Hill Country Bible Church Dripping Springs Sermons

Answers to questions about ethics, morality, or life are based on one underlying question, "How do you know what is right?". For Christians, that come from God through His inspired word, the Bible. Scripture may not have an answer for every modern day matter but where it speaks, it is true. Understanding how to apply God's Word in modern situations, is essential to living as disciples of Jesus.

The early church in Ephesus was persistently doing good work. However, their service lacked love. They had abandoned, not lost, their first love, Jesus.  We are prone to do that too. To recapture that initial affection and joy for Jesus, we, like the Ephesians are called to remember our initial joy, repent from sin, desire holiness, and return to Jesus.   In short we must reject a faith that is correct but cold.

Whether it is because of uncertainty, or we do not see God’s presence, we do not like to wait on Him. However, taking matters into our own hands is not the answer. Instead, we need to remember God is faithful, wise and good. He always keeps His promises. We see that fulfilled in Jesus. So we must trust Him and believe in Him, regardless of circumstances.

Human natures is to habitually chase after the next good thing. We become frustrated, though, because we are constantly confronted with unmet or unfulfilling expectations. Instead, we need to have the right expectations that transform the way we live and where we can find hope. Trusting in Jesus sets the right expectations for us.

Life is challenging. We may feel that God has forgotten us. However, that would be inconsistent with His character. When the Psalmist writes “God remembers”, he is telling us that God is persistently aware of our situation, despite how things may feel. As we celebrate Advent, we continue to wait and hope, just as Israel did before King Jesus was born.  

We pursue wealth and status because we believe they give us control and security. But Scripture shows us that they are false gods, eventually failing us. Jesus challenged the rich, young ruler to give up his wealth and follow Him. We are called to do the same thing for the same reason.  So we can experience salvation as God’s gift through grace, not something we can strive to earn.

Jesus not only challenged His closest followers, but He also reached across cultural divisions. John 4 is a remarkable story because He is speaking alone with a Samaritan woman of questionable reputation. He looks beyond the superficial social divisions to deal with heart matters.  He is showing us that finding our identity in Him and not some group or tribe should motivate us to love anyone we encounter.

Jesus spoke challenging words to His closest disciples, including Peter. Like Peter, we should not fall away or resist because we are being challenged. Instead, we lean into the offense with the understanding that Jesus is exposing idolatry and leading us to grow in faith. We persist because offense is where God can do some of His deepest work in us.

If we only think of Jesus as gentle and merciful, we will miss how He uses offense to draw attention to our blind spots. How we react to Jesus’ confrontation will either lead to spiritual growth or spiritual atrophy. His intention is to show us the idols in our hearts that keep us from truly knowing Him. Reflection instead of rejection leads to our transformation.