Do More with Your Life: A 2000 Year Old Challenge

TRANSCRIPT

What a cool series we're in investigating Jesus. We've had some awesome speakers, which I'll get to in a moment, but I want to talk about advertising. Advertising is everywhere. Do you guys agree? It's in our faces. 24 7. It's on tv. It's in shopping centres, it's on cars. People put branding on their cars, it's on products, it's advertisers, other advertisers, their product. So we're just visually absorbing all these advertisements. And I think the biggest one is it's also on our phones. We're on our phones almost all day every day, and we're constantly getting ads for products. We're getting targeted. They're sending us products. We're just absorbing all of this stuff. We're on Facebook that has a lot of ads. Instagram have ads, YouTube have ads. Websites you go to also have ads on the sides, TikTok, all of that, they all have ads and sometimes even Instagram, they disguise an ad as someone's post. You'll be scrolling, you're like, I don't know that person. And then you see it's sponsored. So you can see it's also an ad for something and you didn't even know who they were. You thought you trusted them, but it was someone else. But I want to ask you a question. If your life was an ad, what are you advertising?

If I was to scroll on a 32nd reel of your life, what would I see? What would you see of my life? Not the stuff you want me to see, not the curated content, the real content, the raw content. What are you advertising? And it is, it's a challenging thought because you start to think, okay, what would people see? How would they see me act? How would they see my thoughts? How would they see my words? And it doesn't even just stop there of what we're advertising. What are we collectively advertising as a church community? What does the community see our church being, see it representing? Are we for the Gold Coast? Would the community say yes, that church community is for the Gold Coast?

And I'll come back to this thought later, and as Kev mentioned, we're in the third week of investigating Jesus, and it's how we know and why we follow. We've heard over the last two weeks that our faith and Christianity, it's all hung on one person, Jesus Christ. And I believe that even society would not be the same as it is today without the radical living of Jesus. He brought so many radical shifts to society and culture in that time, the things he called people to do, even if you don't believe in Jesus is so radical. It started to bring people down and that we were all equal. There was this different power shift, but this is why the importance of the gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke, and John are so important. They're the centrepiece of our faith. These documents is what our faith is anchored to, and that's why we ask ourselves the questions are these four documents a reliable account of the life of Jesus?

And what we refer to the gospels are the first four books of the New Testament and these documents that were written recorded the life of Jesus and just bear with us over the series. We will repeat a few of the stuff at the start, but that's because it's so important and it sets the foundation for the series and for Jesus. But it also reminds people that are new to faith or just getting a good idea that they're reminded of what we're talking about. Because when you can grow up in a church community, you know all this stuff, you don't need it to be reminded, but you forget that people that are new in the journey don't always know the lingo, they don't know the terminology. So we're trying to make sure people really understand where our faith comes from.

(04:31):

So this series, we're walking through the gospel of Luke and we've learned about who Luke was and what he did over the last two weeks. So I won't go into the detail and if you want to know the backstory of Luke in a bit more detail, go back to the last two weeks. You can listen to it, you can watch it. It's really great at setting up who Luke was and what he did. Now I'm just going to read through the first few scriptures of his documented, his so called document, and it says, many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us just as they were handed down to us by those from the first were eyewitnesses and the servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you most excellent.

(05:26):

The Theos. I can't even say that Luke isn't writing the Bible. He's not setting out to write down this biblical document that people can use for faith. He was just recording history. He was recording someone's life and telling their story and why he goes on to say so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught that brought credibility to Luke on what he was. He was writing an account for someone. He was writing it down, not for religious purposes, but an account. And I'm going to start in chapter three where we introduce a guy called John the Baptizer, and this is how it starts. So it's Luke chapter three, and it starts like this in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod, Teri of Galilee and his brother Philip Teri of Atu and Tricon and Sios Teri of Albany during the high priesthood of Ananias and Caiaphas, the fact that I can't even say it or remember it means it's legit because that's not made up.

