Last week, in the middle of my sermon, I read a set of verses from the Book of John, and I said that maybe someday I’ll do a sermon on that. So today, the Lord led me to do that. So if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to two scriptures today. The first is John 8, verses 43-45. And the second is out of 2 Corinthians 3:15-18; 4:15-18.
So John 8 and then 2 Corinthians 3 and 4.
At Ronald Reagan’s eulogy, George H.W. Bush recalled the kindness and warmth and humor of the late president. He said:
On leaving the White House, the very last day, he left in the yard outside the Oval Office door a little sign for the squirrels. He loved to feed those squirrels. And he left this sign that said, “Beware of the dog,” and to no avail, because our dog Millie came in and beat the heck out of the squirrels.
But anyway, he also left me a note, at the top of which said, “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.” Well, he certainly never let [them] get him down. And he fought hard for his beliefs. But he led from conviction, but never made an adversary into an enemy. He was never mean-spirited.
Reverend Billy Graham, who I refer to as the nation’s pastor, is now hospitalized and regrets that he can’t be here today. And I asked him for a Bible passage that might be appropriate. And he suggested this from Psalm 37: “The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps he has made firm. Though he stumble, he will not fall for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” And then this, too, from [Psalm] 37: “There is a future for the man of peace.”
I think that set of verses from Psalms works well with the other verses I have this morning, as well as that quip about the turkeys. There’s a time to think about and care about the people around us. After all, the world is our mission field. But there’s also a time when we have to set aside what others think about us and keep on keeping on. We must understand that not everyone will understand. Understand?
We have to keep going, nonetheless. And like Ronald Reagan, we can’t let our adversaries turn into enemies. But even though we have adversaries thinking we’re a bit crazy for holding to our beliefs and way of life, we have to hold our heads up, dust ourselves off, and keep on keeping on. We are to love our adversaries deeply yet not care what those turkeys may think about our lives as Christians. We can’t let the turkeys get us down.
Let’s take a look at our scripture verses this morning and see how this all goes together.
Scripture: John 8:43-45
43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!
Now let’s take a look at what Paul has to tell the Corinthian church. He goes on quite lengthily on this subject, so I tried to shorten it as best as I could for you. 2 Corinthians 3:15-18 says this:
15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[or reflect] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
And Paul continues this thought throughout the next chapter, but to keep it simple, I’m just going to read the same set of verses from Chapter 4, so let’s look at verses 15-18 there, and after we do, if you have a bookmark, set it there, because I’m going to come back to it later on, as well as 1 Peter, if you happen to have another bookmark and want to set it there, too. But here’s what Paul says at the end of 2 Corinthians:
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
So what does all this mean? Simply put, like I said, don’t let the turkeys get you down. We live for Christ, in Christ, and our lives are to honor God alone, not mankind. To quote the late, great Larry Norman, we are “only visiting this planet. This world is not my home.”
Going back to our first set of verses out of John, Jesus is speaking to those in the religious community, specifically the religious leaders. Ouch!
Asbury Bible Commentary says that: They [the religious leaders] then tried to claim God as their spiritual Father (v.41; cf. Ex 4:22; Jer 31:9), but he rejected their claim (vv.42-47). Children of God would love and listen to Jesus; their demeanor toward him revealed their derivation from the devil.
What does the Bible say about being a child of God? I have a whole sermon on that topic, but if we look to the verses I used for that, out of Romans 8, Paul says, 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Now, I don’t want to get too deep into the theology of that. But the definition of a child of God is not what a lot of people think it is. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” As children of God, we not only get to call God our father but ‘Abba,’ an affectionate name for father.
And if we are children, then we are heirs, and that means our home is in heaven, not this world. And so worldliness is not our aim. Godliness is our aim––also known as holiness.
What does it mean for us to be holy? The term is usually defined as set apart unto God.
That means we are not to be like those who are around us. We’re meant to be different. God calls us to be different. Christianity is to be different from everyone else. We’re meant to stand out––and that may mean even among the religious.
I mentioned last week how, little by little, we’ve gone from the 60s “free love” to some schools teaching rather graphic sex education to primary school children and even encouraging some young children to change their gender. But what’s worse is that there are religious people, even pastors who encourage these things as well. A few months ago, there were drag queen story times––not only in schools and libraries but also in churches.
Just because the world is doing it, and just because some churches are doing it, and just because there’s adult peer pressure to do it and conform to this type of thinking doesn’t mean we should. Why? Because the spirit inside of us doesn’t allow it. The spirit inside of us is holy. It’s the spirit of God.
John of Kronstadt was the Nineteenth Century Russian Orthodox priest at the time when alcohol abuse was rampant. None of the priests ventured out of their churches to help the people. They waited for people to come to them. John, compelled by love, went out into the streets. People said he would lift the hungover, foul-smelling people from the gutter, cradle them in his arms and say to them, “this is beneath your dignity. You were meant to house the fullness of God.”
And that’s who we are, and that’s not only what we are meant to be, it’s also what the hungover, foul-smelling people from the gutter, the drag queens and the sex education teachers and the religious leaders who support this kind of thing are meant to be.
I’m reminded of a rather obscure song from about 30 years ago that poetically states every type of person you could think of. And the chorus simply says, “breathe deep the breath of God.” We are all invited into God’s presence and to be transformed into someone that houses the fullness of God.
Going to 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says, “Even to this day when Moses is read, [in other words, we can say, The Bible] a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ”
Let’s pray for those who perform and encourage those ungodly things. Let’s pray that there would be revival and that the veil would be taken away. Let’s pray for their freedom. Could you imagine what the world would look like if all these people got saved?
