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Building God’s Church Part 5 - Standing Up
Matthew 10:24-31 - 18th March 2007
Andrew Lim
Chuck Colson tells the story of meeting with a prominent businessman
We’ll call him Mr. Abercrombie
- not only is he a pillar of community / an active church member
but he also hosted a weekly Bible study luncheon at his office
Since Colson was visiting the city / Mr. A invited him to speak at luncheon
19 men / all dressed in dark suits / conservative ties / and white shirts
met in a large conference room with huge glass windows
offering a breathtaking view of the city / that these men ran and owned
You can’t get any more corporate than that
Colson was to speak and then allowed time for questioning at the end
Somewhere in his talk Colson referred to our human sinful nature
In fact he used the word “total depravity”
A few men began shifting uncomfortably in their leather chairs
But Colson’s talk hit the mark / because soon as he finished
the first question was on sin
One older gentleman asked:
“You don’t really believe we’re all sinners do you
you look too sophisticated
to be one of those hellfire brimstone preachers”
Intelligent people don’t go for that back country preacher stuff”
he said as he eyed Colson’s dark blue pinstripe suit / just like his
“Yes sir / I believe we are desperately sinful
What’s inside each of us is pretty ugly / In fact we deserve hell
and we would get it / but for the sacrifice of Christ for our sins”
By now / Mr. Abercrombie himself looked distressed / and he piped up/ he said:
“I don’t know about that / all my life I have been a good person
I go to church and I give to the poor”
Colson tells us / that the room by now was very quiet
and twenty pairs of eyes were trained on him
And he spoke up / he said / “If you believe that Mr. Abercrombie
and I hate to say this / for you certainly won’t invite me back
but if you really believed that / you are / for all your good works
further from the kingdom of God / than the people I work with
in prison who are aware of their sins”
Someone at the end of the room coughed
Another rattled his coffee cup
And a flush worked its way up
from beneath Mr. Abercrombie’s starched white collar
And Mr. Colson added these words / he said:
“In fact / if you think about it
we are really more like Adolf Hitler / than like Jesus Christ
By now an eerie hush fell on the entire room
and there was a stony silence
until someone relieve the situation by changing the subject
When lunch ended / Mr. Abercrombie hinted
that he wanted to speak to Church Colson
He led Colson down the corridor to an empty office
As soon as they were inside / he blurted out bluntly / He said:
“I don’t have what you have”
And Colson replied / “I know / but you can
God is touching your heart right now”
“No no / he said / maybe another day” / as he took a step back
Colson pressed a bit more / and moments later / both men were on their knees
Mr. Abercrombie asked God for forgiveness of his sins
and turned his life over to Christ
What Colson did / he did / because he had boldness in his God
We see two men here / and there will always be the two men
One who will take a stand for the truth / the other will waver
And you can tell a person who takes a stand / from one who will not
People who take a stand / will often speak frankly forthrightly
They speak plainly openly / directly / straightforwardly
They don’t try to cover himself by double-talk
They are not political / they’re not cagy or slippery
Their cards are on the table
On the other hand / people who will not take a stand
often speak with shaky voice
they speak indirectly / vaguely / obscurely / and minced their words
And you will find that people who will stand up and take a stand
have clear convictions / and unshaken confidence
And you will find / that they did not come to have those traits overnight
- they’re not something clipped on
- they’re grown / cultivated / nurtured
And going through the values I would love for this new church to be marked by
as your pastor / I so much love so much / for us to cultivate a bold spirit
I pray that God will grant you and me / boldness
boldness to overcome / the fear of standing up for the truth
My vision is for us here at Christ Sanctuary
to speaking the truth openly and clearly
even when it is unpopular or even dangerous
Paul tells Timothy / “The time is coming
when people will not endure sound teaching
but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves
teachers to suit their own likings
and will turn away from listening to the truth” / 1 Timothy 4:3
Paul is saying that there comes a time / when you will have to stand up
and speak up / and to say some things
that won’t go down well / with most people around you
Do not flinch / do not be shaken / Face the opposition squarely
This is a time for courage
Take courage / and bear your share of suffering for the truth
1:8; 2:3; 3:13-14
And Paul’s prophetic words have come true
Such a time is upon us today
There are forces that are at work
chipping away at the bedrock of our society / seeking to destroy
