[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: Good evening.
Welcome to our midweek Bible study tonight here at the Madison Church of Christ. We're excited to have you. If you're joining us online, we're thrilled for you to be with us as well. Tonight's speaker is Eric Gray. Eric is the preaching minister at the Robertsdale Church of Christ, where he's been for the last four years, almost four years. He and his wife Haley have been married for almost 19 years, and then they have two beautiful girls that he says are almost two teenagers now. So Eric and I grew up together in the Montgomery Prattville area, and we're the same age and our kids keep getting older and so we're the same age, we keep getting older. Yep. I'm thrilled to have Eric with us tonight. Eric is a good friend of mine and he has been a great mentor in the scriptures, even though we kind of grew up at the same time. We've had some wonderful conversations over the years about a lot of biblical things. And so I'm excited for him to be with us tonight to teach us and to lead our minds in his study.
[00:01:34] Speaker C: Hey, thanks so much for the opportunity to be here tonight. One of the reasons why we love making this trip is we just never know who we're going to get to run into. I saw Kirk and thought, totally forgot you guys lived up this way. So it's really one of the joys that I have in ministry is being able to travel and get to see some different folks and remember how great and big the kingdom of God is, but also how small it can feel when you get to see people that you love. And so being in ministry for a number of years, it's really fun when you tell people and they say, you know, when you're talking and they say, well, what do you do for work? And I'll Say, well, I'm a preacher. I'm a minister.
It's funny sometimes the reactions that you get, you can be having a real good conversation, and then it goes off the rails and it gets really awkward because now they feel like they need to talk about church.
And so one time I was getting my hair cut. We had just moved to Robertsdale. I have weird hair. I'm really particular about who touches my head. I didn't know what to do. I went to this place called Great Clips, and it was not a great experience, but this young lady's cutting my hair, and she's making small talk. And she said, so, what do you do for work? And I said, well, I'm a preacher. And she said, oh, cool, where at? And I was like, well, it's the Robertsdale Church of Christ. And she said, oh, you're. You guys don't believe in music? And I was like, well, I mean, we do believe in music. We believe it exists. We just don't use it in worship. And she's like, you know what I mean? And then I started to kind of panic because I shouldn't have been sarcastic. It's my love language. And I shouldn't have been sarcastic with the person who had my hair in one hand and scissors in the other, as paranoid as I can be about a bad haircut. So I guess it was about two years ago that at church, we were looking to kind of update our signage. And when you're new to a church, you appreciate the importance of good signage, because as you pull into a facility, regardless of how large or small it is, and you have no clue where to go, it can be a very uncomfortable situation. And so I realized after being. Being at that church for a short time, it's a confusing building. What you think is the front door is actually like the worst entrance to come in where the sign is.
[00:03:42] Speaker D: The.
[00:03:42] Speaker C: You really need to come on the backside of the building on the back parking lot where everybody else comes in of what we call the main entrance. And there's no sign to tell you that that's where you should park. And so we were talking as a leadership, and I said, I think we need to talk about updating our signage. And so we started to move forward. I reached out to this local sign company and said, hey, we'd like to get a quote. And so they sent a person out to give us a quote on our signage. And so we meet this lady, it's the youth minister, Dylan and myself. And so we're talking with her, and she's not there for long. And she starts to kind of tell us a little bit about like, I'm sorry, I'm just feeling really overwhelmed. This is the first time I've been back in a church since I was a small child. And you could just tell that just being in a church building started to unearth a lot of weird feelings in her life. And so we're walking around and instead of talking about signage, we're talking about her life and her upbringing. We learned about her family of origin. We learned about the challenges that they had. At one point, she started crying. We paused and had a prayer. And she was like, thank you so much. I'm really thankful you guys talked with me today.
She left and I looked at Dylan and I said, I don't know if we're going to get a quote today on the signage. And I'm glad we ministered to her. We didn't get a quote on the signage. We had to have somebody else come back. But it's just one of those weird things that happens when you're in ministry. And one of the. One of the most amazing moments is when you're invited into the hurt of someone else. You have this moment of crisis and the phone rings and you're blessed to be one of the people that somebody calls in a moment of crisis. And so when the phone rings, you just stop whatever you're doing and go. Because the moment that family needs you to be there. A couple scenes in my mind over the years that I'll never forget. One is a night got a phone call, rushed to a house of a family and held a father watching paramedics.
