Our Core Values & Beliefs: Christian Conduct Matthew 5:48 Pastor Steffan Nass

It is funny to hear some of the kids as they leave the sanctuary in the morning because

in their words I can hear their parents.

Good morning.

Awesome.

On behalf of Pastor Daniel and his entire staff, we thank you for being here this morning.

We are thankful that you are here this morning.

And I thank him for the opportunity to spend a few moments speaking with you.

This morning we're going to continue our series on our core beliefs and values with

our statement on Christian conduct.

I'd like to invite Ella to come up and read this morning.

So if you're going to please stand, turn to Matthew 5.48.

We're going to be reading from Matthew 5.48.

And stand as we hear God's word.

Matthew 5.48.

Do you hear?

Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Awesome.

All right, Lord God, we give you thanks and praise for your word.

We give you thanks and praise for Ella and her desire to read from your word, Lord.

And I pray as she continues to grow and mature in her life, you will continue to grow her

and mature her in you, Lord.

And may you give her parents.

Enable them to teach her, to train her, to lead her, to love her that she may come to

know you.

Deeply and honestly, Lord.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for Ella.

We ask you to bless her for her obedience.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

You are awesome.

All right, as a side note, as we begin this morning, as Pastor Daniel has the day off,

Sina, Adelie, Asher, River and Riker also have the morning off in that none of their

failures or foibles will be used as sermon illustrations today.

So let's get started and take a look at this.

The Bible.

Understand as we start here this morning, as we discuss truth this morning, understand

that this is not a divine behavior manual.

Again, this is not a divine behavior manual.

This is a story.

It's the story of God.

It's the story of His kingdom and our place in it.

It details not just how we are to be, but who we are to be.

Now if any of you should doubt that this library of scrolls is a story, I should take a moment

and turn to Genesis 1.

How does this begin?

In the beginning.

Then take a moment to turn to Revelation 22.5.

How does it end?

And forever and ever.

In the beginning and forever and ever.

That sure sounds like a narrative.

Sure sounds like a story to me.

And it is.

It is the story.

It's the greatest story ever told.

It's the story that underlies every other story that ever is or ever will be.

It speaks of God's grandeur and His greatness.

It details His mercy and His grace and found in chapter after chapter after chapter evidence

of His love, His steadfast, sacrificial, life-giving, life-changing love.

But that's not all.

Because this story is also our story.

For I can't understand who I am without knowing who He is.

This story, this story that is written is my story.

It is the story of my redemption.

It's the story of my future.

It is a story of hope.

That's why last Sunday at the baptism, first it was so encouraging to see so many of us

there.

It was awesome.

It was absolutely awesome.

But that's why it was so encouraging to hear so many, so many of the people speak about

their recent desire and commitment to read the Bible, to learn the story.

Because for to read and study the story, one can come to know and understand the story teller.

No, it's not a mere behavior manual.

It's not merely a call to do.

No understand in the context of the story, the Bible is also a call to be.

Now with that this morning, we're going to explore what this story says about our conduct

as Christians.

Our children, all now adults like so many other children, played sports while growing

up.

T-ball, soccer, football, you name it, one or more of them played it.

But before we sent them out, we gave them a few simple rules to follow.

Rules that our children were expected to abide by if they were going to become a part of

a sports team.

These rules eventually became known simply as the NAS rules.

As a matter of fact, we quizzed one of our children last night and some 20 years later,

he still remembers the NAS rules.

Rule number one, if you get knocked down, you must get back up.

Rule number two, there is no walking on the grass.

And number three, if your coach asks you what position you want to play, you must answer

wherever you need me, coach.

Now these rules, of course, were meant to teach and train our kids how they as members

or family were supposed to behave.

And they were important because until then our children had never played sports, so they

had no idea what it meant to be part of a team.

So these rules or commandments set forth how our children were to conduct themselves.

But of course, there was so much more to the rules than simply telling them what they should

do.

For these rules were based on principles that are foundational to our family, foundational

to our beliefs, principles that were meant to shape who they were to become.

