Be A Philadelphian Christian, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. Over the last 15, 20 years, Barna has said over and over again, the way Christians live is virtually identical to the way non-Christians live in our culture. Our divorce rate is as high as their divorce rate.

Child abuse is as high among us as it is them. Jesus said, don't do that. Paul said, you're supposed to live differently. Why? Because you are different.

That's what he's saying. You're part of his body now. You're part of the church. He says, don't live like Gentiles in the futility of their mind. They are being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of the heart. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Think of how every four years in the United States we have a national election. And do you realize this? After the national election, half of America is angry. They're really angry.

Why? I didn't get what I wanted. You see, that's org anger. That's the kind of anger, when life's disappointing me, I'm going to be mad at somebody.

Hey, that's fine if you're in the flesh, but if you're a child of God, you shouldn't be at all. You see, you can see this with org anger. In my flesh, you know what my enemy is? My enemy. But in Christ, you know what my enemy is?

The object of my love and prayer. You see, Jesus said, love your enemies, pray for them. You see, it's a different thing. We have a different responsibility. We are to be Philadelphia Christians. That's what he says we should be. Well, then he goes on and he says, for if these qualities are yours and are increasing, you render yourself neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What he's saying here is if you're not a Philadelphia Christian, you know what you are to God? Useless.

He can't use you. You're filled with anger and rage. He said, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted.

Wow. That's kind of convicting because we always want to justify our anger. He says, yeah, you're blind or you're shortsighted. What's shortsighted mean? You don't see it from the right perspective. You see, how am I supposed to see life? From God's perspective.

That's shortsighted. I don't really do. I see it from my perspective. See, that's what I want to do.

I want to see it from my perspective. He said you have forgotten his purification from his former sins. Do you understand? He saved you and you're a new creature in Christ.

You forgot this. And then he goes on and says, therefore, brethren, all the more be diligent, make certain of his calling and choosing of you. For as long as you practice these things, you'll never stumble.

He said, I want to warn you about that. In other words, your life should be evidence of your conversion. And if your life shows no evidence of your conversion, does someone have a right to doubt your conversion? Yes, because there's no life.

It doesn't show any difference in my life. I hear this over and over. Christians. Well, I had an uncle and you know, he's going to be here. I know he's with the Lord because he told me once when he was eight years old, he went to a camp and he received Jesus. And now since then, he's a very crude, terrible man. He never talks about Jesus. He wants nothing to do with Jesus. He's never mentioned him.

I tried to talk to him before he died about the Lord. He wanted nothing to do with it. But I know when he was eight, he made the decision. I'm not saying he didn't. But do you have a right to be skeptical? Yes, because the spirit if he did, the spirit of God indwells him and he has rendered the spirit of God totally impotent in his life.

He said, no, that's not the way it should be for us. Now, when you look at a parallel passage, it addresses the anger issue even more. Ephesians four, verse 17, Ephesians four. Verse 17.

This time it's not Peter, but it's Paul. Think about this applying to you and me. He says, so this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk a metaphor for live, that you live no longer as the Gentiles also live in the futility of their mind. I want to tell you right now, you can't live like unbelievers live.

You should not do that. But if you listen to someone like George Barna, who's a Christian pollster over the last 15, 20 years, Barna has said over and over again, the way Christians live is virtually identical to the way non-Christians live in our culture. Our divorce rate is as high as their divorce rate.

Child abuse is as high among us as it is them. Jesus said, don't do that. Paul said, you're supposed to live differently. Why? Because you are different.

That's what he's saying. You're part of his body now. You're part of the church. He says, don't live like Gentiles in the futility of their mind. They are being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of the heart. They reject Jesus. They reject the gospel. They reject it.

I don't do. They even now in our culture reject all truth. I don't believe anything's true. So I reject that. He said, that's the darkness of your mind, but you're acting just like them if you live this way. He said, and they haven't become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

He said, but you did not learn Christ this way. I think all of us would agree on one thing. Don't you think that the culture is darker than it was 30 years ago, 20 years ago?

It's getting darker every day. And the funniest part about it is, you know what it does to Christians? It makes them angry. I'm so angry that unbelievers are living that way. How do you expect an unbeliever to live? You say, what's your expectation for someone that doesn't even know Christ?

I just think they should live differently than give them the gospel and pray for them because that's the only chance they have. And so he says that. And then he goes on and he says, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, just as the truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with lust and deceit, and that you, he said, being renewed in the spirit of your mind, you put on the new self in the likeness of God, he said, has been created in righteousness and holiness and truth.

Here's the point. When you became a Christian, God said you're a new creature in Christ. That won't make you live like one. You are one. Won't make you live like one.

What? I have to lay aside the old man. I have to lay aside what I was so that I can now live in the capacity of what I need to be.

Which in this morning is a Philadelphia Christian. That's what he's saying. Watch as he goes on now and describes it. He said, let me give you specifics. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth to each other.

He said, each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Stop lying. Your new creature in Christ, stop lying.

