Desire

Message Transcription

Good morning, Church. It is good to be with you today. Thankful for a chance to get away last week and spend some time with family. I heard if you're wondering about those tire tracks on my back from that bus that got me last Sunday named Josh Haynes. I can tell you more about that later. But thankful for Josh and for sharing a word with us. We're in a series called Lament, Repent and Anticipate as we journey through this season of Lent together. It's a season of the church's life where we stop and especially consider how God might be inviting us deeper into discipleship to convict us of areas in our life that need changing, and then to invite us into a new way of going. We began by thinking about just our own journey into the wilderness, by looking and following Jesus journey there right after his baptism, and looking at how it's often in the wilderness that we find those temptations that are most significant to us, they tend to rise up in us. And so we wanted to spend some time looking at the different areas of our life where we might encounter some pushback. We might encounter God's Holy Spirit, drawing us, inviting us to go deeper with him. So we spent some time in Psalm 139. In fact, Spencer took our minds there just a few moments ago, thinking about this wonderful psalm that invites God. Would you search me and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, See if there is any way in me that's not of you and lead me in the way everlasting.

This invitation to say, can we be honest about who we really are? That God loves you right now as you are not some future version of you that's gotten cleaned up and straightened out. But he loves you right where you are. But he loves you enough. He wants you to keep journeying, keep going. So we spent some time thinking about how do we lament and repent of the ways that we have not been faithful to who God has created us and called us to be that idea of repent. Being more than just saying I'm sorry, but but actually making a 180 to change our thinking. We spend a few minutes the next week thinking about the world around us and how do we lament that God's world is not as it's supposed to be. You know, our vision and mission here at Broadway is to partner with God and his reconciliation of all creation, not just relationships, but the entire planet. The entire cosmos is God's, and he longs for it to be restored back to him. That's our our vision here. And so we want to think together about how is God inviting us to live differently in our world, to not meet the world in the way that it often treats one another, but to treat it in the way of Christ? Josh shared with us last week about the challenge.

Sometimes we have as the church, really living out that vision together and how easily we get distracted. But how can we live with intention and purpose as a church? This week I want us to think some about a way that we read. Just a moment ago. You heard Cameron read these words from James that challenge us in our community life together. Two of the things the the mismanaged desires that maybe distract us or harm us most when it comes to thinking about ourselves in relationship to God. So if you have your Bible with you, I invite you to turn over to James chapter four. Amen. Well, I know you've got your finger in James chapter four. Let me ask you to keep it there and flip over to Matthew chapter five. We're going to listen to James's older brother talk for just a minute here. I think what James has to teach us today actually is rooted in a lesson he learned from his brother back in Matthew chapter five Jesus cares deeply, not just about the kind of life that we live, the actions that we engage in or don't engage in. He cares about the kind of person that we become. In fact, I think that's why he ends his his Sermon on the Mount in chapter seven. This way, he says, Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit. But a bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Jesus says we're aiming at becoming the kind of tree that produces good fruit. And so he cares deeply about our lives. And in fact, we're going to hear he's going to point us to two mismanaged desires that threaten to distract us, maybe in ways that nothing else does, that can impact our life, can shrink our soul if we're not mindful of these. And the first one, he lists just two chapters before that. Matthew Chapter five, beginning in verse 21, is anger. Here's what he says about anger. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, You shall not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister Raca is answerable to the court, and anyone who says you fool will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled to them. Then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way. Or your adversary may hand you over to the judge and the judge may hand you over to the officer and you may be thrown into prison.

Truly, I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. For a deeper dive into this whole section of text, I invite you to read one of my all time favorite books. I think it's one of the greatest ones ever written on this subject. It's called The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. But he dives deep into what does this idea mean of being angry? Because our world, there's maybe not a bigger problem in our world than anger. But he helps unlock some the significance of of the language that Jesus uses here, because Jesus problem that he's addressing here. It's not just simply that we feel angry. In fact, anger is a surface emotion. It's something that's pretty accessible to most of us. Most of us know and recognize that feeling. In fact, Willard calls it a signal that our will has been offended. That someone has done something to us or has withhold doing something to us and it has offended our will and we naturally feel something before we can even think it. We feel it. Now, sometimes you sense it in your gut, maybe in other places. But anger in this sense isn't a sin. It's just a reaction. It plays its role and like pain, it alerts us that something has happened. And when treated as such, then it can pass with whatever occasion has brought it on.