The rule, if you get knocked down, you must get back up.

The principle, success in life is not about never failing.

It's about never quitting.

At some point in life, we will all fail or fall.

And in that moment, we all have a choice.

We can either stay down and be defined by our failure or we can get back up and be defined

by our response to it.

The rule, no walking on the grass.

The principle, when taking your position on the field or moving between stations at practice,

you must always run or jog.

For although talent is God given, hard work and hustle is a choice.

And it is in making this choice that we show our gratitude to God for the opportunity to

play.

The rule, if your coach asks you what position you want to play, you must answer, wherever

you need me coach.

The principle, servant leadership is the only true leadership.

For a meaningful life is found only in a life that is devoted in service to others.

And if you ever want to be in a position to exercise authority over another, you must

first place learn to place yourself under the authority of others.

These are simple rules.

Three simple rules of conduct that are based on foundational principles that are an expression

of who we are as a family, who we are as a people.

They are rules that were meant to shape both what our children did and who they are to

become the NAS rules.

So it's with that this morning we're going to pick up God's story in the book of Exodus.

The Israelites have just been released from bondage at the hands of the Egyptians.

They have lived 400 years as slaves.

They're now a free people.

God's chosen people headed for the promised land.

God reestablishing his kingdom on earth.

They are God's chosen people.

But who were they?

Who were they?

How were they to be?

After 10 or more generations living under the boot of the Pharaoh, what did it exactly mean

to be an Israelite?

What did it mean to be part of God's family?

Well, it's at this point in the story, this point in the story of God that we find Moses

ascending Mount Sinai and receiving from God the first 10 of what would be 613 commandments,

613 detailed instructions as to how they should live.

Instructions concerning the organization of civil society, ceremonial worship, and of

course moral truth.

613 instructions that eventually became known simply as the law.

A law based on the character of God, instructing people made in the image of God, how they

should live under the authority of God.

The law defined in very specific terms the covenantal relationship between God and his

people.

It defined how Israel was to behave in relation to God and in relation to one another.

To live according to the law was to live in a right relationship or to be righteous, failing

to uphold the law, failing or missing the mark.

That was to sin.

Now it's the law that to this day defines the identity, the very character of the Jewish

people for the law is both a call to do as a well as a call to be.

So now let's fast forward.

To the first century, some 1400 years removed from the giving of the law and there is by

now broad disagreement.

There is broad disagreement among rabbis over its interpretation and application and even

worse, even worse perhaps is that for some it was the law rather than the law giver

that had become the centerpiece of the religion.

Rabbis became so focused on the law, so obsessed with keeping others from violating the law

that they began to add to the law.

They began keeping up additional restrictions, placing onerous burdens on the people far

above what the law required.

Restrictions and burdens that led not to holiness but to guilt, frustration and dissatisfaction.

Now the complete body of teaching for any given rabbi, his understanding and interpretation

of the law is known as his yoke.

A rabbi's understanding and interpretation of the law is known as his yoke.

So in this, students or disciples of the rabbi were called to take up their rabbis yoke,

yokes that were difficult if not impossible to bear.

This is the setting in which Jesus, a first century rabbi with 12 devoted disciples began

his ministry.

It's into this setting that Jesus presents his understanding and interpretation of the

law.

It is into this setting that Jesus speaks these words that are recorded in the book of Matthew

that I believe we've all heard before.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.

So what is Jesus's yoke?

What did Jesus teach?

How are we as his followers today, as his disciples to behave?

Are we like the Jews bound by the law?

And if not, how are we supposed to conduct ourselves?

Those are the questions.

Unfortunately, Jesus addressed each one of them directly.

First, concerning the law, the Gospel of Matthew records these words of Jesus.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

The moral law based on the unchanging character of an eternal God will forever be the standard

for righteous behavior.

Jesus most certainly did not abolish it.

So then what does he mean by fulfilling it?

Well first, Jesus fulfills the law in that he fulfills the story, this story, the story

that began in the Old Testament.

