Evangelizing the Lost by Our Lives

Introduction: The Church's Purpose and Means of Glorifying God

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, December 10, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. We come again this morning to take up our next study in a series of sermons that I have entitled, Living Together in the Father's House. And if you're familiar with the book published a couple of years ago by Dr. Wayne Mack and David Swavely, you will know that the title of this series of sermons is a borrowed, altered version of the title of that book, Life in the Father's House, a Member's Guide to the Local Church.

0:44 And we are taking up this theme because our church constitution requires the elders of this assembly, every five years from the adoption of our revised constitution, to take at least 15 conversations. On current Lord's Days, and give the adult class and the morning preaching to the opening up of the biblical truths captured in both our confession and our constitution. And so for the next several months, we'll be focusing our attention on some major biblical issues related to the subject of this local church and our behavior in it, hence, Living Together. In the Father's House. Now in the first four messages, we've addressed several crucial questions. The first was this.

1:40 What does God think about behavior in His house? And I sought to answer that question by opening up 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15, a text which demonstrates that God is deeply concerned about behavior in His house, and primarily because of the idea, the identity of the church, and the function of the church. In that text, we learn that its identity is that of house of God, church of the living God, and in its function, it is pillar and ground of the truth. The second question we addressed was this.

2:23 What is the purpose of this church? And with Ephesians 3, 21 as our foundational text, and considering three or four other secondary texts, we stated, using the language of our Constitution, that the purpose of this church is to glorify the God of the Scriptures. And I used this very strong language that the supreme and all-encompassing purpose of the church is to glorify the God of the Scriptures, and no other. No other purpose must ever rival, let alone replace, that supreme and all-encompassing purpose. Then the third question we took up was this, and this continues to be a question we are responding to. By what means are we to pursue that purpose? What are the biblically mandated purposes by which the church is to pursue this all-encompassing purpose of glorifying God.

3:36 You see, the church is not left to her discretionary powers as to the means by which God is to be glorified. But the same Bible that identifies and defines the purpose of the church identifies and defines the activities by which the church is to pursue and to realize, that noble purpose. Our Constitution, in seeking to answer that question by what means, has put it together in this language. The purpose of the Church is to glorify the God of the Scriptures in, could have used the preposition by, promoting His worship, evangelizing sinners, edifying saints, planting and strengthening churches, and showing benevolence to the needy. And I have tried to give you a helpful visual framework to hang these things together along with some pivotal text by thinking in terms of the Church as a large circle. And that circle is beset with arrows. One arrow goes directly up through the circle and points

4:53 heavenward. Another set of arrows start inside the circle and point inward. And then there are arrows pointing outward, east, west, and south, left, right, and down. And in that visual image, I hope we can capture not only what our Constitution states, but what the Scripture states with reference to the fundamental means by which the Church is to pursue its supreme and all-encompassing purpose of glorifying the God of the Scriptures. We saw that the arrow pointing upward. Is this matter of promoting the worship of the living God? Last Lord's Day, the arrows pointing inward are the matters of the edifying of the Church, both by means of Christ-given, Spirit-empowered, biblically qualified pastors and teachers who minister to the body, and by the one another ministries of the body to its purpose. And this is the matter of promoting the worship of the Holy Spirit to itself in love. And then also, the arrows pointing inward, as our Constitution

6:09 also identifies, are to be understood as the demonstration of practical love and concern in benevolence to the people of God. Now then, that's a distillation of four and a half hours preaching into about seven or eight minutes of review. And the longer the series gets, the more difficult it is to...

Evangelism: The Inseparable Witness of Life and Word

6:32 You condense and give the distilled essence, but hopefully you're picking up more and more that is filtering down in, and you don't need to have me announce the pivotal text. Now this morning, we come to consider the arrows that go from within the circle out. Left, right, no, that's left, and this is right, and down. East, west, south. The upward arrow is our worship. The outward arrow is the world about us. And in our Constitution, those activities are captured in these words. The purpose of the church is to glorify the God of Scriptures in evangelizing sinners, planting and strengthening churches. Those

7:17 are the activities that point to the church's mission, its privilege and responsibility with reference to the world. Evangelizing sinners, planting and strengthening churches. Now as we take up the subject this morning of evangelizing sinners, we are going to do so in two messages. The first thing that we're going to do is to look at this subject of evangelism in terms of what we are as the people of God in relationship to the gospel, and then, God willing, next week, what we do with propagating that gospel message. And then, the second thing that we do is to look at this concept of evangelism as a way to communicate the gospel to the ones who are present in the church in the future. This is the first in a series from the Lutheran All-Kings seat, and at the beginning of this conference, we will see what evangelism is about. One of the ways that we're going to talk about evangelism is to talk about the total process of evangelism. Evangelism is an entire concept of evangelism, and it's the

8:17 basis of the word evangelism. Evangelism is a concept of evangelism, or asceticism, which is basically a concept of evangelism. Evangelism is a concept of evangelism. Now, the whole concept of evangelism is basically, as one has described it, beggars who have found bread telling other beggars where they may find bread. It comes from the Greek word and it means to proclaim the good news. And so evangelizing sinners is the communication of the good news of God's saving mercy in Jesus Christ. And the church is to glorify God not only by promoting His worship, by edifying itself in love by the distinctive ministry of pastors and teachers and all of the members as they minister one to another, but the God of the scriptures is to be glorified as the church is engaged in evangelizing sinners.

