— Brother Phil Enlow: If we are angry, if anger boils up, and especially if it happens a lot, it’s because it’s in here. We need to stop looking around at the situation and at other people. It doesn’t matter…in one sense, God can take care…God will take care of His people. God can take care of situations. But the one that God is interested in, is you!
( congregational amens ).
When He allows a situation that causes anger to boil out of your heart, it’s because He wants you to face it, and me, and recognize and be willing to ask that question, ‘Lord, what are you saying to me in this?’ Do you believe there’s a God who wants to reveal himself in these areas? Do you think that if we really come to Him with an honest heart and say, Lord, I know this is in here, I don’t even know why it’s in here, Lord? In your time and in Your way, if needed, take me on a tour so I can see what’s going on down here and You can heal whatever it is that’s causing that volcano to be there, because it wasn’t in Jesus.
Yeah, there was a kind of anger that came out of Him, but it wasn’t like ours. Don’t ever lie to yourself and say, well, this is righteous anger because they did wrong. They may have. Did they do wrong when they…the way they treated Jesus in crucifying Him? Sure! That’s about as wrong as you can get! And Jesus didn’t answer a word, time after time. And on the cross before He died, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (NIV). Are you that free? I’m not. We need the Lord, don’t we?
( congregational response ).
And you can’t just generalize this glorious picture of Jesus living in us. It’s got to get down to these issues. If these things are in us, they didn’t come from Him. And we need God to deliver us and to show us our hearts and bring them to Him, confess what they are. We come as we are. Didn’t we sing that this morning? Oh, what a selection of songs. Praise God! God was leading this morning.
But oh, I’ll tell you, we’re afraid to be honest. Well, I can’t even admit that because then God wouldn’t love me. If I were really that bad…I’m just not that bad. Folks, He can save the worst of the worst. We can be honest with Him about the true condition of our hearts and the needs and the things that want to rise up. We can tell the truth. We can confess the truth, and know that He loves us and He’s willing to help us. All He’s looking for is an honest heart.
Look at what David went through in Psalms 51. Read through that sometime. When it really dawned on him what he’d done, he was absolutely open, broken. Oh, God, You’re a hundred percent wrong…I mean You’re a hundred percent right, I’m a hundred percent wrong.
( laughter ).
Anyway, you got the idea. No excuses, no nothing, but just here I am, Lord. I need to be cleansed. And, He’ll do it. And if these things are coming out and they represent a failure at that point, can we not bring them to Him. But doesn’t He want us to go beyond the fact that we just messed up, and begin to attack the reasons we’re messing up, because we have learned to yield to something?
And it may be, in many of us, it may be something that happened in our life that just put this feeling, this sense, this weakness down in there. We’ve learned how to react to life in a certain way. Only God can take us down the road that will lead us away from those things. Has He not provided for that or is this just a half-salvation? It’s Him living in us.
So, you see, all these things that have to do with our relationships one with another, and how God wants us to learn how to say, no, and to gain the actual practical victory so that these things do not control us. We can be with somebody who can be really mad and nasty, and whatever, and God can give us a peace. Do you really believe that God can do that for you?
( congregational response ).
Whatever your particular weakness is…you’ve got them, so do I. But, some of these things affect every single one of us. And that’s the reason Paul enumerates them, he lays them out. He said we’re gonna have to learn how to say ‘no.’ All right?
And he goes right back to the foundation. Don’t do this, “…since you have taken off your old self with its practices…” See again, it’s not just this vague, old self, it’s “…with its practices and have put on the new self, which is…” What? “…Being renewed….” There’s that language of an on-going process, something God is doing to change us. Don’t be discouraged by the process, but engage the process.
Don’t just sit there and say, well, this is as good as it gets. I’m okay. I’m not out there robbing banks, murdering people. If we’re not like Jesus, He’s working on us. If there’s any part of our life that’s not Him coming out, then He’s working on us. Thank God, He’s patient. Thank God, He works with us.
But we need to be, to really live our lives in the knowledge of this and actively ask Him, God, I need You to change me! I’m not just recognizing that You’re doing it. I’m not just recognizing it and resenting it because You’re messing with my life. I’m wanting You to change me because my heart is set on what is coming not what is here! My mind sees where You’re going with this! My heart agrees with that. And so, on that ground, I say, oh God, set me free. I want to enter into the life that You purchased for me at such a price.
( congregational amens ).
Praise God! “…Which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here….” And now he begins to transition into something where we…up to now it’s almost been an individual thing. It’s all about me and I’m looking at my own nature and how it wants to react and I’m having to learn to say, no, but now he’s reminding me, I’m not alone. He’s brought me into a fellowship of a family that is unlike any on earth, because he says, “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Oh, what an awesome reality that is! The world is so full of division, me and my group and we resent everybody else. And we’ve got people that are trying to tear down this country. I’ll throw in this, for free, they’re trying to tear down this country and destroy it! And one of the greatest tools is to set every group against every other one.
