Can you hear me now / Sermon 4: Malware (Acts 20) / 4-28-13 I ve asked Logan and Josh to come up for a couple of minutes to give me a hand. Now, what they are going to do is not a trick. They ve done it before, but it works. Watch carefully, because in a minute I ll give you a chance to try it if you want. Okay: I want Logan to put his arm out straight and lay his hand on Josh s shoulder, palm up (this is important, guys -- the palm has to be up or you could get hurt). And I want Logan to try to keep his arm straight, while Josh grabs his elbow and tries to bend his arm down. Logan I want you to focus on Josh s hands, focus on his hands, and try to keep your arm straight try to keep him from bending your arm. Go ahead Now let s change it up just a bit. This time I want Logan to put his arm back up on Josh s shoulder, and I want Josh to try to bend it again. But this time, instead of Logan focusing on Josh s hands, I want him to relax and keep his focus out past his hand. Just keep reaching for something out past yourself. Go ahead He s twice as strong. Do you want to try it? Stand up, and I ll talk you through it It s kind of a metaphor for life. You re trying to stay strong. You re trying to keep straight. And there are people and there are things that try to pull you down. If you focus on the trouble, you ll lose. We re simply not strong enough to resist temptation and to handle every problem we ll face on our own. We re going to bend, we re going to break. We ll end up doing what we don t want to do and being what we don t want to be. Unless unless we quit focusing on ourselves and quit focusing on our troubles, and start reaching for God, focusing on God. And if you are reaching for God, if you are focused on God, you ll be twice as strong, and a whole lot more. Do you buy that? Thanks guys. Here s truth, here s reality. It is not always easy to do life with God. It s always best, but it s not always easy. There are people who will pull you down, there are problems that will pull you down, there are sins that will pull you down. If we focus on ourselves if we try to do it ourselves, we ll bend, we ll break. But there is a way to stay straight; there is a way to stay strong, and it has to do with focus. We ll get back to this stuff later. When we were crafting this sermon series, we chose the theme of malware for this sermon. Ever heard of malware? It s short for malicious Page 1 of 9
software. Now, if you have used a computer for a while you know about malware. There is spyware that just spies on where you go, what you re looking at. There are these Trojan horses that look like real programs you can install, but they can steal your stuff, or delete your stuff, or send you junk like porn. There are these viruses: you can t see them, but they can infect and attack your computer. And there are computer worms that spread from your computer to someone else s computer through your email or your contact list. How many of you guys have fought malware on your computer. Some of you guys are probably infected and you don t even know it. So we install these antivirus programs, like Norton, or McAfee, or AVG, or Webroot. I have Zone Alarm on my computer. It s supposed to protect me from malware. Well, here was the idea we had. There is spiritual malware too. There are spiritual viruses and spiritual worms and spiritual Trojan horses that attack our life with God. And they can rob us of our spiritual power, and they can steal our joy, and they can slow us down, or even shut us down in our life with God. Sometimes spiritual malware are the people who pull us away from God, sometimes the malware are the stuff that happens in life that pulls us away from God, sometimes they are the sins that pull us away from God they bend us, they break us if we are focusing on the wrong thing. There is a way to defeat spiritual malware. And that s what we re going to tackle this morning. Okay, if you have a smartphone or tablet with a Bible App, or one of those old fashioned paper Bibles, open up to Acts 20. We re starting to get close to the end of the story of Acts Acts 20. Here s what s happening. The apostle Paul is wrapping up a mission trip in Greece and Macedonia, and he s getting ready to go back East to Jerusalem. So they are sailing down the coast of what they called Asia Verse 16: Paul had decided to bypass Ephesus so that he wouldn t be held up in Asia province. He was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost, if at all possible. But first he stops off at a port called Miletus. (verse 17 on screen) He doesn t want to go to Ephesus, because he d get tied up there. So he calls the leaders of the church in Ephesus to meet him at Miletus (about 50 miles away a pretty good walk). And he gives them some final words. He s leaving the area; he doesn t expect to see them again ever; and there are some things he needs to tell them things we Page 2 of 9
