The Discipline of Watching

my wife, obviously my wife.

Before I got married, I bought a house at Hornsby Heights.

It's a little weatherboard house near the Birara Valley National Park.

And if you look at the next slide,

the house was lined with about 10 to 15 meter tall trees.

It's a bit of a nightmare, actually.

It's all along the back fence and along the side fence up to the main road.

As you can see, they've turned it way too close together.

And you can see some of them, they don't even have leave from them properly.

They're full of dead branches.

So imagine if there was a bushfire at the nature reserve

and the embers blew from the National Park to this wall of trees.

What would happen?

The mess of dry wood would just act as fuel for the fire.

It would burn all the way along the back fence up the driveway and to my house.

There would be a disaster waiting to happen.

So I took up the following public service announcement

to combat the threat of bushfire.

Be alert, but not alarmed.

So this catchphrase has been used in many public service relation campaigns,

maybe from counterterrorism to bushfire safety.

So in order to apply this campaign properly,

I needed to prepare my house.

So with the council's permission, I cut down on those trees

and to help to combat the threat of bushfire.

So let's think about the consequence of not heeding that advice of be alert, not alarmed.

So if I'm not alert, obviously I won't be alarmed.

So I wouldn't have prepared my house for the threat of bushfire.

There would have been a serious stretch of the house burning down.

But however, if I lived in a constant state of being alarmed,

I would have a nervous breakdown or be constantly anxious.

The Bible was full of warnings of dangers around us.

There's a devil.

We are told to watch out for temptation around us

and be on guard against being deceived by sin.

Are we alert and not anxious when it comes to watching out for attacks?

Do we even know what to do when an attack happens?

Today's topic is the discipline of watching.

I want to look at how we can appropriately be alert and not be alarmed

when we watch against sin and the devil.

And also in light of the topic, the discipline of grace,

how do we use the means of grace provided by God to combat those two things?

So I'll focus mainly on two passages.

If it helps you fold your outline in half, but you can't fold your app,

that's okay, you can take notes in there.

You can write the note from Hebrews on one side and 1 Peter on the other side.

So let us pray to get God's help so we can understand this topic.

Dear God, we know that we are so easily deceived by sin and the devil.

Pray that you can help us to know your means of being equipped to combat that.

We thank you that we can do so through your word.

Pray that I will speak clearly and that we will listen to you

so that we will be attentive to change for your sake.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

So what sort of threats from sin and the devil should we watch out for?

The first attack from sin is that sin is deceptive.

We'll read again from Hebrews chapter 3, verses 12 to 13.

Hebrews 3:12–13

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you have a sinful, unbelieving heart

that turns away from the living God.

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today,

so none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

So what does it mean for sin to be deceptive?

So I'll illustrate that with my health or the lack thereof.

Around the start of the year, I twisted my back.

So for those who were around, it was like around Lunar New Year.

I was walking sort of really lopsided.

I went to the doctor.

He prescribed a set of back exercises for me to do

and told me to go back to check up once in a while.

Now, being a classic male,

I'm too stubborn and lazy and busy to go to do those exercises.

I wanted a quick fix.

I said, I'll just put a bit of photobium on it.

It should be fine.

I said, it's not that bad.

I'll just stretch it out.

It should be okay.

Likewise, spiritually,

sometimes we think that we are strong enough

and healthy enough to deal with sin.

And it's deceived when we are entangled by sin.

I'll give you a few examples.

Sometimes we discount the seriousness of sin.

Some might think lying isn't a big deal.

That's why it's called a white lie, right?

It's not that serious.

Sometimes we compare ourselves with other people around the world

instead of what is in the Bible.

For example, it doesn't matter if we stream live sports from certain websites.

Everyone else is doing it.

It's not stealing.

It's okay.

And at times, we justify our sin in periods of stress.

We call anger.

We're just blowing off some steam.

And greed and materialism, a bit of retail therapy.

Another more subtle way that sin deceives us is that

if we are caught in a pattern of sin,

we despair and think that God can't possibly help us or love us

because we sin repeatedly.

And when someone asks us how we are going,

no matter which way we are deceived,

we pretend everything is fine, everything is okay.

So these are just some of the many ways that sin deceives us.

So in the same passage, we'll go back to that,

the writer warns us about the long-term effect of being deceived by sin

as hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

So what does it mean to be hardened?

That's actually a pretty important point to clarify.

