Christmas Unwrapped - Session 5: Now What? | Scott Hayden

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. On the fifth day of Christmas. It is the fifth day of Christmas.

In some church traditions, Christmas doesn't end after Christmas Day, it's just getting started.

Twelve days of feasting from the birth of Christ to the remembrance of Epiphany when the wise men

showed up. Beautiful celebration. And this is our fifth and final sermon in the series of Christmas

Unwrapped. In that series, the pastors have unpacked for us the four themes of the Advent

season leading up to Christmas. They unpacked for us the idea of hope. Not wishful thinking,

but the assurance that God keeps his promises, Christmas being the biggest promise he ever kept.

They unpacked for us, I realize I'm not clicking. They unpacked for us peace. Not the absence of

disagreement, but the ability to handle it appropriately and be healthier and stronger

as a community for it. They unpacked for us joy. Not the achievement of your own effort,

but a gift from God. Not dependent on circumstances, but dependent on God putting into you an eternal,

lasting assurance that he will work things out. And they unpacked for us love. Not the feeling

you get from a good piece of chocolate cake. Thank you Pastor Phil last week. But what we

give to others for their benefit. And so as we saw these unpacked, every week we got to the center

of that gift and found that each of those things wasn't the actual gift. Those are just results.

The gift was Jesus every time. Because what he does in coming to earth, in wrapping God in skin,

in growing up as a human being, living in a family, in a culture, in a nation, we can never point

the finger in God and say, you don't know what it's like. He does. And in offering himself to us,

in offering his best, and in submitting to the worst we could give him, in nailing him to a cross,

and he didn't fight back. His body like a clay jar was broken open. And as well as taking care

of our sin, he released his life for us. I like to think of it as Jesus gene therapy. The DNA of

God released to enter us, to get inside us, and rewrite the code that runs your habits. It takes

a while for the whole code to be rewritten. It's a lifetime process, but there is that moment when

God enters. For some of you maybe that's today. So I want to ask this question. If we've unwrapped

Christmas, now what? Happy New Year, let's party. Put the Christmas tree away, turn off the Christmas

playlist, let's not ever hear that song again. Last Christmas you gave me your heart. That's not a

Christmas song. My daughter picks on me every time I hear it and I get mad. Go on with life as normal

now that the playlist has turned off? I would suggest no, because even if you've unwrapped

Christmas and Jesus has gotten into you and the Jesus gene therapy has started, if you try to go

back to life as normal, you will be unsatisfied. Like a situation right here. Now don't be fooled

by the picture, I am not a runner. But my daughters got into cross country, every one of them ran with

a team at least some point in their life, two of them kept on into university. And we're standing

there with my son-in-law Joel, because a moment of temporary insanity overcame me and for a few

weeks I ran and then on July 4th I joined our small town local fun run 5k. And there in Montrose,

Pennsylvania we all lined up and I knew I was not gonna keep up with long-legged Joel or my

daughters. So I just stepped to the back of the crowd at the line and when they started off I just

set my 53 year old pace and I got going and I waved bye-bye to my children. And we left the

town and went through the beautiful hills of Northeast Pennsylvania where I grew up, out into

the dirt roads, up hills I chugged slowly and down hills I let gravity help. And we got back

into town and I look ahead a few blocks and there's Joel and he's walking. I thought oh maybe I can

catch this guy. So I pick it up a little bit and then he starts running like well and then he walked

again. Okay got up alongside of him and he wasn't walking anymore. Not when he saw me come up. His

normal pace wasn't satisfying anymore. You can guess the end. When the old man showed up the

young man changed his behavior. There was an older man named Paul who saw the Jesus gene therapy in

a younger man named Timothy and he saw that growth of the god life in Timothy so strong that Paul

took Timothy under his wing and trained him to eventually take over when Paul's race was finished.

Actually Timothy started taking over before Paul's race was finished and Paul put Timothy in charge

of the church in Ephesus. Might make an interesting study sometime. Read the books of Timothy next to

Ephesus. One is to or to the pastors. One is to the congregation. And Paul in helping Timothy get

ready gave him letters of advice and one of the verses from 2nd Timothy became my life verse

probably somewhere in my 20s and it's easy to remember the reference 2t222. 2nd Timothy 2 22.

Got it? You won't forget now. Alright. Now when I look at verses I like to mark them so let me read

this and then I'll share some Bible study stuff I do. Now flee from youthful lusts and follow after

righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Let's pray.

Father as I open your word let it be an open window from heaven. Jesus shine through today. Amen.

