Heart of the Matter

Message Transcription

Let's jump in to God's word. If you have your Bible with you, open over to second Corinthians Chapter five. We're in a series called Greatest Hits as we're looking through the epistles and listening for those deep truths, those powerful teachings that that changed Paul and the other New Testament writers lives and listening for how they might be speaking to us again today. We started in week one with Philippians chapter two and following Christ into the way of humility. Last week we looked at First Corinthians 13 in the Way of Love. This week we're going to pick up and we're going to hear some echoes of that same theme as we look at Paul's challenge to live into the way of reconciliation. It doesn't take you very long. You don't have to look very far on the Web or in your favorite news medium to see reconciliation is needed desperately in our world today. We are so divided. Pick a topic. Pick an area of the country. And we're going to find divisiveness and disunity. Disharmony. Exactly what Clyde said. Here at the church, we're trying to be people of of unity, of reconciliation. That's our heart's desire to to live in to that mission. How do we do that? Well, as you're making your way to Second Corinthians, I want to begin as I have each time with a song the last couple of weeks we started with one from country and one from early eighties rock. This week we're going to look at late eighties rock. Perhaps you recognize this song.

I got the call today. I didn't want to hear. But I knew that it would come. An old true friend of ours was talking on the phone. She said, You found someone? And I thought of all the bad luck and the struggles we went through. And how I lost me. And you lost you. What are these voices outside love's open door. Make us throw off our contentment. And beg for something more. I'm learning to live without you now. But I miss you sometimes. And the more I know, the less I understand. All the things I thought I knew. I'm learning again. I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter, but my will gets weak and my thoughts seem to scatter. But I think it's about forgiveness. Forgiveness. Even if you don't love me anymore. This hit was written by a couple of guys, J.D. Souther and Don Henley. It was recorded on Henley's album, The End of Innocence in 1989. But it's a song that they wrote on the heels of some pretty difficult breakups they had both experienced in their lives of serious relationships that had come to an end. And in the midst of writing, the song had a chance for them to reflect on what it's like to be without those relationships. J.d. Souther said To lose a relationship like this, he says, at first focuses the mind and later expands its range. In an interview with a man named Jim Avila on the website, American songwriter Jim, this author mused that the song strikes such a chord because the themes are universal, especially for those who have lived and lost a little.

I mean, nothing like living and losing. To sharpen the mind. To clarify the focus on what really matters. You had a conversation even yesterday with my mom just talking about where we are and where she is and listening to her say it's really got me clear on what matters and what I want to spend however many days the Lord sees fit to give me. I want to focus in on what really matters. Getting down to the heart of the matter. So when it comes down to the heart of the matter, what is it? I believe that's one of the questions that Paul is wrestling with and struggling with here as he's writing this letter to the Corinthians going What really matters. Some questions have been raised about his ministry and about the kind of person that he is. And Paul wants to speak directly to that. He wants to address why it is that he's doing what he's doing. And so here in Chapter five, he drills down on the foundation of the gospel, and he draws his readers that young church and ours today back to the main message of his first letter, Love. Verse 14 He says This For Christ's love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all. And therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live. Should no longer live for themselves. But for him. Who died for them? It was raised.

To life.

Church. What motivates you? What is your why have you thought about that recently? Why it is that you do what you do. You know, when we look into the lives of successful people, no matter what industry they find themselves in, whether that's business or sports media, maybe it's in farming or medicine, even in ministry. And we don't have to look very far or listen very long to hear them talk about why the why. Some of you may be familiar with Simon Sinek. He's kind of popularized this question in this conversation in our day. And it actually springs from I listen to an interview this week of his own suffering and struggles of losing his motivation, of his passion for why he's doing what he's doing. He said it was only when a friend came up to him who who recognized that he was not being the Simon that he'd always been. And he said to him, these words, Whatever you need, I've got your back. I'm worried about you. Whatever you need. As Simon said, it was that simple act of love that gave him the courage to turn around and face the problem and the struggle that he had to define what it is, why he was doing what he was doing. Now, since that time, thousands, thousands upon thousands have wrestled with this question, thanks to the work of Simon Sinek. But, you know, Simon's not the first person to ask this question. Why? Perhaps you remember the story of Paul back when he was still known as this guy named Saul and he's on the road to Damascus, ready to unleash not compassion, but fury on those who would claim to be Jesus followers until he hears this voice.

