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1 Corinthians 4:6,13 -The Spectacle- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-03-24
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First Corinthians chapter four verses six through 13. You wonder why they never invite me to come speak at their conferences. Right? It's like it's like get that nut job out of here. Alright. And these things brethren I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. For who make thee to differ from another and what has thou that thou did not receive? Now if thou did receive it, why do you glorious if thou had not received it? Now you're full, now you're rich, you reigned as kings without us. And I would to God you did reign that we also might reign with you. For I think that God has set forth us, the apostles last, as it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle under the world and the angels and the men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You're honorable, but we are despised. Even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. And labor, working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the off scouring of all things under this day. Father, thank you for your holy word. Thank you, Lord, that we're not misfits, that we fit in. That Lord, it's it's not it's not us, Lord, that go through difficulties and trials and such that are outside your will. Lord, this prosperity gospel's taken its course, Lord. This this health, wealth, and prosperity that we've bought into over the last forty, fifty years, Lord, maybe longer. Lord, it's coming to an end. It's coming to an end quickly. And Lord, I pray that we would have the the strength and the maturity to face the trials that are approaching, that are coming toward the church here in America and around the world. And Lord, that that as we as Christians are put in the hot water, Lord, our hearts would be revealed that Lord, we love you for who you are, not for what we can get, not for what we're demanding, not for how we rub the genie and get three wishes. Lord, I pray that you'd speak to us this morning and cause our roots to grow deeper unto you, that we may glorify you, Lord, whether we're abased or whether we're abounding. We learn the secret of contentment that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So blessed now we pray, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Would you please be seated? Picture yourself in a Roman coliseum where thousands of citizens have gathered to see you. You are the center of attention. You're the reason they're all there. You are a Christian celebrity with the fame of a rock star, but the gathering is not there for a concert or a crusade. No. They've come to the spectacle in that you are the afternoon meal. Do you understand what I just said? Christians were fed to wild beasts in the coliseum in Rome for entertainment. That word spectacles, theatron. It's like a theater. And Paul's saying, this is normal. This is normal Christianity. This this is how the church has been treated throughout history. Idi Amin would get on his horse with a polo mallet, and the Christians would be buried with just their heads poking out of the ground, and he'd thump them like as a like as a ball. All over the world, all throughout history, Christians have been treated in this manner, in this way. You're the spectacle. You're the you're the meal. And the Christians would get out, history tells us, Fox of Book, Martyrs and others, you can look historically, they'd get out there in the coliseum and men, women, children, and they'd gather together and sing. They'd start singing songs, singing worship, worship songs. And then the lions and tigers and bears and things would be unleashed, and they, they would crush the Christians, and the crowd would the crowd would, you know, cheer and such. And, 6,000,000 Christians killed, murdered in the first two centuries. As you read in the Fox's book of martyrs as we get into the dark ages, you had, apostate people in leadership positions within the church as Constantine merged the church with the state. So you had these Catholics, you had these pontiffs, you had these guys wielding enormous control over people and just torturing them, torturing children, torturing people, killing people, peeling their skin and such, and all of the sorts of inventions inventions in the minds of men as a means of torturing people simply for having a bible, simply for being a Christian and not following, you know, the dictates of the Roman Catholic church. And so we've we've seen this throughout throughout history, and and this is the backdrop of what Paul's saying here. From the apostolic example, we can learn three things about serving the Lord. Number one, God enables you. If you're a Christian, the Holy Spirit's gifted you. Each and every one of us have at least one gift, maybe more than one. And you can't be boasting about it because it's God that enabled you. So if you're enamored with a Christian celebrity with Paul or Apollos or Cephas or whatever, recognize it's God that enables them. It's also God that enables you. And God doesn't want it to be a spectator sport, God wants all of us to engage. All of us to be involved utilizing the gifts that we've been given. But when you elevate men up, there's a tendency to be a spectator and to think, oh, I'll vote for him and he'll fix everything. Oh, I'll put him there. I'll go listen to him and they'll fix it. But when we're all involved, when all of us are utilizing our gifts and ministering one to another as the body should, then we're not spasmodic. And I know and we don't have, you know, both legs are moving instead of one leg, you know. And, we're able to walk in a harmonious manner because we're the we're the body of Christ. And the foot can't say to the head, oh, I'm tired of being the foot, you know. Well, the head's saying, Jesus is the head of the body. So you're telling Jesus, I don't like being the foot. I don't like being a toe. I don't like being a hand. It's stinky over here. It's stinky there, you know? I wanna be the eye. I wanna be the ear. I wanna be upfront. Well, it's spasmodic. You're you're find your greatest contentment when you simply function, where you grow, where you're planted, where you be who you're supposed to be. So I like to say it this way to myself. Rick, just stay in your lane. Just stay in your lane, Rick. Just do what God's called you to do. Don't worry about the other guy. If you stay in your lane and you do what you're supposed to do, then you go away from, your ministry as you've ministered to folks, and there's a great deal of of comfort and joy and blessing because you realize once again that the Lord enabled you, that you fulfilled at that point. You you did what he called you to do. He impresses upon your heart. I want you to I want you to preach the gospel to this person. I want you to share Christ with them. But Lord, if I do, they're gonna they're gonna persecute me. I might lose my job, Lord. I might this. I might that. But then when you finally do what he's telling you to do, there's great joy. You go away in