You don't do that. If you made that up, people go, that's just what is that? I even wrote down how to try and say these words and that still didn't help. But Luke doesn't start his story like he's starting it once upon a time. He's starting it very methodically. You can see that he's just so meticulous about what he's doing. It reads like any historical document. You look for other historical figures. This is how they start. They give the backstory, the lineage and who was reigning at the time. So you can see it's a professionally written document. I'm sure there's not documents about Albert Einstein where it goes, oh, this guy with crazy hair. He was smart, but he was a bit weird. They don't start historical documents like that. And that's what Luke was doing. He was writing a methodical historical document and it says during the high priesthood of Anis and fuss, the word of God came to John son of Zacharia in the wilderness.

And this is where we first find out about John the Baptist. And the thing about John the Baptist was he wasn't just a Bible character, he was a historical character. And if you want to read more about how that fits into it, there is a famous Jewish historian called Josephus who writes about John the Baptist. He mentions when he was recording his documents that the time that he was recording that John lived, he had to include John in his documentation because he was such a prominent figure. He couldn't ignore it. He couldn't have excluded John the Baptist. And he describes John as a respected man unjustly killed. So again, it's bringing that evidence of who John the Baptist was and it goes on. There's a lot of scripture that we're going to go through, so you're to buckle up. So during the high priesthood of anus and fuss, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharia in the wilderness, and he went into all of the country of Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

John was preaching something radical. Jesus had not yet come. There was none of this baptism and none of all of the stuff that John was talking about. He was saying, guys, come here. Let me dunk you in this water and repentance forgiveness of sins. Come over here and do this. And that was outrageous. Back in those times, the Jews already had their way of forgiving sins and that wasn't it. There was all these traditional and religious activities and things you had to do in a certain way. Hop on one leg, pull your ear like there was just a list and a process of forgiving sins, which is why it was so radical that this man could say, I'll dunk you and your sins have been forgiven and repent.

John was offering forgiveness of sins so that they could live out the life that they were meant to live, the life that they were designed to live, and this was designed to get people ready for the Messiah to get ready for Jesus. So John the Baptist is going around preaching this wild stuff and it gets back to the temple leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and they wanted to see it for themselves. Is this guy legit? Is he saying these things or is he just another crazy bushman? He came out of the wilderness preaching this stuff. I don't think he had nice hair, nice clothes. I'm sure he was pretty dishevelled. So it probably wasn't uncommon to have crazy people back in those days, but they were going to see if he was a threat to what they were doing because what John was saying and preaching was undermining what the Jews have done for hundreds of years.

The tradition, the religion that they had followed. He was basically taking away all of this religious tradition from the Jewish people, what he was saying out in the wilderness. So this is where we pick up. It says, John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, you brewed to Vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. He's talking to the church leaders. Everyone's coming down who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. It's a crazy man from the bushes having a go at them that would not have gone. These guys would've been dressed in all their fancy clothes. He probably would've been a bit smelly or more, he's baptising, so he's probably clean, but he would've been in dirty clothes and he's calling out these religious leaders. It'd be like yelling at the president or the Prime Minister or people that are respected in community at a high level just having an absolute go at them.

But what John is doing is he's calling out the change that is about to happen coming wrath. He's saying that the days of believing and preaching are over. It's time to live out your faith. So the days of just believing and preaching are over. That's what the Sadducees and Pharisees did. They would just get up here and just preach all this tradition, all this religiosity, all of this stuff, days of that are gone. It's not just the believing and preaching, it's time to live out your faith. It's no longer this vertical just relationship with God where it's up and down. It's about going out. It's about to go out and start doing with your faith. And John's saying, if you want to prepare for this change, you need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. He's saying you need to produce fruit with the repentance that has come, and then he already gets ready for their excuses and do not begin to say to yourselves, so he's predicted that they're going to have some excuses.

