SOAKED IN TRANSPARENCY: Walk your talk.

3 JOHN
October 26, 2008
with Jeff Martin

INTRO:
This is the last sermon of “Soaked in Transparency”.
In the last several weeks, we have learned what it would look like if we lived our faith in a fishbowl. So transparently that everyone could see right through us.

Adam has spoken of the battles we face as we try to be transparent: lying to ourselves versus living in the light, confessing to and obeying God.
We have learned what it is to be a Christian out in the open, living in God’s light by following the Old/New command to love one another.
Adam asked the four questions of “The Transparency Test”: “What do they teach about Jesus?”, “How do they treat those around them?”, “What are they afraid of?”, and “Do they tell the truth?”
We have learned what it would look like if we lived a transparent life so the next generation would also be transparent in their faith. Matt spoke last week how the lessons we learn as Christians stay with us and are taught to future generations, so we’d better get it right.

I wouldn’t call this a sermon, really. It’s more of a devotion-type lesson. I didn’t go to a bible college for a degree in ministry like Adam and Matt, so I won’t be preaching a three point sermon on the dichotomy of light and dark that’s found in the 3rd letter of the Apostle John. As a former youth worker, I have many years of experience teaching junior high and high school in Sunday school and retreat settings. That’s probably how this morning will look like.

Let’s get started. Guys, quit hitting each other. Girls quit talking. Couples in the room, please no public displays of affection while we’re in the church building. And get your feet off of the furniture. If your mom doesn’t let you do it, neither do I.

Seriously, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 3 John. This is the shortest book in the New Testament, as Matt said last week, and is similar to 2 John that he preached on last week.
It is a simple letter written by the Apostle John to a man named Gaius, who is a faithful follower and leader of a local church, to warn about what another leader, Diotrephes, is doing, and finally to give a reference for another believer, Demetrius.

READ: 3 John

It’s a simple letter, right? Two are good guys- one bad. Let’s ask some questions.
First: Why is John writing this letter?
As an Elder of the church, John is the shepherd/leader of this particular flock of believers. More than likely, there are a few house churches in this area that John started. Gaius, to whom he is writing, is the leader of one. Diotrephes is probably the leader of another house church. John has heard some not so good things Diotrephes was doing and wants Gaius to know what’s going on over there.

Next question: What exactly is going on over there?
What we do know is that Diotrephes is refusing to accept John as Elder, and talks maliciously about him. He also refuses to welcome the traveling emissaries John has sent to this church. John tells Gaius that he has sent a letter to Diotrephes before about this, but it got “lost”. John wants to make sure he praises Gaius for doing just the opposite. You see, Gaius has accepted these men John has sent with open arms, welcoming them into his home, feeding them, and probably giving them some spending money while they stay with him. Being gracious and hospitable to these men was very important considering the distances traveled from church to church. In 1Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8, Paul lists this quality as a requirement for leaders of the church. Peter does the same in his first letter. John was no doubt the leader of this particular group of house churches, and he obviously has a problem with what Diotrephes has been doing.

Next question: Why is Diotrephes doing this?
We don’t know for sure. Scripture says that he loves to be first. It could be that there’s a power struggle going on here. This matter isn’t recorded anywhere else in the Bible. John’s the leader and Diotrephes wants to be. The fact that he wouldn’t let any of John’s messengers hang around could be to keep John out of the picture. Then, on top of that, he starts bad mouthing John to this local church and refuses to accept his authority over the church. Let’s see…isolation, lies against the leadership, disobeying God’s truth. It sounds like it could have been the start of a cult there. We’ve seen similar behavior in our lifetime. Jim Jones isolated hundreds by moving entire families to Guyana. David Koresh lied about who the true Leader of the church was to the people in Waco, Texas. They both disobeyed God’s truth.

Next: Who is Demetrius?
According to John, he’s a good guy. He’s gotten good reviews about his service to the Kingdom. Like Gaius, he’s a faithful follower and servant. We don’t really know much else about him except what is here in John’s letter. We as a church are looking for leaders such as Gaius or Demetrius. A good way to find out if that is something you’d like to explore, why not sign up for the Roots Class that Adam and Matt are leading. The Roots 101 class is scheduled for Sunday, November 9.