As Christians, we are often deceived by sin.

So what's the difference between being deceived once in a while

and being hardened in the heart?

So I'll use the doctor analogy a bit further.

So let's say if the doctor is giving me advice for checkups,

I have to go back to him.

If it became too annoying, I treated it as nagging,

I found him too annoying,

I would start ignoring his advice.

But let's imagine the following.

If I think the doctor is basically a scammer

trying to get me to repeat my visit,

to rip off Medicare,

then I would doubt his character.

I wouldn't go back to him.

I would just stop seeing him altogether.

In a similar way,

these are the ways that we are hardened against God.

Sometimes we think of the promises and commands of the Bible,

sometimes even the Gospel.

It's repetitive.

And we become a bit blasé about listening to God's Word.

In a more serious form,

sometimes we believe that sin is more attractive

than the promises of God.

And we doubt the intentions and the character of God.

So let's look at the second attack from the devil.

We'll go to 1 Peter 5, verse 8.

1 Peter 5:8

Now the devil prowls like a roaring lion,

looking for someone to devour.

So what this means is that

the devil is actively looking for ways

to snatch us away from God.

So usually there are two ways

that we are sort of oblivious to the attack of the devil.

So the more usual way is that

we don't think that the devil exists,

or if he does,

he doesn't really do much these days.

The reason is that for most of us,

we believe the world is purely material.

We don't encounter animism or evil spirits.

So what we think often is that

sin is truly something that we can control by our will.

That is, we think that the only factor

that affects whether I sin

is whether I'm using my own willpower to stop it.

On the flip side,

some people give the devil too much power.

As if God and the devil

is in a daily cosmic arm wrestle.

And is in constant fear of demonic powers

influencing their everyday life.

So you can actually see that

in sort of animism and shamanism

in many parts of the world, like Africa.

So how are we to defend

the attacks from sin and the devil?

So God has given us

quite a few means to be prepared.

So I'm glad that these are left up there.

So the first way is God's word.

God's word.

In Hebrews 4, 11 to 13,

we can see that God's word

is the very means he has used

to battle against the threat of sin.

So notice in the second part of the verse

from chapter 4, verse 11,

it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit,

joint and marrow.

It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

So most of us think that God's word,

to apply it,

it means to change our actions, right?

In some way, that's good.

We need to change when we read God's word.

But we only change our actions

with just changing the external stuff.

It's like the double-edged sword

hitting the external bits of the body.

But the word of God does more than that.

It cuts to the heart.

That's actually exactly the problem we have,

as we read from the bits before in our passage.

The problem of sin

is not that we have the wrong action,

but a dull and unbelieving heart towards God.

The reason why the word of God

is a means of grace

is that it's actually a means for us to be saved.

So if we go back one verse to Hebrews 4.11,

it says,

Let us therefore make every effort

to enter that rest,

so that no one will perish

by following the example of disobedience.

So in context,

if you read the next verse,

which is verse 12,

the writer gives us the answer,

which is God's word.

God's word is able to help us

to have some salvation

to enter the rest of God,

the promises of God.

The second preparation we have

is to rely on what Jesus has done,

the priest and perfect example.

So in Hebrews 4.14-16,

let's have a look

why we should fix our eyes on Jesus

and rely on him.

The first way you set Jesus is our priest,

the person that acts as an agent

between a sinful man

and the holy God.

His death on the cross

has enabled us

to approach God with confidence.

You can see the confidence in verse 16.

Let us approach with great confidence.

Why can we be confident?

The reason is that a Christian relies

on the perfect work of Jesus,

not the works that we have done.

And hence,

Jesus has the credentials

to speak on behalf of us.

That's how he acts as a priest.

And Jesus also acts as an example.

If we go to verse 15,

we see that he can empathize

with our weakness.

And also,

Jesus has been tempted in every way,

just as we are,

yet without sin.

Jesus is an example

of how we can overcome sin.

If we look at his life

in the Garden of Gethsemane,

or during his temptation

in the desert,

he uses God's word.

It is his belief in God's word

that made him overcome the devil.

A third way that we can achieve a victory

is in other aspects of Jesus' life.

Jesus is the shepherd.

So we go back to 1 Peter.

We can see how the devil

is prowling around like the lion.

So whether we are oblivious

to the devil's attack,

or we give them too much power,

the answer is the same.

We need to not look at the lion,

but the shepherd.

What we often forget

is that Jesus has already

driven away the lion.