They say, we have Abraham as our father. Don't use that as an excuse for I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. So he was saying, don't use the excuse that you're just a child of Abraham, that it's all good, mate. We're all sweet. I'm sorted. I know what's happening. Let's convert that to today's day and age. But I'm a Christian, I'm good. I believe in Jesus and I'm good as if faith is the end goal. Cool. I've believed that's it done. John is saying that us coming to faith, you coming to faith, isn't the finish line saying that prayer isn't the finish line, it's just the starting line. When you take that step of faith, that's the starting line of your journey. Coming to faith isn't the finish line. Faith is the starting line. Our faith is no longer internalised this vertical religion. It's a doing religion, it's a doing for others religion.

And Luke goes on to say, so clearly what should we do? Then the crowd stated, how can we prepare for this chain? What do you want us to do? Crazy Bushman, tell me what you want. I don't want to offend anyone. It's John the Baptist. I'll refer him to as John the Bushman. That's who he was. What can we do then? What you are saying is true. What can we do? John answered, anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none and anyone who has food should do the same. That's a great two sentences right there. He is saying those that have some share, look and meet the needs of those around you because guess what? God was about to do the same. He was about to do the same for the world and meet the entire world's need by sending Jesus.

There was also talking to the tax collectors, and this is what John said, don't collect any more than you are required to. He told them, don't steal. Don't try and figure out how you can get around something and charge people more and do all this kind of stuff. Do what is just not what you can justify. He's telling them he's calling them out because the tax collectors were sneaky, sneaky people. So do what was just and not what you can justify. I can adhere to that every day. Do what is just not what I can justify. I'm the world's best salesperson to myself. I can justify anything. I could take my shoes off and my pants off and I could justify it right here. I won't. Someone else will justify, but I could easily justify that it's hot and I need to move around. I need to do one with Jesus, but I can justify anything but do what is just there were also Roman soldiers there because I'm sure there was a bit of a commotion.

There would've been the religious leaders and all of the crowd and there would've been some hustle and bustle. So the Roman soldiers would've been there to kind of help in whatever way they wanted to. But some of the soldiers asked, says in here, and what should we do? So all I picture is just a line of people facing the bushman. What should I do? And then they go to the back of the line, someone else, well, what should I do? But I am a fruit picker. What should I do? Just like this line. And John's like, okay, well you need to do this. That's what I pictured because it just goes and what should we do and what should we do? What should I do? So the soldier said, what should we do? He replied, don't extort money and don't accuse people and be content with your pay. That was pretty big. Stop taking advantage of people. He's calling them out. Stop extorting people. Stop using power for leverage. And this was radical stuff. He was calling out Roman soldiers and what this man was preaching was outrageous. What John was preaching was outrageous. This new way of living, this new form of faith, this new form of active faith.

The preaching that John was bringing to everyone was so crazy and outrageous. They even wondered if he was the messiah that everyone had been waiting on. That's how radical it was. And this is how John it said John answered them all. And I picture him because everyone's just asking, what should I do? Just calming everyone down. No, I'm not the Messiah. Just relax, calm down. I'm here to start it. And this is what he says. He says, I baptise you with water, but the one who is more powerful than I will come the straps of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He's saying, no, I'm not the Messiah, the one who is to follow and I'm not even worthy to serve. That's what he's saying. No, no, no, I'm nothing to compared to the one who is about to come. If you just listen to what I'm bringing, you will be in a position to be prepared for the one who is to follow. John is calling us to our new faith. A new change is coming. John is calling us to do something. John is calling us to be active and doers of our faith.

John wasn't just sitting in the wilderness by himself and having these great epiphanies in these great thoughts, and if he did, he would be called John the Bushman because he didn't do anything. But no, he came out and he decided to be John the Baptist. He decided to be an active doer of his faith. He went out and he risked his life. In the end, it cost him his life. The amazing thing for us is we do have the Bible. We do have the list of these documents that have been collected where we can see John, we can see Jesus. We see what happens in between. We can see the changeover and by doing with our faith and for our faith, this is where we cultivate a deep connection to our creator doing deepens our faith.