And you remember what the voice said. Saul. Saul. Why? Why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? So last. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. So why are you doing what you're doing? What is your wife? Your wife is incorrect. I need to give you a new y in. Oh, did he ever? Church. What's your why? And one of the things Simon said, he goes, I was really clear on my what. What I was going to do and how I was going to do it. In fact, I was really good at it. The problem came in is I didn't care anymore. I'd lost my Y. Church. What is your why? As you think about what it is that you do, maybe you're really clear on on what it is that you're doing and how you're going to do it. And you may be achieving all kinds of success. Do you know you're why? You see, without that, we're going to struggle. We're going to struggle to live into the purpose that God has given to us as we jump back into second Corinthians five. I think this is the question that Paul is trying to speak into to this young church that's that's been struggling. His relationship with the Corinthians has spanned a number of years. In fact, through the different texts we have, we know he's written probably around five different letters to the church.

They've written at least one back to him. And Paul's recently been on a trip. By the time this letter comes, he's been on a trip, maybe trying to address some of the things that he spoke to them about in that first letter. But it didn't go well. Instead of that welcome red carpet treatment, all he found was opposition and pushback and questions questioning him. Questioning why he is doing what he's doing. Some resented his intrusion. Who are you to tell us? Some some other teachers had kind of snuck in after he left and started sowing seeds of discontent and discord. Others were mocking his speaking skills and his his presence because he didn't teach like the teachers of the day. He wasn't this great, incredible orator, as so many in that culture were. You see, the culture and the gospel were clashing. And it seemed as if the culture was winning out. This division starts in the church and it's beginning to threaten to tear it apart and tear apart even Paul and his relationship with this church that he loves desperately. And so Paul sets out to address these concerns. And so here in chapter five, he's answering his why. Why he does what he does, why he's willing to suffer the way that he suffers, why he's not willing to engage in some of the same practices and behaviors of the teachers of his day. But he's intent upon living out, as an example, this faith in Christ.

He says, Since then, we know what it is to fear the Lord. We try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again. But are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than what is in the heart. You see, if we're out of our mind, as some say it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves. But for him who died for them and was raised again. See Paul references two of the great motivators in life, fear and love. But the fear he's talking about here is not this fear of of of an angry, uncaring, harsh ruler. Rather, it's the kind of fear that comes as we sit in awe of an amazing God who created us in the world and all that's in it. And who loves us so much. He was willing to send his son. Paul believed his core that those of us who are in Christ, there's no condemnation. In fact, he wrote those very words in Romans Chapter eight. But he also believed that this grace done just allow us to live simply however we want to live.

Again to the church in Rome, he wrote. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means we are those who have died to sin? How can we live in it any longer? You see, Paul believed how we live now matters how we live today it really matters. The Gospel of Jesus is not just about getting us into heaven when we die. It certainly contains that. But it's oh so much more than that. It has direct implications for how we live on this side of heaven. And so Paul says, If you look at me and you think I'm out of my mind that I've gone crazy, it's because I no longer live to the standards of this world. The only standard I care about is God's standard. So if you look at me and think I'm acting weird, well, you need to know. The audience that I am acting for is God and not man. But if you look at me and you see something resonating. You sense that pull in your heart? Well, that's because God's revealing the truth to you. That there is a kingdom and it's not of this world, but it's invading. It's it's breaking through a little more every day. And every time we see love win out over fear. Every time we see reconciliation went out over this unity disharmony that kind of breaks in just a little bit more and a little bit more.