9:11 This morning we focus on the first aspect of what that task and privilege of evangelism is. I say the second major category next Lord's Day. And here is the proposition. We.

9:26 And we means all of the members of the church.

9:31 We must manifest before the world the truth and power of the gospel by a consistent and radically different pattern of life, both corporately and individually.

9:48 If we would fulfill our task of evangelism, we must manifest before the world the truth and power of the gospel, by a consistent and radically different pattern of life, both corporately and individually. Now when I use the word world in this proposition, we must manifest before the world. What am I referring to? I'm referring to the mass of mankind in their unconverted, uncleansed, unforgiving state.

10:27 Amen. Amen. In women, boys and girls, rich and poor, educated, uneducated, in every place, all shapes, all sizes, all classes, all ethnicity, sinners who comprise society and individuals wherever we find them. That's the world.

10:48 We must manifest before the world, before the mass of unconverted, uncleansed, unforgiven, men, women, boys and girls, wherever they may be, in our homes, in this building, next door to us, in the shop, in the classroom, in the doctor's office, in the school room, wherever, you and I, as the people of God, bound to the church of Christ, have a solemn obligation and a blessed privilege to evangelize sinners. How? By manifesting before them the truth and power of the gospel by a consistent and radically different pattern of life, both corporately. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. If you have love one to another, the world beholds the pattern of our life. And individually, each of us, when we go into our doctor's office and when we sit down, next to that person on the train that goes into the PATH station, when we contact that particular merchant in healing, individually as well as corporately,

12:08 we must manifest before the world the truth and power of the gospel by a consistent and radically different pattern of life, both corporately and individually. Now, while I'm separating these two messages, I can't preach them all this morning. The second one will deal with the fact that we must proclaim to the world the truth and power of the gospel by every legitimate means of verbal communication, both corporately and individually, while I separate them for preaching. We must never separate them in our own minds.

12:49 They are the two sides of a genuine coin. If you have a bona fide, genuine coin, minted in the proper place in the proper way, it will reflect its genuineness on both sides. You may have a perfectly formed head of Washington on your quarter, and all the other engravings seem to be the marks of a bona fide, genuine, valid medium of exchange, but if you turn it over and it's blank, or if it's got a picture of your Uncle George on it, you know that this is bogus currency. Like the two sides of a genuine coin.

13:29 Like the two parts of breathing. Sitting here, if you're a real-life, sure-enough-breathing human being, you're doing two things constantly. You can't say, well, I just prefer inhaling. Forget the exhaling.

13:42 You're dead. Or you say, oh, I like the exhaling, but this inhaling business, that takes work. I'm just going to exhale. Now, you just exhale, you're dead.

13:54 Breathing has two inseparable activities. You inhale, and you exhale. Like the two phases of a full day. Day and night.

14:03 And you have a day. So while we are separating for the sake of preaching, we must never separate in our minds that the task of evangelizing sinners is a task that involves the witness of life and the witness of word. Not word divorced from life. Not life divorced from word.

14:26 It is life and myth. It is what I am. And what I say. If I live a radically different life by the grace of God, but don't open my lips, pass on a track, share a tape, a book, I am simply a noble enigma to my unconverted friends.

14:46 They see my radically different life. They see I don't respond to frustrating things like they do. They see that in situations where they blow their cork and give out a stream of cuss words, I am patient. I am kind.

14:59 But if we don't open our words, we're going to die. If we don't open our mouths and tell them why, we are simply a noble enigma. And if we're all the time opening our mouths and passing our tracks, and we get tipped off in the traffic jam like they do, and we hop and puff when someone offends us like they do, then shut your mouth about the gospel. You're not demonstrating the truth and the power of the gospel.

15:30 And the best thing you can do for some people is put a piece of duct tape over their mouth until their lives become a consistent, not perfect, consistent manifestation of the truth and power of the gospel. And as we get on later in this series of studies to the expectations of church members, it's very interesting in the section on page 8 dealing with personal evangelism, this duality is beautifully set out in these words. It is the duty of every member to pray and labor according to his God-given ability and opportunity for the extension of the kingdom of God, both at home and to the ends of the earth. Therefore, every member should seek to recognize and seize every opportunity to bear witness to Christ. Now listen, by consistent Christian conduct and by verbal testimony. And I had forgotten that was there until I had the message all prepared. I said, let's see what we say over there.

16:35 By consistent life and by verbal witness. Well, so much for that introduction and that underscoring of the inseparability of these things. Now then, I've made an assertion. The burden of proof rests upon me, and I'm going to let it rest down on three mighty, massive biblical texts.

Pillar Text 1: Matthew 5:13-16 – Salt and Light

16:57 Where do I get the gall to state so dogmatically, like I really knew what I was talking about, that we evangelize sinners when we manifest before the world the truth and power of the gospel by a consistent and radically different pattern of life, both corporately and individually? Well, I rest it down on these three texts. Open your Bibles with me, please, to text number one. Matthew chapter 5.