Unfortunately, most of us understand that's not usually the case when it comes to our anger. It doesn't always pass after the occasion. In fact, many times it anticipates an occasion. Sorry, I'm using my journal here to speak to you for a minute. It holds on to things. Does that resonate with anyone? Anger may arise spontaneously. It may just be a reaction that we feel. But we can actively indulge it. Do you ever find yourself indulging your anger? You see, when we do this, it typically involves some element of self righteousness. How dare you cut in front of me? How dare you run through that red light and almost cause an accident? Who do you think you are? Right. Anger often comes with this sense of righteousness. Our self-importance and the wound that we feel often get blown way out of proportion as we try to understand it. And as we indulge it, it creates this surge of energy in us. Maybe it's just me. In fact, it makes me want to will the harm of another person. I might not ever say that out loud, but maybe you felt that same sense of desire to see some comeuppance in another person's life. As Willard explains, Jesus shows us this kind of anger is inherently disintegrates human personality and it shrinks your soul. It doesn't have to be acted upon to poison your world in your life. You ever noticed that? You just got to hold on to it.

You just have to indulge it and cultivate it. Just turn to your favorite news channel and you'll see it. They teach us an epic lesson on how to indulge and cultivate anger. They're trying to take away your freedom. Don't you understand? They're ruining the planet. Don't you understand? All you have to do is is watch and you'll listen. You'll hear and you'll see. What Jesus teaches is this is not the kind of way in the kingdom, in fact, this way of life, it's toxic. It's toxic to our hearts, our souls, our relationships. You see, that's why Jesus says it's not enough to just not murder. You have heard it said to the people long ago, Do not murder. And most people of that day thought, well, at least I didn't kill him. At least I didn't kill her. Jesus says that's not nearly close to coming upon what God intended when he handed the law down to his people. Just because you don't physically kill someone doesn't mean you haven't fantasized about it in your mind. Jesus says you're treading on dangerous ground. Have you ever heard that phrase, If looks could kill? That's the kind of look that a preacher gets when his sermon goes a little bit too long. Just kidding. It's that kind of look that you get. Well, you know. It's that. It's that look. Jesus says this is not the way the kingdom in fact, he goes so far as to say if you're in church, if you're doing the most holy thing that you think you could be doing, ready to make your sacrifice to God, and you remember that someone has hacked you off.

Wait a second. Sorry, wrong translation If you remember, someone has something against you. He says, leave it. Leave it and go. Be reconciled. God is happy to wait. Because what he desires most from you is not your gift. It's your loving, reconciling presence. You see, God longs to be reconciled to his world, and He's chosen us to be his conduit. His ambassador. He says, I'd rather you serve in your role as ambassador than worshiper. In that moment. It's more important. Leave it at the altar. Go be reconciled and then return. Or if you're headed to court, work it out on the way. Don't let things just build up and hope and hope and hope that maybe something, he says, if you can do something, do something, don't let it spiral out of control because it will end in incredible consequences. Now, if that's not hard enough, Jesus continues on. He points us to another mismanaged desire. And that's lust. You have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. We'll come back to that ending there in just a second. But as with anger and adultery, it's Jesus holds up a commandment. It says, you have heard it said this, and Jesus is talking to an audience full of people who think, as long as I follow the rules, I'm okay. As long as I don't do certain things, then I'm all right. Jesus says that's that's not true. You have heard that it was said that married people are prohibited from sleeping in the wrong bed. It's absolute. There's no wiggle room there. He says it's wrong. Yet. Just like with murder. Just like with anger. The fact that you don't sleep in the wrong bed doesn't mean that your sexuality is in right position with your spouse, doesn't mean your heart's in the right place. It doesn't mean you're your world is worked out perfectly. In fact, living in alignment as it should be. Jesus was surrounded by men who thought they were doing the right thing because they went to the right home and slept in the right bed each night. They thought they were in the right relationship with others because they didn't kill them.

Jesus says. Not so.

He knew then. As we know now, that those of us who think we're sexually pure and right, because we don't outwardly express a certain behavior, can be filled with a myriad of thoughts and impurity. Running through our minds. Engaging our minds. Doing something in our mind that with our bodies we might not ever do. Let's see. Lust isn't simply about sexual behavior, is it? Friends, we can lust after all kinds of things. Lust after money. Wealth, power. Influence. Fame.

We just need to have more.