need to hear. This is Paul s only speech in Acts addressed to Christians. This is for us. Well the apostle Paul starts out reviewing the struggles he s had, and the message that he s preached. He tells them that God s Holy Spirit is leading him to Jerusalem (we re going to come back to that little piece next week). And then he says this this is pretty striking, he says, verse 26: I declare today that I have been faithful. If anyone suffers eternal death, it s not my fault (that s weird!), for I didn t shrink from declaring all that God wants you to know. (20.26-27) If anyone goes to hell, he says, it s not on me, because I gave you God s truth. Did you hear that? That s strong, that s convicting. If they don t choose Christ, it s not because I didn t offer Jesus to them, Paul says. Now I can t always say that. I think there are times when I could have shared Jesus, and I didn t. You? Sometimes we are so busy with our own stuff, sometimes we are just afraid, and we don t go through the doors God opens for us. And that means, sometimes their disobedience is on us. These are tough words. Paul says, I didn t shrink back. I ve done my best for you, I ve given you my all, I ve held back nothing of God s will for you. (That s the way The Message puts it). But now I m leaving. And now, Paul says, it s your turn. (Verses 28 NLT) Now you have to guard yourselves, you have to protect what God is building in you. And now you have to guard God s people. Now Paul is telling this to the elders of the church; but the truth is, we all have each other s backs. We all guard ourselves and protect each other. We all kind of drag each other to heaven. And here s why we have to be so vigilant: we are going to come under attack; there is spiritual malware out there, there is spiritual malware in here! It s not going to be easy to stay strong, to stay straight. Verse 29: I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. You are going to be attacked. You re life with God, your life for God is going to be attacked. People from the outside are going to try to pull you away. And it won t stop there. Verse 30: Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. We are not only going to be pulled away from God by some on the outside, we are going to be pushed away from God by some on the inside. Some of the malware is going to Page 3 of 9
come from out there; some of the malware will come from right in this room. Now I m not going to focus on the malware they battled. I m going to get after some of the malware we battle, every day. The troubles we face aren t exactly the same as the troubles they faced. But we are still pulled away from God by people outside these walls, and we are still pushed away from God by people in this room. It won t be easy to keep straight and strong. Doing life with God, living life for God is always best but it s not always easy. But there s a way to get it done. It has to do with focus where we focus. Sometimes it s people who pull us away from God; sometimes it s the stuff of life -- troubles; sometimes it temptation and sin that pull us away from God. I was digging around last week and I found a fascinating article (show titles) about how sin is changing in our world. You see, there are some sins that we battle that they didn t struggle with in the book of Acts. As our world changes, temptations change too. Now some of the temptations stay the same (old temptations). We still eat too much, and spend too much, and gossip, and get jealous. We lie and cheat, we abuse alcohol and drugs, and we mess around with sexual sins. By the way, the numbers that you see on this chart are really messed up. These are the people who admit they struggle with some sin. Most people lie. 18% admit they have been tempted by porn I m telling you, most people lie that number is way, way higher. But the deal is, some sins are changing. In the world of the Bible they didn t have the kind of porn that tempts us. Pornography is now as free and private as turning on a computer. Here are a couple other sins that are changing. (new temptations) Almost half of us admit that we spend too much time on media (surfing the net, facebook, video games, I d throw the TV in there). They didn t battle that stuff in the Bible. And 11% of us admit to going off on someone via a text or an email. Cyber-bullying, anonymous meanness. They didn t struggle with that, in the Bible. By the way, that s one I think will be getting even worse. People are mean. I found this one kind of interesting. (western temptations) Here are some sins that may be worse here in America than in some other parts of the Page 4 of 9