fact, in acts four, you go away rejoicing that you were accounted worthy to suffer for Jesus' name's sake. You know, they're trying to shut you down. They're trying to tell you you can't meet, you can't speak, you can't do communion, you can't sing. He's not essential, but the strip clubs are open. You say, I see through that lie. I'm going to church, and I'm gonna sing louder. And I'm gonna keep doing what God's called me to do, and you get persecuted. I mean, a tiny tiny minuscule way, getting kicked out of places kinda felt good, you know, when I refused to wear a mask. I got kicked out of so many places and it was it was glorious, you know. It's it's it's it's amazing, you know. And I I wish I would have videotaped more of those encounters so I could play it back to these people how foolish they were, You know? All the people, you know, empowering themselves to be the enforcers of things that weren't law, know, just mandates and fear and driven in that way, the mob mentality. And and so he says, and these things brethren, have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes. So these things, the description of a servant steward that we saw in verses one through five is what he's alluding to here. These things. Paul wanted to wake the Corinthians up to what is really like to serve the Lord. People have a misconception. They think, man, this is this is glorious, you know. They might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written. So it's not very glamorous. I've had guys, in fact, I had a young man that came here maybe four or five years ago, and we were we were really really, I don't know, just starting out here maybe. And, we were really small. We went through a real a hard time, and the church was way smaller than it is now. This seems big to me. But it does. I'm a megachurch pastor now, man. You have no idea the years that we we barely squeak by with just, you know, ten, eleven people. You have no idea. And it isn't just for a month, it's years. People would drive up in the parking lot and they'd say, are you guys open? Where is everybody? People would leave before even sitting in the service because God can't be in this. There's nobody there. You know, there's no people there. So we would just persevere and keep going. And, and I'm glad we did. I'm glad we didn't give up. But anyway, word must have got around. And so a guy comes in from California and he passes out his card as he's here and stuff, and some guy's got his card. And then he wants to take me out to out to breakfast or lunch or whatever. And so I went out with him, and then he proceeds to tell me that he's here to plant a church, that he's come from California to plant a church here in Bremerton. And I'm like, go for it. Go for it. I said, but you know what? This is not California. You better have your big boy britches on. You better watch your wife, your kids, your daughters. You better watch them, man, because if you start to have any kind of impact at all in this community, the devil's gonna come with everything he's got. Because I know what happened to me and my family. And I was trying to get him to understand this you're not in Kansas anymore, little boy. You know? This is not California, where you just throw up a dove and everybody shows up. You know? There's great warfare against you if you're teaching the word of God verse by verse. You're gonna be hated. You're just gonna be hated by the devil. He doesn't want the the people here to be taught God's word. He wants the people to be placated and put in a place of self denial where they don't even realize reality and understand what's going on. They wanna escape reality and have their little their little club and social groups and things like that. And so they can't handle the word of God. So anyway, that's that's what I tried to do. I tried to let him know, he he started out, and he's still struggling. It's not what he thought it was. But another church wanted to leave Silverdale and move into Bremerton. What do you think about that? Fine. You wanna go downtown Bremerton? Go for it. I don't care. You wanna have two Calvary Chapels in Bremerton? Fine. I don't care. Just don't call it Calvary Chapel Bremerton because that would be confusion to people. You wanna be Calvary Silverdale down by the high school? Go for it. But what they don't know is if we ever grew, I'd move us to Silverdale now. I'd find the best field, the best place, the best building we could ever, you know, be in because that's that's the hub of the whole county of Silverdale. Why would you wanna go to Downtown Bremerton? It's an armpit, dude. I've been down there. I was at the Roxy for years down there. You wanna do it? Go for it. I know it's hard. I know it's difficult down there. People from Bainbridge, people from all over used to tell me when I'd have a really good concert down there at the Roxy, they'd say, don't you know that people hate coming to Bremerton? Why are you here in Downtown Bremerton? You know? All they do is give you tickets and stuff, you know? And I'm like, well, go send me here, man. I don't know. So I don't care. I'm not worried about the other guy, you know. This is a hard place. And only the Lord can sustain us, you know. I'm not worried about the other guy. I'm gonna stay in my own lane and, and do it. And when I came here, the guy took me out to lunch and told me I shouldn't be here. Nobody was in Bremerton. They said we got it covered. And I said, oh, that's interesting. It's the least church state in the country, and this county is the least church county in the in the state. So you got it covered? No. I don't think so. So then I just said, well, you know what? Let me let me just try. Let me see what we can do. We'll be at Ilihi State Park for the summer. And as Gamaliel, you know, said to the boys, hey, if it's of God, you're not gonna be able to stop it. If it's not of God, it'll come to nothing. So here we are almost thirty years later, still trying to justify the reason for our existence. And, every day wondering, am I in your will, Lord? Are we really supposed to be here? You know, but you know you are. So that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written. So it's not very glamorous. In Hebrews 11 verse 37. Now, I like this this contrast. If you look at the first part of Hebrews, the emphasis upon faith. And the phrase is by faith by faith by faith by faith by faith. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, God saw no pleasure in those that that, were falling back, falling back into Judaism so as to avoid persecution. So again, our our verse out of Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. And then Hebrews 11, he starts out faith is the evidence of things hoped for, of the substance of things not seen. And then in verse six, without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Now, I would like to be the Christian up to verse 36, the conquerors. I wanna whoop on people. I wanna take cities for the Lord. I wanna see the dead raised raised to life again, you know. So you look at it by faith by faith by faith, Abraham, Sarah, David, know. All these great men and women of faith, the exploits that they did for the Lord, they were women. And then there's a transition. And the Greek word heteros is others. Others of a different kind. Well, I wanna be the kind of the winners, the celebrity dudes. But then there's this other kind. Why do I have to be the other kind, Lord? Listen to their description. Hebrews 11 verse 37. And others, others of a different kind, they were stoned. Remember Stephen? They were sawn asunder. Manasseh sawed Isaiah the prophet in half. They were sawn asunder. They weren't all like Abraham. Jeremiah ministered for forty years, then he wound up stoning him when he was in Egypt. They grabbed him, took him to Egypt. What a reward for a faithful man. They were tempted. They were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. So I I I call the first group categorized as conquerors. I categorize this group as more than conquerors. They're more than conquerors whom the world was not worthy. Anybody can serve the Lord when they're winning. Winning is intoxicating. It just drives you to free even more winning. But being beat down, beat down, and beat down, and beat down, and beat down, and you keep getting up and going. That takes a certain dependence upon the Holy Spirit that many of us never experience. My grace is sufficient for you, Paul, for my strength's perfected in weakness. Paul said, gladly, I rejoice in my weakness because when I'm weak, then I'm strong. No longer me, all my genius is Saul of Tarsus, it's the Lord. It's the Lord working through me. It's the Lord that enables me. How was Jesus treated? Isaiah fifty three seven hundred years before he's born, it says, he was despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him. It says his massages face was so marred more than any man, more than the sons of man. That's how Jesus was treated. He's beaten beyond recognition of a man for being the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. When you're mistreated, Jesus said, if they've hated me, they're gonna hate you. If you don't have some enemies today, there's something wrong with you. I got a whole long line of them. They'd love to see me in jail. It isn't politics. It isn't about pinching baby's cheeks and compromising the truth and the word of God to gain a following on a human level. Jesus is building his church. Let him build his church. You do what he's telling you to do and let him build the church. You don't need any gimmicks or plans or formulas or marketing strategies. Let him build his church. In Matthew twenty six sixty seven, he was spit upon. His beard was pulled out, we're told in Isaiah chapter 50. They put deep furrows in his back. The cat of nine tails was designed not just to lacerate the outer epidermis of the skin, but to dig dig deep into the sinews. Many would die of the 39 lashes of the cat o' nine tails, but it's the Roman lictor that's beating Jesus so you don't have to stop according to the Mosaic Law of 39, 40 stripes less one. You can keep going, and they did. He's over at Herod's place and they're putting bags on his head and punching him, beating him. They're taking rods, beating him. He's losing blood, and they're spitting on him. They're spitting on almighty God. They're coming up taunting him when he's nailed to the tree, nailed at Calvary. They're taunting him. If you be the son of God, then save yourself and come down from the cross. Pilate says, don't you know I have power to crucify you? Why aren't you speaking? As a sheep before it shears his dumb, so he opens not his mouth. No point. When the shepherds smitten, the sheep scatter. Don't you know that I have power? Pilate Jesus says, you have no power except that which is given you from above, a delegated power. For this moment in time, it's the hour of darkness. No man takes my life from me. I willingly lay it down that I might take it back again. I'm willingly laying my life down, pilot. Do you get that? Are you listening to your wife, pilot? She said, have nothing to do with me. Don't have anything to do with this just man. Well, tried, honey. I tried. I said, I find no fault in him. He's innocent. I knew that for envy, the religious leaders delivered him. But for political expedience, as they began to say, you're no friend of Caesar's, uh-oh, we'd lose our gig, we'd lose everything. I better give in to the pressure and allow him to be crucified. That no one of you be puffed up for one against another. So in their pride, they elevated God's servants to a status they themselves were trying to achieve. Now, I remember what it was like living in Orange County, letting everybody know that pastor Chuck's my pastor. It made me feel good. He's a he's a hero. He's a celebrity. He's a great man. Great man of God. He's mightily of God. And we had all the bells and whistles. It was Christian Disneyland. We had everything. So you could be a poor guy and go to that church and feel really wealthy. Great sermons and, you know, family camps and Christian camps and schools and all the bells and the whistles. It was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And there's a tendency there where we want our pastor to be one of the big names. We wanna say, hey, I go to such and such a church. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's really good. Oh, yeah. Jack Hibbs. Yeah. Oh, Greg Laurie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know him. I listen to him all the time. Oh, yeah. Rick Bodrey. Who? Who? You get nothing out of that. Isn't he a criminal? Isn't he a criminal? Is he still going? Didn't he didn't he lose all of his buildings and all that and everything and had to start over? Why are you going there? Somebody came up to me, think it's James, he ran into somebody from the church from years ago. And they're going, you still going there? It was like contemptuous. Like, you can't be serious. That's what you get. That's what you get. But then there's there's some folks here like James and Brian and and other. I can't get rid of them. They're supposed to be here. You know? God's blessed me with certain people that it's just it's God's will, you know? They're as crazy as I am. So it's a pride thing to elevate. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas, you know? We are divided now. You're divided. Why are you dividing? Along the lines of, you know, Christian celebrities. How about being about Jesus? How about making it all about Jesus? And so they're trying to achieve to that status. The word pride in this case here means, I'm for me. It's all about me. Learn your personal pronouns. I'm for me. It's mine, little kids. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. So they wanted their leaders to be glamorous superstars like the world's heroes. They wanted their pastors to be like the those in the entertainment industry. They wanted to be rock stars. They wanted to be sports stars. People wanna emulate and worship these kind of people in politics and such. And, I wanna be like them. I'm emulating. I wanna oh, this is a person I identify with. Maybe not in politics so much, you know. Maybe not so much anymore. Verse seven, for who maketh thee to differ from another? So give God the glory. The Lord's the one that gives you those gifts and abilities and all. Use those for his kingdom and for his glory. Who enables us? In Ephesians two ten, it says, for we are his workmanship. The word workmanship is the Greek word poema. We're his workmanship. God's fashioning you from the dust of the ground. God breathes life into you. God's the one that gives you the abilities, the spiritual gifting, natural abilities that you have. So we are his workmanship created into Christ Jesus under good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. And so God's made us in such a way that we should glorify him and in in using the gifts that he's given for his kingdom and for his glory. Greatest privilege I ever ever ever ever experienced is the thought that, God, you've you've given me a gift. You've given me an ability, and I get to exercise that gift and or ability to minister your word, your holy word to these people that actually show up to hear me preach. Not everybody can go to Jack Hibbs Church. It's too far away. You know? Some of you gotta come here or elect to come here. You know? A lot of churches out there, so I feel very, privileged that, somebody's still showing up. I used to be behind the thing there with Christie when we first came over here, and I used to say to her, do you think the Holy Spirit's still here? Do you think the Holy Spirit's still working, Christie? She goes, yeah, pastor Rick. Holy Spirit's just still working. And I'm like, really? Are you sure? And then we go minister, and you walk away from me going, yeah, the Holy Spirit's still here. People got blessed today. People heard the word. The word of God went forth. We worshiped the Lord. We did what we're supposed to do. So we don't need to compare ourselves with any other ministry or any other place. Just stay in your lane. Do what God's called you to do. Be faithful. And what have you that you did not receive now? If thou did not receive it, why do you why do you glory as if thou had not received it? So God enables you. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights. We we look in Ephesians four and we look at the pastors, the apostles, the prophets, the teachers, and Ephesians four describes them as gifts to the church. I like that. Not only all of us are gifted, but your pastor is a gift to this church, supposed to be. Shouldn't be a curse to you. Should be a gift. Right? Because some of you have been looking for pastors for quite a while that teach the word, and that one little thing maybe that you value, the teaching of the word, is being done here. So for you, it's a gift because you've been searching all over for a pastor that would do just that. Now, I can't do all that other stuff, but this one thing, Sunday and Monday, I can take you through the old and the new testament. If that's if there's any value in that for you, especially if you're in a desert where there's a famine for the word of God, then I'm a gift to you. I like the sound of that. Yeah. But that's what he says in Ephesians four. That's what he says. And I thank the Lord for my pastor, pastor Chuck. What a gift to me and my family. Where would I be without being grounded in the word of God? I got saved there, a discipled there, and then sent out from there. You know? And so what a I just cherish. I thank the Lord of all the places on the planet that I could have got saved at. I got saved there at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. And boy, what a teacher. What a preacher. So incredibly consistent. Such a blessing. And so from the apostolic example, we can learn three things about serving the Lord. Number one, God enables you. Number two, God exhibits you. Verse eight. Now you're full. Now you're rich. You have reigned as kings without us. And I would to God you did reign that we also might reign, with you. So Paul uses sarcasm. He's being sarcastic here to drive home a point. He contrast the Corinthian self image with that of an apostle. He says, you're full and you're rich. You're glutted is what that means. You're like the church of Laodicea in Revelation three seventeen where you say, hey, we're rich, increased with goods, in need of nothing. And Jesus says, no, you're delusional. You're really, really the real condition that you're in, if I were to evaluate you, is your poor, naked, blind, and miserable, spiritually speaking. That's who you are, Church of Laodicea, and you make me sick. I'm gonna spew you. You're so lukewarm, you know? So you're glad that you're self satisfied. You're in need of nothing. You guys are rock stars. Hey, we go to such and such a church. We're rock stars, man. So it becomes hip and cool. Hey, where's the hip and cool church to go to in the community? Where's the one with the best this, the best that, and everything? That's what people are attracted toward. You're reigning as kings without us. He says, would to God you did reign that we also might reign with you. He says, I wish it was the millennium already. I wish we were all ruling and reigning with Jesus all in our in our in our sphere of in our place of function within the body within the millennium. The faithfulness that we exude now, that we exercise now is going to be be used of God for how we're gonna serve him in the millennium. If you're faithful of a few things, he's gonna make you rule over much. If you're faithful with, you know, he'll give you a reign over six cities in the millennium, you know? Can you imagine that? Ruling and reigning with Jesus, watching over these Gentile cities and such. And so he's saying, yeah, I wish we were. He says verse nine, for I think that God has set forth us for I think that God has set forth us as I evaluate what's going on. You guys are rich, man. You guys are you got it made. But I think that God has set forth us, the apostles, last as it were appointed to death. That's word set forth means to exhibit. God is exhibiting us last. The apostles are on display. The apostles are on death row. The apostles are terrorists. They're on a list of terrorists. These guys are terrorists. They're a threat to the Roman Empire. The cross you display hanging from your neck is a symbol of death. For some, it's an accessory. Oh, hip and cool. How many of us put around our neck a, you know, a syringe? Yeah. I got the jab. Killed my family. A hangman's noose. Electric chair. A means of capital punishment. That's what the cross represents, death. And we've made it a means of jewelry. Some cultures still have Jesus on the cross. Others know he's not on the cross. I still wanna wear the cross. Some of the pastors, they're still they wear these big chains with a big cross on the front. But why not get the get the collar and the whole thing, dude? You know, get the whole thing. What's it represent? It's not a status symbol. Since when has death by crucifixion become a moniker of stardom of celebrity? Spartacus. Spartacus. Everyone's, I'm Spartacus. I'm Spartacus. You know? The guy's being crucified. It's the most heinous, most evil form of capital punishment used at the time to elicit fear in everybody as they go along the