283: Ben McKay - Exhoration: A People Who Are Truly His

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   Welcome to Good Chris Selfie and talks. I’m Levi. And I’m Chris. And I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week with the short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you’re about to listen to. And now, let’s talk more about this week’s talk. This week’s talk is an exhortation by Brother Ben McKay that he gave at the Cambridge Collegia in Ontario, Canada on January 7th.

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   His title was a People Who are truly His. This exhortation was one of those rare treats for me where we I actually got two suggestions. One came in to our e-mail and then another one came to me personally and this was a really great exhortation by Brother Ben. He has a really clear and easy to understand style. He opens talking about proper motivations for why we should love God and listen to him and follow His commandments. And then it’s kind of a a really kind of practical understanding of the entire New Testament.

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   After that I found just he kind of weaves through all sorts of different passages talking about that exactly what does it mean to be transformed and to live like Christ. So this was a really great decision. I’m really excited to share it. Thanks again to the people who sent it in. Please do continue to send us those suggestions. We live off them.

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   So here is Ben McKay, a people who are truly his. What’s your motivation to obey God? Is it to escape punishment for sin? Is it to be in the Kingdom to live eternally? Or is it to do our fathers good pleasure.

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   Well, let’s let’s think about those. Let’s let’s start with fearing punishment for sin. If you’ll turn with me to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 Second Corinthians chapter 5 verses 9 to 11.

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   Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. We persuade men, but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciousness. So God does want us to stop sinning, and fear of death is a big motivator for not sinning

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   fear of the punishment. But does God want this to be what keeps us obeying his commands? Well what about being rewarded for good works we read in Matthew 16, verse 27. For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. The rewards promised to those who believe and obey could be motivating.

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   For us eternal life and the joy of being united together with God, Jesus, and our fellow believers in Paradise. The Bible talks about how we will be each held accountable. We will be rewarded for our actions of service and punished for our wrongs. There will be an accounting of our life. Turn with me to Colossians 3 and we’ll read verses 23 to 25 of Colossians 3.

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   And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ, but he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality. And then if you’ll jump over to Hebrews chapter four with me, and verses 12 to 13 of Hebrews 4. For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account, and further on in Hebrews 12 and verse 28. Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. So is this what drives us to obey God’s commands, either the carrot or the stick?

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    I don’t think these alone are enough. These are elements which might motivate us initially or when we are really struggling. But really we must move on to more powerful motivations. So what about love?

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    Let’s look at First John chapter 4 and verses 16 to 19 of first John Four. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in Him. Love has been perfected among us in this that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment.

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    But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. So if our love for the Father is perfected, we will be sure that the Day of Judgement will not be bad for us. Our perfect love will cast out fear. And the reason is because we love God as He loves us.

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    So it’s not just the fear, but the reward is also not the answer on its own. Because when humanity thinks of paradise, what do we think of we? We tend to picture leisure, abundance, no stress, no work.

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    But both fear of punishment and desire for reward are driven by our own self-interest, and the paradise that we imagine appeals to our lazy laziness and our covetousness, and so on. Why would God ask us to obey His commands and deny our fleshly desires only to reward our fleshly desires? So rather than giving us an eternal vacation, God is using this life to train us to embody His principles in the Kingdom.

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    We will use these traits daily in service to Him. Throughout the New Testament, we are reminded repeatedly to walk worthy of this calling. There are certainly rewards in the Kingdom and punishment to be avoided at the judgement, but they are not as important as the purpose that God has for us in the Kingdom. Let’s look at Matthew 19 verses 27 to 30 of Matthew 19. Then Peter answered and said to him, See, we have left all and followed you.

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    Therefore what shall we have? So Jesus said to them, assuredly I say to you that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 Thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father, or mother or wife or children or lands for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

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    But many who are first will be last and the last first. So we see some reward here, but we also see some of the the roles. So the the apostles and those who have left behind will, will receive, but they will also have these positions. If we look at Titus chapter 3

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    and verses 7 to 8 of Titus three, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying. And these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

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    And I’ll just read for you first Thessalonians 2, verse 12, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own Kingdom and glory. So why do we need to walk worthy of God? Because our character and who we are, the things that we value, the behavior that we show in our life is critical to the Kingdom. So we need to follow Christ.

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    We need to be ready to leave behind the things and people of this life. We need to maintain good works and walk worthy of the calling. When we are spiritually mature, we will move beyond the punishment and reward motivators and look to the awesome wisdom of God’s principles. We will come to love God and His purpose with the earth.

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    And then we can really begin to fundamentally change ourselves, because rather than being fixated only on the reward or fleeing the punishment in fear, we will be internalizing God’s principles and systematically changing our habits to match that of His Son we read in First Peter 2 verse 21. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps.

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    If you’ll turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, and we’ll read verses 11 to 13 in Ephesians 4. And he himself He gave some to the to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the Saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

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    To a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And jumping down to verse 22. That you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness, and jumping into Ephesians. 5 The first verse. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. So God has called all of us to develop our skills and our attitudes so that we might be united in the Kingdom, not just together, not just physically in the same place, but completely united in purpose and character.

