Refresh

Preached by Jaren Singh on  1/14/24

Transcript

0:09

Hello, and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. Thank you so much for listening. We're startup church. We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together. And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more. You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that. We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today. Amen. Uh, it's good to see you all. I'm grateful that you guys decided to brave the cold and, uh, and you know, I never, uh, it's just, it's, it just doesn't cease to amaze me the, the heart of disciples, uh, to decide that, okay, I'm going to, you could tune in online and there's no, no shade. Uh, if you're online with us, we're grateful you're here. Uh, you could tune on online instead, uh, some of us decided to drive a one and a half on a good day, almost more like probably an hour 40 or two hours to be here with us. And so we're just, we're very grateful. Like it's not lost on, uh, on, on me that you guys are doing it because you love Jesus and not because you love, uh, my preaching. Amen. Um, so we, we've got, we've got a series that we've been, uh, it's, we've been going through and it's just gives us a chance to organize our thoughts as we look back and look at what happened over the last year, uh, this last Sunday. And then on Wednesday we looked at, uh, reflecting and we, we looked at a couple of components. One, it's important to reflect on what happened last year, what happened last week and it's valuable to do that. But the second component is it's, it's self help if we're not focused on ultimately reflecting God. Amen. For sure. For sure. You know, simply reflecting, it's a valuable practice, but it's not going to, to leave you with a great understanding of where to go. Uh, you know, if we decide to make decisions, maybe you spent this last week and this was some of the, the heart that we're building this up. And so let's, let's reflect what happened on last year. If you, if you just look at what happened last year and then you decide, I'm not going to do anything. I'm just going to go make a bunch of decisions. What happens is we can quickly become those who have like a pendulum swinging, right? And this is a, this would be somebody who says, man, my diet was so poor, uh, last year. This year I'm going to only eat this thing and I'm going to go from, uh, living a, uh, you know, a Wisconsin or Michigan lifestyle to living as a vegan. And you, you could do that for a little bit of time, but what would end up happening likely is, is you might decide after, uh, you know, by already right now, or maybe at the beginning of February, you know, it wasn't worth it. It was a good month, but I'm not, I'm not going to live that way. We don't want to be those, we don't want to be those spiritually who live going from one way to the other way and one way to the other way. And so, uh, and so the, the heart though, is what I want to do, uh, the, the heart of this lesson is that, that once we reflect, we have to be those who become refreshed. Okay. Um, and so, yeah, here we go. Uh, you guys can go to acts three, we're going to look into the concept of being refreshed and there's passages in the Bible to talk about it. We're going to learn that refreshment comes through repentance, uh, that we have the opportunity to refresh others. And then this is maybe the, the biggest concept that we understand that is true, but it's difficult to live out is that God already, if you are in Christ, if you, if you've been, uh, converted, if you have baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, you are in Christ. Then you are, God views you as fresh. Your, your identity is a new creation and you are fresh. And so then we ought to live like it. And so we're looking at being refreshed. We're looking at repentance and we can say, well, this must mean a bunch of actions that we do in reality though, uh, that this is the concept that's difficult to embrace, that God already views Christians as being fresh and they said, so go ahead and live like it then. Yeah. First, uh, the first little, little part that we're going to look at is that it's a gift to be refreshed. Uh, this is an ax three and we're going to pick up, uh, we'll start in verse in verse 17. Uh, but then we're going to center in on, on 19 and 20. It says this is right now, this is Peter. He's talking, he, there's a bunch of new converts to Christianity and Peter and John, they, they heal a guy and then they're getting in trouble with some people, uh, who are, who are concerned. And, and so this is what, how he responds to the crowd after he addresses this group of people. Now he's going to respond to the crowd. It says now fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance as did your leaders, but this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets saying that his Messiah would suffer, repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. That