In the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we see very clearly one of the things that gave Jesus heartburn, that made Jesus angry, and caused him to give his arch-enemies, the Pharisees that “look.” I particularly want those of us who are religious, church-going, heard about God and dotting religious “i’s” and crossing religious “t’s” to listen very carefully to this story because you are going to see a group of religious people that thought they were close to God and yet didn’t even know God. And then based on this story, I want to give you three practices to avoid that not only make Jesus angry but hurt his heart.

Touching Lives with Dr. James Merritt

Cutting In

If you ever go into a job interview, headhunters and personnel experts will tell you there is one question you will always be asked and you had better be prepared to answer correctly and it is this one, “How do you measure success?” On one occasion, the disciples came to Jesus, and they asked him this question, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’” (Matthew 18:1). The disciples thought the ultimate success would be to be chosen as the greatest in the kingdom. In fact, two of the disciples even asked if they could sit on either side of Jesus in the kingdom. The disciples were waiting with bated breath, but Jesus as he was very capable of doing, did something totally unexpected. He bypassed their question, and he did this. “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them” (Matthew 18:2). He said to these twelve disciples, these battle-tested harden veterans who had been with him for three years and thought they had it all together and thought they were ready for primetime, “If you want to catch up to me, you’ve got to first catch up to them.”

Catching Up

In the last public sermon that Jesus ever preached, He was calling out hypocritical holiness and counterfeit Christianity. Frankly, this is not a seeker-friendly topic. This is not a feel-good topic. This is not your best life now topic, but it is a topic that everyone and anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus and every church need to hear about, think about, and talk about. In this sermon, we’re going to look at three things that Jesus says we need to do as we call out counterfeits, including the times we may be counterfeit ourselves.

Calling Out

Today, we are going to look at probably the most angry that Jesus ever got. In fact, he not only expressed his anger verbally; he expressed it physically. Probably the most shocking picture of Jesus in the New Testament is when he cleaned house literally. He cleansed the temple. In fact, he did it twice. We are going to be looking at two passages of scripture – the second chapter of John and the twenty-first chapter of Matthew. In John, he cleansed the temple at the beginning of his ministry, and in Matthew, he did it at the end of his ministry. This story answers the two questions, “What made him angry?” and “Who was his anger directed toward?”

Cleaning House

The book of Colossians focuses like a laser beam on the one who created the universe and the one who controls the universe – Jesus Christ. Paul has been laying out the Jesus that Christians believe in and the Jesus that Christians belong to. Now, Paul is going to show us how Christians are to behave like the Jesus they believe in and the Jesus they belong to. In Colossians chapter 4 he shares with us in five verses how we should behave toward others so that others might believe in Jesus. We have a responsibility once we give our lives to Jesus Christ. Once the guardian of the galaxy becomes the God of our hearts, we are to behave toward others like a magnet draws iron so that we will draw people to Jesus.

On Your Best Behavior

In the third chapter of the Book of Colossians, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul lays out the house rules for the church as we come together corporately as a body, but then as we leave the church individually as members of that body. When I was growing up my mom and dad had certain house rules for how we were to conduct ourselves in our home, but some of those same rules applied for when we left the home because when we left the home we were actually taking the home with us. The way we lived our lives outside the house reflected the kind of house that we lived in. The same goes for how we live our lives as believers. As we begin this week’s study, I want you to take to heart this thought. The best argument for Christianity and the best argument against Christianity is the life of a Christian. Not only are we to be his witnesses, but we ought to be a part of the evidence. This is the way we are to do it.

House Rules

One of the most popular presidents in history, Theodore Roosevelt, said this, “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” I find that hard to argue with because at the end of the day, every single part of your life and mine is all about relationships. Just think about it. Your spiritual life is determined by your relationship with God. Your vocational life is determined by your relationship with your employees, your boss, and your fellow workers. Your social life is determined by your relationship with your friends. Your marital life is determined by your relationship with your spouse and on and on it goes... At the end of the day, what life is all about is making those relationships work. In the third chapter of Colossians, Paul shares with us three things we must do daily, continuously, and personally to get along with each other and have great relationships.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Every life should have a target, a bullseye, a goal, an aim and any healthy individual I think would want the following for his life: You want to live the best life you can. Be the best person you can be. Have the best influence you can have. Leave the best legacy you can. In order to do that, you’ve got to aim high. I am convinced the reason most people will live a life of little consequence, little influence, and little impact is because they aimed too low. We should all aim high with the life that God has given us. Where should our aim be and how high should it go? What your heart loves the most and what your mind thinks about the most will determine the life that you live. So, every day where should we be aiming? You aim at what you look at, so how can we know that we are looking at the right target and we are looking at the right altitude?