17:29 Matthew chapter 5, verses 13 through 16. Our Lord Jesus, speaking, says, You are the salt of the earth. Second person, plural. You, my followers.

17:43 You, my people. But if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It stands forth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of man. You are the light of the world.

17:57 A city set on the hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but on the sand. And it shines unto all that are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may hear your constant gossiping of the gospel.

18:16 No, no, no, that they may see. Not that they may hear, but that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Now, remember the setting of these words. What has Jesus just done?

18:36 As he goes up into the mountain and the multitude are gathered around him, he sits down and he begins to teach. And his mouth is opened and he gives what we call the Beatitudes. Those eight blessings. And the Beatitudes are not a description of the way to be saved.

18:55 The Beatitudes are not exhortation to become something. The Beatitudes are a description. They are a composite picture of the leading features of every son and daughter who is in the kingdom of grace established by the King who is speaking, even Jesus. Remember if someone believes that a crime has been committed against them and they're trying to track down the perpetrator and they say, what did he look like?

19:26 And there in the policeman's room, whatever one they use, they pull out these various pictures of different shaped mouths and eyes and they try to form a composite to give some lightness of the alleged criminal. What Jesus is doing in the Beatitudes is saying, do you want to know what a son or daughter of the kingdom looks like? Here's the picture. Sots have been blessed with the dynamics of the grace and power of the kingdom.

19:54 Here are their features. They are poor in spirit. They mourn. They are meek.

20:00 They hunger and thirst. They are merciful. They are pure in heart. They are peacemakers.

20:05 And this pattern is so consistent and so radically different from the world that it raises the ire of the world, lest are you that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake. Now then, having described the character traits of the sons and daughters of the kingdom, now here in verses 13 to 16, he says what such people are in relationship to the world. And he likens them in that relationship to the world, for they are poor in spirit, they mourn, they are meek, they hunger and thirst for righteousness, not somewhere hidden off in a monastery, but in the real live interaction with people who are not poor in spirit, but are full of pride. People who do not mourn over sin, they brag about sin, try to prove they have a good self-image, because nothing they do makes them ashamed. I'm just being my man, my woman. I'm now being true to myself when I become an unashamed, outspoken, aggressive pervert.

21:24 Not the sons and daughters of the kingdom. They mourn over sins that the world wouldn't even call sin. They are meek. There's an absence of self-will to God and ill-will in their interaction with men.

21:38 When you touch them, they're not like a loaded landmine. They explode in your face. You can nudge them, poke them, punch them. They respond with Christ-like meekness.

21:49 Go right down through. Jesus said, now, such people, and these are my people, the sons and daughters of my kingdom. This is what they look like. This is how they act.

22:00 These are their prevailing dispositions. And as such, as they are out there in the midst of worldlings, who know nothing of these characters, he says, look at verse 13, it is not a command, it is not an exhortation, it's a description of a fact. You who manifest these character traits, you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?

22:29 It is good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. You are the salt. What would have come to the minds of his hearers? Salt.

22:41 There are 20th century Americans sitting down for dinner this afternoon, but in that eastern climate, with no refrigerators, no freezers. If you want meat to be preserved at all, what did you do with the fish you caught? Well, you fillet some of them and put them on a bed of coals like Jesus did there by the shore in John 21. But that which you would keep, you salted it.

23:07 The salt was a preservative to keep the flesh from putrefying. To keep it from multiplying bacteria that would make it rancid and unfit for consumption. And Jesus said, You, my people, who by grace manifest the character traits of the sons and daughters of the kingdom, you are like salt sprinkled upon the earth that is putrefying, that is decaying, that multiplies the bacteria and its sin to such an extent that this world would become a veritable hell apart from the salt of my people. You are the salt of the very earth. And he says, If you profess to be mine, and you are not that, you are, quote, salt in name, but there's no ability to check putrefaction, salt that lost its saltiness, good for nothing, discarded. It's really not salt. It's now non-salt.

24:21 It's just a pile of mineral that needs to be thrown in the pathway. See what Jesus is saying? Go on and read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, and he says, The sons and daughters of the kingdom live with a desire to obey the law of God from the heart. They deal with anger for what it is, the very seed of murder.

24:46 They deal with lust for what it is, the very seed of adultery. They speak the truth. They don't say, I never had sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.

25:04 But in my mind, I mean I never had intercourse. Not his people. No. The sons and daughters of the kingdom, their yes is yes, their no is no.

25:16 They're not constantly standing on their right. When the Roman soldier comes and says, Hey, be my cousin, be my courier, take my duffel bag for a mile. Instead of grousing and grumbling and stopping at half a mile, you say, Yes, sir. I'll carry it too.

25:33 Chapter 6. The sons and daughters of my kingdom don't live for things and stuff. They seek first the kingdom. They trust their father for their bread.

25:43 Chapter 7. They've entered an arrow way, compressed through an arrow gate. They live strictly before the eye of God. Such a people, Jesus said, are short, not by what they say, but by what they are and what they do.

26:02 And in so doing, what are they doing? Come back to my premise. They are, by their radically different and consistent manner of life, telling forth the truth and the power of the gospel. What is the truth of the gospel?