It is he that this entire story points to.

It is he that is foreshadowed in it and predicted by it.

Jesus is the story's next chapter.

He fulfills it.

Second, Jesus fulfills the requirements of the law.

He fulfills the requirements of the law for all who would come to believe in him.

In this, the law no longer has power over those of us that are in Christ.

As Paul writes, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin

and death.

In Christ, we are heirs to a new covenant.

No longer bound by the Old Covenant.

That's what we celebrate each month at Communion.

And lastly, so also does Jesus fill the law full.

That is, the law and expression of God's perfect character has found its fulfillment in the

Son of God, the person of Jesus Christ.

If you want to see the mercy of God, you look to Jesus.

If you want to know the goodness of God, look to Jesus.

If you want to taste the grace of God, look to Jesus.

And if you want to experience the love of God, look to Jesus.

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

So, if the law has been fulfilled and we are no longer subject to its provisions, if in

Christ we have been set free, then what should we do?

How should we live?

How should we behave?

What is the key to conducting ourselves as Christians?

Do we follow all of the commandments?

Do we follow some of the commandments?

If so, are some of the commandments more important than other commandments?

What is Jesus' yoke?

Well, that exact question was asked of Jesus some 2,000 years ago.

Again from the book of Matthew.

Jesus was asked, teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?

This drawing from truth found in both Deuteronomy and Leviticus replied, Love the Lord your God

with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.

In response to the question, rather than selecting one commandment, Jesus responded by sharing

the principles which underlie all of the commandments.

We don't have to know the 613 if we just simply live according to the two.

As a follower of Jesus, how then shall I live?

Love God and love one another.

I mean, look at the first 10 commandments, the original big 10.

The first four.

No other gods, no idols.

We use the Lord's God in vain and keep the Sabbath.

They're all expressions of loving God.

Then look at the next six.

They're all expressions of loving one another.

Love God and love one another.

It is a call that is completely contrary to my nature because it's a call that seeks

to put, I want to put self on the throne of my life.

I want to put self at the center of my life.

This call is completely contrary to that.

Love God and love one another.

As Pastor Scott recently explained in his sermon on the spirit-filled life, loving God

and loving one another is possible only in and through the power and the presence of the

Holy Spirit.

God living in us, making possible that which would otherwise be impossible.

God giving us a new heart, replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh, allowing us

to live in a new way in which we dethrone self and love God and love one another.

No matter the circumstance, no matter the situation, we are called to filter every action, every

thought, every idea by considering, in this am I loving God and am I loving others?

But if it's not our works, but in and through Christ and Christ alone that we're saved,

why does our conduct even matter?

Why does it matter?

Well, first I would suggest it matters to others.

I would suggest that the American church has unwittingly created a self-centered gospel.

We preach a gospel centered on our personal salvation.

We focus on what Jesus did for me.

We focus on Jesus dying for my sins.

We sing teaching our children, Jesus loves me.

This I know for the Bible tells me so.

And sadly, I believe this has caused many in the church to turn inward, asking only what

the church can do for me, how it can meet my needs.

And we end up with a church in which people spend more time complaining than serving.

We have a church often that is full of people who are quick to accuse and slow to repent.

Now I don't mean to offend.

But if anyone in here has ever left church on a Sunday morning, mad about the music,

mad about the sermon, mad about the carpet, and thought to yourself, I didn't get anything

out of worship today.

I say this.

I don't care because we didn't come to worship you.

Some churches have strayed from Jesus' yoke, his call to love God and love one another,

and they've cultivated a culture of self, that same self-focused, soul-crushing, anxiety-producing,

transactional world in which everyone does what is right in his own eyes.

And if in here is no different than out there, if our values and beliefs simply mirror their

values and beliefs, what do we have to offer that Starbucks doesn't?

Why come here to be alienated when I can so easily find that out there?

Again, remember the words of Jesus.

We're called to love God and love one another.

So I ask, in your neighborhood, at your workplace, are you known more for what you're for or

what you're against?

