuel necessary to go and do good deeds in service to others.

And serving others, trading our time and treasure so that others may experience the love of Christ, this is the topic today… Kingdom minded service.

How many of you remember or even had one of those WWJD bracelets? And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, just hang in with me for a few minutes.

The phrase itself actually goes back hundreds of years and was even employed in sermons by the great preacher Charles Spurgeon. So, it’s not exactly a new idea, but going back to the bracelets for a moment… The bracelets began as a grassroots movement in the 1990’s out of a youth group in Holland, Michigan. The youth pastor was trying to figure out a simple way for her students to remember the phrase. Little did she know that the bracelets would become a worldwide phenomenon and spark an entire generation to consider, What Would Jesus Do?[1]

As I re-consider the phrase today, and how it pertains to serving others, I want to invite you all to turn with me to Matthew 20;

 • [1] WWJD information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_would_Jesus_do%3F

Matthew 20:28 KJV

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve others. Christ came to trade His life, His energy, His time, everything He had so that others like you and I could have life. And in our case, eternal life. As we follow Him and learn to live like Him, we are called to give our lives, like He did, so that others may experience life.

Serve Believers In The Assembly

Hebrews 10:24–25 KJV

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

 • When you go to church, follow Jesus’ example.

 • Do not go to church primarily to be ministered to.

 • Go to church primarily to minister.

Serve Strangers In The World

The Helpless

James 1:27 KJV

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The Outcast

Luke 10:25–37 KJV

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 

He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 

But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? 

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 

And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 

And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. 

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 

And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

The Enemy

Matthew 5:44 KJV

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Serve Generously Everywhere

2 Corinthians 9:6–8 KJV

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. 

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. 

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

Full disclosure on this passage: Paul is definitely talking about money. So I don’t want to mislead you and make this all about money. I think this principle applies to serving others too. I believe sowing and reaping are Godly principles that play out in many different areas of our lives. And I know for a fact, God loves a cheerful giver. I know He will give us all we need so that in every situation we can abound in every good work.

That’s the economy of the Kingdom, it’s bountiful. It’s plentiful. And even when you don’t feel like you are enough or have enough, God works through you as you offer yourself a living sacrifice into His service. (Romans 12:2)

So, What Would Jesus Do? He would, and He did, offer Himself for others. He gave himself, full stop, to the work the Father sent Him to. And we are called to follow His example.

Do you ever have this feeling you were made for more than a mediocre life you daydream escaping from? What if this feeling were real? What if it was something deep inside you, planted there by the divine creator of the cosmos?

Ephesians 2:10 KJV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

There you go, created in Christ to do good work. Work that God the Father prepared in advance. You are created for more than mediocrity. You are created for good works, divine works, kingdom works. And there is so much of the kingdom life to experience on the other side of serving others.

You have to, like the gospel of Luke says, “Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.” (Luke 9:62) You have to get into it and try. Start small, start with a donation, or a message. Start by donating some food to a local food bank. Start by serving in the kids ministry once a month. Just start somewhere. You were created for more.

Let me say it this way… I love how easy this is to remember. You weren’t saved by good works, you were saved to good works.

You were actually in fact, made for more than mediocrity.

Conclusion

We’ve covered a lot of ground in the past few weeks. And again, I hope and pray it’s a springboard for you. At the very least, I hope you will find regular time to pray and read the word every day or week. I pray you will feel confident and empowered in confessing your sins and praying with other believers. And finally, I hope you will find a meaningful place to serve others. And, I trust in serving others, you will experience in new ways, in fuller ways, the love of God made available through Christ and the fellowship of believers.

As Christ has loved, we are to love…

1 John 3:16 KJV

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

The life of faith is a marathon not a journey. You don’t have to do everything all at once, start small and build. Just make sure you start somewhere today.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:10 PM January 27, 2022.

Embrace Productive Rest

Wednesday Evening Sermons

Embrace Productive Rest

Pastor Don Carpenter

Redeeming Your Time / Mark 6:30–32; Mark 3:1–4

A Young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job. “That depends,” replied the foreman. “let’s see you fell this tree.” The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great ree. Impressed, the foreman said, “Start Monday.”

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by, and by Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.”

Startled the young man replied, “I though you paid on Friday.” “Normally we do,” answered the foreman, “but we’re letting you go today because you have fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you dropped from first place on Monday to last on Wednesday.”

“But I’m a hard worker,” the young man objected. “ I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!”

The foreman, sensing the boy’s integrity thought for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening you axe?”

The young man replied, “I’ve been working too hard to take the time.”

Sometimes we get so busy we forget to sharpen our axe – the result is that we lose the ability to work.

If you have been with us for the last three weeks, you have come a long way and hopefully feel more confident about redeeming your time. A quick recap for those who may have missed:

In Ephesians 5:15-17, God commands us to “redeem the time.” Why? So that we can do “the will of the Lord.” We’ve been looking at seven principles from the life of Jesus as an example of how we can redeem our time. Here’s a quick summary of where we’ve been so far:

? Principle #1: Start with the Word

? Principle #2: Let Your Yes Be Yes

? Principle #3: Dissent From the Kingdom of Noise

Principle #4: Prioritize Your Yeses

? Principle #5: Accept Your Unipresence

When thinking about time management and to-do lists, it is so easy to get overwhelmed. We have so much to do, so many things coming at us from all directions, so many responsibilities. It can seem like an impossible task.

Matthew 11:28–30 KJV

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Embrace Productive Rest 

– To redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer, we must embrace the God-designed rhythms of rest which are counterintuitively productive for our goals and our souls.

We live in a “hustle” culture. If you want to get more done, the world will often tell you to “work harder,” “burn the midnight oil,” or “sleep when you’re dead.” But the biblically-based, scientifically-verified truth is that rest is a counterintuitive key to being wildly productive. In order to do more, most of us need to do less and rest more.