This is harder than you think. I'd read an article in the New York Times, and the whole idea of the article was the pervasiveness of lying in America. He said, if Americans stop lying, the whole culture will fall apart.

It would completely, it rests on lying. It's interesting, isn't it? And he said, everybody lies. Politicians lie.

Not a shocker, but politicians lie. Lawyers lie. Doctors lie. Nurses lie. Everybody lies. We all lie because, he said, we're driven by pragmatism.

Will these words pragmatically help my cause? I mean, did you ever say to a little kid, hey, Johnny, come here. Did you do that?

No. See, why? I mean, because of self-preservation, the idea, we all lie. And he said, yeah, you've got to stop that. You have to speak truth to one another. If you speak truth all the time, and in this article, he said, if Americans spoke the truth all the time, the culture would collapse.

No one would believe it's true. But if you did speak the truth, what do you get out of it? Trust. Trust. You've got a married couple that speaks the truth to each other. They've got a lot of trust. You see, they have a lot of trust.

That's a very important part of this. One of the reasons I'm a Christian and love the Lord is he doesn't lie. You see, I've never caught him in a lie ever. He tells the truth. I may not like what he's telling me, but he tells the truth. And so he said, look, you want to build trust in your relationships, speak the truth. Then he goes on and says this. He said, be angry and yet do not sin and do not let the sin go down in your anger. Christians mistakenly love that verse because I've heard him tell me, but God told me to be angry there. OK.

Yes, but notice what he said. Even if you are righteously angry, don't be that way long. Don't let the sun go down. Married couples love this. That's what my wife and I do. We never go to bed angry.

You may not. But if you started a fight and at 10 o'clock decided we're not going to bed angry, when you get up at eight, you're going to pick it right up where you were before. You see, you don't want to keep anger long.

That's true. But what he's talking about is there. What should you and I be angry about? You and I should only be angry about what Jesus would be angry about. Now read the Bible and what does Jesus get angry about?

Well, we only know two things we find in scripture. Was he angry when they turned his the temple of God into a robber's den? Yes, he was angry.

He overturned the tables, threw the money changers out. And he also got angry with the Pharisees because he said, you are vipers. You stole the kingdom of God.

You pretended you were gods and you stole the kingdom and you are the blind leaders of the blind. He was angry. How many times did Jesus get angry when someone personally attacked him? He didn't. How many times did Jesus say, you know how terrible those Romans are?

Do you have any idea? Do you know how immoral these pagans are? Do you realize how they live? And I'm angry. You never heard Jesus say that. When the woman was caught in adultery, he was angry at her, right? No. You see, when the woman at the well had all those husbands and living with a man, was he angry?

No. You never see him angry like that. You see, if you're going to say, I justify my anger, you better be angry at only what God is angry at. Not what you're angry at. Not because you didn't get your priorities met. That's what Jesus did. But he said, even if you have righteous anger, don't let the sun go down on it.

Why? You can't handle anger. You and I are fallen beings. We can't handle anger. What happens to us if we don't handle anger correctly, we become either vengeful or bitter. Most of us become bitter and some of us become vengeful. Remember in Romans, Paul wrote, God said, vengeance is mine. I will repay. Why does God say that? I can handle vengeance.

You can't. You see, you can't handle it. And bitterness, oh my. Especially to see a Christian who's 80 years old and they're bitter. They're just bitter.

You know what life did to me, you know what he did to me, you know what she did to me, and I'm just bitter. He said, it'll eat you up. It's cancer for your soul. He said, don't do that. He said, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

So who is happy from a spiritual point of view when you are angry? The devil. He can get you so sidetracked. You can become consumed about the object you're angry about instead of consumed about the Lord who saved you. He said, don't give Satan that opportunity.

Then he goes on and says, he who steals must steal no longer. Seems obvious, doesn't it? But not to Ephesians. Ephesians are Gentiles in the city of Ephesus. Many of the Gentiles in Ephesus made a living stealing. It was part of their culture. You see, the idea of having much for most people was it didn't exist.

So the Gentiles turned it into an art form of stealing. You could just steal things, and if you stole it, good luck. You can support yourself with it. He says, no, you've got to stop stealing. He said, rather, you must labor. You've got to have a job. Now, that sounds logical, right? To our culture, don't steal, have a job.

But this is where it gets un-American. He said, you must labor, performing with your own hands what is good, and then what's the American dream say? Why are you well educated? Why do you succeed? Why do you work so hard? Why are you so diligent of getting ahead? One word, more.

I got more. That's America, more. That is America. It's not Jesus.

It's just America. Notice what he said. After he says this, I love this. He said, he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. What?

Yeah. There's always going to be people that have need, and you and I could be blessed by God through honest labor and success to help those people. How are you doing at that?

You see, it's almost anti-American. This is very hard. Paul wrote to Timothy and said, look, tell those people that are rich in this world, and I love this, first enjoy your wealth. It's a blessing. But you better be ready to share it.