times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that he may send the Messiah who has been appointed for you. Even Jesus, heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. Okay. This is, this is the first church and you would understand that what's being communicated here that I know it's important what we say, but you guys can go, there's so many different lessons and sermons and stuff online. We have to understand that, that when Peter's preaching right here, there's, there's not all of that. And so what he says, I think I just have to believe, I trust that I'm the speaking through the spirit, but I have to believe even more to a higher extent. Peter's speaking directly what God wants him to say. And he, and he says, he says this, this thing that he says, repent and turn to the Lord and then your sins may be wiped out. That times of refreshing may come from the Lord and that this, this Messiah might come back. Uh, we understand this in a couple of ways and there's, there's commentaries that would say that this refreshment is at the end of days when Jesus comes all the way back, everything is made new and fresh. And I believe that's true, but I, but I also think that, that there, I really believe that this is there, there's minor refreshment, there's little refreshments that come from us deciding to turn back on our sins and really repent, uh, walking with God brings the gift of refreshment through repentance. Uh, you know, we think about this, this turning to God, repentance. This is, this is, it's an extreme, it's a great gift. Uh, it's seen in a lot of ways, but I don't know if you would view it often as, as this gift, this opportunity to live a differently. Um, it's not just an apology. It's not just feeling, uh, it's not feeling bad. It's this full transformation of your mind and to decide to say, I'm going to live entirely different and this is my new mindset on it. You know, and, and speaking of gifts, uh, we, we just kind of got past a season of, of giving a lot or maybe a season if you're younger, a season of receiving a lot, uh, you know what? It was true. The older that you get, the more you realize the importance of gifts that have utility, right? Uh, you know, your, your focus goes from being these flash in the pan type of gifts to ones that are really valuable. Uh, maybe when you were growing up, your parent would take you and you're going on this and they say, if you really behave, we'll go to the dollar store and I'll get you this little, whatever this little trinket is from the dollar store. And that satisfied us. I mean, it was colorful. It didn't work that good. I mean, you got about 45 minutes of utility out of that thing. But as a parent, we, I do that now. We're like, Hey, if you behave, you can get, you got like a couple of bucks to spend. You know, like it's, it's worth it. Uh, if we're going to go for an hour out this, this little toy, it's worth it. Right? Whatever, whatever little amount of costs, uh, when you were growing up, maybe you don't view it this way, but this was my view is that clothes, whenever I get clothes, like, like you open it, those are a useless gift when you're young. Uh, because you're going to get clothes anyways. Like if, if, if my aunt doesn't give me clothes, then I know my mom and dad, like, I'm not going to be like unclothed. So they're going to buy me clothes. And so actually it's kind of a gift from my aunt to my parents in that way, right? These had great utility, but there's no, there's no use for, I didn't view it as valuable. Maybe when you got older, you got a little bit wiser and you decided what we ought to do. Uh, this is what me and my sister decided, Hey, we'll let's pull our, our collective money together and let's just ask for money and then we'll pull it together and we're going to get an Xbox 360. That's going to be, that's going to be, and maybe, maybe you decided we're going to do that with an N64 or a PlayStation. This is, this is you guys becoming older and a little bit wiser and saying these dollar store toys. I don't care that much about, let me pull the resources together and find something of a real utility. Yeah, exactly. You know, I, I, on the topic of gifts though, I remember the first time that somebody gifted slash made me buy a jacket. I was in college, I mean I had jackets, but then when I'm, when I went to school, I was like, jackets are kind of pointless. Like if I put a couple of sweatshirts on, I'm going to be pretty okay. If I, especially if I got a long sleeve, two sweatshirts, I'll be cold and I got to wait on the bus or for the, for the bus to come, but it's going to work out. They're, they're right on time. This, this, uh, this morning here, I just viewed it like this is there, there's no point. And then I remember my sister saying, Hey, you've got to get a jacket and or a full coat. And I'm like, there's, there's no point. She said, just trust me. And so she bought me this $40 P coat that lasted me up until a couple of years ago that I, and