road and all these guys being crucified along the road so that nobody else would rebel. Jesus wasn't stoned to death. He was crucified. What are you gonna start? Oh, yeah. I'm gonna carry my pet rock. Reminds me of Stephen being stoned. You know, this kind of stone that you wear around your neck. Well, you don't do that. But for some reason, it's become a symbol of something good. But the cross speaks of the contempt of the world, the world's hatred of our king. The same way Israel was had a name change when emperor Hadrian changed the name from Israel to that of Palestine. It's a it's a name of contempt. The contempt the Romans had for Judea, for the nation of Israel because they always always always rebelled against Rome. So they tried to wipe them out in seventy AD and then later changed the name and even still to this day, the name Palestine, there are no indigenous Palestinians. Arabs, yes. But no Palestinians. It's a it's a name of contempt that was given the region. So suffering is not glamorous. This is not an exhibition of celebrity, but of love. It's love that nailed Jesus to the cross of Calvary. For we are made a spectacle under the world and to angels and to men. As I said, that word spectacle is the Greek word theatron where we get our word theater. And so the world's watching, the angels are watching. Hey, do you hear the apostle Paul was gonna lose his head this week? Let's travel to Rome because, they got an executioner there that's really sharpened his axe, man. And maybe we can maybe we can put it in the octagon and get everybody at the MMA to watch it and put it on satellite TV, and everybody can watch this apostle Paul lose his head, or watch this guy be hanged, or watch this guy be crucified. For some reason, people, you know, it attracts a crowd. Oh, I wanna go see that, you know? Theotron. You're putting men and women and children into the coliseum to be eaten by wild animals, devising ways of cruelty that people the spilling of blood, it makes their adrenaline pump and they, oh, this is great. To this day, I can't I can't, I've never been able to watch horror movies. I have bad dreams. And then I meet people that say, hey, I watch I watch them, and I said, why? And because it makes my adrenaline pump. I don't want that kind of thrill. I I when I was 27 years old, I I was invited by with Eric to go to the Temecula Theater to see Jurassic Park. I had I had nightmares. I couldn't get out of my head that thing grabbing that guy out of that toilet, you know, and you know. Thought he was after me. I can't do that. Maybe you can. I can't. I don't even squash bugs. I don't do any of that. Kathy kills all the mice and rats and bugs and all that. If they're above me on the ceiling, Cath, look, there's a big spider up there. Well, get it. No. I'm not gonna get it. I'm not gonna get it. Get it, Rick. Uh-uh. No. I'm not gonna get it. That's not me. Everyone wants to kill everything. All the time, they want to kill everything. Every little animal, everything around the farm. Let's kill it. Why? It's beautiful. Let's just kill it. What'd she say? Do I have to escort her her out? We have to do that. I've never done that. Are you making fun of me? I didn't hear what she said. So everybody's watching us, but not like you imagine. We're a spectacle of suffering. We're to be led to the coliseum to be devoured by wild beasts. For what? For the enjoyment of the crowd. You're the entertainment. You're the meal. Ain't that amazing people were subjected to that sort of cruelty? Anyone want to join us? Here we go. You wanna be a Christian celebrity? Anybody wanna join us? Anybody wanna sign up for this? No. No. No. No. I don't think I wanna wear a cross around my neck either, you know? No. Plenty of room. Plenty of room on the cross. Let us show you what that accessory really speaks of. In Luke nine twenty three, Jesus said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily. The cross represents death to self. Death to your pride. I am me. Me is dead. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yeah. Not I, but Christ live within me. And the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I've mortified the deeds of the flesh. I reckon the old man dead. Every day, not just once, but every day, I've got to take my cross up, which represents death, and follow Jesus that he might live through me. But any day I wanna be selfish and not take that cross up is a day where I'm not moving and working in the power of the holy spirit. It's a day of flesh, Day of self seeking, of selfishness, and whining, and complaining. I want a bigger jet. Don't you know my name's Dollar? Pastor Dollar? I'm not lying. There is a guy like that. His jet was too small. He wants a bigger jet. Told his board, get me a bigger jet or I'm out of here. So Christianity is not a picnic. It's not a playground. It's not Hollywood nor is it an award ceremony. Christianity according to Warren Wiersby is a battleground. And we're fighting against spirits and principalities of the air. There's a huge battle against true Christians, you know? Absolutely. And so it's not a an award ceremony, not yet. Not till the Bema Seat judgment where the Lord rewards each of us. And so the spectacle of the cross is a continuing demonstration of God's love. The entire universe is watching your willingness to suffer for Jesus, for his glory. You see, we got it messed up. Oh, he went through that because he must have done something wrong. Because if he was in God's favor, God would have blessed him. He wouldn't have got that cancer. He wouldn't have gotten that car wreck. He wouldn't have lost his job. Oh, he must not have enough faith. He must not be praying enough. He must not be given enough. Because look at those bad things, that divorce you went through, this, that, and the other. Somehow, it's because you're evil. No. Maybe it's because you're good. Maybe it's because you're a target of the wicked one. He wants to destroy you and your children and your family and everything about you. Maybe you're too vocal about Jesus. Maybe you're too happy and filled with joy at work, and they'll revel in the fact when you get knocked down. And they're gossiping slander behind your back, stabbing you in the back. Why? Because you represent Jesus. And Paul says in Romans eight eighteen, he says, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Jesus is in you and I. You and I are privileged to suffer, to fill up his sufferings. He suffered, and now we, the church, are that spectacle filling up his sufferings. A reminder to the world of the cross, of his love for them, not his contempt. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That's God's intention, is to save. He came in to seek and to save that which was lost. So from the apostolic example, we learned three things about serving the Lord. God enables you, God exhibits you, and thirdly and finally, we may not like this, but God empties you. He empties you. A w Tozer said before, God will use a man greatly, he must hurt him deeply. Over and over and over again, the emptying, filling with the Holy Spirit, but the emptying of self. Paul says, I die daily. I have no confidence in the flesh. In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. I can't do this. I can't fight demons. I can't fight the devil in the arm of the flesh. I gotta yield to the holy spirit. So we are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised. So the Corinthians were ashamed of being servants of suffering. They wanted to be celebrities, to be recognized, to be set apart as the winners. I watched a horrible horrible video, a couple of them this week, of a pastor. And, a couple of his guys talking about his lording over and his his heavy handedness and his just like a mafia guy. Like a mafia guy. He's got $10,000,000 in a fund designated for litigation. If anybody crosses him, says anything bad about him or whatever, he's gonna bankrupt them by taking them to court with that $10,000,000 set aside. How'd you like to serve underneath a guy like that, you know? Good lord. He's you get a letter, cease and desist if you say anything. He he's a bully, and he's a pompous, pompous bully that needs to be knocked down. I wish one of those girls that had those skills could just hit him upside the face with a kick, knock him out in public, people see it, and because he's always ragging on men. And yet he's got huge amount of bodyguards around him. He's paranoid. He he needs to be knocked down. He's evil. He's so evil. It's unbelievable. He's out of control. But there's many many of them out there like this who are so filled with pride and they're never popular enough. They're always trying to use the internet or whatever means to get more popular. People don't know who they really are. Behind the scenes, the staff and all, they see who he really is. So even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. That's not very glamorous. How many of you wanna be homeless and serve the Lord? The guy came up to Jesus said, Jesus, I wanna serve you. I'll come follow you. Jesus said, have you counted the cost? Foxes have holes. Birds of there have nests. But the son of man doesn't have a house on the water. Doesn't have two houses. Doesn't have a jet. He has nowhere to lay his head. Have you counted the cost? You really wanna do that? Do you really want to be impoverished and serve God in poverty? I told a rich friend of mine one time, I said, I think God wants me poor. He's extremely wealthy. And he cringed like that thought. That thought was like, that can't be God's will for you. I said, no. I think God wants me poor. That sounds strange, doesn't it? He lets some people be rich, other people he designates to be poor. That's okay. Godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into the world that's certain we're gonna carry nothing out. If it's God's will for me to be poor, then I'm gonna be poor. No matter how much real estate I buy when it's low, I don't get to sell it. Somebody else just sold the property right behind the Calvary Building for $6,000,000. But I don't get to do that. I can't pour my life in and credit and monies and and take something a $125 or $300 and and with the church effort, know, daycare and stuff. I mean, we don't have rich people that just pay stuff off. We don't have somebody dies and says, here's $3,000,000. It doesn't happen to us because we're red haired stepchildren. So we have to depend upon the Lord. We have to rely upon him. It doesn't make sense. Why why would you bankrupt me when I'm trying to do so much for you? Why would you do that? And why do you let the heathen sell their building for 6,000,000? And we're just trying to get a million just to cover our debt. I used to sit there and pray. God, just sell a building. Because Bush Bush was saying, read my lips. So I'm going, God, read my lips. Just sell a building. So I'm mocking God. I'm mocking him, but it was so incredibly incomprehensible. I don't know of any pastor that went through that. Never does that happen. So he must be evil. He must be evil. That's what the ex worship leader used to say, oh, he's evil. And I'm not the one that went out and had the affair, did I? He did. And the others that were doing that, they they wound up being found out. So even under this present hour, we both hunger and thirst and are naked and buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. I mean, that's a lot of adversity coming against Paul for just trying to live a life pleasing to God to fulfill his role to do what he's called to do. I'm buffeted. I'm naked. Don't wanna see that. I'm hungry. I have no place. I'm I'm couch surfing everywhere I go. I got no certain dwelling place. Not very glamorous. Verse 12, in labor working with our own hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer. We suffer it. This word labor means we're laboring to the point of exhaustion. The word reviled means to abuse of words. People abuse us with words, we bless them. A soft answer turns away wrath. We bless them. Oh, bless you. We're persecuted. What do we do when we're persecuted? We endure. We don't quit. We don't say, I'm I'm not taking this anymore. I'm better than that. You know who you're messing with, God? I'm gifted. I'm a gift to the church. Why do why do you allow me to be treated this way? My wife, my family. No. You endure. You just don't quit. It's always too soon to quit. All they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That's in your promise jar. Right? That's when you pull out all the time. You're not suffering persecution. You're not living godly, are you? You're living godly, you're a threat to the kingdom of darkness and he'll send them. He'll send them to you wherever you go. He'll be sending these heathens, these pagans, these demoniacs. And they'll test you, they'll goad you, they'll provoke you to get in the flesh. Paul says, we bless them. We endure it. Being defamed, we entreat. So we pray for those who slander us. We don't litigate with 10,000,000. We pray for them. You remember Job's comforters, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and later Elihu. And so Job, he they don't see behind the curtain and Job's getting whooped on. He's getting whooped on. He's lost it all. His wife, you know, she's still there. He's lost his health. He's lost his wealth. He's lost his reputation, everything. And his wife says, you still maintain your integrity? Why don't you curse God and die? His buddies are saying it's because you're evil. There's evil in your life. It must be that you did something wrong. You suffer because you're evil. I'm not gonna let the devil cheapen my suffering. You're not going to cheapen my suffering, that's an act of worship to my Lord that I'm willing to go through this and cheapen it by saying it's because I did something evil. Because I know if the Lord were to mark iniquities, nobody could stand. There's no good guy out there that deserves to be blessed or whatever. If he's marking iniquities, we're all dead men walking. All have sinned and come short of glory of God. There's none righteous, no not one, it's simply by God's grace. So don't cheapen my suffering. Don't take it from me. You miserable comforters. We are made as the filth of the world. That word filth speaks