Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Christians want to walk alongside fellow believers in a God-ward direction, but what does that look like?
In a culture that insists loving someone means affirming their actions and attitudes, is it love to avoid and ignore sin when we notice it in the lives of our brothers and sisters of the faith? Today, Pastor Rich answers these questions from 2 Corinthians 1220-136 in this message titled Strong Exhortation. You're listening to part 3 of this sermon, which was originally preached on August 31st, 2014.
To hear the message in its entirety, you can visit www.delightingrace.com. You're listening to part 2 of this sermon, which was originally preached on August 31st, 2014, at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The second part of the motive is that you're communicating the truth that you're not living in the transformed power of God's grace. You're not living in the transforming power of God's grace, and I want you to be. Instead, you are captivated in the brokenness of the flesh. I don't want you to be overcome by your brokenness. I want to help you follow Christ, and in so doing, overcome your brokenness.
And I will walk with you to that end. We are called to stir one another up to love and good deeds. Now, that is the motive for offering exhortation in ministry, but do we have grounds to do such a thing? What is the authority?
Let me make it really, really clear, and you need to understand this, too. The grounds, the authority for exhortation is not, listen to this, it's not my opinion, it's not my preferences, it's not my rules. We all have rules that God didn't reveal. They are not scripture.
Those rules are not my grounds for exhortation. The authority that we mutually have for exhortation is the revealed character and purpose of Christ. It is revealed in the scripture.
It is written what God has written, not my opinion, but God's character and purpose as it has been revealed. That's the grounds for exhortation. You want to say to the loved one, I want to help you follow Jesus, not I want you to conform to my preferences, not I want you to follow the same list of rules that I do, it's the character and purpose of Christ. Exhortation has authority in the context of discipleship, and we're emphasizing discipleship here at Grace Bible Church. Discipleship being defined as one life coming alongside another so that together they move Godward. I want you please to know that definition because you're going to be hearing it a lot.
I want you to know it. And when we say discipleship, I want that image to come to mind. One life coming alongside another so that together they walk Godward. And exhortation has authority in the context of discipleship. In other words, if you're not willing to walk with someone through their brokenness toward God, then you have no authority to exhort or admonish them. Just because we're all about grace doesn't mean that we don't take sin seriously.
In fact, I think it should be said that the opposite is true. Could you say that God doesn't take sin seriously? Of course he takes sin seriously.
But is he not a gracious God? You see, he took sin so seriously that he invested himself in you to rescue you from your brokenness. So it is with the church. So just because we're all about grace doesn't mean we don't take sin seriously.
The difference is how we approach sin. Sin, any attitude or behavior that is not in line with the character and purpose of Christ. Community of grace is determined by how we respond to brokenness. Understanding that every one of us is recovering from brokenness. There's not a one in this room who is not a recovering broken person. Grace is neither disdainful nor indifferent of the sinner. And we know the first one, don't we? Grace is not, and we're very clear on this, you know, if I see a brother or sister over there and they are manifesting an attitude or a behavior that is contrary to the character and purpose of Christ, grace doesn't do this bad.
I'm going to stay away. We know that's not grace, even though it's very easy to do that, isn't it? That's Pharisaism. Let me tell you what else grace is not. Grace is not to observe that person manifesting a character or an attitude or a behavior contrary to the character and purpose of Christ and say, hmm, not good.
Oh, well, it's under the grace. That's cowardly. That's selfish love.
Because you're more interested in protecting yourself than you are in helping your loved one. That's not grace. I've seen that happen. I've seen it happen in other churches to the point where it destroys the church. Well, you know he's in sinful behavior, but you know it's under the grace of God. That's abusing grace out of cowardly motives. Grace is neither disdainful nor indifferent of the sinner but loves enough to invest in that broken life. I want to help you follow Jesus. To rescue the one from the clutches of brokenness and to move Godward. That's what grace does. That's what God did in Jesus Christ.
Here's what one writer wrote in Leadership magazine. Listen to this. My most painful experiences have been when I've had a problem and no one loved me enough to tell me about it. There's a song that we sing. Ours is a sword that makes the wounded what?
Whole. Ours is a sword that makes the wounded whole. We're not out to shame. We're not out to embarrass. We're not out for revenge.
We're not out to make ourselves look better. Ours is a sword that makes the wounded whole. And we have authority to speak truth into each other's lives to that end.
To make the wounded whole. Paul leaves us with the challenge of a test here at the end of the text today. Verses 5 and 6 of chapter 13. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified? You see, Paul was the one who brought them to Christ. He brought Christ to them. If they are in Christ, how could they say that Paul was not, that Christ was not speaking through Paul?
He says to them, don't you know that when it says you are in the faith, it means that Christ is in you? Two questions then in this self-examination. Question number one, is my attitude or behavior consistent with the character and purpose of Christ? You may be having an attitude right now. You need to ask yourself that question. A very, very common attitude in our culture today is you can't tell me what to do. Let me tell you something, loved ones, if you find yourself thinking that, you are thereby admitting your brokenness.
It's very easy to do. Is my attitude or behavior consistent with the character and purpose of Christ? John is very clear in this, very black and white in this. First John chapter one and verse six, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. And here's one that's even stronger. First John two four, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.
Those are strong words, aren't they? He says he abides in him on himself also to walk just as he walked. You see, that's God's intent for us. So as we minister to each other, I want to help you follow Jesus. And if I'm recognizing an attitude or behavior in you that is contrary to the character and purpose of Christ, if I love you, I will provide for you a warning, a loving exhortation. Do you know, Paul says, do you know that Christ is in you? Does your behavior, does your attitude manifest the character of Christ? It's a very important question.
The second question is this. Do I recognize the truth of Christ when spoken to me? Do I recognize the truth of Christ when spoken to me? If I'm the one on the receiving end when someone comes to me and lovingly exhorts me, wanting to move me back in a God-ward direction, do I recognize the truth of Christ when spoken to me? If I insist on maintaining my sinful attitude or behavior, then tell me you belong to Christ.
Can you do those two at the same time? Insist on maintaining your sinful attitude or behavior and at the same time telling me that you belong to Christ. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you unless, of course, you fail the test. Maybe we need a David moment. David was a man who pursued God. He followed God with his whole heart and yet he was not perfect. He made mistakes and the prophet had to come to him and he gave him a scenario that raised the ire of King David. And David says, That cannot be. It's not right. And Nathan looks at him and says, You, David, are the man. Was that unloving?
Not in God's economy. And how did David respond? In brokenness. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