When I want to dig into a Bible verse I like to mark them. I like to mark action words with little

underlined brackets like flee and follow and when I see phrases or words that are about location or

direction I like to put wavy lines like from youthful lusts and after righteousness, faith and

love and then that whole final phrase with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart is talking

about people and I like to circle people in my Bible marking and when I do these things then I

start realizing oh so Paul is answering some questions he's telling us how we run because

fleeing and following are like running actions right and he's telling us where we run those are

the directional phrases and and the final phrase is talking about with whom we run. There's our

sermon outline how we run where we run and with whom we run but another thing I like to do is I

like to look at the thought structure and then rearrange the words to represent what it's saying

so I see flee and follow they're like equal the opposite actions so I've placed them on opposite

sides of the screen and then each of them is followed by a direction so I got those lined up

underneath but then that final phrase seems to apply to both the fleeing and the following so

we got it lined up all together read it out loud with me if you can make out the structure here now

flee from youthful lusts and follow after righteousness faith love peace with those called the Lord. Let's

break it down how do we run now I don't know Greek but I have some tools that let me get down

to that language once in a while and I found that behind that word flee is a Greek word that you

know from English words fugue is the base word of refugee fugitive refuge and what Paul is telling

us right away is that there is an intensity to our run there is a seriousness about it because a

refugee leaves home leaves the familiar because their life or their livelihood is threatened

and some of you know that from firsthand experience and Paul uses that picture to give us a seriousness

about the Christian run and as if that's not enough the word he puts opposite is an equal

intensity because that word elsewhere in the New Testament is translated as persecute or persecutor

so we're told to flee one direction with the intensity of a refugee and follow after with

the intensity of the person chasing the refugee and so what he's telling us about how we run is

that we run passionately if you have unwrapped Christmas and God's DNA has gotten into you if

the Jesus gene therapy is doing its work you have a mandatory quest the Christian life is not casual

are you with me how do we run passionately now let's look at where we run because there were some

phrases about direction in there flee from youthful lusts oh great mr. Scott mr. Scott is how I'm

known at school you're one of those old people that say a problem with the world these days as

young people no we all struggle with lust so why is Paul kind of tagging lust with the youthful

phrase here well it's because youth have the blessing of high energy bursting out the seams

and they don't yet know the lifestyle it takes to control all that new energy a blessing not yet

channeled so that it blesses others and young people have awakening brain powers they can see

they can think they can question they can logic stuff like they never could before and they're

not sure what to do with it that's why sometimes us older people get inappropriately offended by

young people's questions they're just learning how to think okay there's centers too and sometimes

they go off the wall but they are asking questions because they have a new power to do it they haven't

yet learned how to channel all that new brain power in ways to benefit others so don't be too

hard on them Paul's not saying these are lusts that only youth have he's seeing these are lusts

that are more obvious in youth because they have high energy awakening brains that are not yet

trained so therefore youth I'm talking to the older people now youth don't need our complaining

about them they don't need us to go off and read the news or watch our TV show so they don't bother

us they need multi-generational community they need mentors and teachers they need instructions

about God's design because God's design is what makes the difference between a desire and lusts

a lust is a desire that is out of line with God's design let me say it again and then you're gonna

say it lust is a desire that is out of line with God's design now you say it lust is a desire that

is out of line with God's desire I didn't even put it on the screen and you got it all right you

see desire is good God has desires and he's good and he made us like himself with desires and for

every single human desire God has designed a proper way to fulfill it for every I will insist on this

and if you like to argue I'm academic I like arguing friendly there is an appropriate way to

fulfill every human desire there's a right place a right time with the right people in the right

manner for the right purpose could go on for human desires to be met but a lust is when we get one of

those rights wrong and our desire is out of line with design kind of like this situation this is

the large blue butterfly it's found in Europe and the United Kingdom you see the adult form on the

upper right you see the caterpillar form on the lower left you see the pupa form with a couple of

ants in the middle and the large blue butterfly it's very interesting because when it's a caterpillar

it goes looking for ants it'll find the flowers or places the ants like to hang out certain types

of ants and when the ants come around instead of attacking and eating it though that happens to

some of them the large blue butterfly caterpillar has learned to put a little drop of liquid on its

backside that the ants like to eat that makes the ants feel good and then the caterpillar will put

off a chemical that smells like ants because ants do not have good eyesight they operate by smell

and sound and touch so now they're feeling good from the sweet liquid they're smelling oh ant and

some of these caterpillars can make a sound like a queen ant in trouble and then they're like oh we

got to take care of our queen and they'll pick up the caterpillar and carry it back to their nest

where it eats their young I never heard of carnivorous caterpillar before but there is one

and the thing will grow to five times its own size as it feasts on the banquet where the ants

have brought it you see the ants desire to care for other ants to rescue the queen to feed its

young those desires are good but that caterpillar is not in line with ant colony design that is a

picture of lust when your desire is out of line with God's design and you follow it out of line

it will eat you alive from the inside flee now usually whenever we hear the word lust we think

about sex it's never mentioned in this passage Paul talks about it elsewhere he focuses on a