Aim High

No other book in the Bible focuses more on Jesus, who he was, what he did, and why it is so important than the book of Colossians. In Colossians chapter 2, we are going to see exactly why Jesus was nailed to the cross that day because it was more than just the body of a man and everything that needed to be nailed along with Him. In fact, what was nailed that day took care of my past, my present, and my future, and the same is true for you. So let’s look specifically at what was nailed to the cross with Jesus so that we can understand all that had to die so that we could have a relationship with God and be reconciled to Him.

Nailed

The Bible elevates Jesus more, exalts Jesus more, and extols Jesus more than anything ever created. The walk of a lifetime should be centered around Him. A Christian is someone who has walked to Jesus and now walks with Jesus and always walks for Jesus. Therein lies a big problem that we as Christians and as a church face greatly today. Too many people who call themselves Christians have either never truly walked to Jesus or they have quit walking with Jesus and for Jesus, and now they are walking in the wrong direction. Thankfully we have the words of Paul in the book of Colossians to help make sure we keep walking with and for Jesus, even when we’re tempted to stray off the path. Paul reminds us of what a true Christian looks like and what a Christian does with their lives. They take the walk of a lifetime, and this walk always involves three steps.

The Walk of a Lifetime

At the beginning of the book of Colossians, there is a prayer that Paul prayed for a people whom he had never even seen. It is one of the greatest prayers ever prayed, and it is a perfect model on how you and I can pray for people we don’t even know. If we were to write a book called “Prayer for Dummies” you could write the entire book based on this one prayer. Many times you are praying to God because you really don’t know what you should be saying to God. But this is a one-size-fits-all prayer. It is a prayer you can pray for anybody, anytime, under any circumstances, for family members, friends, and employees. I would ask you to pray this prayer for me and it is a prayer we need to pray for our church. Let’s look at the components Paul includes in this prayer specifically.

Prayer for Dummies

People tend to go to two extremes with their body. Some people don’t think their body is as important as God does. Other people think their body is more important than God does. Whichever group we happen to be in, I want us to see our body in a completely different way than maybe we ever have before. How you see your body will determine how you treat your body. Whether you ignore your body, adore your body, or abhor your body is not a physical issue, but a spiritual issue. So as we conclude our series called “Otherwise” we’re going to learn that living healthy is part of living holy, and we’re going to look at the words of Paul to see how we can live a healthy and holy life.

One Foot In Front of the Other

There are two sides to everyone’s life: the visible side and the invisible side, the side that everybody sees and the side that nobody sees. And what happens on one side can determine the success or failure of the other side. More specifically, how you deal with temptation on one side determines the success or failure of the other side. But we’re going to learn in this message is that temptation can be tamed. To do that, let’s look at what Paul has to tell us about temptation and see what we need to keep in mind so that we’re not overtaken by temptation.

The Other Side of Life

There is only one of two ways you can use time: wisely or foolishly. Thankfully, God has not left us on our own to sort out how we ought to spend our time and how we ought to live our days out on this earth. He has given us specific advice on the best way to use every day and there is an encyclopedia full of wisdom on how to manage time wisely in a simple statement of Scripture. We’re going to take a look at that Scripture today, and as we do, we’re going to see that the most important use of your time is spending most of your time on what is most important. To make sure we do that, let’s discuss three steps we can take.

Some Other Time

The challenge we all face every day is confronting the things in life we can change and making the right decisions about those changes. Life really comes down to making decisions. You are who you are today, what you are today, and where you are today because of the decisions you have made in the past. Nobody understands the importance of being able to make wise decisions more than a king. As one of the greatest kings who ever lived, he clearly understood the value of decision-making and made a decision that, in turn, made him the great king that he was. God did something for this king that He will do for us, and if we will follow this king’s example, we can make decisions fit for a king.

On the Other Hand

Under the leadership and dynamic preaching of Dr. James Merritt, Touching Lives exists to touch the lives of the lost and enrich the faith of the found. Our goal is to present the eternal, never-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who would hear and pray for the Holy Spirit to move mightily among His people. Touching Lives is currently broadcast in all 50 states and in over 140 countries around the world. All sermons, articles, and other content is made available through various digital media formats on the web. Literally millions of people have been affected through the ministry of Touching Lives with thousands responding to the Gospel of Jesus for the very first time.

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Touching Lives with Dr. James Merritt

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