[00:05:49] Speaker D: Perform CPR on his son. Those kind of scenes never leave your minds.
[00:05:53] Speaker C: Sitting in an ER room off to the side with a young mother when the doctor came in and began to tell her, we did everything that we could and we couldn't revive your husband. Husband driving seven hours home from a vacation of a really long week, getting home after a long journey, dropping my family and driving another two hours to go be with a family whose son was on life support. There's just certain moments that you never forget. I don't tell you those to brag because there's no bragging. I'm honored to have been invited into those. I tell you those because there's this seen in John chapter 11, that really.
I don't know what to do with it. It's one of the most powerful miracles Jesus ever performed. But there's a situation in there that I have a really hard Time with based on what ministry often demands of you when these moments of crisis come up. So when you open To John chapter 11, you're instantly met with a critical situation. There's a man by the name of Lazarus. And it tells us two things very quickly. First, he's sick. And not just sick like he's got a head cold, like he's come down with some type of virus. He's sick and there's something wrong. And everybody knows that there's something wrong, especially his two sisters. And they have no clue what to do. The doctors can't seem to fix it. They. They just have no clue what to do. But the second thing it tells us is that he's a close friend of Jesus, a dear friend of Jesus. And of all the ways to be described in the Bible, you think about all the different titles, and if your name were to ever appear in scripture, what would you want to follow your name? Like there's some really high ones on the list, like David, a man after God's own heart. But I can't think of a better one than Lazarus. A dear friend of Jesus. Not just a disciple, but a dear friend of Jesus. And with that idea comes with. With that idea tells us that Lazarus is really close to Jesus. Like they have a close friendship. And you just think about the moments they would have had together that aren't recorded for us in the scriptures where Jesus is cracking jokes with Lazarus. And, you know, Jesus had awesome jokes, probably had a lot of puns, my favorite types of jokes, maybe even some Jesus jukes, if you've ever heard of what that is. But it was just this idea that they enjoyed spending time together. Lazarus loved not just being near Jesus because there's plenty of people who love to be near Jesus because being close to Jesus got you certain perks, right? When you're close to somebody who's powerful, it brings about some perks. So there was a lot of people who just like to be near Jesus, but Lazarus actually liked just being with Jesus. And apparently Jesus liked being with Lazarus because they're dear friends. Lazarus was the kind of person that.
[00:08:40] Speaker D: Jesus could just not have to feel.
[00:08:42] Speaker C: Like he had to perform. You know what I'm talking about? Like you ever had company and you felt the pressure to kind of perform a little bit. You had to make sure the house was extremely clean. You hid everything in that one closet that nobody gets to see when you're given a tour of the house and they have children and they're like opening every door. You like, run and Slam it shut. And you're like, don't open that door because you might die. I mean, you. Everything will come crashing down and it might end your life today.
But Lazarus and Jesus had the type of friendship that you didn't have to have the house sparkling clean to come.
[00:09:13] Speaker D: Over, because they just enjoyed being around one another.
[00:09:19] Speaker C: Which is why what happens in John chapter 11, it makes it so fascinating and really makes me have a hard time with what actually happens.
Because Lazarus at some point takes a turn, and when he takes a turn, they're going to send word to Jesus.
[00:09:39] Speaker D: Hey, Lazarus, the one you love, is sick.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: And there's this expectation when the phone rings, you drop what you're doing and you go.
Because nothing is more important than being.
[00:09:54] Speaker D: There for a person in crisis.
Jesus doesn't do that.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: In fact, you can almost imagine some of the conversations that Mary and Martha, his two sisters, as they're caring for them, would have had as they kind of walk out of the room and he's taking a turn for the worse, and they're quietly whispering behind the door.
[00:10:12] Speaker D: Why isn't Jesus here?
[00:10:14] Speaker C: What else could be more important to him than us, his dear friends?
Do we think the message? Yeah, the messenger said he got the word.