Paul goes on from there, in 2 Corinthians 3, to talk about us. He says that we, “who with unveiled faces contemplate [or reflect] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Again, I like the phrase, “house the fullness of God.” Such other ways are beneath us, these lifestyles and overly sexualized society that is being endorsed now might be called liberal, but it’s not liberating anyone. It’s just the opposite. Liberation is a lie. They think they are being set free to be who they were meant to be, but it’s beneath them. It’s not who God intends for them to be. Sin confines and traps and chains people. He has a life that is so much freer. And that’s what this passage talks about. We are being renewed, freed, and transformed. Not transformed into the image of our natural-born selves (which the Bible calls sinful), but into the image of Christ.
Our world is going deeper and deeper into unfettered human nature. Look around. There’s hardly a dozen of us here in church. A lot of churches are seeing steep declines. We may be in the “Great Apostasy” that is foretold in 2 Thessalonians 2:3; I don’t know. But we can see the result of an increase in church decrease. We can see mankind choosing to deepen into its own sinful nature. We’re in a time where evil is called good, and some churches are even doing so.
It seems to me that we’re going right back into ancient paganism.
Today’s permissive lifestyles are not a place for us and we know it. We know it because we are each, individually, houses of the fullness of God. And God’s spirit that is within us is moving us in a different direction. In a world that is increasingly accepting blind wickedness, we must increase in Christ.
It reminds me of the chorus, I have decided and the line that says, “Though none go with me, still I will follow.”
Do you remember when Jesus asked Peter if he loved him, and when Peter said yes, Jesus answered, “Feed my sheep.” That seemed like an odd thing for Jesus to say, didn’t it? Jesus asked Peter three times, and Peter answered three times. But Jesus was basically saying, “If you love me, then feed my sheep.”
Then Jesus followed that with this: “when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
There’s a cost to following Jesus. There’s a cost to our holiness. There’s a cost to our separation from the world and unto God.
There are a lot of people who like their own made-up idea of Jesus. But it’s actually an idol of Jesus, it’s not the true Jesus, and I’m not even sure if they even realize that.
I saw just this past week a Ticktocker on Youtube who was a clergyman––some guy standing in front of the LGBTQ flag wearing a collar––was trying to make the case for Jesus being queer. Not gay, but queer.
What he was saying was that if Jesus was literally born of a virgin, then he was probably conceived without a Y chromosome and therefore was probably genetically a female. Jesus also broke traditional norms and loved unconventionally (which is apparently LGBTQ?) and he calls resurrection “fabulously Qweird.”
Bizarre, isn’t it? But that’s the made-up Jesus celebrated in our society.
Gotquestions.org says that, in Luke 14, Jesus lays out the terms of discipleship. At that time, there were great crowds following Him. Everyone loved the miracles, healing, and free food. Jesus was cool, the talk of the town, and the latest fad. But He knew their hearts. He knew they desired the benefits of what He did rather than an understanding of who He was. They loved His gifts, not the life He was calling them to. So He explained what it takes to be one of His followers:
“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-33).
Gotquestions goes on to say: “Counting the cost” means recognizing and agreeing to some terms first. In following Christ, we cannot simply follow our own inclinations. We cannot follow Him and the world’s way at the same time (Matthew 7:13-14). Following Him may mean we lose relationships, dreams, material things, or even our lives.
And this is where I want to encourage you not to let the turkeys get you down. We’re counting the cost, aren’t we? But it’s worth it, no matter what anyone says or does. Last week I talked about standing our ground. If our feet are firmly planted and we’re standing, nothing can stop us. Why? Because what we’re living in, what we’re facing, and what we’re encountering is worth it.
Being small in number is fine. It’s worth it, even if it’s only us.
Going to 2 Corinthians 4, verses, 15-18 again says,
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
This increasing darkness, or as Frank Peretti would say, “This Present Darkness” that surrounds us is only temporary. The light of God that is within us, renewing us will remain forever. And what we experience in our renewing and relationship with God is only a glimpse of who God is. God is much bigger and greater than we can conceive.
I shared this on Facebook the other day:
This helps us understand how great and awesome God is. This is taken from The Possibility of Prayer by John Starke:
When the Bible seeks to explain God’s holiness, it says that God is a “consuming fire” (Exodus 24:17; Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29)—a dangerous and terrible presence. The presence of not just a fire that warms our hands and charms our campsites, but a consuming fire. Turn away! And so the angels do. When Isaiah encounters this God, he cries out, “Woe is me! For I am lost;” (Isaiah 6:5). Translations differ: “I am lost!” or “I am undone!” or “I am ruined!” Something is coming apart in Isaiah in the presence of God. Yet, at the same time, Isaiah and the seraphim don’t flee the terrible presence. The danger is real, but obviously so is the splendor. So terrifying and attractive, so immense and wonderful is God. So much so, when God is looking for someone to go to his people on his behalf, Isaiah says, “Here I am! Send me”
Our experience with God is great and wonderful and powerful––even more so than the great and powerful Oz. And no matter what, the love and grace of God is worth anything and everything the World can throw at us.
His love and presence are more wonderful than anything the world has to offer. Remember, God created everything the world has to offer, and he’s not going to create anything more wonderful than himself.
Paul says that what the world throws at us is only “light and momentary troubles.” I’ve said this before, but Paul’s one who had more than his share of troubles, and if he can call it “light and momentary,” I guess we can too.
Earlier, I mentioned that I was going to go back to 2 Corinthians 4. If you’ve bookmarked it, let’s look at the first six verses. After that, let’s go to 1 Peter 2, verses 9-12, and we’ll close with that.
But first, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6:
Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
And again, “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers.” It’s a call to prayer for the lost. It’s a call to Spiritual warfare on behalf of our nation and our world that has gone astray.
Let’s go to 1 Peter 2:9-12, and we’ll end on that
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Annette Meyer from Pixabay
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