Paul says, I am who I am. My wife is the is the love of Christ. It's what compels me. And this word, compel, is a deep and a rich meaning it not just means it. It kind of moves me. It energizes me. It also directs me. Just like a ship going through a strait that there's this force that pushes it along, but it also is directed in a certain pathway. Paul says that's the love of Christ in my life. You see, it's the love that not only drives him out into the world, but then controls how he lives in that world. That love compels him. So it not only motivates, it manages him. You see, Paul's life was rooted deeply in this abiding belief that God loved him. And he loves all of us so much. So he was willing to sacrifice himself to step into the world. He was compelled to go into the world and not just be in the world. And not just tell everybody about how amazing the father is, but instead to demonstrate for them to direct that love to action, say, I'm going to live on behalf of you, that you might have life with us for eternity. See God's love compelled him not only to come into the world, but to act on the world's behalf. Because the love of Christ it compels. It motivates and it manages. And I know that that sometimes has a has a create some discord in it. We don't typically think about fear or rather love controlling or managing us.

In fact, we we think of the opposite. True love is free love. I can do what I want. But think about this. My marriage to Kelly would not go very long if I said, Babe, I love you. I feel the feels for you. But don't try to tell me what to do. Okay? All right. Don't force your values on me. I love you. You just deal with that. And it's not going to get very far down that road. No, my love. It's it's not just that I feel or think a certain way. It directs how I live, that I live in such a way that she would always know I love her. That's one of the painful things about losing someone you love. Right. Because it's not just the feeling out there in the world floating around that you're no longer have access to. But you had this demonstration, this tangible, lived out reality. And we feel the loss of that. Paul says that's the kind of love that changes the life. It reaches down and grabs you and it won't let you go. I love that motivates and that manages. See, true love does exercise some control over us. Notice what else Paul says changes in his life. So from now on, he says, verse 16, We regard no one from a worldly point of view, though once we regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone, the new is here.

And all this, every bit of it is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. And he gave us the Ministry of Reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. In 2004, Kelly and his world changed. We welcomed our first child into our family. In 2006. It changed again when we welcomed our second. Our whole view of life in the world around us completely changed how we saw everything. And everyone was now set in a different atmosphere. You know, we had already been aunts and uncles a couple of times over. Some of our best friends, they'd had a little girl a couple of years before us. We thought we knew what kind of changes were in store for us. We had no idea. No idea of the depth and the complexity of those changes. It changed how we saw our house and you walk in the door and immediately you're looking at everything that's like 18 inches lower. When I look into a house, that's never where my attention was drawn. Right. So we were all about baby proofing. Not only that, it changed how we spend our free time. Right. We went from having a free time to having no free time, but we were willing to sacrifice that. That was a willing gift. We said, okay. Sometimes we wonder about that one, but that's another story for another story.

But it also changed the car we drove. We were looking for a new car. This car does not. It will not provide the safe environment that we want for our family. It changed everything. It changed how we saw people, how we engage with them, how we talked with them. I remember there were so many times that we would go to a target or some other store looking for baby stuff and we'd see other parents and never before would I have done this. But I would stop and say, Hey, where did you get that? That is awesome. I want one of those. And they were like, Oh, we'll tell you. They were proud. They weren't like, Hey, freak show back off, you know? They were more than willing to happy to say, sure, here, go to this website, go to this store. Let me take you to the aisle. Right. Why? Because all of a sudden now I wasn't thinking. This will look weird if I embarrass myself by asking them a question. I'm thinking what's best for my kid? I want that. So I'm going to do whatever it takes. My whole life, Caylee's whole our whole lives were changed. How we view everything was different. Paul says the same is true. The same is true with Christ. And when we come face to face with the reality that the Creator and the sustainer of the universe reached down at the time, entered into our humanity, gave himself for us that we might be able to be with him forever.

Paul said It changes everything.