Last question: Now what?
Now that we know who John was writing to and about, we can try and apply that to our lives today. And here it is: If you’re going to talk the talk, then you’d better walk the walk. If you want to live a transparent life in Christ, you need to be like Gaius and Demetrius. The first part of Matthew 12:33 says it plainly, “A tree is identified by its fruit. Make a tree good, and its fruit will be good.” These two men walked in the truth and people noticed. John had received praises from others about these men. They believed in God and it showed in their actions. Gaius showed love to the messengers John sent by offering up his home, his food, and his money. Demetrius was praised for the same. Both men followed the command to love one another, show hospitality, and share whatever they had with others. They did this without John being present. Folks, that’s what integrity is all about- doing what is right when no one is looking. But you know what? There’s always someone watching. It could be your neighbor, who sees you leave every Sunday morning for church, and waits for your reaction when a neighborhood dog gets in your garbage and scatters it all over the yard. It could be your co-worker, who sees you pray before lunch, and watches when the boss yells at you for something that you didn’t do. It could be another believer, who sees you do and hears you say all the right things at church, and waits for your reaction to a son or daughter who just got caught with drugs in their locker at school. And even if there isn’t a neighbor, co-worker, or fellow believer watching, God is. Don’t we all want to be greeted by our Savior and hear those words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”


John has a simple message for us in his third letter- “Don’t be a hypocrite!” or even more simply “Walk your talk.” Gaius and Demetrius were commended for their faithful work in the church. They were held as examples of faithful, selfless servants. We shouldn’t take for granted those Christian workers who serve faithfully. Be sure to encourage them so they won’t grow weary of serving.

TRANSPARENCY IS GENERATIONAL

2JOHN

October 19, 2008

with Matt Johnson

Intro:
This is Addison. She’s our firstborn dog. We adopted her last June. Our cat Coco had passed away from feline leukemia, and we made the choice to get a dog. Ashley wasn’t sure if she was ready, so she left the decision to me.

We still lived in Loveland at the time, so I went to the League For Animal Welfare in the Milford area to check them out and look around. I went in looking for a midsized older dog that was already housebroken and somewhat trained. We have a tender spot for the underdog, so we wanted to give an older dog a chance that it might not otherwise get. I looked around, and I didn’t really seem to connect to any of the dogs there. I was disappointed, and began to walk back to the front desk area to leave. That was until I caught sight of a litter of puppies in a side room and ducked inside to see them. I was sold instantly. From there, I just had to figure out how to hook Ashley for a puppy. I talked her into to going to see them and reluctantly we went later that afternoon when she got off of work. It only took one look from Ashley and she too was sold. We came home with a seven week old pound puppy named that we named Addison.

She was tiny - all of three pounds when we brought her home. I could hold her in the palm of my hand. I was smitten.

We took her in for her first vet appointment, and we had a great talk with our vet about training, discipline, and raising a puppy to be a great dog. You know, that’s the problem that a lot of people have – they don’t raise the puppy with the adult dog in mind. It’s a puppy – it’s cute, it’s fuzzy, and it doesn’t know any better so it can get away with murder. The problem is, puppies who get away with everything turn into dogs who get away with everything. Large, heavy, stubborn dogs. And the old adage is true – it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. They don’t learn easily. At about a year and a half to two years, a dog’s brain makes the transition from adolescent to adult and they become much harder to train. So, it’s important that when you are training a puppy, you train them so that they’re great dogs.

You know, Addy is about a year and a half now, and it’s becoming true - it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I learned that yesterday with her when I decided to take her on a bike ride for the first time. As Scott asked, “How exactly do you take a dog for a bike ride?” My response was simple – you start pedaling and drag the dog along until they realize that if they run they don’t choke. Now, if I’d done this with her as a puppy, she would have easily caught on and run happily beside me. As it is, she panicked at the sight of the bike and did everything she could to run in the opposite direction. It took her a good country block of me running alongside the bike with her before she began to catch on, and even then I don’t think that she enjoyed it at all. I’m not sure if it was harder on her or me. She was stricken with fear, and I had not ridden a bike in years, so my legs were killing me. It really is true though, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

You know, it’s hard to teach an old Christian new actions.