And maybe you've been like me where maybe you feel your faith has become a little bit stagnant or you've become a little bit complacent in your faith and you feel like maybe God isn't really there and you're not feeling it. Or maybe the teaching isn't deep enough or stimulating enough. And what I want to challenge you is get out and do. Do with your faith. Be an active believer. Show active faith and see what happens. Because doing deepens our faith. Doing is the deepest teaching you will ever get. It doesn't matter who's up here, it doesn't matter what you're doing, listening to going out and doing. That's where you deepen your faith with the creator. Believers didn't change the world. Doers changed the world. Believers don't change the world doers change the world. Believers don't introduce others to Jesus. Doers do. Believers don't change. Families, doers do.

John is calling us to be doers of God's word. John is calling us out of the bushes. So get out of the bush and stop being consumers of the Word of God and become doers of the word of God. Now I come back to what I said at the start. If your life is a commercial, what are you advertising? What version of faith are you advertising? Are you advertising a believer only faith or a doer of faith? The version that John the Baptist works so hard to bring to those people and what he calls us to do, the version of faith that Jesus calls us to do. And now I want to clarify that. I'm not saying our works determine our faith because it doesn't matter what we do. The doing isn't what brings us salvation. Our safe salvation is already eternally promised. When we believe, however, out of that faith, out of the reverence to God, we should do out of the reverence to God.

We should see the needs around us and realise that our life isn't our own. It's out of our faith that we do. We don't have to do anything for our salvation. We should see that we need to advertise an active faith in the community around us. I also want to preface this by saying, I don't want us to compare our faith to somebody else's. Don't look at what other people are doing. Go, man, they're doing such great work and I'm over here not doing much. Or don't use comparison as an excuse because it's not what you are doing. It's the fact that you are doing. That's what I'm saying. It's not what you are doing, it's that you are doing. We all have unique skills and talents and abilities, and it's about using those for the kingdom. It's about producing fruit. As John the Baptist said earlier, it doesn't matter if you only produce apples or oranges or bananas. It's the act of producing fruit that Jesus calls us to.

So what are you advertising? I want to set a little bit of a challenge this week, and I want you to pray this prayer every day and just see what happens to your faith says, heavenly Father, what should I do? Heavenly Father, what should I do? If you do, your will be open. Your faith will be deepened because you'll be challenged to step out. You'll be required to step out of your comfort zone. You'll experience your relationship with Jesus on a whole new level, a level way greater than deep teaching will ever get you. And it's even part of our church family values. If you call this place home and we've got a whole big set of values, courage and conviction is on there. We need to be courageous with our faith. We need to be living courageously every day.

Active faith is the only faith that counts because it's the faith that makes a difference, the lives that would be impacted and the lives that would be changed because you ask God, what should I do? Because you chose to live an active faith. You chose to advertise an active faith. People got to see a glimpse of Jesus on this earth because you chose to do and you chose to be active, and you stopped being a consumer and became a doer. Imagine what people would say and do. They would see these shirts and go, yes, our church is for the community. They are for the Gold Coast. It's not just a slogan or a cool t-shirt. They would see it because we are doing it and we represent that community. Imagine if there's 200 people that were going out living active faith each and every day showing people who Jesus is.

Not saying you don't, I'm not trying to say, but just imagine that if everybody collectively every day chose to live out that active faith, heavenly Father, what should I do? Remember, believers didn't change the world. Doers changed the world. It's going to pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank you. We just thank you for the people that in the Bible gave their lives to you, Lord, that chose to step out and live an active faith, chose to risk it all, to share the good news, to actively put their life on the line, to keep the gospel going to record so that we can remember and believe. We thank you for sending your son Jesus, the hope of the world so that we can have eternal salvation. And I pray that these words that I've spoken tonight, this morning are not my own. That from you Lord, and that they just resonate with who they need to resonate with. Lord, that they just call us out to be active doers of our faith. I pray that our hearts are convicted and challenged. Not that we feel guilty or ashamed, but we feel encouraged to step out and to do that we can make a difference in our community by showing people you, showing people the kingdom that lives within us.

Lord, we just thank you. We just pray that you continue to keep this desire in our heart, in your mighty name, amen.