It changed everything. See his vision correction, I think is so amazing, he says that even extended to how I saw Jesus. Did you catch that? So for now, and we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded Christ. In this way.

See, Paul says on that road to Damascus, I had a really clear idea of what it meant to be a messiah and what we were looking for in the Messiah. I knew what I was looking for. I did not understand. And Jesus gave him a brand new view of what Messiah meant. Paul says this encounter with Christ is not just going to change how you see the world. It'll change how you see Jesus and what he asks you to do. Paul says the same revisioning. Process is still available. He says, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors. You have a new job. You have a new Y. As though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. It'll change your life. It'll change everything. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Well says you've been given this amazing Ministry of Reconciliation.

But a ministry, not just to be talked about in pews and around circles and neighborhoods and in small rooms and Bible classes. It's intended to be a way of life that's lived out. That enters out into the world, that incarnates itself in you and in me and begins to try to live out. What does this look like now in this scenario and in this in my workplace and my school and my neighborhood and my family? What does it look like to face a cancer diagnosis that you don't know? It's uncertain where the future's going to go as far as this diagnosis goes. But what is my faith in Christ have to say about that? How do I view scenarios like this where we come to a reality that things are not going to be the way I wanted them to be, that my story is not going to end happily ever after in the way that I dreamed it would. Just like Paul on that road to Damascus.

Right. Things change. How are we going to live differently in light of that?

That's one of the reasons we gather here every week. It's to encourage each other because Paul says we know where the story is going. In fact, we have a part in that story. Now our lives are to become a reflection of God's faithfulness, he says. All that sin, all your brokenness, all your shortcomings, all those places in your life you wish you could go back and get redo. Paul says that's been dealt with at the cross. That's fidelity. That doesn't have to drag us down anymore. Instead, we're free to be now witnesses. Ambassadors. As if God is making his appeal through you. Have you thought about that recently? There. Maybe God's placed you in the spot because He wants you to speak on his behalf. It's as if God is making His appeal to the world through you.

Oh, my goodness.

I can't help but think, you know, if. If you knew about me, what God knows about me.

You wouldn't have let me in here. You wouldn't let me up on the stage. Right. But on the flip side, I could say, well, if I knew about you, what God knows about you, I wouldn't have let you in the door. But God says you're my ambassador. I want you to testify to the world. Of the reconciliation power of the gospel. Well, no. People are looking for excuses and reasons why not to like this group. Right. And we don't have to look very far to find those kinds of reasons, do we? Just go to your favorite political news source, and what you'll hear is ten reasons why you should hate the other people and why they're not true Americans and why they don't deserve to be here. And we should vote them all and run them all out of the country. And it doesn't seem to matter what flavor you choose. Right. They both got top ten lists. Oh, if it were just in that arena. Wouldn't that be? That'd be so much simpler. But how many of us know churches who have the same top ten list? I mean, not here Broadway, of course, but we've been to other churches that have their top ten list. Of reasons why they shouldn't be allowed. And why we should distance and stay away from Jesus is not a you're my ambassador to those places.

You're my ambassador to those people, to that school, to that workplace. At this little beach head is being created right there. And I'm asking you, would you just speak to the resurrection, reconciliation power that's happened in your life? That's not yours to solve all the issues. It's not yours to to figure out the path forward for everybody and said, would you just be my ambassador to that group? So he gets making his appeal through us. Now, some of you here today, our folks have been ambassadors at Broadway for decades. And we would not be here if it weren't for your ambassadorship. And I just want to say thank you, thank you for continuing to love and to serve the people and city of Lubbock. Thank you for being willing to keep moving closer. In our history, we just moved closer to tech and closer to tech and closer to tech. And now we're just across the street. In fact, you could throw a rock and hit the campus. Don't do that. You'll get in trouble. But you could like. That's how close we are. Why? Because we want to be an ambassador of a kingdom.

The Texas Tech.