world. We procrastinate, we worry, and we are lazy. They talk about this stuff in the Bible, and there are people all over the world today who sin these sins, but some of us Americans have developed them into art forms. We have the ability, we have the means to be lazier, to procrastinate more. I found this chart kind of fascinating as well. (men vs women) Some temptations hit guys harder than ladies, and vice versa. Men really struggle with porn. Now I know some women do too, but it s an epidemic with guys. And ladies admit more often to gossip and meanness, worry, and jealousy. They also admit more often to eating too much and spending too much because guys lie, I think. Last chart. (the ways we resist) Isn t this fun? How do people say they resist temptation, how do we fight sin when it threatens to pull us away from God? I m not going to read them all. Some people pray, some just say no (that doesn t always work). Some try to think about what it will cost they ponder the unintended consequences of their sin. Some folks try to stay busy, some try exercise. Some go to sleep, some read the Bible (that s not bad). But there s one here that I want to come back to. This one is important, it s more important than you may think. You focus on something else, you focus on someone else. You don t focus on what s pulling you down, you keep your eyes on you keep reaching for God. Because only God is stronger than our sin. Fierce wolves will come in, Paul says, not sparing the flock trying to pull you away from God. You are trying to keep straight and strong, and they try to pull you down. But sometimes we aren t PULLED away from God, sometimes we are PUSHED away from God by people inside these walls. Verse 30: Even some of your own (right in here) will rise up and twist God s truth. And, guys, when we twist God s truth, when we live lives that twist God s truth, we push people away from God. I don t mean to, but I fear that I have pushed some people away from God. I know you don t mean to, but I think some of you have pushed people away from God. Guys, it s awful when they do it, when they pull people away from God; it s worse when we do it, when we push people away from God. There are some militant atheists out there. There are some guys out there who hate God and who want you to hate God too. But I m telling you Page 5 of 9
guys, more people have been pushed away from God by twit Christians than have been pulled away by twit atheists. We don t mean to, but we push people away from God in so many ways. I threw together a short list. I m sure you can add to it. Did you know that we push people away from God when we don t worship well? When we don t do our best up here, and our worship here is boring, or irrelevant, or shoddy; when you don t do your best down there, and you are not engaging our God we push people away from God. Guests don t want to come back, our kids don t want to come back, some of us start looking for excuses to stay away. Do you buy that? Well, it s true. And here s a big one: we push people away from God when we are hypocrites, when we are judgmental, when we are mean. Listen guys, when we talk the talk but don t walk the walk, we push people away from God. Some of the people you are about out there push God away because we talk the talk without walking the walk. Some of our own kids are drifting because they see their parents talk the talk without walking the walk. Kim and Melvin are filling in until we find a new Youth Minister. She told me a couple weeks ago that one of the reasons some of our kids are struggling with God, with the church, is that their parents are just going through the motions of faith. And sometimes it s some sin. A Christian brother or sister hurts you, and you push God away. Have you ever done that? Someone in church kind of treats you badly and you kind of take it out on God? When my son thought Christians mistreated me, he pushed God away for 10 years. I can t tell you how dazzled I am that he s back. But listen guys, when we hurt each other, we push people away from God. Now guys study this stuff, they study why are people dechurched. You see, most people out there have had some experience with church, but they quit. Why do people drop out? What pushes them away? One study focused on our teens and 20 somethings. Here s what they say pushed them away from the church, and sometimes from God. Some of them think we Christians are overprotective. We want to live in a cocoon. Instead of engaging our culture, instead of Page 6 of 9
connecting with our culture, we withdraw, and we mock it, and we jab at it. Our kids want to learn how to be Christians in this world. They don t want to live in fear of the world, they want to engage it, they want to win it. Some are pushed away because they think we re kind of shallow sometimes. Our faith doesn t go deep in us. They think we just wade around in the kiddie pool of faith, we are just going through the motions of religion. We are not really living in and experiencing the presence of God. And that s true way too often, isn t it? Some people think Christians go to church, but they re not sure God does. You ever felt that? Some are pushed away from God because they think we re kind of anti-intellectual, sometimes. Especially when it comes to science. They think we don t think well, they think we give simplistic answers to tough questions. They think some of our answers just don t work. Some are pushed away because they think we are just too narrow and judgmental, especially when it comes to sex. It s flat out hard to stay sexually pure out there, especially when you re young. And sometimes in here, we re kind of judgmental. Sometimes from us, they hear truth, but they don t feel much grace. There are others, but that s enough. You see, sometimes we are pulled away from God by people and things and temptations outside these walls, but sometimes we are