And then when they walk in and they're caring for Lazarus and they just keep reminding him, it's okay, Lazarus, just keep fighting, keep holding on. Jesus is going to be here soon. Every time Lazarus rolls over and he asks for some water, he. He asked for a cool towel to be placed on his head. And he says, where's Jesus? And they said, he's on his way.
[00:10:42] Speaker D: Just keep holding on until he can't.
At some point, he breathes his last.
And Jesus didn't make it.
[00:10:54] Speaker C: Not only did Jesus not get there.
[00:10:56] Speaker D: In time to save Lazarus, but they have the funeral and they bury him.
[00:11:04] Speaker C: And it's four days after that before.
[00:11:06] Speaker D: Jesus walks into Bethany.
[00:11:09] Speaker C: And he walks into Bethany. And one of Lazarus sisters just walks up to Jesus. And all of the emotion, all of the frustration, all of the pain, all the grief just kind of spills out of her mouth before she could probably even stop the sentence. And she just said, lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
It's not so much an accusation as it is just a statement of complete grief. Her heart is broken. Just think of the days and maybe weeks that they have experienced, hoping and waiting on Jesus to get there, to make this all right. They knew of all the people Jesus had healed. They knew this is nothing for him. This is just a normal day at the office.
[00:11:49] Speaker D: But he didn't show up.
[00:11:52] Speaker C: And then I don't know if maybe she kind of caught herself in what she actually said and maybe the tone that it came out. But you ever said something, you're like, I need to clean that up a little bit. And then she's like, but I know that God will give you, even now.
[00:12:06] Speaker D: Whatever you ask.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: What do you say.
[00:12:11] Speaker D: To somebody who looks at you and asks you, why did God allow my brother to die?
[00:12:18] Speaker C: What do you say to somebody who looks at you and says, why did my spouse leave me? What am I supposed to do right now?
What do you do when a family.
[00:12:29] Speaker D: Looks at you and says, what do we do without the father, without husband, without a dad?
What do we do?
We do what Jesus did.
Jesus said, I'm the resurrection and the life. Do you believe this?
[00:12:53] Speaker C: What he did is something really powerful.
[00:12:57] Speaker D: That the Bible calls admonishment.
[00:13:00] Speaker C: In fact, there's this verse in Colossians, chapter three. It's a really powerful line that says, let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. It's something we're called to do, commanded. If you want to say that for one another, we are to admonish one another. And the question is, what in the world does it mean to admonish one another? Part of what it means is what Jesus did for Mary and Martha. It's this idea that you are speaking into someone's life. You are giving them words of hope in moments of despair. The word itself literally means to place into someone's mind. It means to deposit truth into someone's mind. Because if you've ever been through one of those moments of crisis where all of a sudden you're suffering some type of significant loss, or you've had this moment of great heartbreak, or you're staring at this situation. You're like, what are we going to do? There's so many bills that we don't even know where to start. Bank account hit zero weeks ago. Or you're staring at an illness and a diagnosis and you're asking God, why? Why is this happening? And now all of a sudden, the enemy, Satan, sees an opportunity to attack your faith and to start to challenge you with doubts. And to take those doubts and to take it to a place of unbelief and blaming God and doubting and denying his power in your life. And all of a Sudden the mind starts running rampant, doesn't it? Because the mind is a powerful thing. And all of a sudden your mind goes from why didn't God show up? To God doesn't love me. And, and now all of a sudden you've turned your heart against the Lord. And what you need is someone to come alongside you and to deposit truth into your mind. One writer said, admonishment is just high octane encouragement.
It's not just normal encouragement. Normal encouragement is, you look awesome today, man. It's so great to see you're such a great person. You're so talented. Admonishment is high octane. It's like instead of getting the 87 gasoline, you you're putting like the 93. You're like, you know what money is? No, it's just an object to me. I'll put the most expensive gas in my car because that's what I want to do. I want the high octane stuff, I want the pure stuff. This stuff burns even longer. It's going to stick with you. Even more than just a normal statement of encouragement, what Jesus did for Mary and Martha is he gave them admonishment. That high octane encouragement he placed into their mind where their mind had gone to so many other places.
Doubt and of blaming and of struggling.
[00:15:39] Speaker D: And Jesus reminded them that God is completely in control.