our culture / our freedom / our churches and our schools
For example / there is the force of relativism which makes the bold claim
that there is no such thing as absolutes
that what is true or good or / beautiful for you may not be for me
that everything is relative / there are no moral absolutes
In an atmosphere like that / you and I are expected to be tolerant
You are expected to concede / that truth is whatever appeals to you
that no one can really know what truth is
that there are no absolute moral norms / by which we must all live
You take that stand / you’ll well accepted by most people today
and you’ll of course politically correct
But If you choose to stand up against that
If you insist that Christianity is true / that Christ spoke the truth
and that there ARE absolutes
If you did that / you’ll be looked upon as arrogant / or even dangerous
Now / in such a time as this the temptation to back off
keep your mouth shut / and play it safe is very great
The strong temptation here is for us to back off / and not confront people
And we usually back off for the following reasons:
One / we are afraid what people might think of us if we don’t
Two / we’re afraid some people might be offended / if we didn’t back off
Three / it’ll cost us too much / to take a stand
Four / we don’t want to look odd
It was Dorothy Sayers who said:
“You will know the truth and the truth will make you odd”
Boldness always comes with a cost
Henry Thoreau / that rugged New England individualist of the 19thC
once went to jail / for his resolute refusal to pay his poll tax
His conscience tells him so very clearly
that he shouldn’t be paying poll tax to a state that supported slavery
When Thoreau’s friend Ralph Waldo Emerson
heard that his friend was in jail / he hurried over to visit him
And peering through the cell bars he called out
“Hey / Henry / what are you doing IN there
And quick as a flash / Thoreau replied:
“No / Ralph / the question is / what are you doing OUT there?”
Boldness comes with a price tag / and often we are not prepared to pay it
and we back off
And because we back off
the world sees little distinctive difference / between us and them
and consequently / the world sees in us nothing that they could hate
But Jesus had something to say about that / He said:
“Be careful when people speak well of you
for so their fathers did / to the false prophets”
We love the praises of men / more than we fear the displeasure of God
But what does the Word say about fearing people
“The fear of people / brings a snare” / Prov 29:25
The fear of man traps us / ensnares us
“Be not afraid of their faces” / Jeremiah 1:8
A famous Methodist evangelist named Peter Cartwright
was known for his uncompromising preaching
However / one day when the President of the United States
Andrew Jackson came to Cartwright’s church
the elders warned the Pastor not to offend the President
In those days / the President had great power
to influence a denomination for good or bad
Content that their Pastor would not say anything / to discredit their church
the elders retired to the back of the sanctuary
When Cartwright got up to speak / the first words out of his mouth were:
“I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning
I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks
Let me say this:
“Like everyone else / Andrew Jackson will go to hell
if doesn’t repent of his sin!”
The entire congregation gasped with shock at Cartwright’s boldness
How could this young preacher have the audacity
to offend the tough old general in public / they wondered
After the service
everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright
When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door
he looked at him in the eye and said
“Sir / If I had a regiment of men like you I could conquer the world!”
When we speak up / and speak up with conviction
we will make an impact in our community and nation
But supremely it is our Lord / who exhibit the greatest courage
People who saw Jesus in Galilee / kept coming back to listen to Him
Why is it / that the people couldn’t have enough of Him?
Because He stood out unlike other men
He wasn’t slushy / He wasn’t sugary / wasn’t indecisive or flabby
They found him unyielding / cutting / piercing and incisive
even sometimes caustic / but they kept coming back
He would take a stand / over what His Father takes a stand
He would not yield an inch
He was unruffled / when He stood before Pilate
unshaken / before His executioners
unswerving / in His claim to be the Son of God
unwavering / in His insistence that He spoke the truth
wholehearted / in His commitment to the cause of His Father
unflagging / in His zeal for His Father’s Kingdom
He was rigorous in His logic / unsparing with His standard
staunch in His commitment to Scripture / relentless in His mission
And this is what He expects of us
And this is what He says/ “You my disciples are not greater than your teacher
And since I / your Master have been called the prince of demons
you’ll be called by even worse names!