Most Christians don’t adapt well to change. They’re like Garth in Waynesworld… “we fear change…”. They’re the same Christians that live, and sadly, die, by these seven words “We ‘ve never done it that way before…” You know what causes Christians like this? Often times, it’s because they were not trained well in the youth of their faith and as they became older in their faith they continued in their bad habits of belief and action. It’s hard to teach an old Christian new actions.

As a church, we’re a young pup of only four years old. We’re still learning, still finding ourselves, still growing. But, we can’t exist thinking only about the coming weeks, months, even year… It’s easy to do, especially as we experience growing pains and set backs… We’ve got to be a church now, who thinks long term. Who sees the big picture. Who lets God dream big and hop on board with him to carry out his will for this community. You know, just like a puppy or a child, the precedents set for our behavior as a church will carry into our “adulthood”. Our actions, our prayers, our giving, our faith, the way we love one another – it will set the tone and the pattern for our future. Transparency is generational.

The first time I ever sat down with Adam to talk “church” stuff, we met at Kidd Coffee for like three hours and I picked his brain about the Orchard. Why did it start, what were it’s values, what was the “big picture” for it. From day one, the Orchard has been a church with a vision of spreading the gospel of Christ to northern Cincinnati and beyond through planting daughter churches or using multiple worship sites in other communities. Yes, we are currently a church aimed at reaching Morrow and the surrounding Little Miami community, but the vision for this church is much larger than that. Here’s the thing though – if we’re ever to fulfill the vision that God’s given the leadership of this church, we’ve got to lay the foundations now, by understanding that transparency is generational.

We continue our look at this idea of being soaked in transparency in the writings of John, and we are at a tiny book of scripture today. Second John. With only 245 greek words, Second John is the second shortest book of scripture, only to Third John with 215 greek words, which Jeff will be preaching from next week. It piggybacks off of the letter of First John that Adam preached through the past month, repeating many of the same themes and teachings in it’s short writing.

It’s the type of letter that I’d love for the Orchard to get years down the road. John writes a distant church a brief letter of encouragement and teaching to let them know he’s thinking about them until he can once again greet them face to face.

Let’s jump into the text…

§ “to the chosen lady and her children…” – John writes to a church or grouping of churches that he’s personally interacted with. While the exact churches are not known, we can gather that they’re growing and producing offspring of Christians and other house churches in their communities. His letter would be a general epistle to be passed among these churches as encouragement and teaching.
§ “as does everyone else who knows God’s truth…” – Context is important here, as the group of believers that John writes to are facing many in their fellowship that have left the community of faith for various reasons but prominently because they were pressured by Jewish society to disclaim Jesus as the savior in order to be accepted in their previous social and religious circles. John, however, says that those who know the truth – a greek word here which alludes to the Truth being the holy spirit – love the church. While subtle, John makes sure that his readers understand that if you love God’s truth, you will also love His church. They are not separate ideas.
§ “how happy I was to meet some of your children…” – It’s amazing how small the world is when you are a Christian. It’s like seven degrees of Jesus. John has come into contact with believers who are descendants of the faith of the churches that he writes to. And even more, he’s encouraged that he finds them living in the truth of the faith in which they were raised. The transparency of their faith parents has successfully passed on to them.