So what are these God-designed rhythms? Where do we see Jesus implementing these examples of rest?

Daily Breaks

Mark 6:30–32 KJV

And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. 

And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 

And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

The disciples had been working hard, teaching and ministering to the people. While our culture would say, just teach one more sermon, reach one more person…Jesus recognized that what his disciples really needed and what was going to be best for everyone was rest.

Most of us treat our days as sprints—going as hard and fast as we can until we finally collapse in the afternoon. This is just not how God designed us to run. God created us to operate not as if we’re in a sprint or a marathon but a workout.

Okay, stick with me here, because I’m going to get a bit scientific.

Scientists have discovered that God has hardwired us to “pulse” every other hour in what are called ultradian cycles. Essentially, our brains move from higher to lower levels of alertness every ninety minutes. At the end of that ninety-minute cycle, our brain needs a break. Ultradian cycles are our body’s way of demanding we work for ninety minutes, rest for fifteen to thirty, and start all over again, repeating the cycle on a bi-hourly basis throughout the day.

This seems like a colossal waste of time, but I dare you to give it a try. I wouldn’t be surprised if these brief rests ironically help you get more and better work done.

Nightly Sleep

The second rhythm is sleep. Although we see Jesus getting up early to spend time with his Father, we also see him prioritizing sleep. In the passage about Jesus calming the storm, we often skip over the part where Jesus was sleeping: Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mark 4:38)

If you skip back up to the beginning of the chapter, you see that it had been a long day of teaching for Jesus. So when they got on the boat that evening, Jesus was getting his rest.

I know what many of you are thinking – how many hours of sleep do we need? It doesn’t say in scripture how many hours of sleep Jesus got, so we will leave this one to the scientists:

The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours of sleep per night for adults.

Okay, but what happens if I don’t get the recommended amount of sleep? Who really cares?

According to Matthew Walker, a renowned sleep expert, a failure to get adequate sleep is worse for your performance than “an equivalent absence of food or exercise” or showing up to work drunk. In addition, “routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer…[and] contributes to all major psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality.”[1]

Yikes. Now that I have your attention, here are some benefits to getting an adequate amount of sleep:

You can   concentrate better at work and at home. You perfect   skills you’ve learned throughout the day when you are asleep. According to   studies, more sleep = more potential income. Your   creative problem-solving skills are enhanced.

These are great benefits, and ones that you have probably experienced in your own life after a great night’s sleep. But ultimately, why does this matter?

Remember how we started our series—in Ephesians 5:15-17, God commands us to “redeem the time.” Why? So that we can do “the will of the Lord.” I hope you can see now that nightly sleep makes us more productive as we work on behalf of God’s agenda in the world.

D.A. Carson, the theologian and co-founder of The Gospel Coalition, once said that, “You are morally obligated to try to get the sleep you need. Sometimes the godliest thing you can do in the universe is get a good night’s sleep—not pray all night, but sleep.”

 • [1] Walker, Why We Sleep, 3.

Psalm 127:2 KJV

It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows: For so he giveth his beloved sleep.

Psalm 3:5 KJV

I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.

Psalm 4:8 KJV

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: For thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Jeremiah 31:26 KJV

Upon this I awaked, and beheld; And my sleep was sweet unto me.

Sabbath Principle

We’ve talked about taking breaks throughout your day and getting good sleep. And now we come to a rhythm that you have probably all heard of, but maybe don’t fully embrace or understand: Sabbath.

So many people view Sabbath as a boring, legalistic, life-sucking chore, and for somewhat good reasons. In Mark chapter 3, Jesus appears to agree that some had turned Sabbath into something other than the life-giving gift God had designed it to be. Check it out:

Mark 3:1–4 KJV

And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 

And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 

And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 

And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

Talk about life-sucking legalism—literally. Here the Pharisees were criticizing Jesus for doing something life-giving because it didn’t adhere to the letter of the law of Sabbath. But notice that Jesus didn’t say the law is irrelevant. He said the Pharisees were completely missing the point.

Mark 2:27 KJV

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

What did Jesus mean by that?

A quick history of Sabbath: The first Sabbath day was the seventh day of creation. Genesis 2:2-3 says, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done.”

It’s interesting to note that Sabbath is the first “holy” object in history. On the previous six days, God saw everything he had made and deemed it “good” or “very good.” But Sabbath was the first thing God called holy.

OK, so God rested, thus creating the first Sabbath day. But it’s not until Mount Sinai that God commands the Israelites to imitate his rhythm of working for six days and resting one.

Exodus 20:8–11 KJV

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

So Sabbath is about mimicking God’s rhythm of work and rest, taking a break to simply enjoy him and the good things he’s given us through our work. But it’s also about something else.

Consider the context of when The Ten Commandments were handed down to Moses. These commandments were given just weeks after Israel’s exodus from Egypt where they had been in slavery for more than 400 years. That’s more than four centuries worth of backbreaking work under the hands of ruthless slave masters screaming “Get back to your work!” (Exodus 5:4) and “Make the work harder.” (Exodus 5:9)

So yes, Sabbath is about stepping back and saying of our work and lives this is “very good,” but it is also about saying no to the tyranny of more. It’s about declaring our freedom from slavery. It’s an invitation to “stop,” which is the literal meaning of the Hebrew word shabbat. Stop working, stop striving, stop hustling. Just stop.

Sounds pretty life-giving in the midst of our modern day “hustle” culture, right?

OK, so God rests and commands the Israelites to do the same. Now is when we get into trouble. Over time, God’s people take the good gift of Sabbath and regulate it more than the federal government, adding more than 1,500 rules of what you could and could not do on God’s holy day.[1] With the addition of all these man-made rules and regulations, Sabbath, which God created to be life-giving, had become life-draining.

