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FAITH THAT WORKS - "All or Nothing" - March 1, 2015 - Pastor Scott Christenson

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St. Paul's Lutheran Church Orange, CA

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a few years ago quite a few years ago now and I was in seminary of a friend of mine talked me into playing in a community tennis tournament now at first when he suggested this I thought he was crazy I mean he knew I liked tennis and had played tennis for years but I was pretty sure I wasn't really good enough to do something like that but he said all shares are your good Scott you said he don't I'm not saying you're going to win the whole thing but you'll certainly be able to hold your own when a few matches and you know the more he the more it started making sense to me I thought yeah I have a good tennis player not great not the best but but certainly decent certainly when did I could hold my own so I signed up for the tournament and I was so excited about this and never done anything like this before and so Linda my wife came to watch even brought a few of our friends with I had my own little cheering section Courtside was great  it was great that is until my opponent showed up  right away I knew I was in deep trouble first of all he was like 7 ft tall what's gave him a bit of an advantage over me  and I really knew I was in trouble when I saw him open up his tennis bag and play he brought like seven racquets with him  I saw that and I thought to myself this is a very bad sign well it turned out he got to serve first and that did not work out so well for me because I could not touch his serve and I when I say that I don't mean that I couldn't return it well or even occasionally hit it out of bounds I could not return it at all I could not Steven get my racket on it ever  every single game we played he served exactly for serves Ace 15 Love Ace 30 Love Ace 40 Love Ace game  I remember changing sides after our who's game is you doing tennis and I had to walk by my wife and Friends  and I said to them quietly if your bedding bed on him and my wife said something like we would but who'd bet on you  no I'm proud to tell you I did actually score two or three points on the man while I was serving not not per game mine you I'm talking about 2 or 3 points the entire match they were my first two or three serves and I won the points not because my serves were any good I think it was actually because they were so lame that he wasn't you playing someone as bad as me and so it completely threw off all his timing and footwork  but he got the hang of them pretty quickly and that was it  the only good thing about all this is you find out that three sets of tennis go by very very quickly that that it was an absolutely awful experience  but I learned a very important lesson that day I will never forget I learned I am not a good tennis player I'm here parently I some good compared to my friend courage me to get into the tournament but I learned that his standard of Excellence did not matter in community when is tournament world  essentially I learned the lesson of our verse for today here it is James 2 verse 10 would you say it play let's say it together for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of Team all of it what exactly is God saying to us today and that verse  well he's teaching what's the lesson of that tennis match got to say to all of us you're not nearly as good as you think you are and not just in something trivial like tennis he's talking about life he's talking about you and me as human beings you're not nearly as good a person as you think you are because you're using the wrong standard for excellence but just think about that for a moment think about how serious that is I told you that that tennis match was a humiliating experience for me and it was but if you think that was humiliating imagine this imagine someday standing before the ultimate seat of almighty God thinking that he's going to commend you for your good life that you lived and instead you your him safe away from me I never knew you do you know the Bible says that's exactly what's going what happened to a lot of people  because they never understood the real standard by which God would judge so let's be real clear about this today what is the standard by which God judge us on Judgement Day I can say it to you in one word  perfection James 2:10 is telling us let's say it again together would you say it with me for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it  you saying you have to understand God does not great on a God's not going to be saying well you know you got a C+ on living a good life not as good as I'd hoped but good enough welcome home not what's going to happen on Judgement Day God's standard is All or Nothing  pass or fail nothing in between how your level of morality and character compares to say Billy Graham or Osama Bin Laden is not going to matter on that day  because that's not the standard you don't get into heaven by Leading a good life you get into heaven Jesus Says by Leading a perfect life  that Jesus said it in exactly those words in Matthew 5 verse 48 Jesus said you must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect  that's the standard and of course that's frightening because we all know nobody meets that standard not that highest standard for goodness this is what Romans 3 verse 10 says there is no one righteous not even one no one understands no Cheech God all if turned away they have together become worthless there's no one who does good I mean maybe by what we call good but SportDog calls good not even one person so God has a clear standard it's perfection the only way you get to happen is by meeting the standard which nobody does so that means the only chance that any of us have is if someone else could meet the standard for us in our place of course that's the gospel isn't it that's exactly what Jesus Christ has done through his perfect life no this is not only very important to know for yourself it's also extremely helpful when it comes time to share your faith in Jesus with other people  because a lot of people out there today who are far from God feel about themselves a lot like I felt about my tennis game  they think they're pretty good people without God in their life not perfect not the best maybe but certainly decently good  so they really don't feel much need for God in their life I'm sure you've all dealt with this and then the question is how do you break through all of that and get them to see the truth  let me try and illustrate how that works to you you all know what this is let's bring it up here what is that Gatorade  what does Gatorade taste like well let's find out  I brought some with me today the answer is it's okay no not horrible not great  now why do I say that cuz some of you are sitting there thinking wait a minute I've tasted Gatorade before I love it for that matter  tasted Gatorade before and loved it so why does it only taste okay are you right now the answer is because right now right this moment I'm not particularly thirsty go on a long run in the hot sun get really hot and sweaty and then tried Gatorade you know what you'll love it  it's wonderful when your really thirsty  you see the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a lot like Gatorade  I wonder if this is ever happened to you if you ever tried to share your faith in