I remember it was the first time that I ever was waiting on the, for the bus in, in Wisconsin in the winter and feel. And I felt like, wow, I could do this for longer than a few minutes. Like I'm, I'm, I'm not cold and I, I, it sounds foolish. I distinctly remember the feeling of, I'm not cold, although the wind is blowing. What an incredible gift that was given to me. I think repentance is oftentimes this way though. I think it's irrelevant. It's undesirable when we are less mature, but as we grow in maturity, we, we see it as something that galvanizes us. It gives us the opportunity to change and live and live a different life. And if you look back on and reflect on 2023, I bet you there's a lot of growth that you can look at, but I bet you that there's, there's areas where you feel, man, I feel, I feel a little bit of shame or I feel a little bit of embarrassment at maybe it's just this one area or maybe it's this one characteristic about you, or maybe it's something you said, or maybe it's one moment that you, man, if I could take that back, you know, the, the, the way to, to grow is not to feel the shame so much so that we just live a different life. The way to grow is, is to take the shame and decide I'm going to change my mind entirely about it. I'm, I'm worried about the action and the action is going to change, but more than the action changing, it's the heart behind the action that I'm determined and convinced that I have to change. This is, this is repentance. And so the, the, the powerful thing is that repentance or rather refreshment is, it comes through repentance, but it's not, there, there's a way that we as a community can give a refreshment to others. We, we have the opportunity to refresh other people. It's an amazing gift in that way as well. Refreshment can be spread soon. There's a couple of, there's a couple of football games and then physical refreshment will be spread. But this, this is talking about some spiritual refreshment. It's able to be spread. It's second Timothy one, you guys, you guys can just reference it and head over to Proverbs 11. It, this is, this is the second time in the whole Bible that this word refreshment or refresh comes up. The first time we just read about the second time. This is right now, Paul, he's in prison and he's, he's talking about this. This one guy really helped him out a lot. It says in verse 16, this is towards, this is widely considered to be the last letter that Paul wrote before he died. It says, may the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. It's Paul at the end of his life, he's in prison and now you, you could, uh, you can look up on whatever website you can find where, excuse me, you can find where somebody is, is in prison. You can actually find, I don't know if you guys know this, but you can find like where they are, you know, in the whole court proceedings and this is what's going on and this is what they got to go through and you can, you can do that now. There wasn't that availability to people back in that day. And so this, this disciple found out, okay, one of my friends that I spent a lot of time with that I'm close to that we, we went through battles and wars together. He's somewhere where I am, I've got to find him. What is, and it's, it's amazing to think what is on this syphilis, what is he going to really give? Like he can't give money to get the guy out of prison. He can't, uh, you can't, he's not going to sneak him out of prison. They're Christians. They're not going to do that. Uh, well, what can he really give? He can, he can give his whole heart though. He can give something, right? You know, we all, you think about, uh, I don't know if you guys, you know, that we all have people in our lives who we consider, man, those guys are very refreshing. We have people who are, who are the opposite of refreshing. Um, but we have people who you're like, man, I just get a lot of joy from seeing them. They just bring that. Why? Well, because they, it's not because they have the best word to say all the time. It's just because of who they are and what they exude. Right. You know, I think it's, uh, I was just thinking about when Daniel was singing, I was like, you know, that there's, there's a bit of refreshment, right? We, we can sing, you know, when you were, excuse me, when you guys were seven, eight years old, I bet you, you were yelling songs that, uh, are not God is mighty to save, right? Like we were yelling songs that have nonsense all over them and his classmates are yelling songs with so much nonsense and he's giving his whole heart to God and singing to God. Amen. That, that's, that's refreshing. When you sit back, you consider, but Daniel doesn't have any idea that he, that he helped that he, that he made us men. God is good. When, when, when we listened to him saying, amen, maybe, maybe you felt, felt this going home. Uh, if you're, if you're in school going home for break, you felt like, man, I know, I know where to go. I know where things