So that’s the historical backdrop of the exchange we read a few minutes ago between Jesus and the Pharisees. When Jesus said that Sabbath is “for man” he was reminding us that Sabbath is not about keeping hundreds of rules. It is about enjoying God and his good gifts and declaring that we are no longer slaves to sin, Egypt, employers, clients, marketers, email, smartphones, or the constant demands for more. We are free.

Don’t you see? Sabbath is a gift.

What could Sabbath look like for you? What would it look like for you to cease and feast on the Lord, his Word, and the good gifts he has given you and your family this week? I’d encourage you to spend some time really thinking that through.

Conclusion

Okay, so we see the impact these rhythms can have on our lives and productivity. Since these rhythms are God-designed, and we see Jesus following them in scripture, we should take notice of how they impact our souls as well:

Taking bi-hourly breaks throughout your workday is productive for your soul because it reminds you that God doesn’t need you to finish your to-do list.

Getting a full night’s sleep is productive for your soul because it reminds you that God is the only being who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4) and thus doesn’t need you or me to keep the world spinning.

Sabbath is productive for your soul because it reminds you that “all time belongs to God and stands under the renewing lordship of Jesus Christ.”[2]

And ultimately, all of these rhythms of rest are productive for your soul because they are a means of preaching the gospel to yourself and those around you. Rest is a way of reminding ourselves that no matter how productive we are, no matter how many “good works” we accomplish, we are God’s beloved children in whom he is well pleased.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:58 PM January 26, 2022.

What Are You Bragging About?

Sunday Evening Sermons

What Are You Bragging About?

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 1:26–31

THE NOBODIES OF THE CHURCH

Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States during the Clinton administration, was interviewed on “60 Minutes” on June 26, 1999. She seems to hold this ancient opinion of Christians. Here is how she defined a cultist:

“A domestic terrorist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible studies; who have a high level of financial giving to a Christian cause; who home schools their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strong belief in the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may qualify a person as a cultist but certainly more than one of these would cause us to look at this person as a threat and his family as being in a risk that qualifies for government interference.”

Let me put it another way, we are the last ones picked to be on the team on the school playground or we are still sitting on the sideline while everyone else has been picked to dance. Let me just take a chance, has anyone here received a personal call from one of the Presidential candidates inviting you to a fundraiser BBQ? Nobody here is on the A list?

When the world wants to make changes they go after the rich, the wise, and celebrities. The world goes after people with a following. But for all its wealth and intelligence and influence, the world doesn’t come near accomplishing the good that the nobodies of the church get done. This brings glory to God.

(From a sermon by Ed Sasnett, Nothing to Add, 6/2/2010)

The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the “Beautiful Mess” of the Church at Corinth. These Believers were truly saved and were growing as a functional local Body of Christ… but they had several problems that needed to be addresses. That was the purpose of Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthian believers.  

One of their biggest issues was the issue of division. They had split up by following different leadership styles within the church. Last week, we saw that Paul exposed the fact that God does not use man’s flashy wisdom, but instead uses the foolishness of preaching … and the preaching of the cross to save those who believe, therefore it was not the clever or winsome personalities that were getting the job done… so there was no reason to split over style.

Today we will see how Paul continues with this thought. There is no reason to divide over perceived skill or prowess, because God purposefully avoids using that to build the kingdom. So this begs the question, what are you bragging about? 

The Focus of God’s Call Silences our Bragging

1 Corinthians 1:26 KJV

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

33.312 ?????d; ??????a, ??? f; ????????????b: to urgently invite someone to accept responsibilities for a particular task, implying a new relationship to the one who does the calling—‘to call, to call to a task.’

?????d: ??? ? ??? ???????? ???? ??? ??? ?????????? ???? ‘(God) called you to this through the good news we preached to you

Invitation to experience of special privilege and responsibility, call, calling, invitation. In our lit. almost exclusively of divine initiative.

Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 549). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wise

32.33 ?????b, ?, ??: pertaining to understanding resulting in wisdom—‘prudent, wise, understanding

Mighty

87.43 ?? ???????: important persons, based upon their power or influence

Noble

87.27 ???????a, ??: pertaining to having high status, with the possible implication of special family relations contributing to such status—‘high status, important.’

John 6:44 KJV

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

The Purpose of God’s Choice Silences our Bragging.

1 Corinthians 1:27–29 KJV

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 

That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The Foolish to Confound the Wise

32.58 ?????b, ?, ??: (derivative of ????? ‘foolishness,’ 32.57) pertaining to thoughts devoid of understanding and therefore foolish—‘foolish, nonsensical, to be nonsense.

The Weak to Confound the Mighty

The Base Things to Destroy the Established Things.

87.59 ??????, ??; ??????, ??: pertaining to being obscure or insignificant, with the possible implication of lacking in noble descent—‘low, insignificant, inferior.’

??????: ?? ????? ??? ?????? … ????????? ? ???? ‘God chose … what was inferior in (the eyes of) the world’

So No One Steals the Glory God Deserves!

Jeremiah 9:23 KJV

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Neither let the mighty man glory in his might, Let not the rich man glory in his riches:

There is a World War II story that shows how the smallest deed can make all the difference. During the last months of the War, the British conducted daily bombing raids over Berlin. One night the bombers were attacked by a large group of German fighter planes. During the dogfight one of the Bomber Planes got separated from the protection of British Fighter Planes. They watched helplessly as a German Fighter Plane came within range. Bullets whizzed by over and over until five bullets slammed into the fuselage of the bomber near the gas tank. The crew braced for the explosion, but it never came. Fuel poured from the bullet holes, but there was no explosion. After landing, a mechanic handed the pilot 5 bullets he had pulled from the plane. The pilot carefully opened the shells. They were empty — except for a tiny wad of paper with a note that read: “We are Polish POWS forced to make bullets. When guards do not look, we do not fill with powder. Is not much, but is best we can do.” Five tiny bullets, made by a few weak and lowly prisoners … but for the Crew of that British Bomber it made all the difference. God often chooses insignificant people and events to bring about His great purposes.