26:22 If any man be in Christ, he is the old creature, cosmetized and marginally changed. No. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is past.

26:39 The new is the truth of the gospel. It makes new creatures. You're the salt of the earth. Just your presence in that faculty lounge at that school where you work.

26:55 You check the dirty jokes when you walk in the room. Just because people know, you don't listen to dirty jokes. And when a group of people get together and start to gossip in some social circle into which you're thrown in the will of God, the minute you come, or you open your eyes and give that look, they know, hey, that's Kenneth. So-and-so's here.

27:17 That's salt. How much salt do you need to check the potential putrefaction in a whole slab of salmon? You don't need an awful lot. You're the salt of the earth, sprinkled here, sprinkled there.

27:32 You are doing what? You are manifesting the truth and the power of the gospel. You are the salt of the earth. Second image, verse 14.

27:44 You are the light of the world. You're not only real salt in relationship to the world in its decaying and putrefying state, you are real light in relationship to the world in its spiritual darkness. It's not only spiritually decayed, it is spiritually dark. Now, go back to first century Palestine.

28:14 No electricity, no ever-ready flashlights. They knew what darkness was. Years ago, when I was preaching at a little mission in the rural south, there was a road that we would take from Augusta, Georgia, back to Greenville, South Carolina. It was miles away from any town, any city.

28:38 I mean, there was no light anywhere. And if the stars were not shining, if the moon was in a phase where you could barely see it, if there was cloud cover, it was darkness so thick you could feel it. That's the way it was in Palestine. One little match light in that kind of darkness can be seen for hundreds of yards.

29:01 Light a match on a sunny day and three, four feet away, you can't tell whether it's burning or not. The Lord is saying this world is shrouded in darkness, as dark as rural, Palestinian hillsides, away from any reflected light from the village and from those that might have their oil lamps burning into the nighttime. He says, You, My people, in terms of what you are, the way I have drawn you in the composite strokes of My grace to you, you who are poor in spirit, you who mourn, are meek, hunger and thirst, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, you are the light of the world. And then the Lord says, As a city on a hill cannot be hid. What is He saying? He's saying your light is real and unavoidable.

29:59 You are the light of the world. Light, just as a city, diffuses light. And when it's on a hill, it can't be hid. Anywhere you look, from any point of the compass, you see it.

30:11 Jesus said your light is real. It's not just nice poetic concept, nice, beautiful, language. Your light is real. The world's darkness is real.

30:21 The city set on the hill cannot be hid. Then He goes on to say, Neither do men light a lamp and put it under the bushel. Why would men take a lamp, light it, and then cover it under a bushel, back it? Doesn't make sense.

30:34 You want the light? Why? To give light. So He said, What do you do?

30:38 Once you've lit the lamp, you don't stick it under a bushel. You put it on the lampstand so it gives light to all around. Jesus said, That's what I've done in My grace to the subjects of My kingdom. I've lit them up with grace.

30:50 And they don't get hidden under a bushel. They're put before the world to show, to show forth what? The truth and the power of the gospel by a radically different pattern of life. Not a perfect, but a radically and consistently different pattern of life.

31:18 And then the first exhortation in this passage, verse 16, everything else is indicative. This is what is. Now we have an imperative. Even so, let your light shine, where?

31:32 Before men, that they may see. I'm talking here about hearing. That they may see your good works. And what will the end result be with the blessing of God?

31:46 Well, sometimes He's already described what the reaction will be with some. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say, all men are of evil against you, falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they, the prophets before you.

32:00 Don't take this out of context. Sometimes the light so exposes the darkness that in the language of John, this is the condemnation that light has come into the world. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Neither will they come to the light.

32:16 The crucifixion of Jesus is the world's attempt to put out the light of the world. And sometimes that's what they'll attempt to do with us. But other times what will happen? They see the good works and it leads to them eventually coming home to the very purpose for which they were made and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

32:39 They see a life radically different and they can't figure it out. They can't with all of their sphere of reference. But eventually as gospel truth comes to them and the life is explained in terms of it being a gospel life, a life transformed by the saving power of Christ and the work of the Spirit. God works in their hearts and they say with all my heart, I want what you have.

33:09 And you point them to the one place where they can get it. And they glorify God that a real Christian came across their path whose life was what? Light. So, when I'm bold enough to assert that the evangelizing, evangelize sinners how?

33:35 By the manifestation of the truth and power of the gospel by a consistent and radically different pattern of life. I would rest the whole case on this one passage on the lips of our Lord Jesus. You are salt. You are light.

Pillar Text 2: Philippians 2:12-16 – Shining as Luminaries

33:55 And this in conjunction with what men see, not what they hear. Second pillar text. Turn with me please to Philippians chapter 2. Remember now I'm simply trying to prove from the scriptures that we evangelize sinners first of all by this consistent demonstration of the truth in life.

34:26 Philippians 2. I begin reading at verse 12. So then, so then my beloved, even as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and questionings in order that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you are.