He has already defeated

the devil on the cross.

If we rely on the victory of Jesus

in our daily struggle

against sin,

then we will be able to resist.

That's why we go

a couple of verses down

in verse 10.

It says,

For those who have resisted,

Jesus can restore you

and make you strong,

firm, and steadfast.

So having looked at

the sins,

the attack from sin and the devil,

and the means that we can have victory,

let's see how we can be prepared.

So I want to separate

sort of two aspects

of being prepared.

The goal of being prepared

and the means

which we get prepared.

I'll give you an example

of what I mean.

So the first thing we looked at

was God's word.

If God's victory is achieved

through the power of his word,

the application is to

read the Bible, right?

I'm going to say no

and don't condemn me

to be a heretic right now.

So hear me out.

The way that we are prepared

is to listen to God's word.

And listening is a little bit different

from reading.

So there are a few different aspects

of listening.

So if we only read the Bible

as a habit

or something to tick off

in our boxes,

that doesn't actually

achieve the goal of listening.

It's just a habit

to tick a box.

If we read the Bible

for information,

that's only going to

build our knowledge.

And we're not even reading

the Bible

to transform our behavior.

As good as that sounds,

in the worst form,

if we just read

to change our behavior,

we might be tempted

to rely on our behavior

rather than Jesus

to prepare against

the sin and the devil.

So how are we

to read the Bible?

We need to read the Bible

and listen

in a way

that's for our hearts.

To understand the words

on the page of the Bible

or in your app,

it's not a daily habit

you tick off

or a guide to life,

but it's actually

the word of God.

God is speaking to us

through his word.

The aim of reading

is to listen

to who God is.

That's why we need to pray

before we read the Bible.

We want the Holy Spirit

to help us to recognize

that the words

are actually God's words.

And then through knowing God,

can we keep believing in him?

And only in this way,

we won't harden our hearts

and we'll be able

to correctly prepare ourselves

and resist

the deception of sin.

So the implication of this

is pretty big.

So I want to ask you

a question.

When you read the Bible,

do you recognize

that it's actually

God speaking to you?

If the answer is no,

I would love for you

to fill in a card.

Don't be shy

if no one else is grabbing it.

Just grab it

and fill out a card saying,

I would like some help

to know how to read the Bible

so that I can recognize

that it's God speaking to me.

And I would love

to help you to do this.

I'm the missions pastor,

but I'm really glad

that I can help you

if you want to do this.

Fill it in,

I'll let you

read the Bible with me.

I'd actually want to love

to ask you to

ask each other

after the service.

What would it take

in terms of time

or environment,

routine,

patterns,

for us to read

in such a way

that we are listening

to God

from the Bible?

So this actually

sets ways

into the second thing

that we need

to be prepared for

is that we

need to encourage each other,

have people around us

to encourage each other.

We'll go to Hebrews 3

and look at what it means

to encourage each other.

3.13

But encourage one another daily

as long as it is called today

so that none of you

is deceived

by sin's deceitfulness.

So,

you can see from this verse,

on this side of heaven,

we need to encourage

each other every day.

So the implication of this

is that

the health of the church

is not measured

by how many people

attend church

or in our small groups,

but whether we actually

come together

with the aim

of encouraging each other.

And encouragement

isn't just

the slap on the back

like you're going well,

hollow encouragement,

not hollow compliments.

In this passage,

the type of encouragement

we need

is a type that will help us

to not be deceived

by sin.

You think of the nature

of deception,

no one knows

that they are deceived.

Otherwise,

you won't be right.

You'll figure it out yourself.

So in order for other people

to help us

not to be deceived,

we really need

the value

of humble authenticity.

The reason why

we need that

is that

we need

to let other people

point out

the instances

when we are deceived.

And,

on the flip side,

we need to

be humble

and courageous

to approach other people

to point out

when they are being deceived.

even at the cost

of friction

during the relationship.

So the other thing

that it means is

if the goal is

encouragement,

not attendance,

we'd love for you

to keep going to church,

but

it's a really deep way

of

relating to each other.

is that

we,

even when we are sick

or we have

unavoidable situations,

we'll make efforts

to encourage each other.

So,

I'll give an example

of how this works.

I'm in a Sunday

morning

community group

led by Adam Ma.

So,

there are many

young parents

in that group

and

you know

with young parents

in winter,

what happens is that

a lot of the people

in the group

get sick

and sometimes

some people

have work trips,

got a couple of

mothers that are

expecting.