Are you known as the one who complains and criticizes or the one who loves and encourages?

Do you love God enough to follow His commands?

Do you love God enough that you see service not as a sacrifice but as an act of love?

There is quite literally nothing more counter-cultural in the world today than a community that honors

God and puts the needs of others above its own.

As such, I would suggest that there is nothing more attractive to an unbelieving world, a

world trapped in the misery of self than a community in which we all do nothing from

selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility, count others more significant to their selves,

looking out for the interests of others or being a community in which we show ourselves

in all respects to be a model of good works, teaching integrity, dignity, sound speech,

or that we find ourselves as a community that conducts itself in all humility and gentleness

and patience, bearing with one another, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the

bond of peace.

And I would suggest when we are such a community, our light will shine before others that they

will see our good works and give glory to God in heaven.

You see, when we live out our God-created identity, when we live generously and graciously

towards others, living the way God does towards us, God is both glorified and amplified.

So I ask, what exactly are we as His church telling others about God?

What are we telling them about who He is, about what He's like?

Do we individually and collectively love God and love one another?

Do we do so in a manner that sets us apart from an unbelieving world?

Do we live in such a way that will cause people who know nothing about Jesus to come to know

Jesus just because they know us?

Or asked another way?

Take a moment to look around at each other.

Seriously, look around at one another.

All right?

If we were the first disciples right here, if we were the early church, would the book

of Acts happen?

Are we that recklessly obedient to the will of God?

Do we love God and love others the way that they loved God and loved others?

The second reason our conduct matters is because it matters to us.

They matter to us.

The NAS rules instructed our children as to how to conduct themselves, but the principles

beneath them shaped who they were to become.

And I would suggest that the same is true for God and His precepts.

Yes, they instruct us how to conduct ourselves, but perhaps even more importantly, the principles

beneath them shape who we are becoming.

Now I may not know much, and those of you that know me know that might be the truest

thing I say this morning.

I may not know much, but of this I am certain.

God is far more concerned with heart transformation than He is with behavior modification.

That's a great reminder for those of us that are parents.

Now have you ever wondered why in the law, in God's law, telling the truth is good and

lying is bad?

Why isn't it the other way?

Or why faithfulness is good and infidelity is bad?

Is it like when God created the universe, He flipped some cosmic coin and said, heads

truth is good and tails lying is good?

Of course not.

You see, because the law of God, based on the principles of God, is founded on the character

of God.

Lying is bad and truth is good is because God is truth.

Faithfulness is good and infidelity is bad is because God is faithful and on and on and

on.

He is that measure of the mark.

If the law is an expression of God's character, a character that I am created to conform to,

the law is less an expression of what I am supposed to do and more a statement of who

I am to become.

That's why when I violate it, when I violate the principles upon which it's based, I'm

working directly against who I'm becoming.

Jenny Gold Medal athlete from the Paris Games.

In striving to be who she desired to be, what do you think she filled her life with?

What do you think she filled her body with?

Twinkies and Mountain Dew?

No, because to do so would be to work against who she was becoming.

So also is it with us?

Sin are the Twinkies and Mountain Dew of our souls.

But when we conduct ourselves according to God's precepts, according to the principles

of loving God and loving others, we grow.

We grow in Christ-like character, enabling ourselves to become who we were created to

be.

You see, as believers, our identity is our destiny.

This is what Paul is speaking of in his letter to the Galatians when he writes, it is for

Christ, it is excuse me, for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Free from the law of sin and death most certainly, but there is so much more for in Christ's

life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and in and through the power and the presence

of the Spirit we have been set free to become who we've been created to be.

Now we began this morning with the words of Jesus that were recorded in the book of Matthew.

You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Now first understand that in the original Greek the word translated as perfect is telios.

And telios means like brought to its end, lacking nothing, being whole, being complete.

So this verse could be translated as be complete as your heavenly Father is complete.

It's profound.

It represents the very heart of the law.