of refuse, religious trash. You're a religious piece of trash. And you're the off scouring of all things under this day. You're the scum of the earth, you Christians. You're just a bathtub ring. That's what it means. But yet, I gotta get to my publicist because they're gonna do some glamour photos on me. I gotta get my teeth whitening and capped and and whatever and I gotta get hair plugs and get get get looking just right and get some liposuction because my belly is sticking out too far. And I gotta get them to get the right angle, the right look, and oh, nowadays, we can just doctor it. It's not the real me. We'll put on Facebook and oh, look, he lost a 100 pounds. Look at that. Yeah. Glamour shots, glamour photos, celebrity. The businessofthechurch.com, the church incorporated, personality cults. That's what we're talking about. A personality cult. You're following a man. I'm of Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas. I need an image consultant because somebody found out something was wrong with the church and they're talking about it. Now I need to kinda diffuse that. I need to start something else over here to bring the narrative over here to get away from that. I need to quell that. I can't let it spread throughout all of Christianity, you know? Image consultants, a publicist, a makeup artist. The pastors have the makeup artist. How's my makeup? Am I looking good to the camera right now? Do I need a little more of that white stuff there? You know? How's the shadows of lighting in here? You know? It's crazy, isn't it? Can you see Paul and him doing that? Can you see Jay, touch it up over here. What did you hear? God empties us of our pride. Our I'm for me to exhibit Jesus through us. It's not about me. It's always about Jesus. The spectacle of Jesus, the entire universe is looking on asking the question, why? Why? The glamour Christians the glamour Christians are mortified, shocked by the cruelty, by the ugliness of your suffering. It's too much for them. They were taught that if they were good that God would bless them. Why would God allow his son to be crucified? Love. Greater love has no man in this than a man laying down his life for his friends. For God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son. It's love. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame and seated down at the right hand of the father. It's love. It's love. It's love. No man takes my life from me. I willingly lay it down. I have power to lay it down, power to take it again. This isn't the end. This is just the beginning. But, oh, wait. What happened to our best lives now? What happened to the prayer of Jabez? I I don't have enough. I want more. Is Jesus an American? I think Jesus is American. I think he wants me to prosper. Let's incorporate Jesus in the American culture. A Christian nation. Bombing the daylights out of every country on the planet. In the name of democracy, in the name of whatever. Pornography going everywhere, abortion going everywhere, forcing African nations to adopt homosexuality or will cut you off financially. That's America for you. Why would you be willing to suffer to be humiliated on stage? What's your motive? It's love. You're willing to be humiliated. You're willing to suffer. You're willing to take a hit for Jesus. You're willing to stand your ground and say, no way, Jose, And then go away from there rejoicing that you're counted worthy to suffer for his name's sake. You finally did something. You finally took a risk. You finally said no to evil. What a rush that is. Put your mask back on. No. They're not done with you. If they haven't got you to get the job yet, they're they're gonna. They're not done. Does the love of Christ constrain you? It's love. If you can get past the cheapening of your suffering, the condemnation of the devil, you're suffering because, you know, God's mad at you because God hates you because this, that, and the other. No. God doesn't hate you. God's privileged you. He's privileged you to represent his son, to fill up the sufferings of Christ. That sickness you're going through as others are watching, they're watching your countenance. They're watching your faith. They're watching your trust in Jesus. They're captivated. You're a spectacle. Everybody's talking about how rich your faith is. How strong the songs that are coming out of your heart and mind. No bitterness, no anger, no accusing God. Just a brokenness for before God, a a child of worship. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present once and for all your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him which is your reasonable service. An act of worship. You've presented yourself to God as an act of worship. Lord, I worship you. I'm not my own. I'm yours to do with as you will. Here, my lord, use me and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove was that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's why you're willing to suffer. It's an act of worship. It's a part of your allegiance, your yieldedness, your submission unto God. And beware, the devil seeks to cheapen your worship. You suffer because God doesn't love you. That's a lie from the pit of hell. If God loved you, then everything would go well. That's a lie from the pit of hell. In John six six six, look at that John six six six. From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Will you fall away when the Happy Meals aren't flowing anymore? As long as he's given you the loaves and the fishes and making money and things are great, well, I'm a Christian. Look how I'm being blessed. Well, what happens if there's a reversal? What happens if you lose it all? What happens if the economy crashes? Jesus looks at the 12 and he says, will you go away also? You better be able to say, where are we gonna go? You have the words of eternal life. You better be addicted to the words of eternal life. You better be addicted to Jesus. You can't function without Jesus. He's not just an accessory around your neck. He's your everything. And as long as you have him, and as long as you have faith, what if somehow the devil are able to take away your faith? When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? The greatest thing that you and I possess is our faith in Jesus. I don't wanna walk around as a double minded man, half believing in Jesus, half believing in myself or or this world. I wanna go all in. I wanna be there. Have you followed him for him or for the happy meals? It's time to grow up. Job thirteen fifteen, Job says, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Job says, he knows the way that I take him. When he's tried me, I'm gonna come forth as gold. I know that my redeemer lives and that he shall stand on the latter day upon the earth. That's victorious faith of Job. Though worms destroy, you know, this skin, yet in my body shall I see God. That's victorious faith. That's faith like the others, the others of a different kind. Beat them, cut them, whatever you wanna do. Don't fear him who can kill your body, but fear him who can only kill your body but cast your soul into hell. To be asked for the bodies to be