are. I know where my buddies are going to be at. There's, there's this refreshing that refreshment that can come. I remember going to my grandparents' house and Hey grandma, grandpa, it's good to see you. First thing I'm like, man, we better not eat food because I know there's going to be something made for us. I'm going in the pantry. Hey, what do you got to eat? And I, I'll do that. I'll do that with my dad still. Uh, like what, what's, what do you, what do you guys got going on? And that's not even, it's, it's understood. Like the first thing, Hey, good to see you. Hey, you know, I can cook something up or I can make something. I didn't know if you were hungry. And then that's, that's the communication. Uh, you know, I, I think on, uh, on Sunday through Wednesday, me and Bianca and Josh had the opportunity to go to Chicago, uh, for it's, it happens once a year. There, all of the, the churches that we're affiliated with in the Midwest, everyone who's on staff joins, um, at this, for this retreat conference, um, a lot of times there's stuff that's being shared. That's, you know, kind of the direction of where we're going. Sometimes there's more, more intimate conversations about, Hey, there's this conflict that's happening. Uh, but, but more than ever, I think I'm learning and I'm feeling that going to these meetings, I, I leave feeling refreshed. Uh, but it's not, the lessons are amazing. Like the lessons are great, but it's kind of, it's the fellowship, right? It's the connection to other people and the feeling, man, we're doing this together. There's hope. There's hope. Not just for us. It's not going to die when we die. It's going to keep on going. Amen. I think, uh, in a lot of ways, it's, it's a great thing to remember is you don't have to have all the answers to, to refresh others. You just have to be present. Um, no Proverbs, uh, 11, 25, it says a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. Now it's not, you're not saying I want to refresh in order to be refreshed. Like that's a selfish mindset, but we're saying my, I'm just trying to give faith, try to help other people where, where do people need? What's my role in their life. I'm going to step into my role in their life that of course someone, Oh, somebody else is going to do it. Yeah. Fine. Let somebody else do it too. But let me do it as well. It's not a means to an end. And so you would say, well, how, how can we do this practically then? How do we refresh others? We know it's important. We know that it's a gift that we have the opportunity to give a little bit, how, how can we do this? Well, there, there's a couple of ways that even that Paul shares, uh, and the reasons why he gives that, that this guy was very refreshing to him. Um, he said, he's, he's, this guy's not ashamed of my chains. He's not ashamed of me. Um, you know, I, I think, um, what does that mean for us? We just can't be ashamed of someone's circumstances and we wouldn't use the word ashamed. Uh, but I don't think that the disciples that, that didn't join Paul would say, I'm ashamed of, of Paul's chains. I think they would say, well, I don't know what I can give to him. I don't really got, there's not really much there for me. I, he's got people in his life to take care of them and, and really this, this, this feeling shame. I think we can look at other people's, uh, maybe their health circumstances. There's family challenges, uh, that, that people that we say, well, somebody is going to help them with that. And so I don't need to step into that role or we, we see even with, with spiritual matters and helping those, those in the areas of sin that we can say, I don't, it's not my role to step in. And so I'm not going to step in. And, uh, what, uh, one of the, the, the big calls here for us is, is to not be ashamed. But that means that we have to engage, uh, we don't have to have all the right words. We just have to be there. You know, I don't know how you guys feel, uh, in the moments, uh, I, I, in the moments of what someone has lost a loved one or there's a member in the family that's on the last days and you're like, what do I say? I have nothing. There's nothing good that I can say. I don't have all of the answers. And, uh, one of, I, I remember taking a class in school and one of the best, uh, one of the best sentences that I've learned, uh, that was just given to me, that's proven to be really effective, uh, in the moments of losses, Hey, what was your best memory with, with that person? Um, just listening and being curious and asking, asking questions that, that are, people are going to engage. You would ask that person, do you want to talk about it? And they might say, I don't know, whatever, you know? But in reality, uh, being there with somebody and not being ashamed is one of the calls to bring refreshment. The other thing is it says he searched hard for me. It cost him something in order to give to me. It wasn't, it wasn't free. This is, this is our hearts then, right? That we have to be