From a sermon by Terry Blankenship, The Insignificant Church, 10/14/2009

The Outcome of God’s Grace Changes The Focus of Our Bragging.

1 Corinthians 1:30–31 KJV

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Ephesians 2:10 KJV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Wisdom

Ephesians 1:17 KJV

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Romans 8:33 KJV

Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.

Sanctification

John 17:17–19 KJV

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

Redemption

Titus 2:14 KJV

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Therefore If You Have Been Made Into Anything, Brag on God!

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:36 PM January 21, 2022.

The Preaching of the Cross

Sunday Evening Sermons

The Preaching of the Cross

Pastor Don Carpenter

A Beautiful Mess / 1 Corinthians 1:18–25

 Preaching has been described this way: “A mild-mannered man standing up before mild-mannered people and exhorting them to be more mild mannered.”

The true function of preaching is to disturb the comfortable and to comfort the disturbed.

As we continue our study of the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the Beautiful Mess that was the Church at Corinth, land on the subject of the apparent foolishness of preaching. It is tempting, especially to a pragmatic, outreach oriented church like the one at Corinth, to look at how the world receives old fashioned preaching and believe that perhaps we need to come up with a different way to reach people.

Tonight we are going to discover some powerful and in some cases, even liberating truths about what really is going on with the preaching of the Cross.

The Message of the Cross is Divisive.

1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Paul makes it very clear that his method was not in the wisdom of the words of the world, not in the method of dialectics of divisions or differences or opinions or theories, but he just presented the cross of Christ. That brought about a unity of those who were saved. To those who perish, the Cross of Christ is foolishness; but to the saved man it becomes the power of God. The Cross of Christ divides the world, but it does not divide the church.1

1 McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Epistles (1 Corinthians) (electronic ed., Vol. 44, p. 27). Thomas Nelson.

Galatians 3:13 KJV

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Galatians 1:4 KJV

Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

The Message of the Cross Is Foolishness to Unbelievers.

 1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV)

 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness…

 Both to cultured Greeks and to pious Jews, the story that Christianity had to tell sounded like the sheerest folly. Paul begins by making free use of two quotations from Isaiah (29:14, 33:18) to show how mere human wisdom is bound to fail. He cites the undeniable fact that, for all its wisdom, the world had never found God and was still blindly and gropingly seeking him. That very search was designed by God to show men and women their own helplessness and so to prepare the way for the acceptance of the one who is the one true way.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 21). Westminster John Knox Press.

 Roman society was built around power and status; power was concentrated in the male head of the household, in wealthy and aristocratic families, and so forth. Associating power with a crucified man—the epitome of weakness—thus made no more sense to ancients than it does to modern people outside Christ.1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 1:18). InterVarsity Press.

Because the “Wisdom of the Wise” will be destroyed.

1 Corinthians 1:19–20 KJV

For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1 Corinthians 2:6 KJV

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

1 Corinthians 1:17 KJV

For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Isaiah 29:14 KJV

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, Even a marvellous work and a wonder: For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Here Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14 to show that the wisdom of those living by human tradition (Is 29:13–14) instead of by God’s revelation (Is 29:9–12) would perish; cf. similarly Jeremiah 8:9.1

1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 1:19). InterVarsity Press.

Proverbs 14:12 KJV

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death.

Because Worldly Wisdom Cannot Bring Someone to God.

1 Corinthians 1:21–23 KJV

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

Matthew 5:20 KJV

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jews require a sign and are stumbled.

 To them, it was incredible that someone who had ended life upon a cross could possibly be God’s chosen one. They pointed to their own law which unmistakably said: ‘Anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse’ (Deuteronomy 21:23). To a Jew, the fact of the cruci?xion, so far from proving that Jesus was the Son of God, disproved it ?nally.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 21). Westminster John Knox Press.

Greeks seek “wisdom” and only see foolishness.

 In Greek thought, the ?rst characteristic of God was apatheia. That word means more than apathy; it means total inability to feel. The Greeks argued that, if God can feel joy or sorrow or anger or grief, it means that some human being has for that moment in?uenced God and is therefore greater than God. So, they went on to argue, it follows that God must be incapable of all feeling, so that none may ever affect him. A God who suffered was to the Greeks a contradiction in terms.1

1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 22). Westminster John Knox Press.

The Preaching of the Cross is How God Saves Believers.

God Used This Foolish Method.

1 Corinthians 1:21 KJV

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

Romans 10:13–17 KJV

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 

And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Because God’s “Weakness” is Better Than Man’s Strength.

1 Corinthians 1:23–25 KJV

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. 

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 2:5 KJV

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

In the spring of 2002, Denise Banderman left work early so she could have some uninterrupted study time before her final exam in the Youth Ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri. When she got to class, everybody was doing their last-minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with them before the test. Most of his review came right from the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that Denise had never heard. When questioned about it, he said they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn’t argue with that. Finally it was time to take the test. “Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one, and I’ll tell you to start,” the professor, Dr. Tom Hufty, instructed Denise writes, “When we turned them over, to my astonishment every answer on the test was filled in. My name was even written on the exam in red ink. The bottom of the last page said: “This is the end of the exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced…grace.” Dr. Hufty then went around the room and asked each student individually, “What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?” Then he said, “Some things you learn from lectures, some things you learn from research, but some things you can only learn from experience. You’ve just experienced grace. One hundred years from now, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your name will be written down in a book, and you will have had nothing to do with writing it there. That will be the ultimate grace experience.”

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:48 PM January 15, 2022.

Back to the Basics of Scripture

Sunday Morning Sermons

Back to the Basics of Scripture

Pastor Don Carpenter

Back to the Basics / 2 Timothy 3:16–17

During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand.

When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, “Thank you.”

But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, “If I may ask, what was in that package after all?”

She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, “Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds.”