Transparency is generational.
§ “And now I want to urge you…” – His letter transitions. God bless you, I saw your kids – good job, now here’s some encouragement in teaching to keep you on track until I can catch up with you face to face…
§ “love one another…” – I’m not giving you some new command here. It’s been around for a long time – all the way back to Leviticus and renewed again in the teachings of Christ. Love each other. And how? By obeying God’s commands. If you’re following God’s voice, love of others will be a constant byproduct.
§ “many deceivers have gone out into the world…” – Many people have left and gone back into the world because they don’t believe that Jesus existed physically. This was one of the ways that people disclaimed Christ in order to continue to try and blend with the world instead of boldly professing Christ. This deception is anti-Christ, it goes against who He is and the truth about him. Be sure to watch out for these attacks and be careful to remain strong in your faith so that you will receive your heavenly reward. Don’t let the pot holes and distractions of life let you get derailed in your faith which you’ve worked so hard for.
§ “for if you wander beyond the teachings of Christ…” – Don’t stray from what you know to be true about Christ, and don’t look outside of Christ for wisdom and truth. How much we need to hear this in a time of smorgasbord religious hob gob of faith. People try to look everywhere for “truth” – Oprah and other famous TV self help figures, Movies, Books, the Internet, other religious movements, etc… The problem is, when we do this, “truth” becomes subjective and no longer truth. The truth is, “All truth is God’s Truth” because only God is true. There is absolute truth in this world and it exists in the form of Christ. Don’t wander beyond him or you risk loosing fellowship with God.
§ “if someone comes to your meeting…” – Don’t encourage wrong teaching. Man, this is hard. How often have we heard someone who speaks about faith and it sets off our truth radar. That just doesn’t quite sound right does it? But we don’t want to hurt feelings and of course their intentions are good right? So we nod and bite our tongues and in doing so, affirm and encourage their words. How important it is that we become defenders of the truth! In love and truth, standing firm for what we know to be truth about Christ. In this way we don’t encourage those who teach twisted doctrine out of either good or evil motives. When in question, ask yourself the four questions that Adam gave us a few weeks ago.
§ “I have much more to say to you…” – There’s so much more about living a transparent life of faith that I’d like to pass on to you, but I long to do so in person. For now, these teachings will tide you over until we can fellowship together.

What a beautiful letter. You’re living a great life of faith, here are just a few key teachings for what you’re going through right now. Love each other – a lot. Hold firm to your faith and don’t be swayed. Don’t stray from Jesus. Don’t encourage false teaching.

Fast forward with me to years down the road in the Orchard vision. Will the next generations of faith that the Orchard births be transparent because of our example of transparency and truth? Will we love each other greatly? Will we hold firm to our faith in the face of adversity? Will we stay true to Jesus and only Him? Will we protect the truth of Christ?

When I was in college, my freshman year I remember a sermon that has stuck with me to this day. An upperclassmen had his chance to preach in chapel and was given a passage out of Paul’s writings about leadership and the qualifications of being an elder. As he admitted, it was kind of hard preaching to a room full of college students about eldership. After all, was it really applicable to them in their early 20’s? But his refrain through out the sermon was this – You might not be an elder now, but do you want to be? His sermon was simple but spot on - here’s how you begin to live now, because these attributes of eldership don’t come with the title, the title comes because of the attributes in your life. So, you may not be an elder now, but do you want to be? Live like it now.

Our vision is to be a church plant that plants churches. A church plant that is continually growing and multiplying believers. A church plant that is never satisfied with the status quo and is always willing to try new things to share our faith and reach our community. A church plant filled with transparent believers who have been trained up in the word of truth and hold strong to Christ. A church plant who understands that transparency is generational, and we need to start now! We are not all of these things right now, but do you want to be? I know God wants us to be…

SOAKED IN TRANSPARENCY: part 6

1John 5

October 19, 2008

with Adam Waters

Anybody tired of turning on the news? Stocks falling… negative campaign stuff… foreclosures… war… terrorism… wouldn’t it be a better life if we could live encouraged? I know that sometimes we come to the church service and feel like I’ve spent a long hard week and there seems to be no real good news… Then, Adam/Matt stands up there and tells me about all of the things I need to work on…
And growth can be painful! Look at what your kids go through as their little bodies go from infants, to children, to kids, to teens: cutting first teeth, molars coming in, leg cramps…and that doesn’t even involve the painful puberty years!
Growth is painful, but: Honest Christian growth can bring us the greatest encouragement!