different kind of lust so I'm gonna spend my time where the text spends its time in all of

chapter 2 Paul has so much to say about quarreling the youthful lust of wanting to win the argument

prove you wrong show you I'm right and Paul has some really colorful phrases about this kind of

lust he calls it one place wrangling about words wrangling is what cowboys do to cows heard them

control them flip them on their back tie them up put a hot iron to their bottom so they're marked

as belonging to the cowboys wrangling is for cows people are not cows don't do it to people but we

do it with words right try to control for us brand Paul uses another colorful phrase worldly

empty chatter worldly is just the idea that all of us are born sinful with a compass in our hearts

and the compass doesn't point the right way it points to self we're all born with a dark side

and when you get a bunch of us sinners together whose compasses are all pointing to self you get

a society that feeds selfishness that's what the Bible means by worldly and worldliness at best

worldly chatter just leaves God out of the picture like the way most of the world treats

Christmas talking about Santa Claus and reindeer and kind of leaving Jesus out of the picture

empty no nourishment no profit so worldly empty chatter just think of verbal junk food lots of

talk no benefit just taste good or how about this colorful phrase foolish ignorant questions now in

education we like to encourage the students ask anything there's no such thing as a stupid question

because we need to uncover student thinking so we can find out what's missing what do they need to

know what kind of ideas and understanding can we build together no such thing as a stupid question

but sometimes we weaponized questions to expose somebody else to make them look bad to make

ourselves look good or to just set up the fight for a fun of it okay so Paul would probably say

yeah there is such a thing as a stupid question it's the question that has no point except to

start a fight quarreling Paul sums up all this kind of lustful talk behavior with another colorful

image gangrene gangrene is the disease where because of an injury or something part of the

flesh starts to die and it rots and it stinks and it spreads and the only solution for gangrene

is to cut out the rotten part and sometimes that may take a whole finger or hand or limb Paul says

this kind of lust uncontrolled talk unchannel the undisciplined tongues teeth and lips will rot the

body of Christ flee and then he contrasts that we're fleeing from one thing we're following after

another this follow is equal in intensity like a persecutor we're running after righteousness oh

yeah righteousness yeah it's how it often strikes us right and all those Christian virtue words

until we meet somebody that doesn't have it and they irritate us some of the translations will

package the verse like this righteousness colon faith love and peace as if righteousness is the

whole package and the others are pieces of it and you can look at other passages like Galatians 5

and James chapter 3 where there's other lists and they might use different words in a different

James 3 · chapter mention

number of words the point is not the exact words the point is this these are the original design

elements for the human being this is what we were made to run on this is the code that Jesus is

restoring in us by his Holy Spirit so let's apply these things to that lust problem Paul was talking

about the lust of winning the war of words what if before I let the words come out of my mouth I

run them through this filter are these words right am I being honest will I be treating my brother

or sister right when these words come out of my mouth how about faith the faith filter are these

words I want to say coming from a place of faith in my heart this is what I believe God needs me

to say and will it be words that build faith in the person who hears them how about a love

filter am I saying this to make myself feel good or am I saying it for their good how about the

peace filter am I saying this to get them off my back so we don't have to talk about this or am I

going to choose my words to invite the right kind of talk about tense topics so we can resolve it

and come out as a stronger relationship stronger community you see how these work these are benefits

the original God DNA that he put in us that we've lost because our compass points the wrong way that

he is restoring it takes practice but it's worth it so where do we run well let's review how do we

run passionately thank you where do we run we flee youthful us we follow after hate this you realize

these two directions are actually a biblical concept that Paul does not mean name in the passage this

is the biblical concept of repentance when Jesus began his ministry and said repent he was saying

turn away from evil and turn toward good turn away from self and turn toward God you have to put both

because if you only say turn away from evil our habit is find another evil like a revolving door

but we need to turn away from self toward God so let's just say it this way we run God word and if

we're running God word the evil will be left behind how do we run passionately where do we run God

word because the Christian life is not about trying harder be careful with that it's about running with

confidence that the DNA God put in you equips you to reach the destination God puts in front of you

let me say that again it's not about trying harder it's about the confidence that the DNA God put in

you through his Holy Spirit equips you to reach the destination he puts in front of you God's

giving us a total package people let's have confidence all right I'm gonna pause I didn't do

this for service this is the moment science says that after 17 minutes of being physically still

the brain gets the message it's time to go to sleep so turn to your neighbor and tell them

something new you heard so far and if you don't know them you might need an introduction to good

thank you finish your conversation in five four three two one how do we run where do we run now

with whom do we run now this is important some of you are already offended that I have suggested

you need other people self-made man well I make no apologies you need other people okay we run

with others because there is something chasing us trying to catch us and it's hard to escape

because that monster comes from inside we run together because we're trying to catch something