[00:15:45] Speaker C: He reminded them that God had not abandoned them. What Paul said in Ephesians 6 is so powerful, he reminded us in this spiritual battle that we're in to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, to put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Because he's constantly attacking, not just physically, not just in temptations, but he's trying to attack us mentally to get our minds off of the gospel of Jesus, off of the hope that we have in Christ. And one of the ways we do that is through the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, which is the word of truth. Because in that moment when we begin to believe lies, when we begin to allow the great deceiver to deposit lies into our mind and to begin to believe those and live those out as if those were true, what we need is someone to come alongside us and to remind us what God has said. Because truth is always greater than the lies that we believe so that we can be reminded. Now here's the thing. You've been admonished before, you just may not have realized it because it's kind of like a two sided coin that's the one side, the high octane encouragement, being reminded of truth when you're struggling and wanting to believe a lie. But the other side of admonishment is, is when you get a little bit of correction. And this is what parents do for children sometimes. Now, I'm not talking about when you come in and your kids have really misbehaved and you're like, I'll take my belt off and I'll whip you right now. I know that doesn't happen today. That's how those of us that grew up in the, you know, pre 2000s, that's how we were all raised. You know, that's what's wrong with kids today, right?
[00:17:17] Speaker D: I'm just kidding.
[00:17:19] Speaker C: My wife wouldn't let me whip our children. That's what's wrong with them.
[00:17:21] Speaker D: I'm just kidding. That's just, that's just a joke.
[00:17:24] Speaker C: They're. What's wrong with them is they're my children. They have all of my flaws on two legs.
[00:17:27] Speaker D: That's exactly what, what's wrong.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: And their love language is sarcasm and it's not my wife's love language.
[00:17:32] Speaker D: So we have some fun conversations in.
[00:17:34] Speaker C: Our home from time to time about.
[00:17:36] Speaker D: You can't say that it was hilarious.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: But not the appropriate time to the.
[00:17:43] Speaker D: Person to use sarcasm.
[00:17:46] Speaker C: So that sign of correction when your child hasn't royally messed up, it's just they've made some of those decisions that you just want to correct a little bit. You're not necessarily coming down hard. You're just pull up beside them on the couch and throw your arm around them or you're driving in the car and that way your eyes and their.
[00:18:06] Speaker D: Eyes can be forward and you just.
[00:18:07] Speaker C: Have that conversation about that series of decisions.
[00:18:12] Speaker D: I'm not fussing at you. I just want you to know why I didn't agree with that. And let's talk about this because you're.
[00:18:18] Speaker C: Trying to correct it in a gentle, encouraging way. Maybe your boss has done this for you where you know, you did something and you, you thought it was good, but it wasn't exactly what your boss had intended for you to do. And they didn't call you in and chew you up one side and down the other. They just wanted you to do things a little bit differently. And so they called you in, they said, hey, I think you're doing an awesome job here. I really value everything that you do. You know, they do the whole criticism sandwich. They build you up, they tell you what they need you to tell you, and then they Build you up again, that criticism sandwich.
[00:18:51] Speaker D: And.
[00:18:51] Speaker C: And so they're going to tell you, hey, you're awesome. I love what you're doing. Can you do this a little bit differently for me? Could we change how we're doing this? Hey, keep up the great work. I really appreciate you. And you walk out having been corrected, but you don't feel like you just got gotten onto. You feel encouraged or. It happens on the ball field all the time. I coach a lot, both of my daughters and their teams, and there's times where there's a player that's made a decision or something want to do just a little bit differently. I need you to change how you view that. I'm not getting on to you. I'm not questioning what you're doing. I just want you to think about doing it this way. I appreciate you're working hard, you're doing great, and all of a sudden you're able to correct some behavior without totally criticizing, and you leave them walking away.
[00:19:41] Speaker D: Feeling better about themselves.
[00:19:44] Speaker C: That's part of what admonishment is. But then there's this question. The question is, how do we do that?
Because we've had it done, and sometimes we're trying to do that, but it doesn't land. It kind of comes across as criticism. You've heard the difference in criticism and constructive criticism, right? You know the difference. The difference is if you're the one giving it. If you're the one giving it, it's constructive, right? If you're the one receiving it, it's.