Like the contents in this package, the resources for growth and strength are available for every Christian who will take advantage of them.

___

Today we’re going to continue our 4-week series called, Back to the Basics. It’s a series about the basics…the foundations of our faith. And, if you were with us last week you’ll recall that we began with the practice of consistent and bold prayer.

Our journey continues today with the very word of God, the holy scripture. It may seem like such an obviously important part of Christian faith and yet for some reason, the Bible is all too often overlooked or ignored in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives.

The simple truth is that the Bible is anything but unimportant. As we’ll learn today …The word of God is living, active, and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training. And that’s just scratching the surface! The Bible is full of wisdom and surprises.

For instance, the Bible actually consists of 66 smaller books, divided into 2 major sections; the Old and New Testament. Another way to think about it is that the Old Testament is everything that happened before Jesus and the New Testament covers about 70 years of time including the birth and ministry of Jesus along with the beginning of the early church. For our study today, we’ll primarily be in the New Testament, learning from Jesus and some of the original apostles.

Another interesting fact about the Bible is that it is the all-time best selling book in the history of the world and has been translated into 704 different languages. (As of Sept. 2020) And there are entire ministries, like Wycliffe Bible Translators, whose aim is to translate the Bible into every language on earth.

I think we would all agree that it’s important for everyone on earth to have access to the Bible. As I mentioned before, it is living, active, and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.

Basically, the Bible is amazing. What an incredible gift God has given us. Let’s see what we can learn about the word, from the word.

The Word Is Alive

Hebrews 4:12 KJV

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Have you ever read the Bible and something just JUMPS out at you? As if the Bible knew what you needed at that moment? Or have you ever just randomly opened to a passage that spoke so clearly into your life, it seemed uncanny.

If you’ve felt either of those things before, then you’re right. And actually the writer of Hebrews describes the words of scripture as both quick /alive and powerful /active.

To be alive in this sense means to be counted among the living, not the dead. The point being here that the writer of Hebrews very much counts the words of scripture among the living just as other human beings, animals, etc… would be. The word active also means effective and productive in it’s work.

For those of us in the room who’ve been reading the Bible for some time, I think we can all agree that the Bible is both living and effective. And to drive the point home, the author of Hebrews says the word is more effective than a double edged sword at dividing (cutting through) soul and spirit.

The word is powerful and able to get down to the heart of the matter.

So again, if you’ve ever read the Bible and it seemed to be “speaking” directly into your situation then I think it’s fair to say that it probably was. And as we grow in our faith it’s important to continue returning to scripture again and again. Submitting ourselves to the word of God and allowing the Spirit to work in and through our lives.

I know that may sound hokey or too overly spiritual but I will tell you this… try it. Try giving yourself a consistent time every day in Bible study and see for yourself just how powerful and “profitable” the word is.

The Word is Profitable

2 Timothy 3:16–17 KJV

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

For Salvation

2 Timothy 3:15 KJV

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 1:23 KJV

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Romans 10:17 KJV

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

For doctrine= that which is taught

1 Timothy 4:6 KJV

If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

For reproof= censure, conviction

Proverbs 6:23 KJV

For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

John 3:20 KJV

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

For correction= restoration to an upright state

Daniel 12:3 KJV

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Galatians 6:1 KJV

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

For instruction in a righteous life style

Psalm 119:9–11 KJV

BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. 

With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee.

2 Timothy 3:17 KJV

That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

And here we are again, back at the feet of Jesus. Where it all begins and ends for those who follow Him. Which brings us to our most important point of the day, that the word is where you encounter Jesus because Jesus is the word.

The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1–3 KJV

IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

The same was in the beginning with God. 

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:14 KJV

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus is the word and the word is Jesus.

Is this why scripture is living and active? Is this why sometimes I feel that while I’m reading the Bible that the Bible is actually reading me? Is Jesus IN every Bible?

I actually don’t know if I can answer all those questions. I do know God’s ways are different from our ways. And I also know Jesus says some other, very interesting things in the gospels that may be of interest…

Throughout John 6, Jesus refers to himself as living bread or the bread of life. When Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness He says, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4) Jesus knew that He didn’t need another loaf of freshly baked French bread from the local bakery. What He needed, and what we need, is the very word of God, the living bread, the bread of life.

There is other “bread” out there that may satisfy your earthly hunger, but there is nothing else that will cure your spiritual starvation.

Only Jesus can do that.

The Word made flesh.

The bread of life.

Scripture.

I believe it to be of utmost importance in the life of a believer to be in the Bible every single day. There’s nothing like it, no other book has ever been written and I can guarantee that there is not another book in existence that we would say is alive and active.

And yet, I understand too that life gets complicated and almost before you know it your Bible reading plan is a bust. Or that devotional you bought to help give you some structure is nothing more than a permanent fixture on your mantle.

So today, instead of another bullet point plan or a bunch of hooting and hollering I’m just going to leave you with a few more words from Jesus.

 Many of you will be familiar, as this verse is from the Lord’s prayer where Jesus simply says, “And give us Lord our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)

What if Jesus wasn’t just talking about french loaves and baguettes. What if He was talking about the bread of life? What if He was instructing the disciples to pray for Him? And what if God gave us daily access to Christ through scripture?

Wouldn’t that be an amazing way for God the Father to provide for all His kids?

So give it a try this week, and expect that you will find the Bible to be alive, active, useful, effective, and powerful.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 1:21 PM January 13, 2022.

Back to the Basics of Prayer

Sunday Morning Sermons

Prayer

Pastor Don Carpenter

Back to the Basics / Mark 1:35; Ephesians 1:18

Pastor Rick Crandall tells this story:

*The scariest airplane flight I have ever been on was in 1982. I worked for the Air Force back then and was going to Korea for a contract negation with Korean Airlines.