It represents the key to our conduct as Christians.

You see, his law is not merely a call to do, it is a call to be, to be complete.

Jesus giving this instruction to his disciples, giving this instruction to us is not expecting

us to live a life without error.

Rather, it is a reminder that in genuinely seeking to love God and to love others we

can become who we are created to be.

The law is much more than a call to do, it is a call to be, to be complete.

And just how am I brought to completion by loving God and loving others just like Jesus

did?

I'd like to end this morning by asking one final question.

A question that I believe whose answer makes all the difference in living out our life

in Christ.

And that is this.

What is the most important thing about you?

What you do or who you are?

What is the most important thing about you?

What you do or who you are?

Yes, it's an important question to consider with your children.

What is the most important thing about them?

What they do or who they are becoming?

There were times at my training, during my training at Quantico, the truth be told I

struggled.

I was less effective than I should have been.

Times that I missed the mark.

I failed.

And it seems like failure does nothing but breed more failure.

And it's not that I didn't know what to do.

I mean the FBI trained me well, very, very, very, very well.

Now looking back, it is clear that my failure was not a failure to do, it was a failure

to be.

Now the FBI Academy is home to what I think is the coolest video game that's ever been

invented.

It's called the firearms training simulator or FATS machine.

And a new agent stands alone in a room armed with a pistol that shoots like a light burst

or a laser at a screen, a screen that covers the whole wall, the entire room.

And then instructors play out a live action video of a common law enforcement situation.

The video plays out in response to the actions and the commands of the trainee, kind of like

a movie with multiple endings that depends on the reaction or interaction of the audience.

And early on I failed almost every scenario.

Failure that resulted in my death or the death of a civilian or the escape of the bad guy.

And it was so frustrating because I knew what I was supposed to do.

But if so, why was failure such a consistent friend?

Well an instructor sensing my frustration after one such failure gave me advice that

changed the course of my career, advice that I think is applicable here this morning.

He said, you're never going to be able to successfully carry out your duties as an

agent until you begin to see yourself as an agent.

You can't carry out your responsibilities or wield your authority and tell you first

brace your new identity.

You are no longer who you were.

You are now an FBI agent.

You are failing to do because you don't know who you are.

And once I began to see myself as an agent, I began to function as an agent.

As followers of Jesus, we have been called to love God and love others.

Love God and love others as Christ loves God and loves others.

This is a tall task.

It is impossible apart from the saving grace of God.

So as you leave here this morning, if you ever find yourself struggling to live out

the life that Jesus calls us to, loving God and loving others, may I take just one moment

to remind you of who you are in Christ, to remind you of your identity.

Remind you of the power and the authority that you have in Christ because in Christ we are

redeemed, reconciled, rescued and remembered in Christ.

We are justified, sealed, saved and forgiven in Christ.

We are blessed, adopted, chosen and made alive in Christ.

We are transformed and treasured.

We are a new creation co-heirs with Christ, seated with Him in the heavenly places and

in Christ.

Nothing nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor to come nor powers nor height nor depth

nor anything else in all creation will separate us from the love of God.

In Christ that is who we are.

This is our identity.

And it is only in and through Christ.

It is only because of who I am in Him that I can do what I've been called to do by Him.

Love God and love one another.

Let's pray.

Lord God, we give you thanks and praise for this morning.

We thank you for your presence here.

Your power in our worship.

Your presence in these people.

We thank you for the miracle that is the salvation of each and every man and woman that is saved

in this room.

Lord God, we pray that we will live according to your spirit enabling us to love you and

love one another.

Then it enables us to dethrone self and place you at the center of our lives.

Lord, we pray for the power and the presence of your spirit that will enable us to know

you and in knowing you who come to understand and know ourselves to be like you.

And Lord, we pray that because of Christ's life, death, resurrection and ascension and

because of the power and the presence of the spirit in our lives that we be made complete

just as you are complete Lord.

We thank you.

And it's in Jesus' mighty and powerful name that we pray.

Amen.

Thank you.