[00:20:11] Speaker D: It's just criticism.
[00:20:11] Speaker C: Amen.
That one didn't land. Y' all don't agree with that? That's okay. That's okay. You agree with it. I know you do. All right, so here's how we admonish one another. Paul said in Ephesians 4 that we.
[00:20:23] Speaker D: Should speak the truth in love so.
[00:20:26] Speaker C: That we can all grow up into every respect to become this mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ, speaking the truth in love. You know, that's the ultimate goal, speaking the truth in love.
Some of us have gotten really good at that first part, speaking truth. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. Probably the person beside you could raise their hand for you. If you're a truth speaker, you're one of those people that just says what's on your mind. You don't really care about somebody's feelings. You're going to tell them what they need to know, whether they asked or not.
And so you're not Concerned about whether or not it's going to make your relationship awkward. You just need to tell them what they need to know and they need to deal with it. And if they don't like you for telling them the truth, then that's their problem and they'll have to deal with it because you're a truth speaker. And there are people like that on this planet. I love them. I'm not one of them. And then on the other side, there are what we'll call love speakers. You're the type, and I can sometimes fall into this trap. The love speakers are the type that don't like controversy. Okay? You don't want to make it awkward. You need to tell them the truth. You need to correct.
But you value that relationship. You don't want to discourage them. You're. You don't want it to get weird when you have to speak them the truth. And so let's say maybe it was your spouse or your boss wanted you to talk to somebody, needed you to correct something that they were doing. And so you call them in, you have the conversation, and then you're kind of reporting back to whoever sent you. And they're like, well, how'd the conversation go? Oh, it went awesome. I mean, we ended the conversation, we shook hands, we hugged.
[00:21:58] Speaker D: It was great.
[00:21:58] Speaker C: Well, did you tell them what I needed you to tell them? Well, sort of.
I mean, I think they got the picture, which means, no, I didn't tell them at all because I didn't want it to get super weird because you're more focused on the love. But here's the thing. If we speak the truth without love, it will cut deep, but it will never heal.
But if we speak the love without.
[00:22:21] Speaker D: Truth, it'll soothe somebody, but it will never save them from whatever it is that they need to change.
But when we speak the truth in love, what it brings about is it brings about growth.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: There's a phenomenal scene in the book of Acts that I think really illustrates this idea.
When you get to Acts, chapter 18, you meet this young man named Apollos. He's a fiery preacher. He's eloquent. There's a lot of people that are drawn to his style of teaching. He really understands the Bible. In fact, here's what it says. There's a Jew named Apollos. He's a native of Alexandria. He makes his way to Ephesus. He's a learned man. He's spent a lot of time studying the scriptures. He's got a thorough knowledge. He's been instructed in the way of the Lord. And he spoke with great fervor. And he taught about Jesus accurately. And I think that's an important line. He taught about Jesus accurately. Everything he would tell you about The Savior was 100% correct, but he only knew about the baptism of John.
[00:23:24] Speaker D: So.
[00:23:24] Speaker C: So if we were to apply this to modern day situation, he's going through a sermon and everything he says, you're like, amen, yes. You're like, dude, Apollos is speaking tonight. Grab your friends, grab your neighbors. Everybody's going to show up. You're going to love hearing this guy. He is amazing. But as you get toward the close of the lesson, as he's winding it down, he's getting ready to land that plane and he's trying to draw your hearts in to get you to respond to the gospel. And then he says, what you need to do is you need to be baptized like John told us to in your life.
[00:23:57] Speaker D: Wait a minute.
Hmm.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: I don't know everything about the Bible.
[00:24:04] Speaker D: But I'm fairly confident that's not exactly.
[00:24:08] Speaker C: The way things are. Because I remember what Peter said on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, where Peter says that we shouldn't be baptized into John's baptism, but we should be baptized into Jesus Christ for the remission of our sins so that we can receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And it's not that what he was teaching about Jesus was wrong. He was totally right about Jesus. It's just when he got to that part, he was just lacking a little bit. Now it says right after that that he's speaking boldly. One time he's in the synagogue and there's these two older Christians that are there. Their names are Priscilla and Aquila. And they have a powerful story. They used to live in Jerusalem, but they had to flee because of the persecution that broke out because of Aquila was Jewish. And they've made their way to Corinth. They've had to kind of take shelter there, but they're not there for long before they become leaders in the church and they're really encouraging people. And they're sitting there one day and Apollos comes in and he starts teaching about Jesus. And they're like, yes and amen and keep preaching. And then he gets to that part and they hear him talk about baptism. And all of a sudden they have a choice to make.