*When we were way out over the Pacific Ocean, we hit some bad weather. And I mean it was very bad. I looked out the window, and I’m not kidding, the wings of that big 747 were flapping like a bird!

*It was so rough that one of the flight attendants couldn’t make it back to her seat. She sat on the floor in the aisle about 15 feet in front of me. And let me tell you, she was terrified.

*My rule of thumb on an airplane is this: If the flight attendant is happy, you are fine. But if your flight attendant is scared, you’ve got a problem!

*Before we hit that storm, you could hear people chattering all over that plane. But when we were in the storm, that plane got so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. Nobody was talking, but I guarantee you most of us were praying.

*You didn’t have to ask the people on that plane to pray. We had a great reason to pray! Today we will discover that prayer should not be a last resort, but one of the foundational practices of a born again Christian.

____

Today we’re beginning a new 4-week series called, Back to the Basics. And as you may have guessed, it’s a series about the basics…the foundations of our faith. Over the next 4 weeks we’ll cover PRAYER, SCRIPTURE, CONFESSION, and SERVICE.

It’s going to be an awesome journey together as we head back to the feet of Jesus. Back to where the “Church” originally began. Listening and learning as disciples with Jesus leading the way…

Heb 12.2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

Speaking of Jesus, have you ever wondered how He was able to accomplish all He did in such a short period of time? What was His secret to ministry?

For those who may not know, Jesus is the only begotten son of God the Father. And God sent Jesus into the world so that He might save the world through Him (John 3:16-17). We know Jesus did in fact accomplish what He was destined to do when He was crucified on the cross and raised again to life after three days. But the question remains, how? How was He able to accomplish it all?

Jesus had the benefit of being the divine Son of God, so there’s that. But there’s another part of Jesus’ life here on earth that cannot be understated. And that’s His prayer life. Jesus was always in conversation and communion with the Father. And from what we know from the gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John it appears that Jesus kept a regular rhythm of prayer throughout His life.

And if prayer was a foundational part of Jesus’ life, the only Son of God, then it needs to be a foundational part of our lives as well.

“To believe that God can reach us and bless us in the ordinary junctures of daily life is the stuff of prayer… But when we pray, genuinely pray, the real condition of our heart is revealed. This is as it should be. This is when God truly begins to work with us. The adventure is just beginning.[1]” – Richard Foster

Richard Foster. “Prayer: Finding the heart’s true home.” Harper Collins, San Francisco. P. 11

I love this quote from Foster because he’s absolutely right when he refers to prayer as an adventure. It’s an adventure in faith, vulnerability, hope, sadness, grief, and all the other stuff that life throws at us. It’s holy ground. In fact, there’s much more to prayer than I could ever cover in a week, so today we’re going to take a closer look at just a few of the ways the Bible describes prayer.

The first thing that comes to mind is something that we see in the life of Christ; that He was constantly in communion and prayer with the Father.

Constant Prayer

Constant prayer is a daunting task. I know there are some of you in the room who’ve already tuned me out because you believe I’m going to ask you to do something impossible. But, I don’t believe God would invite us to do something that we could never do… And even if He did, I trust that He sent the Holy Spirit to help us…Which is something we’ll talk more about later

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 KJV

Rejoice evermore. 

Pray without ceasing. 

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

In this passage, Paul talks about several things we should be doing, all the time. Always rejoicing, always praying, always giving thanks… and he goes on to say that this is, “the very will of God in Christ Jesus” for our lives. And here’s the important part… There aren’t many places in the Bible where we are told so explicitly and clearly what the very will of God is for us. In fact, there are many people – maybe even in this room right now – who spend huge chunks of their lives trying to figure out what the will of God is.

Well here it is in 1 Thessalonians. Plain and simple….right?

Of course, the obvious problem is that it’s not so simple. It’s not easy, in the midst of a billion distractions and temptations to remain steadfast in prayer and thanksgiving. And yet, that’s God’s desire for us; It’s a life of constancy with Him.

It’s amazing to think the creator of the universe wants a consistent relationship with us. He wants us to pray, incessantly. Communicating with Him all the time, in every circumstance. So here’s an idea for all of us. Instead of seeing this as an impossible burden, try to think about the blessing of a heavenly Father who wants all of you – all your life – all your thoughts – all of it.

Try talking to him about the simple stuff, the ordinary stuff. It doesn’t always have to be crisis level prayer or desperate prayer. Try thinking of your prayer life as an ever-open line of communication. A phone call that never comes to an end with someone on the other end who never tires of hearing from you.

Sometimes teenagers get into my car as Uber passengers with their phone on speaker. They have their BFF on an open line. They may be chatting actively, or just keeping the line open for communication should the whim hit them. To pray without ceasing is to have God on speakerphone.

Let the Father’s love and desire for you embolden you in your prayers to Him.

Bold Prayer

Bold prayer takes practice. It’s admittedly difficult to reconcile the fact that we must have reverence and awe for God and at the same time be bold in our prayer life. That’s why I love the way the writer of Hebrews frames the concept for us;

Hebrews 4:15–16 KJV

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

We can be bold as we approach the throne of God because of what Christ has already done. Christ was both fully God and fully human and he was tempted just as we are tempted. So when you offer your prayers to God you can trust that He understands and empathizes with your situation.

1 John 5:14 KJV

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

I love the idea of having freedom when we come to God in prayer. People who understand they are free have an easier time being bold. And because Christ has set us free, because He is a great high priest, and because He fully understands what it means to be human… We can boldly bring ALL our prayers to Him.

Intercessory Prayer

Ezekiel 22:29–31 KJV

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 

Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Ephesians 6:18 KJV

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Matthew 5:44 KJV

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

It’s easy to love and to pray for those whom we love and care for. It’s difficult to pray for those who’ve harmed us or wronged us. Those whom we have offense against. And yet those are the people who Jesus says we should be praying for. Those are the people who need our prayers.