Every one of us knows about this kind of activity, and perhaps most have engaged in it in some way, shape or form. The same was true Jesus day. That's why he offers this teaching. It's not just a struggle for men. It's a struggle for all of us. Jesus is teaching. He's teaching us to show that those of us who cultivate this kind of mindset of is just about our behavior. It's not really about what's happening inside our hearts and our souls. We're not going to feel very at home in the Kingdom of God. We must be careful. That to note, sexual desire is not wrong. It's a natural thing. It's an uncultivated response. It's it it can be just like anger, a response to a situation. To notice someone who's attractive. That's not wrong. It's not adultery in your heart. It's to notice someone is beautiful. It's just a normal response. Even to be tempted to think of sex when you see someone attractive. That's not a sin. That's a that's a feeling. That's a response. It's what do we do with that? Do you mean dolts that.

Do we let it go? Do we move past it?

Jesus understood this. We're told by the Hebrew preacher in chapter Chapter four, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize or empathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are.

Yet he did not sin.

Jesus understood every temptation and he did not sin. And we need to hear the words of Jesus carefully here, because some translations of our scriptures make it sound as though adultery is. It's inevitable. It's unavoidable. Everyone who looks at a woman and desires her, that's not a good translation. It's a faulty premise. To be tempted is not the same thing as to sin. It's not a sin to notice and to desire someone or something. The problem, as Jesus shows, is what happens with that desire.

What do we do with it in our hearts?

Do we engage? Do we indulge? Do we fantasize? To the point that it creates a lust in us. Or as with anger, does it create contempt? Are we turning people into objects? Treasuring objects and not people.

See, this is what leads us to danger.

It's what James is talking to us about this morning. Jesus, little brother. He heard this lesson, I'm sure, over and over and over again. It's why he would offer us these words. What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Don't they come from your desires?

Don't they come from those mismanaged desires, that battle in you, that war in you, your desire, You desire. But you don't have. So you kill.

Do not murder. You covet, but.

You cannot get what you want. So you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask. And when you ask, you do not receive. Because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people. Don't you know that friendship with the world.

Means enmity against God?

Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

Or do you think the Scripture says Withoutrillioneason that he jealously longs for the spirit he's caused to dwell in us?

Don't the problems in your life church come from your mismanaged desire?

You covet and you want and you.

Get angry.

But you don't deal with it in godly ways.

You desire. And when indulge in inappropriate ways, it gives birth to contempt and to lust. James would say.

At his brother's.

Greatest concern was always.

Who are you becoming? What kind of person are you becoming? Not just simply.

What do.

You do or what do you not.

Do? It was this question that haunted him. What would you do if you could do?

A question that moves past just my.

Ordered behavior, but what's happening inside of my soul? That's why Jesus confronted those who believed it was simply a matter of behavior.

Just simply pluck out your eye or cut off your hand.

It's better to go into heaven with.

No eye or no hand.

All the while knowing Jesus understood.

If it.

Were as simple as behavior.

Then plucking out your eye would solve the problem. But it's not. We know that you don't have to have a hand to.

To engage in killing someone in your mind. Lusting after some one or some thing in your heart, even if you don't see it.

Jesus understood this. James understood.

This.

That's why James calls. Don't become a friend of the world. Don't become someone who.

Who deceives themselves into thinking. As long as you don't sleep in the wrong bed or or or.

Kill someone, then you're doing okay. A way of life. It has consequences that's directly.

Opposed to all that God desires.

For us, James says. And he goes on, But God, But God gives us more grace. That's why the Scripture said God, God opposes the proud. But he shows favor or he gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and He will flee from you.

Draw near to God.

And he will draw near to.

You. Wash your hands, you.

Sinners, and purify your hearts. You double minded. Grieve.

Mourn. And whale. Lament. Repent. Anticipate.

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.

I think James gives us a path forward here. So what do we do? How do we learn to to manage our desires.

Our anger, our lust? How do we how do we put it into the right perspective?

How do we handle it?

How do we manage it appropriately? Well, he gives us two hints.

Verse one is verse seven.

Submit to God. And resist the devil.

Have you ever thought about the power of verse seven?

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Jesus modeled that James picked it up and said community. If you could just if you could just begin to wrap your mind around this reality that if you resist the devil.

He will flee from you.

That there is a power in resisting. And sure, this.

May begin take some time to to do self reflection and self examination. And that can be a painful thing to do.