Jesus with a non-Christian friend and gotten a very lukewarm reaction when I know I have many many times this is happened to me and it's a very trading experience  casinos moments you think yourself what is wrong here why doesn't my friend appreciate Jesus like I do  I love Jesus why does my friend not love him why isn't he as passionate and excited and it's a thrill to know Christ as I am  you know why I can tell you why right now your friend is not particularly thirsty  so what is your job then in those moments as a witness for Christ  is it to tell your friend that Jesus loves him to tell him that he died for him and he forgives him all his sin tell him he has a home in heaven  this is going to blow some of your mind the answer is no I mean all of that strew and certainly at some point you're going to need to say all that but it's not your job in those moments  not yet your first job is to make your friend thirsty  you don't give him the gator because if he's not thirsty he won't appreciate it  first he's got to get there know how do you make someone thirsty  what's actually very simple you know when we talked about cancel isn't about sharing our faith we often get a lot of anxiety out of this we feel very worried and uptight about what exactly are we going to say and are we going to do it right but here's the deal and this will be very very freeing for a lot of you I think  when you talk to your friends about your faith in Jesus no matter what you say you're basically going to say one of two things because the the entire Bible really only has messages  all of these books all the thousands of versus basically boil down to two very simple messages from God you see them when we call the law the other week all the gospel  what's the difference what's look at them fill off creates thirst  and the gospel is the Gatorade the law we could say is God's standard what we have to do but we can't do the gospel is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ you might say the law is the add news the gospel is the good news what am I Seminary professors like to say that she said the message of the lies you can't fool God the gospel says but you don't have to  I think about our versus for today you must be perfect what's that that's the law  for whoever keeps the whole law gets stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it that's bad news that's off  Jesus Loves You Jesus forgives you Jesus has a home in heaven for you that's good news that's the gospel you use your own work sprays it anyway you like every single thing that you say when you talk to your friends about your faith is ultimately going to fall into one of those two categories the million lower question is in any given moment of conversation how do you know which one to say I want to share with you today the best book that I've ever read on this subject next to the Bible itself and here it is it's called the prep distinction between law and gospel it's by that guy CFW Walther who is the first president of our denomination now let's all be honest he's a scary looking by today's standards is knee  can you imagine that guy teaching your kids confirmation I don't know you know what though he may not have been cute enough to get elected president today but I'm telling you this that man was a genius What's the title of this book does not sound very interesting to you but I'm telling you this book more than any other taught me how to share my faith with my friends it taught me  what to say and when to say it let me to share with you one little gem from this book he writes according to God's word not a drop of Evangelical consolation is to be to those who are still living securely in their sins on the other hand to the Brokenhearted not a syllable threat or a rebuke is to be addressed  but only promises convene consolation and Grace forgiveness of sin and righteousness life and salvation you see what he's saying he's saying there's exactly what I said there's only two messages you can give a person when you share your faith with him you can share God's word wha  telling them about God's requirements and how they're falling short and the disastrous consequences of living against God or you can share with them the gospel the good news that God loves them and forgive them and that they have hope in him no matter what you decide which one to say Walther says it depends on them if they're broken  if they understand their sinfulness if they see how far they fall short of God's standard for good good now they fear the punishment of God you do not speak to them one word of law  only the gospel but on the other hand to people who are not thirsty the people who have no sense of their sinfulness or there distance from God people who could care less about God and what he wants  you do not speak one word of good news why because they're not thirsty and they won't appreciate it it will make no difference to them by the way Walter didn't come up with this himself did you notice this is exactly what Jesus did in the other scripture reading from Luke 7 it looks having Jesus encounters two people two very different people and they receive from him two very different messages first there's a woman who according to the text had lived a sinful life  Dark Horse we've all lived a sinful life right that's play nice way of saying she was a prostitute  she had done some terrible things in her life but now she's for wellness and repentance she sees she is not a good person by God standards and what does Jesus say to her did you notice it's only gospel only good news not a single word of judgement to rebuke  your sins are forgiven  your faith has saved you go in peace it's all good new for her  and by the way that's Jesus message today to you if you're broken and repentant and you see how far you fall short  nothing but good news for you you are loved but then there's this other guy Simon the Pharisee the arrogant and judgmental host of the party what is Jesus say to him  notice it's all law not a word of good news for him Everything Jesus says to me shows him how far he's falling short how he's not nearly as good as he thinks he is 44 you did not give me any water for my feet he says a good host would have done that  first 45 are you did not give me a kiss sounds a little weird to us today what's that about well that's what a good host would have done in that culture in time he would have kissed all of his guests the cheek to welcome them even the men  Simon didn't do that  Bruce 46 you did not put oil my head same thing good host would have done that he didn't  Jesus the Same Simon your problem is that you have no idea how sinful you truly are you're not nearly as good as you think you are and by the way Jesus is not we have to understand trying to humiliate him  this is where we lose the tennis illustration  he loves Simon the reason he saying all these tough words is because Jesus is dying to give him the Gatorade  but first he's got to make him thirsty that's exactly what James is doing for all of us today when he says these words in verse 10 let's say it together one last time for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it you're not nearly as good as you think you are  but thank God Jesus Christ is good  Beyond Your Wildest dreams

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FAITH THAT WORKS - "All or Nothing" - March 1, 2015 - Pastor Scott Christenson

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