They could get up and walk out.
[00:25:15] Speaker D: They could say, this is false teaching, we're out of here, won't stand for it.
I've seen that before they could stand.
[00:25:27] Speaker C: Up, make it really awkward, interrupt his sermon and say, that's not right. You're leading these people astray. You ever seen that?
[00:25:35] Speaker D: That's wild. You want to talk about a church service you'll never forget?
[00:25:39] Speaker C: When somebody interrupts, it hollers at the preacher.
[00:25:42] Speaker D: That's a fun one.
[00:25:45] Speaker C: They could have gotten everybody together after.
[00:25:47] Speaker D: The service and said, I can't believe y' all sat here and listened to this preacher.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: You need to run him out of town as quickly as we can. We need to start a Facebook community group, Christians Against Apollos or False Teaching in Ephesus. They could have talked about everybody. They could have gotten together behind his back. They could have stirred all kinds of people up, and they could have led this revolt against Apollos.
[00:26:16] Speaker D: Instead, they chose to do what the Bible encourages us to do.
They invited him to their home, said, hey, Apollos, you want to join us for dinner tonight?
And he showed up, and the house was spotless.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: Had a great meal planned, made some.
[00:26:41] Speaker D: Small talk, encouraged him like crazy, Brother, you have got a gift from the Lord.
[00:26:48] Speaker C: I mean, God has just laid over you an ability to teach, to preach, to communicate the gospel. You hold people's attention in your hand.
[00:27:00] Speaker D: We love what you're doing, and we want to encourage you to keep up the good work.
We also want to tell you the rest of the story about Jesus.
Here's what he said about baptism.
[00:27:18] Speaker C: And we just want you to spend some time praying over that, thinking through that.
[00:27:24] Speaker D: And we hope you don't walk out of here discouraged.
[00:27:26] Speaker C: We're not trying to bring you down.
[00:27:27] Speaker D: We want to lift you up because we think you have been placed here by God. And we want to encourage you.
We want to make sure that you keep serving the Lord because you've got a gift, brother.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: And you can imagine, as they're having.
[00:27:42] Speaker D: This conversation, enjoying this meal, even this moment.
[00:27:50] Speaker C: It got a little more serious.
[00:27:52] Speaker D: But it wasn't criticism.
It was just encouragement with a little dose of correction.
[00:28:01] Speaker C: And they show us a couple of awesome ways to admonish somebody, because they show us that it begins with compassion, of thinking, what would it be like to be sitting here as Apollos?
How would he want. How would I want someone to treat me if I'm sitting in his shoes? That's what compassion means.
And so they pictured what would it be like to be on the other end of this? And what would I need someone to say so that I would actually hear it and not just shut down and get defensive and say, well, you don't know me or I don't agree with you. How can we make sure this is an encouraging conversation? How can we make sure that when he leaves, he knows how much we love him and value him and we want to encourage and support him? That's how they started. And then their ultimate goal was sanctification. They wanted him to grow spiritually, Spiritually, because they saw that he was just a person in a process of growth. They didn't expect him to be perfect. They didn't expect him to have it all figured out. And they saw an opportunity. Just encourage him with the word of God. And that's the other thing, is that what they said was rooted in the word of God. It wasn't rooted in, I think you should. It was grounded in God's word. And they were depositing into his mind those words of truth in the form of encouragement. And they built him up. They didn't make him leave feeling ashamed of or discouraged. They made sure that he understood how loved he was and how blessed they were by him. Because that's the thing about admonishment. The ultimate goal is to disciple.
[00:29:27] Speaker D: It's not to discourage, it's to lift.
[00:29:29] Speaker C: Up, not to condemn somebody. And so we could say it like this. Admonishment is high octane encouragement that exhorts or counsels other believers with a heart directed toward their spiritual development.