God, why do I have the desires that I have? And why is it so hard for me to control? And why do I want things? Desire? Things? God, why is my anger just always right there on the surface? That all it takes is one person to just cut me off. And man, I can.

I can feel a surge.

Of anger in me. That's just overwhelming. God, what what is happening there? James said as.

Jesus told.

Him, Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Friends. That's true. In the name of Jesus. It's true. Maybe that's one of the things that God wants you to work on.

This Lenten season.

Is resisting building up some.

Resistance that might involve gathering around a trusted friend that you can share, that you can get real and honest with. We talked about this before. You can share what things are challenging you or maybe come alongside. We have a counseling ministry here at Broadway. We'd love to get you connected with a counselor that you can be honest and get real to to learn. How do I resist the devil?

Here's the second thing I think is so powerful that James says it's not just that the.

Resisting the devil, he will flee, but but.

God draws near. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. It goes hand in hand. God longs to be in relationship.

With you.

To help you learn, to help you.

Manage your desires, to help you bring them under his control.

So James says, Wash your hands, purify your hearts. Grieve and mourn whatever it takes to open up your life that draw near to God. And he will draw near to you in the midst of whatever it is that you're facing. Again, You may need some help to do this, and we'd love to help you take your next step. We'd love to invite you to check out our.

Incredible Celebrate.

Recovery Ministry, where they deal with all kinds of hurts habits and hang ups, and they do it together as a group to say, hey, we're all in this together. Church That's one of our our hopes, our desires for each and every one of us is that we would get real with God and.

With someone else.

Because we know resisting the devil. It can be challenging. Will we find is doing it in community, doing it by the leading, by the spirit.

That he flees from.

Us and God draws near to us. So whatever it is.

Whatever it is this morning. Church. That is saying to you about maybe an anger problem, anger in relationship, and maybe it's a work situation, maybe it's something at school. Would you be willing to.

Resist this week.

Just doing what you've always done? Would you draw near to God and allow him to draw near to you? Or maybe it's managing those desires. It's getting honest about the kind of stuff that I've been feeding my eyes. Feeding my mind. Feeding my heart. You know, it's one thing to to say, well, I'm going to read a little extra this morning. I'll spend five extra minutes in Bible study, but I'm going to spend two hours on the Internet.

Or three hours watching television. Church Can we be honest with each other about what it takes? But how to resist that?

There are a lot of people sitting around you who know how to do it, who've been.

Living it their.

Whole life. Sure if there's any way that we can help you take your next step.

I'm learning how to manage desire in a way that.

Honors God and honors everyone around you and honors yourself. I pray you wouldn't leave here today without asking for that help.

God, would you help us? Would you help us to draw.

Near to you knowing that when we humble ourselves before you, that you are the one who lifts us up? And you are the one who strengthens and sustains us. Again as we resist the devil he flees from us. But, God, you draw near. You draw close. You wrap your arms around us. You strengthen us by the love of a friend, a spouse, a family member.

Fellow churchgoer. And yet many of us have testimony of that. Lord, give us courage this week to face the.

Truth about ourselves, that we can't solve this on our own.

We live in a world that mismanages.

Desire and anger in all kinds.

Of ways. And Lord, it's so easy to get sucked into it. To get caught up in it. Lord, would you help us to take our next step into a different way of life? May This.

Season of Lent, the couple.

Of weeks remaining before Easter Sunday. Lord, may we commit ourselves to resisting this week? Is finding a trusted friend and just starting with with just confession. You may have to be a small thing, but, God, we just start somewhere. And we resist the devil in some way. Maybe it's in a relationship. That temptation around the lunchroom, the gossip. God, may we resist? And instead draw near you knowing that you love us just as we are. We don't have to tear others down to feel better about ourselves. We may be in another relationship.

Someone we care deeply about.

Maybe a spouse. Maybe it's a work relationship. We were tempted to power up on someone. God, would you help us to resist it?

To help us to.

To humble ourselves. To be reminded that, God, you give lots and lots of grace. Lots of grace. Would you draw near to us as we draw near to you this week? I thank you, Jesus, that it's.

By the power of your name that we're able to do this.

We're able to conquer this mismanaged desire.

There are times it can feel so overwhelming. I pray, Lord, that you would remind us by your spirit that there is.

Nothing impossible for you.

Nothing.

So, God, may we lean into you? May we trust you? May we resist? May we draw near to God? Would you help us, Father, In the power of your name, we pray. Amen.