35:07 You are seen as luminaries, as lights, as spangling stars in the darkness of this world, holding forth better rendered, holding fast the word of life that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain, neither labor in vain. Now again, you say a word about the setting of this passage. In the previous paragraph, beginning in verses 1 through 11, the apostle has exhorted the people of God at Philippi to a life of deep unity, fostered and fed by a spirit of humility and selflessness after the pattern of Jesus. Let me give you that again. He has summoned the Philippians to a life of deep unity, fostered and fed by a spirit of humility and selflessness after the pattern of Jesus. That's the whole thrust of verses 1 through 11.

36:24 Now then, having said that, he turns in verse 12 and gives a general exhortation. So then, my beloved, even as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, here's the general exhortation. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And I'm not going to take the time to give a careful exegesis of what is the working out and the fear and the trembling.

36:51 I don't have time to do it. But the bottom line of it is, you are to work out the salvation procured through the humiliation, selfless love, incarnation, crucifixion, and exaltation of Jesus. That salvation you've received by faith, you are to work it out. Work it out in its ongoing dimensions and dynamics in your life.

37:13 And you're to do it with all dead seriousness and earnestness, with a fear and trembling not of the guilty criminal, but of the serious saint. It's a serious thing to be a holy man and a holy woman in an unholy world. Don't play with it. Do it with fear and trembling.

37:33 Now, what is to encourage us? Verse 13. Here's the grand encouragement. Four.

37:40 I'm not telling you make bricks. I won't give you straw. Four. It is this very God who calls you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, who is working in you to will and to work for His good pleasure.

37:54 So may I say it without being irreverent. Don't get all uptight and say, what a standard. I've got to work out my salvation with all earnestness and assiduity. School kids, put that down for a good vocabulary word next week.

38:06 Assiduity, alright? You do it with all earnestness, all intensity. But you're not to do it saying, oh, can I make it, can I do it? No.

38:15 The very God who calls me to this, He's constantly working in me both to give me the will to do what will please Him in the working out of my salvation and the power to accomplish my will to do for His glory. Isn't that what it says? For God is working in you, energeo, effectually working in you to will and to work for His good pleasure. Now that's the general exhortation of these two verses.

38:45 Now he's going to descend to particulars like a good preacher will always do. Most people can sit comfortably in generalities. It's the specificities that get the preacher in trouble. But thank God it's the specifics that keep our consciences healthy.

38:59 So what does he do? He says, now, I've set before you the general. Here's the specific. And in the Greek, the original, it's forceful.

39:08 The all things comes first. All things. And then a present imperative, be continually doing all things, means all things. Wash the dishes, change the sheets, kiss your hubby goodbye, spank the kids, tell them to brush their teeth, putting up with the teacher that gives too much homework, putting up with traffic jams, with inconsiderate drivers, with incompetent clerks who can't add, who can't subtract, who can't even make the computer do what it's supposed to, go through all the things that make up your life and my life in any given day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, all the things, the multiplicity of the things that you do, that I do, things be doing, and whatever you're doing that is an expression of working out your salvation as God works in you to willing to work for His good pleasure, make sure that you never have as the companion of what you are doing murmurings and questionings. All things be continually doing without murmurings. And you know what murmurings are? That's the word used to describe what the children of Israel did in the wilderness ten times.

40:33 That's what they did. Grousing! My God, bring us out of Egypt. We had a better time.

40:43 They grouse at God, they grouse at God's leaders. Moses! What did you do? Bring us out here.

40:53 The star, be killed. They grouse against God. They grouse against God's appointed leaders. They grouse against God's provision.

41:02 Back in Egypt, we had leeks and garlic. Our breath stunk all the time. Cucumbers. All we got out here is this manna.

41:13 You know, this stuff that comes down from heaven, yes. It's got all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Yeah, that's fine. It's miracle food and it comes from heaven and it shows day by day God loves us and provides for us.

41:24 But we like leeks and garlics and cucumbers. Folks, if it weren't so tragic, it is funny. You don't have to try to make it funny. And God says all things you'll be doing without ever, ever, ever having that as your accompaniment.

41:41 Without murmuring. Why? Because for a Christian to have a pattern of murmuring is a negation of the gospel. We're going to see that in the text.

41:50 It's a negation of the gospel. So all things you do without murmuring and without questioning. This Greek word is hard to translate. But basically it's the concept of the mental gymnastics.

42:04 Of debating with some self. Dialoguing within one's own mind. Rationalizing. Debating.

42:12 Most likely, and I think most commentators agree on this, that it points to an inward wrestling of the mind and of the soul. The murmuring breaks out into a spirit of negativism. Complaining. If it's raining, why doesn't the sun shine?

42:28 If the sun shines for a week, then God's going to send rain. That spirit. Grousing. Complaining.

42:34 Always finding the dark side of the moon and never seeing its bright beams. And then dialoguing. Inwardly. Not at rest.

42:44 Not at peace. With the ways of God. The providence of God. The unfolding of the will of God.

42:52 Not being able to say, sitting on a pile of ashes. Covered with boils. All ten kids dead in a day. And all your work gone.

43:06 The Lord gives. The Lord takes. In the name of God. And in all this, Job sinned.

43:17 All things. Without murmurings and disputings. Now, why is Paul so concerned about that? Look at the text.

