July 28, 2024 Preaching | Bro. Paul Tanchi
Culture is a set of shared values, norms, and beliefs as the way to think, feel, and behave. In this series, we are going to be looking at Biblical culture.
Our culture should stem from the mission of every Christian which is, “to honor God and make Christ-committed followers who will make Christ-committed followers” (Matthew 28:19-20). Mission is what we do. Vision, on the other hand, gives us a picture of what the future can be like if we do our mission. As a church, our vision is “to see a movement of millions of committed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ meeting in small groups and transforming lives, families, communities and nations, for the glory of God” (Revelation 7:9).
Our core values are:
Love God, Love Others
Obey God’s Word and Authorities Volunteer
Engage the Family
Biblical culture is extracting principles from the Bible and living them out as a body of believers.
LOVE GOD (Matthew 22:36-38)
The great and foremost commandment is to love God (Matthew 22:
36-38).
One of the reasons we struggle so much with sin is because we fail to see how beautiful and how wonderful God really is. Sometimes, we love sin more than we love God. The things that we temporarily get from sin, God wants to freely offer from Himself. It is God who enables us to love Him more.
When we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, it affects the way we make decisions. We would be thinking what would bring most glory and honor to God. We are on a journey of growing deeper and deeper in love with the Lord. “The things we daydream about the most readily and instinctively when nothing else is occupying our thoughts reveal what we live for and serve” (Tim Keller). If we love Jesus, we will obey Jesus. Jesus’ culture will be our culture (John 14:15).
We may feel sometimes that being a Christian is burdensome; but as we get to know who God is, we see that God is somebody we can trust. He wants what is best for us. His commandments are for our best interest; they are not burdensome. We can follow God! We all need to grow in loving God (1 John 5:3). That is what it means to love God.
LOVE OTHERS (Matthew 22:39-40)
Jesus goes to the second commandment which is to love others
(Matthew 22:39-40). Jesus was explaining to a lawyer who is trying to test Jesus. A lawyer back then was somebody who was an expert on the Old Testament Law, the first five books of the Bible. The religious people did not like Jesus because He would hang out with the sinners.
In Luke 10, this lawyer wants Jesus to say something that he can use against Him (v.25). Jesus in turn asked him (v.26). This lawyer answered correctly (v.27). Jesus answered him to “do it” (v.28). Jesus knew what was in his heart—the lawyer wanted to justify himself (v.29). Until we see ourselves for who we really are, we will be full of justification and we will miss the point. Nobody can really fully love God and to be good enough for heaven. We need Jesus.
Jesus goes on to tell a story about a man from Jerusalem going to Jericho who encountered robbers, was beaten, left almost half dead, and needed help (v.30). A priest came upon him, but passed by on the other side (v.31) and so did a Levite (v.32). Help did not come from these two religious leaders. People around us need help, not just physical help but spiritual help because without Christ, we are spiritually dead.
Unless we understand what people are going through, we also will not have compassion. The Samaritan who came upon the man felt compassion and took care of him (vv.33–34). Here is a Samaritan helping an enemy and somebody who didn’t deserved to be helped (v.35). He is showing compassion and care and willing to take the cost. He did not put a limit to the person he was helping. He did not put a limit on his time. Jesus is showing the lawyer that this is supernatural. Jesus asked who among the three proved to be a neighbor (v.36) to which Jesus said to the lawyer, “do the same” (v.37). Jesus tells us to love this way (Luke 6:27) and to forgive others (1 Peter 4:8). We need Jesus to do this. Jesus took our place and forgave us (1 John 4:10). Because He forgave us, we can forgive others! We can love others and become a neighbor to them. We need God’s grace because it is out of this overflow that we do things we never thought we could do, like loving our enemies, praying for those who curse us, and forgiving people who have hurt us.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. Like Jesus, may we be known to have a culture of loving God and loving others.