That's his point. You see, enjoy it, share it. So that's what we're supposed to be. If you're a typical American like me, I had to learn this lesson through my wife, not me. When my wife would see somebody who was really sort of destitute, out, all kinds of different ways, looking pretty bad, she would say we need to give them something to help them. Not me. I did what many of you do.

I've come up with it. You can't trust any of these people. This guy might live along the lakefront for all I know. He's just panhandling.

Now, he looks terrible, but that's just part of the deal. You see, the needy aren't really needy. And her answer was always, that's between him and God. Giving and sharing is between me and God. God reads my motive, not his.

Oh, boy. I eventually conceded because she was right. You see, she's right. The funniest part is, and it's just the way this thing works, he goes on and he says that we are able to share it. What I ended up finding was you just can't outgive God. The more you give, the more you give. Jesus said it, remember? Jesus said if you really give to those in need, I'll give you back, you see, more pressed on and shaken. You'll get more. And that's been the experience of my life all along.

And that's exactly what he ended up saying is true. David Jeremiah said the Bible says that he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and he will pay him back for what he has given. You can't outgive God. God wants to use you and I as conduit. You see, and not only does that, but that sets the grounds for relationship and eventually for the gospel, which is the hope of man. You see, the whole idea is that's who we should be. And if you're a Philadelphia Christian, that's who you are. That's what he goes on to say. Now, then he gets to this part. He said, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth.

So how many? And by the way, the word's not unwholesome. It's the word rotten in Greek. Don't let one rotten word come from your mouth. Anybody ever do any of that?

Let me help you. Here's what rotten words are. Name-calling, sarcasm, ridicule, mockery, gossip, slander, blaming, destructive criticism, angry words or threat of revenge, griping, complaining, lying, profanity, filthy talk, and dirty jokes.

And there's probably a lot more. Any of those ever come out of your mouth? He said, no, there's none of those that come out of your mouth. In fact, he goes on and says, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word that is good for edification, according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear. Everything I say to someone should edify them or encourage them.

Why do you think that is? Because that's exactly what you and I and everyone else in this world needs. We all need that. We all need to be encouraged.

We all need to be edified. Let me illustrate it this way. I found this this week. Abraham Lincoln wore a Brooks Brothers overcoat when he and his wife, Mary, attended a performance at the Ford Theater, April 14th, 1865. Shortly after 10, John Wilkes Booth crept in behind him, fired a fatal shot in his head. After he was shot, Lincoln was carried across the street to a boarding house where he died. And the personal belongings in his pocket were collected and given to his son, Robert Todd Lincoln, who would then put them in a box. They were later passed on to Robert's daughter, Mary, and she donated them to the Library of Congress in 1937.

The box had never been opened until 1976. So what was in the box? What Lincoln carried with him that fatal night in his Brooks Brothers coat, he had a couple of pairs of eyeglasses, a pocket knife, a white handkerchief, a cuff link, a Confederate $5 bill, and a leather wallet. And one more thing, a newspaper clipping. This newspaper clipping read, Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest statesmen of our times. And though he was one of the greatest statement in all time, Lincoln bore unceasing criticism. He needed encouragement and affirmation, as most of us do. And what he found was an article that said something good about him. He folded it up, he put it in his pocket, and he carried it with him every day of his life until he was shot.

That's Abe Lincoln. We all need those words. Somebody said he's a great statesman. He said, I'm going to keep that.

Do you know how many people wrote or how terrible he was, a horrible human being and all that? We need those kind of words. Our speech is a very important part of our service. He goes on and he says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit, he said, of God, who sealed you for the day of redemption. The Spirit of God is not a force, he's a person. That's why he can be grieved. He's indwelling us as children of God.

And when we don't live as Philadelphia Christians and we live like we always lived, we grieve the Spirit of God. He said then, let all bitterness, notice, all bitterness, wrath, anger and clamor and slander be put away from you and all malice. Those are all synonyms of anger. You need to put it all away. Whatever makes you angry, put it away.

See, you're not of the culture. You're a child of God. He said, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.

Who is kind and forgiving and loving? Philadelphia Christian. That's what it means to be a Philadelphia Christian. So that's my question for you this morning.

Is that how you describe yourself? I'm a Philadelphia Christian. If you have anger issues, I pray the Spirit of God will convict you and stop it.

It will consume you. And this is hard because we live in a culture of anger. And it's a culture of anger that's not just out there, but it's a culture of anger that is in here as well. But if you lay it all aside, I promise you, it'll be for your good and for God's glory. Let's pray. Father, I think the problem with this whole subject matter is the way we talk to ourselves in our mind, we always justify our anger.

That justification makes us more likely to keep doing it throughout our life. But your word makes it abundantly clear we need to lay this aside. We need to deal with it in the best way that we can through your word and through your spirit for your strength. You have given us the resources, the power, the promises, everything we need. But we need to apply diligence to look at our lives the way it is and say, I want to be a Philadelphia Christian.

I don't want to live as I always lived. It'll be for our good and for your glory in Christ's name. Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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