43:31 This is the end he has in view. Ahima clause of purpose, you Greek students. In order that. I'm telling you this.

43:41 In everything. That you do. Never let it be accompanied with murmuring and disputing and questioning. And mental gymnastics and rationalizing.

43:52 In order that. You may become. Look at this couplet. Blameless and harmless.

43:58 No just cause to paint. The figure at you and say you're a Christian. You claim to be redeemed by the God of heaven. And under the canopy of his heart of fatherly love.

44:08 And his sovereign disposition of all things. And you're constantly complaining and grousing. You're to be blamed for the contradiction. Of your professed Christianity.

44:21 He says no. You do all things without murmuring and disputing. It's to the end that you may be children of God. I'm sorry that you may be blameless and harmless.

44:30 Probably not the best translation. The Greek word. Rendered here harmless in the ASV. Means unmixed.

44:36 It's the word you'd use when you thought you got real sure enough good vintage wine. And nobody pinned it out with some water. You'd say I got blameless. I got unmixed wine.

44:45 Sure enough good stuff. He says. You are to be. Blameless.

44:51 No just cause to accuse you of inconsistency. You're to be unmixed. You're to have one soul. That's embraced God in Jesus Christ.

45:01 One soul that believes. The will of God is good. Acceptable. And perfect.

45:06 And that anything short of hell is mercy. So with Job you can sit on an ash heap. Covered with boils. With your kids just buried.

45:10 Your money all gone. And say the Lord gives. The Lord takes. Blessed.

45:15 Be the name of the Lord. Why Paul? Do you want these Philippians? Why Paul?

45:19 Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul?

45:24 Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul?

45:29 Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul?

45:34 Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul? Why Paul?

45:38 Why cannot God allow these Philippians to do everything they do, never accompanied by murmuring and questioning? He said that you may become blameless and harmless. Now notice. He carries it on.

45:43 Children of God without a blemish. With no discernible mark upon you that destroys the beauty. They say she's a beautiful woman, if only she did not have that large mole on her right cheek. It is a blemish that destroys the beauty.

45:52 And there's no more 12-foot size missing. In our study of the world in the years that pass our time in this world saying my father and십en years był ни men ni women. symmetry and beauty of the face. He says, I'm telling you, Philippians, this, that you may become blameless, harmless children of God without blemish. Now notice, read on, in the midst, not in the church. That's not his emphasis here now. He had already dealt with that earlier in chapter 2. Have this same mind toward one another in the church.

46:28 But now he envisions the people of God in the midst of what? A crooked, a scolios, and perverse generation. He says, you are to be this before the face of a crooked, perverse generation. A generation crooked in its sense of moral rightness. A generation that can produce a candidate who about the only real passion he showed was his passion, I will defend a woman's right. And I wanted to say, Mr. Candidate, complete the sentence, a woman's right to what?

47:07 Wear the makeup she likes, put on the earrings she likes, complete the sentence, and be honest. A woman's right to kill her baby. That's the crooked and perverse generation in which we live. Different strokes for different folks. I'm true to myself now that as a man I leave my wife and live with another man. Same-sex marriages legitimized by courts are crooked and perverse. So you've got to understand that you're a perverse. If you're one in the middle, you are blind. And yet you are a perfect marriage. You're perfect. You're perfect. You make your

47:52 future and make your future perfect. So the world you live in is a perfect place mean that you shout out loud to your neighbor in all the Aly beer. I'm not saying that you are perfect, but in Daniel 6, I say in 321 you are. Totalッ p Problems p Yes, sir.

48:17 You are seen as lights, as luminaries of the world. Do you see the overtones of Matthew chapter 5? You are the light of the world.

48:30 You are seen. And when are we seen as luminaries? When we are radically different right down to the way we respond when that cashier in that long line at Stearns messes up and holds you and everyone behind you up for half an hour. And they're all on the borderline of cursing and throwing down the stuff on the counter and saying, keep your dumb junk.

48:57 And you are there speaking sweet words of encouragement to that incompetent clerk. You are seen as a light in this dark world.

49:12 May I give a personal testimony? I don't often do it.

49:18 This came home so forcibly. This past week. As many of you know, the surgery on this shoulder went well. But then I've developed complications that have resulted in a deep skin infection.

49:31 Twice a week I have to go in and I won't give the gory details. Some of you have to go eat your lunch.

49:37 But suffice it to say, it's not pleasant to lie there for 20 minutes while the doctor cleans it out underneath and all the rest and repacks it. My prayer as I've been going in twice a week with all my doctors, Lord, help me to be a Christian man. May what I am, commend the gospel.

49:56 And it humbled me and encouraged me this past week. When he said to me, he said, well, I'm sure you'd like to know when this process is going to end. I said, Dr. Gold, you don't know.

50:08 I don't know. And I'm content to live with God's providence in bringing it to resolution.

50:15 Then he said to me, he said, well, let me tell you something. You know, the whole staff around here likes to see you come in here. I said, is that so? Why?

50:24 He said, because. Because your whole demeanor is so pleasant in contrast to the others who have to keep coming back with a similar thing. He said, they get downright nasty.