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    So to do so we have to put off our former conduct and be renewed in our minds, imitating Christ’s behavior and His love. In so doing we will become Christ’s brethren and will be conformed to His image, like we read in Romans 8 verse 29, For whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. So God in his foreknowledge predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, that same image of the perfect man. So the the beauty of the Kingdom is a place that is filled with perfect people who don’t hurt each other, who don’t inflict suffering on others and themselves. The Kingdom of people who work together in harmony to worship their Creator and celebrate the beauty and majesty of His creation, where God’s love infuses everything and Christ is truly the first born.

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    Among many brethren and sisters who all share His perfect character, Christ himself tells us that we will be like Him. Luke 6 verse 40, we read a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. It sounds incredible. Now imagine this place filled with people who don’t really enjoy serving God, who grumble about doing any kind of work, whether it’s for their job, for their family, or for the ecclesia. People with no patience, who want to be served and indulged in whatever they like, whatever they feel like. Because that’s their reward for a life of doing good. People who don’t do bad things only when they think they’ll get caught.

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    Or people who do good things only so that they will get something for it. Can you imagine it? I would think it shouldn’t be too hard. It’s basically the world we live in, as has existed for thousands of years. You if you basically cloned me and filled the Kingdom with me, that’s what it would probably look like. Nobody wants to go there.

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    So the problem is that if the people filling the place are like this, it wouldn’t be a wonderful place. And if it was this wonderful place of people doing God’s will and one person there wasn’t really interested in God’s purpose or or serving him, they wouldn’t really want to be there. They’d be filled with all these perfect people, but there there would be discord.

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    Now God has instructed us and how we should act because it is how we must behave in the Kingdom. And when we really dig into understanding His principles it will change us so that we understand the value of this behavior. In Hebrews 11 we have listed for us the example of many such faithful believers, and it ends with the following in verses verse 39 of Hebrews 11.

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    And all these having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise. God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us, and continuing into Hebrews. 12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily be ensnares us.

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    And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. So how do we run with endurance this race, and ensure that we are continuously changing ourselves to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ?

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    Well, we reflect on the emblems weekly we meet together with like minded believers, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s think about some example in Scripture. What about Moses? Over his lifetime he certainly grew and developed his character in service to our Heavenly Father. We read a little earlier here in Hebrews 11, verse 24 by faith and reading from the NET translation by faith. When he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be ill treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. He regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward. Moses eyes were fixed on the reward, but he also he had so much of the of the reward that we see in the world around us. He refused that reward.

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    He refused to be one of Pharaoh’s children. We also see this this refusal in a number of places, but we will. Let’s take a look at Titus 2 verses 11 of 14 of Titus New and again this one will be from the net, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all people.

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    It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age as we wait for the happy fulfilment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us, to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people who are truly His, who are eager to do good. Now those 3 verses in four verses in Titus, I could have just read instead of giving this exhort and sat down because they sum it up beautifully.

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    It’s such an amazing picture to think of being one of the people in that Kingdom who are truly Jesus’s who are eager to do good. We also see this refusal in Second Corinthians chapter 4, reading from 14 to 18 of Second Corinthians chapter 4. Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you, for all things are for your sakes.

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    That grace, having spread through the many, may cause Thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

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    How do we renew ourselves day by day? How do we keep ourselves on track? Well, we know that we read God’s word for guidance. We ask questions we share with our brothers and sisters, and we keep going after setbacks. We read in Second Timothy 2, verse 15, to be diligent, to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And truly, God wants us to hate evil, to hate sin. If we love sin, we are not following Christ’s example. It’s not just about not doing the sin because we’re not told to or because we’re told not to.

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    If we really embody God’s principles, we will hate the sin because we understand it is evil. Sin is destructive and harmful. There’s very good reason to hate it and fight against it. We’re told to abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. We’re also told that if we love this life, we have missed the point.

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    Jesus tells us he who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. He says if anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am. There my servant will be. Also. If anyone serves me him, my father will honor that was from John 12 verses 25 to 26.

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    So if we aren’t progressively changing and putting to death sin in our lives, we aren’t following Christ. Now, I’m not telling you any new information here. We’re all aware that we need to change to be like Christ. But when we are working on changing specific aspects for character to be more like Christ, we can’t have an all or nothing mentality where we stumble on our process and then feel like we’ve failed or given up and give up.

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    We’re very likely going to stumble. It’s what we do after and how we turn to God for real strength that we carry on. We all want to be like Christ, and we’re all very well aware of how much we fall short of that goal. We can’t allow that to be an excuse for us to give up. God wants us to keep trying and keep struggling to be like his son.