So,

for all various

reasons,

not all of us

can attend

every week.

But we still

aim to encourage

each other

by having a

WhatsApp group.

So,

we can actually

send messages

to each other

to keep each other

accountable

and encourage

each other

in that way.

So that

even when we

can't see each other,

we have the

intention to

help each other

to grow.

We can also

apply this

to the way

that we

meet at church.

So,

if we are keen

to encourage

each other,

then we would

love to stay

behind.

We won't

duck out

after the

service.

And I think

the afternoon

service does

a great job

at staying

right here

and talking

with each other.

We actually

want to get

to know

each other

and not just

have a

superficial

greeting,

but we

will be

eager

to help

one another

if we

see someone

going off

track

because of

sin's

deception.

That's why

all these

events

in the last

couple of

months

have been

so helpful.

I hope

that through

all these

events,

we have

gotten to

know each

other a

bit better,

but more

than that,

once there's

a relationship,

we can get

into the

task of

encouraging

each other.

And if for

any reason

that you

have felt

that you've

been on

the outside

of the

church,

not really

getting into

the group,

whether you

find it

hard to

share your

situation,

maybe due

to language

or life

circumstances,

this passage

is for you.

We would

actually,

all of us

would love

to be in

community

with you

because,

as we can

see from

the Bible,

it's so

easy to

be deceived

by sin.

So I

would encourage

you to sign

up to

community

group

afterwards,

we'll bring

the iPads

around,

and stay

behind at

church and

meet us.

So in

the morning

service,

and probably

in the

afternoon as

well,

we've got

a roughly

half and

half split

between

Anglo-Australians

and people

from other

backgrounds.

So my

hope is that

we'll have a

similar split

in our

community

group.

Right now,

we don't

have that

at the

moment.

So we

actually really

do want

all of us

to sign

up.

The third

way we get

prepared is

how we

relate in

light of

Christ being

our shepherd.

So we

go to

1 Peter

now.

In 1 Peter

1 Peter 5:2

chapter 5,

verse 2,

we can see

the elders,

the leaders

of the

church,

are to

lead in

light of

Christ's

suffering as

a shepherd.

So just

as Christ

as a

shepherd,

the leaders

are to

lead and

have oversight

of the

church or

the flock

as

shepherds.

so some

people from

probably a

more

eastern

culture

might take

that to

mean for

all the

pastors to

take care

of each

person in

the congregation.

But how

we do

things here

is that the

biblical command

is for

oversight,

to have

oversight of

the entire

church.

And the

way that we

do this

is that we

want everyone

to have an

opportunity to

be cared

for.

So the

way we

organize

things is

that we

have got

a group

of community

group

leaders.

And not

all of

them are

in full-time

ministry.

In fact,

most of

them aren't.

But the

group leaders

are to

act as

mini-shepherds.

So we've

got more

people taking

care of

everyone.

And that

way we can

actually

connect,

care,

and grow

with God

and one

another.

The

pastoral

staff and

Paul Fitzpatrick,

the community

group director,

has taken

on the

task of

discipling and

coaching these

leaders.

So we can

actually do

the task of

oversight well,

so we can

take care of

everyone.

So notice in

this structure,

it's not about

how old you

are, or how

long you've

been at

church, or

what status

you have.

That determines

who is

leading, but

the role

is assigned.

So in the

Sunday group,

for example,

Adam Ma is

leading.

I'm the

mission pastor

at church,

but in that

group, he's

the leader.

I gladly

submit to

him, and

I gladly

support him

in the

Sunday group,

so that he

can help all

the other

members to

take care of

each other

and to

grow.

So I

want to go

back, now

that we've

looked at

the means

that we

can get

prepared and

equip ourselves

against the

attack of the

devil, I

want to go

back to the

picture of

the house

that I

used to

live in.

And if

you have

to imagine

your spiritual

state as

that house,

all would

be like,

are you

currently not

alert to

the work of

sin and the

devil, a

little bit

like a

house surrounded

by all these

tall dead

trees, in

the constant

danger of

trees

getting,

waiting to

catch fire?

or are

you too

alarmed and

anxious to

trust God

and rely on

the gracious

means that

is provided

through his

word or the

people around

him?

Or are you

rightly

armed by

God's means

to be

alert and

not alarmed?

May God

help us to

use these

means to

do so.