But God is establishing a kingdom where every earthly boundary, every earthly division is gone. We need to have a heart that’s open to those that Christ has purchased with His blood and lives in! They are our brothers and our sisters. It’s not a matter of who you are from an earthly standpoint. We have a heavenly calling. We have a brand-new life and it’s Christ in us. If Christ is in me and Christ is in you, then we’re brother and sister, whatever is appropriate. That’s what he’s talking about. Praise God!
Thank God I’m not alone. Do you ever just feel alone and struggling? We all do at one time or another. But we’re not alone. God has brought us into an incredible reality. “Therefore…” Again, now on the foundation of what he’s been saying, now we have a ‘therefore.’ “…As God’s chosen people….”
You want to know who God’s chosen people are? These are them. It doesn’t matter whether Jew or Gentile, it has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with those who are in Christ, those who have been bought with His blood, those who have been born into an eternal kingdom. That’s what it’s all about.
“…God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved….” I’ll throw this in, that’s a…that’s a bridge too far for a lot of folks, to really get a hold of that. I confess my need, to get this in a deeper way. Can you really look inside your heart and say, and really, truthfully say, I am dearly loved, by a holy God? I, in spite of all that I lack and all that I am, I am dearly loved. I am dearly loved!
( congregational amens ).
I pray that God will make that more real to me and more real to you, because emotionally we have a hard time signing onto that one. Life has a way of forming us and defining us in so many other ways, so many ways that are of this world. But if you’re in Christ, you are chosen, you are dearly loved. In spite of your needs, in spite of everything you think is wrong with you, and may be wrong with you. You are dearly loved. And God wants us to come with a confidence in Him. Like we don’t have to constantly prove that I belong to You. Oh, thank God!
( congregational amens ).
We can find a peace and a rest on this foundation. We can build, knowing that it, like Paul, we’re reaching forth for something, we haven’t arrived there yet. We’ve to still press through. We’ve got to deal with issues, day-by-day-by-day. But we’re on the way and we have a solid foundation and a solid hope.
Okay? I feel like maybe this is one of those things where God wants to continually put the foundation, not only the foundation, but where He’s going with it, how to build on that. It’s almost like, like what Brother Thomas preached so many years ago. I mean, has anybody here ever got all of this? You’ve just arrived and all of this understanding, you’re living the deeper life, you’re living everything? No! This is where God is dealing with us right now. We’ve got a foundation that’s incredible. What are we doing with it? What kind of life are we actually living out? What’s coming out of us? What do people see? What do they experience in us? Do they experience Christ, or do they experience us? Human nature?
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves…” Now we’re getting into the positive aspects of Christ’s nature, being like Him. “…Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Not one of these characteristics come from human nature. We may have limited imitations of them, but I tell you, there’s nothing. If I’m gonna be this way it’s going to have to be supernatural.
( congregational amens ).
It does not exist in me, except through Christ. If He’s here, though, I have the power to actually give expression to those, if I will. That’s where choice comes in. And so, Paul wants people to engage in that.
Now, how would I know that I need something like this? Do you think the Lord just might bring us down a pathway and lead us to circumstances where that isn’t how we react? And what’s the appropriate response? To wallow in pain and go eat a box of chocolates? Or to say, Lord, you have brought me this way to show me my need. But I know I’m dearly loved. And I know Jesus isn’t this way. And I bring my sin, my failure to You. But I’m looking to You to live in me. Help me, right now, to make a choice to believe in Your power at work in me so that I can actually live out what You told me to be.
Do you see how a day-by-day-by-day exercise of that kind of thing God’s gonna lead us step by step forward? I mean, how do you build muscles? All at once? No, you have to exercise every single day and it’s not always fun. For some people I guess it is. But, most of us it’s not fun to put up with that resistance and you get to tomorrow and we need a little bit more. Oh Lord!
( laughter ).
But how else do we grow? If we don’t face things that challenge what we are, and who we are? But God is faithful, isn’t He? And remember, He’s not gonna put you in a situation that by His grace you can’t handle, nor I. All right?
So, all these awesome qualities, they come right straight out of the heart of Jesus. We see it in His interaction with people. Even those who were terrible sinners, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
“Bear with each other…” Oh now we get down to the nitty gritty. And that focuses on the reality that in this process we ain’t perfect! You are going to run into members of the Body of Christ who are gonna really mess up big time, and it’s gonna affect you emotionally. How do we deal with it? How does Christ deal with it? Truthfully. But does He get up high and mighty and say, straighten up and fly right. What’s the matter with you down there? I’m disgusted with you, about to throw you out. There is a love that wants to reach down and lift up.
Folks, do you want people to put up with you? Well, we need to put up with each other. We need to recognize and be realistic about where we’re at and the fact that we are human. We have faults. We have failings. We have needs. And God has called us to be like the Savior in that respect. We love one another. Our heart is to reach up, or reach down and lift up, and encourage. All right?