I remember I was in my, I think around my mid-20s, you know, when I had it all figured out in life in church with the Bible.
And I remember I was working as a youth minister and I really enjoyed teaching and preaching. Just didn't want to do it full time at that time. But I loved to fill in for our preacher whenever he would go out of town. And so he left and went out of town one Sunday and he said, hey, would you preach for me?
[00:30:07] Speaker D: Absolutely.
[00:30:08] Speaker C: Would love to.
And so I worked on this sermon and I heard this great joke. I actually heard it from a preacher in a sermon and I'm like, that said, that's a funny joke. I heard it from a preacher in a sermon, so I can tell it in church. Now. I didn't run it by my wife. That was problem number one. I've since learned if I'm going to tell a joke, I'm usually going to run them by her like a normal joke. My sense of humor is very dry and sarcastic, but if I'm going to tell an actual joke, I always run it by her.
I didn't on this occasion. And so the joke got some laughs. I'm not going to lie, but there was at least one person, I don't know who I was just told it was somebody who was offended by the.
[00:30:48] Speaker D: Joke that I told, except I wasn't.
[00:30:52] Speaker C: Told right after that that someone was offended by the joke that I had told.
[00:30:57] Speaker D: It was actually several months later that I was told.
[00:31:01] Speaker C: And the reason why I found out is because it was my turn to preach again. But I wasn't allowed to preach again because of the joke that I had told.
[00:31:08] Speaker D: It was over year before I was allowed to preach again.
[00:31:12] Speaker C: And I've often thought about that situation.
I learned about not telling jokes like.
[00:31:17] Speaker D: That and not, you know, making sure.
[00:31:19] Speaker C: My wife hears it so that she can tell me that's really not a good idea. That's what she says to most of.
[00:31:24] Speaker D: The jokes that I'm going to tell.
[00:31:25] Speaker C: So I don't tell a lot in sermons. But also what I needed in that.
[00:31:30] Speaker D: Moment was not a year plus long probation.
What I needed in that moment was.
[00:31:37] Speaker C: Someone maybe the person that was upset.
[00:31:40] Speaker D: Preferably by the joke, maybe an elder, anybody.
[00:31:47] Speaker C: I needed somebody at that point in.
[00:31:48] Speaker D: My life to take me out to lunch, take me and get coffee. Even though I don't drink coffee, I'll find something to drink and just sit there and to do for me what Aquila and Priscilla did for Apollos.
And to say something like, eric, I can see you got a heart for the Lord.
God's gifted you with the ability to communicate.
I hope you will always use that gift for his glory.
I think God's gonna privilege you to do to be a part of some really neat things in your ministry.
And I hope you'll understand the power and the privilege that comes with speaking words in front of a group of people who are listening, who need to be encouraged and taught the word of God.
I just want to encourage you to just be a little careful of the stories and the jokes that you tell.
Because while you might find it funny, and while somebody else might find it funny, sometimes we can share things someone doesn't find funny. In fact, they might find it a little bit offensive.
And I want to discourage you. I want you to keep using your gift and I want you to keep serving the Lord. And I appreciate all that you do.
That's what I wish somebody had done.
[00:33:10] Speaker C: I learned the lesson, but that's what.
[00:33:13] Speaker D: I want to do for somebody else.
[00:33:16] Speaker C: Instead of coming down and criticizing. What I want to do for somebody else is what I had wanted done.
[00:33:22] Speaker D: For me to admonish.
And so the question is, how do we receive it because you know what I think?
[00:33:31] Speaker C: I think Jesus was right. It's more blessed to give than to receive.
It's a lot more enjoyable to give admonishment than to receive admonishment. Right? Because when you have to receive it, you have to be at a certain spiritual place so that you receive it for what it was intended.
It's intended to be high octane encouragement. But sometimes there can be this fine line between admonishment and criticism.
And what we need to do when.
[00:34:01] Speaker D: We need to receive it is we need to be humble and approachable.
Apollos could have said, who do you think you are?
I'm the best preacher in this town.
He didn't do that.