Conclusion:

As mentioned earlier, prayer was an integral part of Jesus’ life and ministry. No matter what else was going on, He always made time for prayer. He always sought fellowship with the Father.

Mark 1:35 KJV

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

Jesus made space for prayer.

And as we seek to learn from Him, we acknowledge the power of prayer in the life of Christ. As we follow Him, we too must be people of prayer. It’s a fundamental piece of life in Christ.

Constant prayer.

Bold prayer.

Intercessory prayer

These are our challenges for the week. Or said another way;

? What time, every day this coming week, can you stop and pray?

? What big thing, concerning thing, or hard thing do you need to be bold in prayer over this coming week?

? Set up a prayer journal.

? Who do you need to stand in the gap for this week?

 • Who are the Saints that you will pray for this week?

 • What enemy needs your prayer this week?

Make space for it, just like Jesus did. This is how we get back to the basics… we pray.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:52 AM January 6, 2022.

Time and Productivity By The Book

Wednesday Evening Sermons

Time and Productivity By The Book

Pastor Don Carpenter

Redeeming Your Time / Ephesians 5:15–17

(Based on Raynor, Jordan. Redeeming Your Time (p. xix). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)

Today, we begin a 5-week series called Redeeming Your Time. What does this term— “redeeming your time” —even mean? Does God really care how we spend our time today?

Let’s look at scripture to find out. The term “redeeming your time” comes from the book of Ephesians. After expounding upon the gospel of grace in Ephesians chapters 1-4, the apostle Paul reminds us of our status as “dearly loved children” of God in Ephesians 5:1. What is our response to our adoption as sons and daughters of God? Paul answers this question a few verses later saying:

Ephesians 5:15–17 KJV

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 

Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

Paul is saying, part of our response to the gospel is to redeem our time—to manage our time as carefully and wisely as possible. The Greek word exagorazó which we translate to mean “redeeming” here literally means to “buy up” or “ransom.” If you’ve ever said, “I wish I could buy more time,” that’s the idea here. As Christians, we are called to “buy up” as much time as we can.

Why? Not so that we will have more time to spend on selfish pursuits. We are called to redeem our time because “the days are evil” and we are running out of time to do the “will of the Lord.”

So how do we redeem our time?

Over the next five weeks, we are going to look at how the author of time managed his time when he came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. As you read the gospels, you can’t help but realize Jesus was the most productive person who ever lived. We’re going to look at his life and how he managed his time (very counter culturally) and see how we can apply those principles to our own lives in the 21st century.

 “I’m swamped.” I’ve said it, you’ve said it—we’ve all said it at one point or another. Maybe you’re in a season of feeling swamped right now. You roll out of bed each morning exhausted from not getting enough sleep. You pull open your phone to find a dozen text messages, from the ridiculous (another GIF of a dancing dog) to the exhausting (“Can you bring Chloe home from church tonight?”). If you manage to squeeze in a few minutes of “quiet time,” you’re quickly interrupted by your calendar notifying you of today’s meeting that you didn’t have enough time to fully prepare for. At work, the struggle continues. Your to-do list seems to be getting longer, not shorter. Your day is filled with back-to-back meetings, with no time to think in between. When you are finally able to carve out some time to focus on some “real work,” that familiar ambient anxiety creeps in, leading you to question if the project you’re working on is the “right thing” for you to be focused on at that moment. After work, you rush back home to have dinner with your family or friends. Sitting across from the people you care about the most, you’re there but not really there, as your brain is trying to do the thinking you didn’t have time to do during the day. After dinner, it’s the mad rush of all rushes: clean up, help the kids with their homework, and pray that everyone finds time for a bath. After streaming your favorite show, studying for an exam, or cramming in a few minutes of reading, you check email one last time and go to bed, only to wake up and do it all over again the next day.

 Sound familiar? Of course, this is an extreme picture of what it looks like to be swamped, but I’m afraid it’s closer to reality than most of us care to admit. Increasingly, it feels like time happens to us—like we’re running a race that’s impossible to win. We feel beholden to our calendars, watches, and to-do lists rather than having dominion over these tools that promised to make our lives easier and more productive. We have too much to do and not nearly enough time to do it. In short, we’re swamped.

Luke 8:22–23 KJV

Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. 

But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.

 This passage perfectly illustrates the core premise of this book—namely, that the solution to the disciples’ being swamped by the wind and waves is the exact same solution to our being swamped by our to-do lists and hurried schedules. The solution to our perennial struggle with time management is found in Jesus Christ. 

 First, Jesus offers you peace before you do anything. Nearly every time-management expert says that the path to peace and productivity is found in implementing his or her system. This is what we might call “works-based productivity,” which claims that if you do exercises X, Y, and Z, then you will find peace. This book begins with the opposite premise, in what we might call “grace-based productivity,” which says that through Jesus Christ, we already have peace, and we do time-management exercises X, Y, and Z as a response of worship.

Raynor, Jordan. Redeeming Your Time (p. xix). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

Time management tactics will never be your most foundational source of peace. As Christians, our ultimate source of peace—our ultimate solution to being swamped—is found in the God-man sleeping through the storm. As the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:14: “[Jesus] himself is our peace.”

So now that we have established that our place in God’s family is secure, we still want to be better stewards of our time, right? So what does scripture have to say about time and our role in it?

Today, we’re going to touch on five answers to that question.

Our Longing For Timelessness is Good and God Given.

Genesis 2:15 KJV

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

The Hebrew word for “dress” here is the word avodah which is also translated to mean “worship” in our Bibles. Work existed pre-sin. Work was good. Work was more than good. Work was worship.

I know some Christians believe that this longing for timelessness is rooted in pride. But the more I study scripture, the more I’m convinced that this desire to live and be productive forever was designed by God himself. Ecclesiastes 3:11 makes this crystal clear saying that God has “set the world in their heart.”