“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” It’s not a new idea, is it? But if God’s gonna reproduce the very nature of Christ in me, how can I do less than be willing to forgive?
( congregational amens ).
Now, I realize emotionally, sometimes we say, I just can’t! Well, the truth is, you can’t, if you’re trying to pull on human nature, it ain’t there, folks. We’re gonna have to say, I’m willing if You’ll just make me able.
( congregational amens ).
I’m willing if You will enable me, Lord.
( congregational amens ).
But You’re gonna have to do it. How many of you remember the scene in that movie…what was the name of it? “Overcomer.” That grandmother who was so bitter, and then she wound up realizing she had a need in this area, and said, oh God, You’re gonna have to help me! He did, didn’t He?
Isn’t that what God’s looking for? Doesn’t He need to bring us to a place where we not only feel our need but we’re crying out and saying, oh God, I need Your help. I need You to change me. Isn’t that a prayer that He longs to hear?
( congregational response ).
And longs to answer? Can’t we make progress in this Christian life? That’s what he’s talking about. “Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Every single one of these, in one way or another, is an expression of divine love.
( congregational amens ).
And you remember what John said in his first letter, “We love because he first loved us.” And in this way, His love is made complete. God does not just love you so that you can have this private little lovefest. He poured His love into you so it could pour through you to other people. How else is God gonna spread His love? That’s how He means to do it.
That’s how He did it with His Son! His Son didn’t just bottle up and say, boy, I’m tired of these crazy people, I don’t feel like loving them. But He didn’t hold back. There was nothing but pure love that people felt. Even the woman at the well, with all of her history, she sensed something in Him, that didn’t just run her down and reject her because of who she was, but reached out in mercy and in love. And it drew her out of a cesspool of sin, to recognize there was somebody who loved her and wanted her to have a new life.
Oh, how we need that with one another. And how God is so ready, He’s so ready, to share Himself, if we’re just willing, and we recognize that we have a need.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts….” And I think we’ve probably made the point many times, and maybe you’ve heard others make it, it’s kind of like in baseball you’ve got an umpire that calls balls and strikes. How do we know we’re on the right track? It’s not always an emotion. But I’ll tell you, there can be a…there’s a peace that God puts all the way down in the bottom of our soul, we’re at peace with Him.
We know there’s no controversy. There’s no, ‘I’m mad at you, God, because You didn’t do things my way, on my schedule.’ There is a yieldedness, there is a humbling of ourselves under the mighty hand of God so He can lift us up when it’s proper, when it’s the proper time. That’s what He’s looking for, just somebody with child-like faith that says, Lord, I’m yours. I want to be in harmony with You, in every area of my life.
And Lord…and what’s the result of that? It’s peace, isn’t it? And when we get something that disturbs our peace, we want to go a certain way, we want a certain thing, and there’s no peace. You better step back. God has a way that He wants to lead us. He knows about our earthly lives and our earthly needs. But they have a heavenly purpose. That’s way Paul says, “Set your affection on things above.” (KJV). Your hearts, your minds.
“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” (NIV). Now, you could just sort of blow right over that. But think about all that he’s been talking about. He’s been talking about coming face to face with the ugliness of our own human nature, on a personal level. You’re having to come face to face with it and recognize it and say, the problem is in here. I have allowed my flesh to rule over me. I have allowed my old nature to rule over me. Thank you, Lord!
Let’s put this in its context. Is God doing you a loving, merciful favor when He allows you to feel that and sense that need? Yeah! It’s because He longs for us to face it and know that we need Him and cry out to Him. And He’s ready, right there, to lift us up! And so, in the midst of all of this, that Paul has been talking about, we have every reason to say, thank you, Lord, for not leaving me like I am. God, if I followed my own inclinations, I would be lost. But You didn’t let me. You came to me. You rescued me, at the cost of Your own Son’s life. Thank God!
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another…” Now we’re helping each other. “…With all wisdom…” Sometimes we don’t use wisdom, do we? We need God’s wisdom. “…With all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
You know, we talked about how the Christian life works, and the foundation for it all. You know, between the history of what God has done for us and our destiny, here’s today. But now Paul gets down to the nitty gritty, doesn’t he? There are things, there are appetites that will rise up in your flesh, that God…we need divine grace in order to use these bodies the way God intended us to use them in this world.
Don’t be dismayed when your old life shows up and demands control, and particularly if you’ve got a situation when you have yielded over decades sometimes. You’ve yielded in this area. There may be a battle. There will be a battle. But you have the power through Christ to begin to say no.
( congregational amens ).
And begin to gain the victory over that. So, Praise God! I’ll just leave it at that and just trust God, because I need this…every bit as much as you. We are all on a journey. Every one of us has aspects of our old nature that still want to rule and call the shots. But we need to recognize, I have this need. Lord, you are the only answer to my need. Jesus, give me the victory, right here, right now, so that I can act…I can act out. I don’t mean pretend, but I mean to live out Your life instead of mine. Praise God! Is God faithful?
( congregational amens ).
Amen!