present with the Lord. Right? For me to live is Christ to die is gain. You can't get me to stop by threatening to kill me, devil. I'm not only willing to to die, I'm willing to suffer. Are you willing to be made a spectacle for Jesus? Let the games begin. To God be the glory. Jesus rocks. Paul says in Galatians six seventeen, to bear your body the marks of the Lord Jesus. That word marks is stigmata or scars. It's a testimony of suffering. So you go to heaven and you've served in Vietnam. You've served a Devers Storm. You've served in World War two, World War one. You've served in Bremerton. And Paul said, when he served in Ephesus, you know, that there were beasts there, beastly people trying to hurt him, eventually killing, you know, killing Timothy. It's rough. But now you're in heaven and you meet Noah. And the angels, the spectacles, the world and the angels are looking at your suffering. And the angel comes up and says, hey, lift up that that sleeve on your right hand where you got shot. Let me see that scar. Another guy, he has no scars. He has nothing to show. He's been hit away somewhere. But you've been on the front lines. You've been laboring. You've been getting hit. You you you're scarred. You're marked. You got the stigmata. You got the cross. You got the reminder that you belong to Jesus. And then you're there in heaven and John says, he saw a lamb as though it had been slain. Jesus still has the scars. He's got the scars on his hands and his feet. You're in good company. They've been watching you. You're a spectacle. Theotron, the whole world, the angels, heavens watching you. Jesus, the spectacle in heaven is Jesus, still bearing the scars as the lamb of God who was slain. What a privilege, what a blessing to be a part of his plan where he puts us on display reminding the world of God's love for them and his willingness to send his son to die upon the cross Of Calvary. That's what Paul says. We're a spectacle. The world, the angels, they're all looking on. They're wondering, why would you Christians go into that coliseum and allow these animals to crush your children, to crush your wives, to crush you in their jaws. Why would you do this? All you gotta do is say Caesar is Lord. Just just pinch incense once a year. Say Caesar is Lord and go back to your private life. Just take the jab. Take the mark of the beast. Just give in to the government. Much easier. Why do you invite this sort of suffering into your life? Because I won't live for a lie. I'll only live for the truth. I'm not gonna compromise. I'm I'm not gonna give in to evil. I'm gonna worship the Lord. And if he wants to to give me a few scars, few lumps, loss of a few things here or there, at least I have a testimony. At least I have something to talk about with Noah, what he went through, what Daniel went through, what Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went through. I can compare notes. I can show me how this happened to me. The guys that are all the celebrity types, the little porcelain little dolls, they might not even be there, but if they are there, they're gonna crawl into a hole. What were you? How'd you get through life unscathed? Why would you get through life unscathed? That's Christianity? That's the Christianity you lived? Let me tell you about the Christianity we lived. The demons were after us. The devil was after us. The communists were after us. But we didn't recant. We didn't quit because the honor of Jesus, worshiping Jesus, being a worshiper of Jesus is more important than our temporary comfort. Father, we thank you. We see the we see those that have gone before us, Lord. And Lord, we're we're sobered. We that's a high calling, Lord. Who really wants to suffer? I don't. But Lord, if you enable me, if you inspire me, if you equip me, and you help me, Lord, I'll go where you want me to go. I'll endure what you want me to endure because Lord, I know your grace is sufficient, your strength's perfected in weakness. And lord, as I look ahead, it seems daunting. It seems like overwhelming what's coming. But lord, I know at that moment that I need you, you're gonna be there and you're presently preparing us, you're preparing me. Get me ready for that next season of trials because all of us Lord have gone through seasons of trials. Seems to get harder as we go, not easier. The health issues, the family issues, the financial issues, the spiritual issues, our mind, our hearts, our country. It seems to be waxing more and more evil, Lord. And we know you're gonna come rescue us, but Lord, if you delay your coming, we don't know how much evil is gonna encroach upon America. But Lord, help us to be prepared. Help us to not whimper. Help us to not quit. Help us to not run away, fall away. When the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Lord, help us to glorify you in the present and in the future. Prepare us, Lord. Use us for your kingdom and glory. Let us have a testimony, passing the test, declaring the faithfulness of God, how God got us through these things. How God, ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil for you're with me. And while your heads are bowed as you're continuing to pray, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior, this isn't a soft sell Christianity. This isn't easy believism. This isn't, you know, come to Christ and your life will be all better. He'll fix everything. In many cases, your life's gonna become harder or difficult. You're gonna face greater adversity. But the glorious good news is he's gonna come into your heart and life, and he's gonna empower you. He said, you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you. You're gonna be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost. So God's not gonna put you in a situation that he doesn't first enable and empower you to face head on. He's gonna get you through it, and it's gonna be glorious. Anyone here this morning, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and savior, but you want to? In the early church, it meant and even in Iran today, it can mean that you're gonna die. You come to Christ and they find out about they're gonna kill you simply for being a Christian. Anyone here this morning? You wanna receive Christ. You want your sins forgiven. You're turning from your sins. You're crying out to God, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Anyone here this morning? Just lift your hand up. Wanna pray with you. Father, thank you, Lord, that we're in the palm of your hand, that no one can pluck us out, that neither height nor depth nor principality nor power nor things present or things to come, nothing is ever gonna be able to separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Thank you for that place of comfort, Lord, that place of being in your will. So, Lord, I thank you that you're secure, that you're faithful. With however weak I am, faithless I am, no matter what difficulty, no matter what sin, Lord, you're greater. Your grace is greater. Your faithfulness is greater. You're gonna complete that work you've begun in us. Resting in you, Lord. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