those who are willing to meet people where they are at. And it will cost us more than if we were going to allow them to come to us. Can be physical. Like, I'm going to, I'm going to go out of my way to go, uh, be where somebody is. Uh, you know, this can, there's great encouragement that I get when somebody decides I'm going to just do what this person likes to do. I'm not very good at pickleball, but I'm going to play pickleball. I don't like, not a great basketball player. I'm going to go play basketball. And I know for myself, I'm a, I'm horrible at video games, but I understand if there's, there's somebody who just needs, you know, a little bit of refreshment, man, you can go ahead and work me in FIFA or 2k. Like I'll be there and I'll be present. And there's, there's, there's refreshment that it comes from that. I believe that somebody is willing to do something I enjoy doing just to connect with me. They're bad at it and they know they're bad at it and they're not going to play it again, but it's just to connect with me. They really care. There was one of the, one of the guys in our campus ministry, he was an excellent ping pong player. Like he, he would show up to devotionals like about half the time you'd show up to church about half the time. But he would, he would always be on the ping pong tables and he would just, I mean, he was just putting in work all the time. That was how we could connect with him. We're like, Hey, my friend, you want to play ping pong? Yeah, sure. Let's play. Hey, you want to come to devotional this Friday? We're going to, I don't know if I can make it. Okay. Well, we're going to play ping pong and play ping pong and play ping pong. The guy's faithful to this day. And I'm not saying it's because of any one of us, but I'm saying that all of us, we decided as a group of young men, we're going to search hard for him. We're going to meet him where he's at. We're going to help him. We're going to feed him when he needs to get fed and when he's in a frustrated mood and we're just going to bear with him because, because that's the call. This is, this is what the Bible teaches us to do. Another area is that if we're going to meet somebody where, where they're at, then we can't be those who are expecting things that are, that are unrealistic for people and then look down on them when they don't meet that. We can have great expectations, but if they're not met, then we, we, Jesus meets us wherever we are at. And when we mess up, Jesus decides to love us anyways, any, any, any, he says, you can do it. And he walks with us. We ought to be the same for others. Amen. And so as you reflect and get refreshed, uh, going into 2024 there, there ought to be a component where you consider, how am I going to be a great refreshing, uh, refreshing glass of water on a hot day or warm cup of coffee or tea on a cold day to other people. Amen. Amen. Amen. The last component that we're going to look at, and then we're going to, we're going to take a communion is that God already views you as fresh. So then live like it. Uh, it's in second Corinthians five, this is the passage of scripture that we oftentimes will use to, to share that our role is meant. Jesus loves us that we have to, we have to give that love to others. It says that we're Christ ambassadors. That's that's absolutely true. But there's a, there's a greater component that talks about how we are different. Um, it says we're going to pick up in verse 16. So from now on, we regard no one from a worldly point of view, though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone. The new is here. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. I'll keep reading. If you guys turned and you can follow along and says, we are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. This scripture is used to communicate well, we've, we've got it, we've got a responsibility, we have a job to do before it, it says Christ love compels us. And so then we ought to live a new life. And then we ought to help other people live a new life as well. Uh, the focus that I want to sit with is that what it says is that if you are in Christ, the new creation has come, the old is gone, the new is here, this, this, it says in Christ or rather, if you are in Christ, then you become a new creation. And then once you're a new creation, then you become the ambassador. You live out the ambassadorship. When you think about an ambassador for Christ, consider somebody who, who their whole responsibility is to project and promote what they are, what they are, you know, behind or what's behind them basically. And so you're saying as a Christian or as an ambassador of Christ, I'm doing everything to follow God. And what he says is you are a new creation. And then you act like an ambassador. It's not that I'm going to act like an ambassador and I'm going to do everything. And then if I do a good enough job, then I'll become a new creation. The Bible is saying what, what Paul is saying, the whole message of the