But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you
Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body
they cannot touch your soul
Fear only God / who can destroy both soul and body in hell”
Then He added these words:
What is the price of two sparrows / one copper coin?
But not a single sparrow
can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it
And the very hairs on your head are all numbered
So don’t be afraid / You / are more valuable to God
than a whole flock of sparrows” Mt 10:24-31
Did you notice that / three times / it is repeated
Verse 26 / “So have no fear of them”
Verse 28 / “Do not fear those who kill the body”
Verse 31 / “Fear not therefore
you are of much more value than many sparrows”
Our Lord encourages us to beef up our courage
to stand up and speak the truth of God / without fear or favor
He says this to inspire courage in us
But courage to do what?
Listen very carefully to the words of our Lord here
He says in verse 27says / “What I tell you in the dark / speak in the light
and what you hear whispered
that / you proclaim from the housetops / Do not fear”
Our Lord knows that we sometimes fear to speak clearly / in the light
and to speak openly / like shouting from the housetops
but He is here calling us to speak up for the truth
even if even if in speaking up / it is unpopular and dangerous
Jesus is here saying we might really get killed for standing up for truth
for He says in verse 28: “Do not fear those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul”
But that’s precisely the point
The worst thing your enemies can do to you is kill your body
Your soul will be left untouched / you’ll be with God
But if you cave in / if you buckle up
If you prefer the praise & applause of people / and forsake the path of truth
you could end up losing your very soul
and that / is what you ought to be terrified of
About time we stack it all up and take a good look at what is at stake here
Is this what Jesus says when he said
“If you keep your life / you will lose it
But if you lose your life for my sake / you’ll keep it”
Then comes that great assurance / God will not let anything happen to you
that is not in keeping with His perfect will for you
“Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it
But you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows”
Verses 29 and 31
The assurance is full-proof
If the Lord does not will it / no one can touch a single hair of yours
As Henry Martyn once said “If God has work for me to do / I cannot die”
George Whitefield puts it so well / He said:
“I am immortal until my work is done”
There is nothing to fear
Our lives are in the hands of a sovereign / and loving God
Do not yield one inch of space / to the spirit of the age
Stand up and be counted
Proclaim the truth / clearly / compulsively / with all valor and conviction
What you learn of Christ in the closet / speak in the light
What you learn from the Scriptures / proclaim from the housetops
I love Deut 1:17 “You shall not be afraid of the face of man”
Proverbs 28:1 says / “The wicked flee when no one is pursuing
but the righteous are bold as a lion”
Paul said: / “For to me / to live is Christ / and to die is gain”
Do I love Christ more than life?
Where do you get boldness?
Paul’s answer is clear: You get it in God
1 Thess 2:2 / “After we had already suffered
and been mistreated in Philippi / we had the boldness in our God
to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition”
NASB: “we had the boldness in our God”
KJV: “we were bold in our God”
ASV: “we waxed bold in our God”
Paul found his boldness in God / and not in himself
Bold people get their boldness from God
You say / OK / Bold people get their boldness from God
But we need to know how bold people get their boldness from God
How do you actually get it from God? / What the process like?
You get boldness from God / not usually from a gift
that falls from heaven on to your lap
Boldness from God / comes from knowing your God
Unless and until you know your God
you’re not likely to have the courage to stand up for Him
If you do not really know your God
you’re more likely to slink away when the pressure builds up
Only people who know their God / have great boldness for God
But how does knowing God come about? / you ask
Of course it comes from diligently and regularly studying the Scriptures
Of course it comes from cultivating a relationship with God through prayer
But I want to stress one factor that enables you to come to know your God
And it is this:
Knowing God / comes from having many opportunities in life
to prove God true
You go through a huge crisis in your life / and God proves Himself faithful
You come to some grief
and God has been there with you / right through your grief
You suffer some grave crises / and God shows Himself real to you
Unless your heart is hardened
you can’t have God / proving Himself real to you / so repeatedly
and not have a zeal and passion to live for Him and stand up for Him
You will!