that's really big and hard to catch because our habits of selfishness don't really go that

direction righteousness is big kind of like this situation you know among dogs wolves are big but

next to a moose a wolf is small wolves eat moose among other things they eat mice too and mice is

not the plural of moose but anyway wolves eat moose how does something that small catch something

that big they don't hunt alone they hunt in packs we are following after righteousness something

honestly too big for us to catch something we're not used to but as the Jesus gene therapy continues

to work through your life and recode your habits some of those habits will often involve other

people and only with those other people will you make the catch Christians flee youthful us and

follow virtues the same way together in other words the Christian life is not not not the DIY

project you with me I love mr. DIY but Christianity will not be found on the shelves there now this is

blank on purpose and I want to talk to the young people it's blank because the illustration is

right here when I was a teen I did not understand this I was content in high school to be a loner I

was content with my books I was content with my piano I had friends and we did fun stuff together

I attended church I attended youth group I was involved in the music ministry but I had nobody

who knew me my heart was not open I didn't even know it wasn't even part of that particular church

culture to get with other people and say hey I'm struggling with this hey I think God wants me we

didn't have that kind of God talk we just attended and so my moral compass was untested my fleeing

was casual and my following was academic and then I went to university and I continued the Christian

life like it's a solo performance I had Christian classes Christian professors I had a Christian

roommate had Christian classmates I was involved in ministry but nobody knew me and so the lust

that I struggled with slowly ate me alive until I had to spend a year away from university

with older Christian mentors and pastors and I'm thankful for pastor Roy Allison and pastor

Drew Corbett later brother David Yohe who were my Paul and I got back in line with design so

young people wherever you're sitting in the first service they're all right there wherever you're

sitting I'm sharing my mistake with you so you don't have to repeat it I'll take the pain you

take the game all right and if you're caught if that lust is catching up with you it's not too late

get others alongside of you so we run with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart calling on

the Lord has two senses help and put me in use me help I'm in trouble we have a God who has declared

himself our father who comes to our aid and put me in that's the kid on the bench who has attended

the practices faithfully and he's watching the game and he's ready to go in come on coach use

me and God loves answering both those calls so you're wondering what the end of the story is

because when I caught up with Joel and we only had about 200 meters left in the race hi Joel he

wasn't walking anymore he looked at me and he picked up the pace guess what I did I picked up

the pace he picked up the pace I pushed my 53 year old body as hard as I could in the last hundred

meters finishes uphill and it ended like this he was ahead I was behind but I was okay with that

it was just as satisfying to see my young man cross ahead of me as it would have been for me to do it

myself we run faster when we run together when you call on the Lord he calls others alongside now the

last phrase could discourage some people what run with those who calling the Lord out of a pure heart

nobody's gonna want to run with me I've been in a Bible study on this verse and that is exactly

what people said I don't have a pure heart well if you interpret it as you must be perfect you

have to have the perfect record then you're not understanding what Paul is saying he's not looking

for squeaky clean Christians there aren't any he's talking about not perfection he's talking about

motivation we stumble we stray but with Jesus DNA working itself through our system we respond to

correction and we get up and we keep going so with whom do we run read it out loud with those who

call on the Lord from a pure heart we run together how do we run where do we run with whom do we run

not the greatest grammar talk to me later read the whole thing with me now flee youthful lusts and

follow after righteousness faith love and peace with those on the Lord pure hearts I'll tell a

story of a couple that attended ECB for like 20 years Bob and Laurie Johnson worked at school with

me and Bob in his university years oh by the way he says hi those of you that know him he knows I'm

sharing his story today he was on the soccer team at Moody Bible Institute he did not know it but

one of their best seasons was in front of them it was gonna be a tremendous winning season but early

in the season not knowing the future he was just going through the practices and as part of the

practice they had to run a warm-up through the streets of Chicago and Bob had a friend on the

team in every single warm-up his friend was watching Bob and his friend was faster than Bob

but his friend wouldn't run as fastest until Bob came alongside and then his friend would take off

and Bob could never win until Bob had an idea he thought I'm gonna use different streets no shortcuts

I'm not cheating I'll go the same distance but my friend will not see me pulling ahead and he did

and it worked and finally beat his friend problem the coach saw him coming on a different street

and what did the coach think shortcut so the coach called him out Bob tried to explain the

coach would not listen Bob tried to defend himself the coach was not hearing it coach

said run it again Bob was getting mad tried to say no no it's just a friendly thing coach wouldn't

hear it run again Bob was so mad he was ready to quit the team right there walk away and not

knowing he would miss a really great season as he is boiling and churning inside and about to make

his decision he was making his decision known enough that a couple friends caught on they stepped

up said Bob we'll run the extra mile with you that's what we do for each other when we call

on God he calls his people alongside we run how where with whom

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