cross is that I've decided you're worthy. So you are. So live like it. Now, this is, this is a much more difficult, I don't know what your background with, with God is. I found that the, the more time that people have spent living as, as disciples or Christians or the more time they've even grown up with Christianity, the more difficult of a concept this is to really internalize because we're taught there's an appropriate way to act. There's an appropriate way to live and there's truth to it. But, but then there's a, there's a maturity that we ought to come to that says, I have to live like a new creation, but it's because he's already given me the responsibility that you're a new creation. There's a, there's a, the quote here, there's a book that I've quoted a few times and it's kind of making its way around our fellowship. I've actually got like, I think five or six copies when I'm like, I might be the only one that buys used copies of this book. But there, I've got, I've got a few of them in my, in, in, you know, our little library thing. And so if you guys, if you guys want a copy of this book, just holler at me. I'll get you one. It says this though, it says, the author says, it's not the, the great, it's not the great fear of losing God's favor that takes us to the depth of fellowship with him and transforms our lives with his holiness. It is our certainty of knowing his unrelenting love for us, even in the midst of our weakness and failure that leads us to the fullness of his life. It's not this fear. Oh, I'm going to lose. Instead. It's understanding. He loves you so much. And because he loves you so much, then you're going to live a different life. This is, it's a, it's a much more difficult thing, I think for us to embrace and live like it. And I, I, cause I feel like we have to trust God's love so much that just based on how he loves me, I'm going to live differently. And that's, that's something that it necessitates a lot of energy on our end. Right. That I, I know that I have to change the way that I view God's love in order for me to live only based on his love. Yeah. Yeah. This, this, this love, this is going to be the way that we continue to be refreshed as we look at our lives in 2024. This is going to be the way that, that we're able to not just make this a temporary fix, but something that, that can transform our lives, even as we go into 2024. And so there's, there's a, we're going to close here pretty soon and there's going to be a, there's going to be a song and it's going to be, we're going to prepare our hearts for communion. It's going to be a little bit longer and maybe even a little bit louder of a song than we usually do during this time of communion. And oftentimes the somber reflection on, on Jesus and the cross, uh, right now. Uh, but this, this quote I think is, it's, it pertains so much. It's just the, it's, it's from the song, holy water by, by we, the kingdom. It says, and it says it a few times and you'll see, it said about the two and a half minute mark as we listen. Uh, but, but it says, I don't want to abuse your grace, God, I need it every day. It's the only thing that ever really makes me want to change. What an amazing truth. It's the only thing you, as you look at your motivation for reflection and your motivation for changing and you, your motivation, even to be refreshed, uh, there are things that, that last, they're flashing the pan, they last for a short time, then they go away. This, uh, this grace is going to be what really is the motor behind making us want to do everything else for God. Amen. Amen. Right now, we're going to pray and then I'm going to, I'm going to play the song and feel free if you guys want to, you can sing along a little bit, um, or just connect with God in this, uh, in this time, uh, please bow with me, dear God, Lord, we come to you and we're grateful for the opportunity to be refreshed. We're grateful for the opportunity to, to live new lives. Lord, we, we realize that repentance brings refreshment and we're grateful for that. Lord, we realize that we have the potential, we have the opportunity, we have the responsibility to refresh other people. Lord, and we realize ultimately that the only way that we are going to be new, that we are going to be refreshed, that we are going to be new creations is through viewing your love for us and really understanding it. Father, I pray that we will, uh, that we will, we'll grow every day in the, in the call to understand and embrace and follow you according to your love. Uh, Jesus, I pray that as we look at the cross this morning that we can, we can feel a sense of gratitude, a sense of, of even ownership for what you went through for us, Lord, just as a sense of, uh, I pray even this morning we'll make decisions to live new lives. This is in your name, Jesus that we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected. Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on. In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.