50:37 Now, up to that point, I had not yet spoken the gospel. But five minutes later, he said, I bet you're looking forward to the time when there won't be any more shoulder surgeries and shoulder infections. How's that for a wide open door? I said, ah, Dr. Gold is a Christian, I believe.

50:56 I said, I'm going to have a resurrection body. I believe what Paul said, and I quoted 2 Corinthians 5, a portion of it from memory. Then I quoted a portion of Romans 8. We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, waiting for the adoption to with the redemption of our bodies.

51:14 And he said, well, Mr. Martin, I'm a Jew, but I remember something the Pope said, and the Pope must have said something about resurrection. And I said, ah, Dr. Gold, one of you and the old patriarch Job said, oh, the worms eat this flesh.

51:27 They eat this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Wasn't it interesting? My first explicit verbal witness came on the heels of him saying, I've seen that, and my staff has seen.

51:44 What they see is like the arrowhead that pierces the hide and makes way for the shaft of what we say to follow.

51:58 Isn't that in the text? Now look at it again, quickly. Paul says something very personal. He says, do everything you do without murmuring and questioning to what end, that you may be blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world.

52:16 Now notice, holding forth the word of life. The verb apecho, most of the lexicographers and commentators agree, as the margin of the old ASV, should probably, I think they have it in the margin here, let me check, it should be holding fast, rather than holding forth, holding fast. That would be a better translation, holding fast the word of life, that word which has brought you life, which is transforming your life, and he said, when I can hear and know that this is what you Philippians are, I will have whereof to glory in the day of Christ that I didn't run in vain, neither labor in vain. You see what he says?

52:54 The end of my apostolic ministry is that there at Philippi will be a people who not only receive the gospel, who profess the faith of the gospel. But who so internalize the power of the gospel, that in all that they do, without murmurings and questionings, they are blameless and harmless sons of God, without blemish, shining as luminaries, in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation, and he says, and if God makes you that kind of a people, I can't wait for the second coming, you'll be part of the gracious reward of my apostolic ministry. My dear people, that's what we as your pastors labor for, to have a people who in their corporate life, and in their individual lives, lived amidst the entire network of providential contacts with the law, that we manifest the power of the gospel by a consistent lifestyle. Does the gospel in its word promise whom the sun sets free? Does it promise not only forgiveness for sin, but deliverance from the dominion of sin?

Pillar Text 3: 1 Peter 3:13-16 – A Good Conscience and Manner of Life

54:18 Does it promise likeness to Jesus? Then we deny the truth and the power of the gospel, when our lives are not a consistent manifestation of that truth and of that power. Well, the third pillar, I'll just mention it, and you'll have to get the tape of the full exposition. Let me just read it and make a brief comment.

54:42 Because I do have a final word of application that I want to bring. Some of you already anticipated it, it's 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, third major line of proof of my proposition, that we must manifest, manifest this life that reflects the truth and power of the gospel. That's how we evangelize sinners.

55:09 1 Peter 3, remember the great burden of Peter is to comfort suffering saints, and he comes in verse 13 of chapter 3, to the very nerve center of the epistle, where he's going to deal in a concentrated way with the theology of suffering, and he says, Who is he that will harm you if you be zealous of that which is good? Here he assumes that believers are burning up with passion to do good. They're zealous to do what is good. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are you, and don't be afraid, neither be troubled.

55:41 But sanctify in your heart your heart. 1 Peter 3, verse 13. But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience, that wherein you are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. Just note in passing, he describes the people of God as people who are zealous for good.

56:10 Verse 13. Zealous for good. Verse 16. He describes them as having a good conscience.

56:18 They are living under the light of God's word, and whenever they violate that word, they confess their sin to God, and where necessary to men, they have a good conscience. And then he says later on in the verse, they have a good manner of life. Good, good, good. These are do-gooders.

56:34 These are gospel do-gooders. Not do-gooders trying to earn brownie points to get to heaven, but they do good because heaven has been put in their heart. The grace of God. And now Peter assumes that as such do-gooders, they set apart Christ as Lord in their hearts.

56:53 That is, in the citadel of their beings, everywhere they turn, facing any man, any situation, any possible action, Christ the Lord is before them. If Christ is sanctified in the heart, and if out of the heart the mouth speaks, if out of the heart are the issues of life, if Christ is sanctified in the heart, it's a Christ-centered, Christ-filled. It's a Christ-oriented life. And such a life will be zealous of good.

57:18 Such a life will be marked by a good conscience. It will be a good manner of life. And what will be the reaction? Sooner or later, people are going to say, what makes you tick?

57:30 What in the world makes you tick? Things that dispirit me and all of my other mortals that I know. Things that get them grousing. Things that get them cussing God and man and anything that lives and breathes.

57:43 Things that stir them up. Things that stir them up and make them passionate. These are not the things that are the mark of your life. What in the world makes you who you are?

57:49 And then he says, you are in a state of readiness to give answer, to give a reason of the hope that is in you. Your explanation of the lips will follow the inescapable impact of your life. That's the thrust of Peter's teaching. I said I would just pass over it quickly.