pushed away from God by misbehavior inside these walls. So, the apostle Paul says, Guard yourselves, and guard God s people. Because savage wolves will come in from the outside, and even from your own number men will arise and twist God s truth with their words or with their actions. So watch out, he says. It s not always easy to live life with God. It s always best, but it s not always easy to stay straight and strong. But there is a way and it has a whole lot to do with where you focus. One of the best books in my office is by a guy named Richard Foster. It s called The Celebration of Discipline. That sounds awful, doesn t it? What twit would celebrate discipline? But it s really a great book. And there s a piece in his introduction that lays out a principle for staying straight and staying strong. He s dealing with the idea of habitual sin, the kind of sin that pulls you down over and over. You see, most of us have Page 7 of 9
some habit, some sin, some habitual sin that is constantly pulling us away from God. There is some sin we just keep going back to, and it pulls us down. You know what I m talking about. I bet you have one, or two habitual sins. He says, usually what we try to do is to defeat our habitual sin by the power of our will. I focus on that sin (elbow) and say, Next time I m going to try harder, next time I m going to be stronger, smarter, and next time I won t let it bend me. I won t lose my temper, I won t go to that website, I won t use my tongue as a knife, I won t eat too much, spend too much, drink too much, sleep too much. And next time, we are tempted, we bend again. Over and over again we pray about it, we ask God s forgiveness, we set our will against it, we swear we ll do better next time. Sound familiar? Been there, done that? Do you know why we keep failing? Because, Jesus says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Here s the deal, guys, my sin is stronger than my will. Your sin is stronger than your will. I cannot free myself from sin, you cannot purify your heart by the power of your will. Here s the deal: when we focus on our sin we empower it, we make it stronger. When we focus on our own strength in our struggle with sin, we empower it, we make it stronger. We can t keep our arms from bending by focusing here (elbow). This is huge, guys: I can t beat my sin; I can t purify my heart but God can. You can t beat your sin, you can t purify your heart God can. The trick is not to focus on your sin, it s to focus on God, it s to keep reaching for God. When we are fixed on him he s stronger than anything that can come against us. If you want to protect yourself from being pulled away from God, keep your eyes on him; if you want to protect yourself from being pushed away from God stay focused on him. Learn to live in presence, learn to feel him with you, every day, wherever you are, whatever you re doing he s there he s here. It s pretty cool to be God focused, to do life with God. we can do this. We can learn to live in his presence, we can learn to feel him with us, every day, wherever we are, whatever we re doing. It will empower us, and it will protect them. There s a story about the apostle Peter when he was following Jesus around. Peter was in a boat on the sea of Galilee when a storm came in. And out in the middle of the lake he sees Jesus he s walking on the Page 8 of 9
water! Now that ll blow your mind. And Jesus tells Peter to get out of the boat. They are not near shore! And for some reason Peter did. I think I d have found an excuse not to. And as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus he walked on water. But the minute he took his eyes off of Jesus, the minute he focused on the wind and the waves the stuff that is trying to break us he went down. It s the same idea. It s not about what we can do, it s about what God can do when we stay focused on him. Now I don t know what s dragging at you. I don t know whether it is some person, or some problem, or some sin that you battle out there; I don t know whether it s an issue with someone who is misbehaving in here. If you are going to protect yourself, you re going to stay focused on God. Maybe it s a sin like lust, or greed, or anger, or laziness. I don t know. Malware, dragging you down. Maybe you are following some person who isn t doing life with God, God s way. They have too much influence on you, and it s pulling you away from God. Malware. Maybe it s just an emptiness. Maybe you feel like you are just drifting, living with no real purpose, or zest and it s pulling you down. Malware. Maybe you are being dragged down by your past there is guilt and shame. Maybe you are being dragged down by your fear of the future. It s stealing your joy, and your peace. Malware. And maybe, maybe your life isn t all that bad, it s just not good enough. You know you are settling, you know there has to be more. Malware. Where s your focus? Are you focusing on what s dragging you down? Guys, we can t beat this stuff on our own. We were made to do life with God. We were made to draw strength from God. Are you focused on him? Are you giving him your center, every day? Page 9 of 9