He just listened. He humbled himself.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: We have to remember whenever we need to receive admonishment that at the start it doesn't feel good because it might even feel a little bit like criticism. When you get to the middle part of that criticism sandwich where they've built you up and then they get to what they really need to talk about. And we shouldn't hold people. We got to have some grace for when people are giving us important words. And to not dissect every single word, because I don't want you to dissect every single word. One of them could have been off. In fact, when you're trying to encourage somebody and you're trying to admonish them, you might even cross over into a tad bit of criticism. And you're not intending to, you're trying to build them up. But in that moment, if we're not in the right place, we might just focus in on that and all of a sudden become defensive and start to deflect and make excuses. And really what we need to do is be humble and. And we need to learn to listen.
[00:35:08] Speaker D: To what the person is saying to us.
[00:35:10] Speaker C: And while it doesn't feel good, it is so good for us because they love us that much to try to encourage us and to correct and to.
[00:35:19] Speaker D: Deposit that truth into our mind and.
[00:35:21] Speaker C: To give us that word that we need.
Proverbs 19:20 says, Listen to advice and.
[00:35:26] Speaker D: Accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise.
So we need to listen and not.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: Just think about our comebacks.
And then we need to use that.
[00:35:37] Speaker D: As an opportunity to grow.
[00:35:39] Speaker C: Apollos didn't leave feeling defeated.
[00:35:43] Speaker D: He left feeling encouraged because he had a brother and sister in Christ who loved him so much that they were willing to help him grow.
And that's what we need to do for one another.
[00:35:54] Speaker C: Think about how Powerful this is, if you're an older Christian, for what you.
[00:36:00] Speaker D: Can do for a younger Christian, think.
[00:36:03] Speaker C: About how powerful this can be. When our young people stand up and they begin to lead in different capacities in the church and they mess something up, as they all will, because we all did and those of us that didn't, it's because we might have been too afraid and never tried it, because we were worried we might mess it up and somebody might call us out when instead, what if we had a culture of admonishment that's willing to encourage.
[00:36:29] Speaker D: So much and just throw your arm around and say, you are doing an awesome job and I want to help you grow as a Christian, as a.
[00:36:37] Speaker C: Young man or woman in the Lord.
[00:36:40] Speaker D: To keep using your gifts.
Let's go back to John, chapter 11.
[00:36:46] Speaker C: Jesus shows up. He's four days late, more than four.
[00:36:50] Speaker D: Days late, and he asked to be taken to the tomb.
[00:36:55] Speaker C: And he gets there and he does the unthinkable.
[00:36:58] Speaker D: He asks them to roll away the stone.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: But right before that, he's overcome with so much emotion that his emotions begin to be displayed. And it says that he wept. And the idea is that he's not just softly crying, that it's that uncontrollable anguish that he's experiencing, even though he knows what he's going to do.
And he has this powerful prayer. And then he does the next unthinkable thing, not just asking them to remove the stone, but then he starts talking to the bodies that are laying in the tomb. But he speaks to one specifically, and it says with a loud voice, he shouts out, lazarus, come out. And you could have heard a pin drop because nobody knows what's going to happen.
But just a few moments later, however long it took, all of a sudden you saw this figure shuffling out of the tomb.
And sure enough, he raised Lazarus from the dead.
[00:37:51] Speaker D: But don't miss it.
That's not the only person that was raised that day, because Mary and Martha were there and their hearts that had been so low were raised just like Lazarus.
And the way he raised Lazarus and Mary and Martha was the same way.
Through admonishment, through high octane encouragement Church. May we do that for one another.
May we be a community of believers that's willing to speak truth in love for the benefit and blessing of those that need it. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for the opportunity to be together tonight, to open your word, to be encouraged by it. Father, thank you for those believers who admonish us on a regular basis, who.
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Give us that high octane encouragement, even.
[00:38:47] Speaker D: That gentle correction when we need it, Lord, we're thankful for that.
And Lord, when that situation comes and we need to be the one to.
[00:38:55] Speaker C: Give it, I pray for the faith.
[00:38:56] Speaker D: And the courage to do that. And when we need to be the one to receive it, I pray for that humility, that willingness to be gently corrected. Father, help us to do this for one another, because we know and we can see the benefit that it will bring to us as we all strive to grow more and more into the image of your son, Jesus. Thank you for loving us. We lift this prayer in his name. Amen.