Commitment comes from conviction
Remember the three Jewish princes / in the Book of Daniel
Shadrach / Mashach / and Abednego
They refused to bow before the golden statue in Babylon
And like them / you will have your own golden statues to confront you
It could be your Science professor / or your Philosophy professor
When your professor discredits the Christian faith in front of the entire class
and declares the Bible to be nothing but a pack of lies
do you slink lower and lower into your chair
or do you stand up and present an uncompromising rebuttal
even if by doing so / you might jeopardize your own grades
A professor at a well-known liberal arts college became infamous
for starting each semester holding up a Bible and asking
“How many of you believe that this book is the word of God?”
One or two undergraduates would sheepishly raised their hands
The professor would then say:
“Do you want to know what I think of this book?
This / is what I think of it”
and with that he would hurl the Bible out an open window
What will you do / if you were there
Will you slink into your seat / or will you stand up to him
and stand him down?
We cannot back off
and we cannot back off because we cannot trifle with the truth
The truth may offend / it may not be palatable / or pleasant
but the truth must prevail
People generally don’t want to swallow the hard facts of truth
They want to hear what they want to hear
They don’t want to hear all that talk
about how we’re all sinners in need of God’s salvation
They don’t want to be told / that they are in rebellion with God
They don’t want to hear / about hell and damnation
They want good news
And sometimes out of fear / we’d rather not offend them with the truth
And so we offer them half-truth
but without the full message of Jesus Christ
we’re simply offering them our own brand of therapy
But therapy can only modify behavior / it cannot transform character
Only the gospel of Jesus Christ transforms character
Ultimately we’re not trying to get people / to live with their own conscience
we ‘re trying to get people / to live with God
We need to stand for the truth
I find it helpful / although sometimes annoying
to have to periodically ask myself / three questions
“Is there something I know should say but I’m afraid to say it?”
“Who is it that I’m afraid of / and why ?”
“Just what is my belief costing me ?”
Isn’t it sad / that we’re seeing fewer and fewer people
whose lives are “marked” with a spirit that shows neither fear nor favor
I’ve had to open my journal / from time to time
and meditatively write down a list of things
I wasn’t quite prepared to do for the Lord
And I has been haunted / by what I had listed
There were things I wasn’t prepared to do for he Lord
- lines I wasn’t prepared to draw
- idols I wasn’t ready to relinquish
In a sermon entitled “But, If Not” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church
in Atlanta / Georgia on November 5th 1967 / Martin Luther King Jr
said these inspiring words
“You may be 38 years old / as I happen to be
And one day / some great opportunity stands before you
and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle
some great issue / some great cause
And you refuse to do it because you are afraid
You refuse to do it because you want to live longer
You’re afraid that you will lose your job
or you’re afraid that you will be criticized
or that you will lose your popularity
or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you
or shoot at you / or bomb your house
So you refuse to take the stand
Well you may go on and live until you are 90
but you’re just as dead at 38 / as you would be at 90
And the cessation of breathing in your life
is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit
You died / when you refused to stand up for right
You died / when you refused to stand up for truth
You refused to stand up for justice”
Five months later / on April 4th 1968 / King was shot dead
Dr King is right
You need to be bold / if you don’t want to live your lives in vain
You don’t want to come to the end of your lives
having impacted no one for the kingdom of God
This is something we should fear / more than anything else / in his life
We should fear / religion without commitment
We should fear / getting what he wanted so badly
and missing out on what God wanted / for us
We should fear coming to the end of our lives
being reduced to a shallow person / with no depth or passion
What a waste it would be
if we take these short precious years that we’ve been given
and waste them / and squander them / on little cocktail chatter
And how noble / how grand it would be
if we take those short precious years
and like Jeremiah / stand stoutly and passionately for God
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