Something in our God-designed DNA tells us we were made for something more. To be human is to work with time that our minds tell us is finite, but that our souls assure us shouldn’t be finite. So why is time finite? This leads me to the next truth:

Sin Has Ensured We Will Die With Unfinished Symphonies

Genesis 3:17–19 KJV

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

1 Corinthians 15:21 KJV

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

Human beings, who were created to be immortal, became mortal. Work, which was created to be good, became difficult. Time, which was created to be infinite, became finite. In short, sin has ensured that nobody will ever finish the work they envision completing in their lifetime.

Karl Rahner, said it this way: “In the torment of the insufficiency of everything attainable, we learn that ultimately in this world there is no finished symphony.”

Whew, that’s depressing. But it’s true, isn’t it? We will all die with unfinished symphonies. Our to-do lists will never be completed. There will always be a gap between what we can imagine accomplishing in this life and what we can actually get done.

Thank goodness sin didn’t get the final say. Moving on to Truth #3:

God Will Finish The Work We Leave Unfinished.

OK, let’s recap: God created us to live forever, but sin has broken creation and made us mortal, time-bound, and finite.

Where’s the hope? Our hope is found in Jesus Christ. He walked out of the tomb that first Easter morning with a redeemed body that could not be destroyed again. The resurrection was Jesus’s way of declaring that our longing for immortality has been right all along and that through him, we too can experience eternal life.

But Easter wasn’t just the beginning of eternal life. Easter marked the inauguration of God’s eternal kingdom.

How does this tie into time management and “redeeming our time”?

To simplify the Christian story: God created us to live and work with him in a perfect garden. Sin messed everything up, but God promised to send a King to set everything right. With his defeat of death on Easter, Jesus proved emphatically that He is that promised King. And everything from that moment to the end of Revelation is about the building of God’s kingdom until Jesus returns to finish what he inaugurated at the resurrection and make “all things new”(Revelation 21:5).

What does this mean for us in the present?

1 Corinthians 15:58 KJV

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

1 Corinthians 3:9 KJV

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Did you catch that? We are God’s co-workers. In Genesis, God created a lot in six days, but what’s equally remarkable is what He did not create. The first few days of creation was God setting up a canvas. The sixth day is when He passed the baton of creation to us—His image-bearers—and called us to fill that canvas (literally, to “fill the earth”) with things that point to his glory.

The same thing happened on Easter morning. Jesus inaugurated His kingdom with His resurrection, but He left the work of building for the kingdom to us until He returns to finish the work once and for all. As New Testament scholar N.T. Wright says, “God always wanted to work in His world through loyal human beings.”

But because God alone will finish that work and ultimately bring heaven to earth, we can embrace this freeing truth today: God doesn’t need you or me to finish our to-do lists. If the things on our to-do lists are on God’s to-do list, he will complete them with or without us.

Ultimately, there’s no such thing as an unfinished symphony if God desires for that symphony to be a part of his eternal world. Whatever work God wants finished, He will finish, which leads to another liberating and hopeful truth: You and I have all the time we need. This is why Truth #4 is so powerful:

The Gospel is Our Source of Rest and Ambition.

As we’ve seen, God doesn’t need us to be productive; but if we’re honest, we often need ourselves to be productive in order to feel a sense of self-worth.

Because we did nothing to earn God’s grace, there is nothing we can do to lose it. No matter how productive you are in this life, your status as an adopted child of God will never ever change.

Ironically, it’s that truth that leads us to be wildly productive. Why? Because working to earn someone’s favor is exhausting. But working in response to unconditional favor is intoxicating.

So what is God’s agenda? How can we “work for his Kingdom” and “redeem our time”? Let’s look again at Scripture.

Ephesians 2:10 KJV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Matthew 5:16 KJV

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The phrase “good works” has often been misinterpreted. We can think it only refers to charity or ministry work. But when we look at the Greek word used, ergon, we see it is translated to mean “work, task, [and] employment.”

Remember, work was a part of God’s perfect world prior to the Fall, and Jesus reaffirmed the goodness of what many would deem “secular work” by spending roughly eighty percent of His adult life working as a carpenter. As long as your work is not contrary to God’s Word, it can be considered “good work!”

So as we go about our lives and work advancing God’s kingdom, where can we look for practical wisdom as to how to redeem our time? That question leads us to Truth #5:

We Can Know How God Would Manage His Time.

When the author of time “became flesh” (John 1:14), He became fully human, meaning that He experienced the same day-to-day challenges other mortals faced. He had a business to run, a mother and father to care for, hunger to manage, and the need for sleep. Oh yeah, and He faced the same twenty-four-hour time constraint as every other human being. As a human being, Jesus was challenged to steward his limited time on earth much like we are today.

We see this illustrated throughout the gospels:

John 9:4 KJV

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

John 17:4 KJV

I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

But how could 1st century Jerusalem compare to what we deal with today? Jesus didn’t have email or a smartphone. He didn’t have the distractions that we have now. Surely it was easier to manage his time, right?

But we see it time and time again – Jesus was constantly interrupted. He was constantly having to make choices about his priorities and say no to people.

Hebrews 4:15 KJV

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

In the person of Jesus, the word became flesh, ensuring he could empathize with all of our weaknesses, including our efforts to redeem our time.

Throughout the rest of this series, we are going to walk through seven principles the gospels show us for HOW Jesus redeemed his time. Today, I’ll leave you with the first and, I believe, most imperative step to redeeming our time – start with the word. To redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer, we must first know the author of time, His purposes for the world, and what He has called us to do with the time He has given us.

Jesus frequently broke away from the crowds and His disciples to spend time alone with His Father. For us, this can look like:

? Reading scripture daily

? Meditating on what you read

? Praying throughout your day

It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to take 3 hours. Just carve out time, dig into scripture, and see what God has to say about our time and how we should spend it. Don’t take my word for it. Hear it from the source.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 7:24 PM January 4, 2022.