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    He’s given us the command, He He says we have to obey his commands, and for us it’s a it’s a process that takes time and patience, and it’s best if we plan for how to recover when we stumble so we can carry on with changing our behaviour rather than wallowing in our mistakes and furthering our sinful behaviour. We’re told in 2nd Corinthians 3 that we all, with unveiled face Beholding as an emir the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

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    And in our reading of Acts 7 earlier, we saw the process of change for the patriarchs of Israel. Abraham was called out from the land he knew to a different land, which was not given to him as an inheritance in his life. Instead, he received a promise of the Kingdom to come. Abraham’s life was about learning to trust in God, and he sometimes repeated the same mistakes, but he did learn to fully trust in God. Moses thought he could lead the people and be their savior, but his first attempt was unsuccessful. He rejected the things of Pharaoh’s house and learned to be the meekest man on earth.

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    He learned self-control and a willingness to submit to God. Though it came through some very hard lessons, it was a process that took most of his life. In contrast to these two, we see Stephen’s rebuke of the Israelites because, just like their forefathers, they stubbornly refused to change. They resisted God’s ways, and they even persecuted and murdered those who tried to change them.

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    And then those listening proceeded to do the same thing as their forefathers. We also saw the example of the Jews at the time who fixated on avoiding breaking the Mosaic Law but failed to develop the godly character that we are called to.

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    Our transformation into the image of Jesus cannot only be putting down sin and just obeying the law. We must also be building up godly character and habits, and to do that we need to both change our thinking and intentionally introduce new behavior and habits into our life to replace the bad. We know our thoughts drive our actions, so we must bring them into captivity and control them.

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    We’re told in 2nd Corinthians 10 verse five, to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. And when we bring those thoughts into captivity, and when we drive out those temptations, When we drive out those evil thoughts from our minds, we must replace them with good things. Let’s look at Philippians 4 verse eight reading from Philippians 4, verse 8.

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    Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good, report. If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things.

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    And if we change our mentality, if we meditate on these things, the fruit will follow the fruit of the Spirit, We’re told in Galatians 5 verses 22 to 23. The fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, Peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. So I’d like to ask everyone here to take a moment to reflect. Think of one of your traits or characteristics that you think is the most like the fruit of the Spirit, one that you are embodying or showing that fruit in your life, and therefore the most like Jesus.

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    And I’ll repeat the fruit for you, Lovejoy. Peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And now I’d like to ask you to take a moment to reflect on what you know is the fruit of the Spirit that you least embody in your life, the fruit that you don’t show and therefore makes you the least like Jesus.

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    So the reason I’m asking is because we have this process of continually changing, continually struggling against the sin which so easily besets us in adopting the character we’re told to that we should be renewed day by day, that we should take up the cross daily. And reflecting on the fruit of the Spirit, we should see the fruit in our life and in in the fruit that we don’t see. We should reflect on why we don’t see it in our life and how we can, how we can have it, how we can build it and how we can reflect it in our life.

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    And that process, as we said, takes time. Now for each of us, we have the we have been called to reflect this in our life. And whatever that fruit is that you find is most likely or whatever it is that you find, you have the most of work on. Both of them work on, focus on what you need to improve and work on steps to do so.

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    That is what each of us needs to do. We have to continuously reflect on these things and not just say that we need them to be better, but to actually determine concrete steps that we can take in our life to put off the old man and to put on the new man. And if we have success in changing them, or if we find that you know there is a fruit that we are demonstrating, we can share it.

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    We can tell others about our experience and offer strategies, offer help. Let’s not keep the light of God’s word hidden either from non believers or from our brothers and sisters. Jesus told us to imitate him and Paul actually says to imitate him just as he imitates Christ.

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    He He tells the Corinthians that each of us should imitate Christ and each one of us should teach and others in how we are imitating. So no matter who you are, if you have a desire to be like Christ, then you will have some valuable way to help others with their struggles.

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    So let’s review our thoughts this morning. What motivates us to live a godly life? Is it fear? Is it desire for reward, that love for God and love for His ways?

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    We know the Kingdom is designed for people who love God’s ways, as God’s ways are the only way for a perfect society. People who love to serve God and obey His commands out of love for Him and love for the wisdom of His ways are who He wants in His Kingdom. That’s what we need to be working toward throughout our lives.

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    We thought of the example of Abraham and Moses and the Israelites in Jesus time and how they each changed or didn’t. We thought about how we can apply this motivation to actually change in our life. Well, we have to hate sin, and we have to love doing what is pleasing to God.

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    We thought about how overcoming obstacles needs to be part of our plan, that we need to plan for these things and be willing to continue on and not to give up when we encounter difficulty.

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    And we thought of the fruit of the Spirit, and we thought about implementing, changing, and growing the fruit in our life. Finally, let us remember that Christ showed us the way and what sort of people we should become. It’s up to us to make the choice each day to take up the cross.

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    The citizens of the Kingdom of God will be those who sacrificed in their life like he did, to bring glory to God and to put to death sin so that the fruit of the Spirit could flourish. As we continue this process, it is Christ who lives in US.

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    Finally, let’s read Galatians 2 verse 20. That’s Galatians 2 verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Thank you for listening to the good Chris Adelphian Talks Podcast.

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    God bless and talk to you next week.