The Ordinary Context of Effective Witness and the Call to an Alternate Lifestyle

58:15 Now, the last thing I want to do is to ask you a question. Well, then, am I saying, listen carefully, am I saying that we should never open our mouths and speak the gospel to a stranger? Am I saying that it's wrong to give a trap to that person you sat next to in the plane, you couldn't engage him in conversation, you tried talking about his wife, about the weather, about the business, and he just, and finally you get the message. He's just blowing you off saying, shut up, so you don't make a pest of yourself.

58:41 The Holy Ghost doesn't call you to make a pest of yourself. So you haven't had a chance to share your life. But maybe he did notice when everyone else was crowding in to make sure they got a place in the overhead bin, you were willing to take yours out and put it under your seat to help an older woman. He maybe saw your good work, just being a consistent Christian gentleman.

59:05 But he don't want to enter into conversation with you. He's seen out of the corner of your eye you've been reading your Bible. And that's just, that's why sometimes I don't take my Bible out first. It'll spook people away.

59:15 I try to look like an ordinary person. As far as they know. As far as they know, I'm just a sinner like they are. All right?

59:23 Now listen, now my saying is wrong. We should never witness, come turkey, go door to door, pass out tracts. No, I'm not saying that. The Bible doesn't say that.

59:33 I'm not saying that. Do you all hear me? If anyone goes out into the room, Pastor Martin says you shouldn't evangelize and live before. Pastor Martin did not say that.

59:40 The Bible doesn't say that. But what I am saying is these three passages envision the ordinary context of effective verbal witness by the people of God is the manifestation and the impact of a radically different lifestyle. That is the ordinary context. That's what I'm saying.

60:02 And that's what I'm preaching to here in Trinity Church. And dear people of God, this is the heart of the issue. It's relatively easy to manipulate many people in a congregation. Train them in a few hours how to give a self-pitch for Jesus.

60:23 But it's not easy to produce a people who are consistent in salt and light, doing all things without murmurings and questioning, sons and daughters of God without a discernible blemish, shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Amen? Amen. Damn that day.

60:53 That's what we labor for. Are you on board? Are you? Are you committed in the heart of hearts where you and God alone can go?

61:12 Oh God, whatever else I am or do in this life, make what I am a validation of the truth and the power of the Gospel. Now. Now, here's where we need to go. circumstances, in every reaction to disappointment, to personal injury, that must be our cry.

61:44 Christ died to have nothing less from his people. This is why when we come to the section in our Constitution, what's required of church members, we have two major categories, godly churchmanship and godly Christian life. We're to delight in salt corporately and individually. Three, godly churchmanship, godly Christian life. These alone validate the truth and power of the gospel to an onlooking world. And anyone sincerely concerned to evangelize sinners will be passionately committed to a consistent and radically different pattern of life. And I say to you who are part of the world, the world is in here this morning, you who are unconverted, you know you are. If you had your way, you'd split. You'd never darken

62:34 these doors again. You can run from mom and dad in this place. You can't run from the God who made you, the God before whom you'll stand in the day of judgment. But I want to be honest to you.

62:44 If you ever begin to think seriously about coming a Christian, this is what it is to be a Christian. You're committing yourself to an alternate lifestyle at every level. Remember on the day of Pentecost when people were stabbed in the heart and said, what should we do? Peter said, repent and be baptized every one of you unto the remission of sins and you to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the promises unto you, etc. And with many other words, he testified. And exhorted, saying, save yourselves from this crooked generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day they were added unto them three thousand souls. He told people in his evangelism, you come to Christ, you're committed to a radically different alternate lifestyle. And I would be butchering your soul if I told you, just tip your hat to Jesus on the cross and all will be fixed up. And sometime later we'll talk about the claims of Christ. Know my unconversion.

63:39 I'm a converted friend. If you get taken to heaven by Jesus, you'll be taken to heaven by a Jesus who invites you to himself sincerely, but who demands that in coming to him, you're ready to have him alter your life from stem to stern, no area over which you do not want him to plant his nail pierced hand and exert his crown rights in your life. Isn't that what the end of that chapter in Luke was all about? Lord, I'm ready to follow you, but I've got my turn.

64:12 Jesus said, Chuck your terms, I've got mine. That's the issue. Lord, I'm ready to follow, but here are my terms. Jesus said, no, no, you come on my terms.

64:16 Let the dead bury the dead. You go preach the gospel. Well, let me go. No, no, this is what you do.

64:20 You don't tell me the terms. I've set the terms. When you see yourself dangling over hell, nothing can keep you from the pit but Christ. You'll come to Christ on his terms, joyfully, cheerfully.

64:24 And join this bunch committed by the grace of God to the end of the world. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

64:30 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

64:34 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

64:38 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

64:42 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

64:46 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

64:51 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

65:01 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed.

65:05 And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. And you'll be blessed. help, and presence as we have wrestled with these vital issues this morning.

65:14 Now we plead, O God, we plead, don't let the devil, like the birds that follow the sower, don't let him come and pluck up the word. But we pray that your own spirit would, as it were, with a mighty thumb pressure, cause the seed to be pressed deeply into the soil of our hearts. And, O, that it may bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Hear us, Lord, and for our good answer us, and for your glory.

65:47 We plead through Christ our Lord. Amen.