And to LC you and all these places. And some of you are here. And my prayer is that that ambassadorship will just keep growing, that your your passion and your joy and your hope and Christ will keep going. God will continue to pour out opportunities for you to speak.

Of life and hope and the gospel.

In our community. Some of us are here today.

And we're wondering, is that real? Like I'm struggling to see that.

Some of us have been followers for a long time. And we're going. I'm really glad you're here to. Welcome to the club. I've been there. Can I tell you? I've been there this week. And tears. Is it really true? Can I bank my whole life on this? Now I'm talking to my mom and I'm saying, mom, you've you've begged you've you've wagered your whole life on these moments when you go, I don't know where the road is going, but I know my savior lives.

She's like, That's what I'm holding on to. That's what I'm clinging to right now. And I hear the words of that father who encountered Jesus that that day, who was asking for this miracle of healing right.

For his kiddo. He says, I believe. But help my unbelief.

I believe, but help my unbelief. Maybe. Maybe that's your prayer today. You join it with me?

Oh, God, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Again. That's why we gather here. Because I'm I'm hanging on to the belief of our of our church family because we're not all individual, isolated grains of rice making our way in the world. No, we're family. And so there are days we come and man, my faith is strong and powerful and I'm reaching out and I'm holding on to people and I'm pulling them along with me. Go. No, no, no. This is true. Hang in there. And then there are times I show up, and I need you to do that. I need you to say, Hey, I know you're the preacher, but I'm going to help you today. Mike. It's because preachers are prone to struggles to. And I'm so thankful so many of you have reached out and said, we're praying for you. We're encouraging you. We're here for you. I don't know what it is. But no matter what it is, we're with you. See, that's the story.

That's the that's the gospel lived out.

That's an ambassador of the kingdom saying, no, no, no, God is with us. No matter what we face, God is with us. Death is not the end of the story. That's not the worst thing that could happen to you. The worst thing is never hearing the story. The worst thing is never receiving the invitation.

Now Church.

What is the heart of the matter? What is your wife? I invite you this week to sit back and in second Corinthians five and just dream for a minute. God, where are you inviting me to be an ambassador to you this week? Who are the people in my life that that you want me to speak to love of Christ that changed my life into their life. And sometimes that will require some words and sometimes it will require some actions. But you help me to discern what it is and help me to live that. Or maybe. God, I need some help. On this road of faith, I need to reach out to my family who are a little further along the road than me and say, Hey, could you help me take that next step? Could you help me keep believing? Could you remind me? Could you show me testimonies in your life of of how God is faithful to his promises. I need that. Church, whatever it is that we can do to help you take this.

Next step.

To discover your why and to live into it. We want to do that. Let's pray. Got to know. Many here today are like me and my family facing an uncertain future. At least on this side of heaven. And God, we need you. We need you to be real. So, Father, would you send some of your ambassadors this week to surround us? To encourage us? To remind us of your loving presence. That a note or a text or phone call might gee, might be just the thing. That catches us. It speaks life into a scab. But you help us to be ambassadors on the lookout. Would you change how we view the world around us? Not not the pretense and the the image impression management stuff, but God that you would help us to see past that. To see your sons and your daughters, those that you love so much you weren't willing to be separated from. And so you entered into humanity. Now your love compels you into the world, but not just to tell everybody how they were living wrong, but instead to to show them how to.

Live it in the right way. In the way of humility and the way of love. A father in the way of reconciliation.

That you've reconciled us. How would you help us to be your ambassadors this week? And Father, for those who are just holding on by a thread today. Oh, God. Would you reach down and touch them? May they sense and know your presence with them. Father, for all those who are facing an uncertain future, a difficult diagnosis, a challenging relationship, a work situation that's not going the way we want it to go. God, who? Whoever, wherever. Father, would you be real to them today?

And the powerful, reconciling, humble, loving way of Jesus. Oh, God.

Would you meet us here today? In his name, we pray. Amen.