PROMISES FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS
You are God’s LOVE CHILD
· 5:1-2
· Belief is first… then relationship with the Father… then relationship with the other kids.
Your yoke is EASY.
· 5:3 – Obedience isn’t hard once it becomes routine (children, sports, school, etc.)
· Matthew 11:28-30
You are VICTORIOUS!
· 5:4-13 à Through faith and belief.
· We have life (in this life and the next) and do not have to face death.
Your prayers WILL BE ANSWERED.
· 5:14-17
· Ask for what pleases God (align your prayers with God’s will).
· He responds powerfully!
· Prayer for others is important when the actions are against other men.
You don’t have to SIN.
· 5:18-19
· God’s hold on your life can protect your heart and actions!
You can KNOW God and…UNDERSTAND His heart.
· 5:20-21
· MEKNOWN (intimate partnership) and KOINONIA (uniting for a common purpose) with God, not just with His church.
· When we’re in that place, the Spirit becomes our goalie J

As we near the end of our SOAKED them for 2008, we realize that we’ve really challenged you to grow spiritually this year. We’ve tried to stretch you and push you to a more intimate walk with the Father… a closer, deeper, more real relationship with Jesus. Though this has been tough maybe, the rewards are great. The encouragement is real!

Grow into the victorious child that God intends for you to be!

Spiritual growth can also beget numerical growth for the church…

SOAKED IN TRANSPARENCY: part 5

1John 4
October 5, 2008
with Adam Waters




My last class of the day my senior year of highschool was physics… PHYSICS! At the end of the day especially if it was warm outside, physics is hard to pay attention to. We had to learn formulas and do math and try to focus… plus I had several pretty girls in my class. Monday through Thursday was just and impossibility for most of us to do well. We learned all the math and took quizzes and did the problems each night in the book. But, then there was Friday…. Friday made sense to me. It took all the stuff of charting light waves or motion or mass v. speed stuff and it made sense. On Friday, our instructor would do an experiment showing us how the math we learned played out in real life… Then, she asked us to learn how to duplicate the experiment and tell us how A + B equaled C. Sometimes, Scripture can be like that… formulas, math, memorization and study. Today, I want to give you a way that all that stuff comes together in an experiment that will help you really apply the Scriptures we’ve been given…

The Transparency Test
What do they teach about Jesus?
· Truth:
o Jesus is human (4:2),
o he is God’s sacrifice to take away our sins (4:10),
o Savior of the world (4:14),
o Jesus is the son of God (4:15),
o he brings us confident before the Father (4:17).
· False: I don’t need to acknowledge Jesus’ lordship & I don’t need to belong to God (4:2-6)
· A teacher full of the Spirit of Antichrist is bound to teach an incomplete picture of who Jesus is. A teacher full of the Spirit of truth is bound to teach a growing picture of Jesus because they belong to him and are involved in a relationship with him still.


How do they treat those around them?
· Truth: God is love.
o His followers practice love.
o True love is sacrifice for those who don’t deserve it.
o Jesus followers love in spite of the fact that they can’t see God. (4:7-12)
· False: I know God, but I hate others (4:8).
· False: I love God, but I hate others (4:20-21).
· 4:13 – A person full of God’s Spirit will always put other’s needs above their own. They will trust in a God who loved them enough to give up His son so they in turn will give up everything for those around them in need. A deceptive spirit (4:6) will be selfish and will always justify why they should/should not do something for someone else… it will be about them not others.


What are they afraid of?
· Truth: Perfect love expels all fear (4:18 and Psalm 27 & 34). Fear is a tool of Satan.
· False: There are many healthy fears. PROVERBS 1:7 “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (4:18)
· Judgment is not a bad thing! It is God’s. As God perfects his love in us and we become more like Christ (v17), all of our fears… even of facing our Father… will disappear!


Do they tell the truth?
· Truth: Those who belong to God listen to truth. They don’t reject it (4:6).
· Truth: Those who belong to God tell the truth by their actions not just their words (4:20)
· False: All I have to do is believe in God, my life doesn’t have to change (4:13-16)
· READ James 1:19-27

One of the nice things about physics tests was our FORMULA index card… Do you want to know who is from God and who is deceiving you? Take this formula and apply it.