Test Yourself

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

The title of my sermon today is Test Yourself. We see this concept both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Let's look at a verse from the Old Testament, followed by a verse in the New Testament. Our first verse is Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 40. In the New International Version it says, Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. And secondly, let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5, and I'm reading this verse from the message translation. Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it. Now I want you to notice that we should test ourselves, and that's the theme of this sermon today. Don't listen for somebody else. Listen for yourself. As we go through my talk today, examine yourself and make adjustments to yourself. Now testing yourself is like testing the oil in your vehicle. When you test your oil in your vehicle, you use the dipstick, you put it in and you take it out, and you have a look at the level of oil in your vehicle. And for your vehicle to operate as it was designed to its optimum level, it needs to have oil at the right level in your vehicle. In the same way, let's use this sermon as a dipstick in our lives to test the level of the oil of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Remember, test yourself, and let's take three tests today. So test number one is our speech. What you talk about shows what is important to you or what fills your heart. People who enjoy food often talk about food, and foodies love to talk about food so much they even make your mouth water as you listen to them. Now there's nothing wrong with enjoying food. In fact, it's a wonderful thing because it shows us that our God, who wants us to live an abundant life, has given us the capacity to enjoy food. He's given us our taste buds, and we can enjoy the taste and texture of food, and certainly it nourishes us and it's necessary. But do we talk about Jesus with the same enthusiasm and passion as we do our food? When you love someone, when you're passionate about someone, when you are interested and enamored by someone or something, you talk about that thing. Let's look at what Jesus taught us in Luke chapter 6, verse 43 to verse 45. And I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. It says, For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. So as Jesus taught us, what's in our heart comes out of our mouths. Now let's look at another verse. This is Malachi chapter 3, verse 16, reading from the message translation. Then those whose lives honored God got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in God's presence, and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the God fearers written down, all the names of those who honored God's name. Are our names written in that book of minutes in heaven? Are we ones who talk about our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? So we've seen today the first test is our speech, what comes out of our mouths, out of the abundance of the heart, our mouth speaks. Test number two is how we treat others. Our relationship with God will be shown in the way that we relate to other people. Let's look at 1 John chapter 4, and we're going to read two sets of verses. First of all, verse 7 and 8, followed by verse 20 and 21. It says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. Then verse 20 and 21. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. So a test that we can have on ourselves is how do we treat others? And it's not just how we treat those who are important to us, like our husbands, our wives, our children, our parents, our family, and our colleagues, and those in our church family. How do we treat those who are our enemies, those who persecute us, who don't treat us kindly? Let's see what Jesus said about this in Matthew chapter 5, reading from verse 43 to verse 47. You have heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same. It's important for us to remember that as followers of Jesus we must follow his teaching. And in Matthew 5, verse 44, Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us. Friends, let's pause for a moment. Is there someone who has treated you badly who you need to pray for and ask God to bless? Let's do that today. Lord, we bring before you those who have treated us badly, those who have persecuted us or ridiculed us because of our faith. We ask you to bless them in Jesus' precious name. We ask for your favor and your blessing on them that you would lead them in paths of righteousness for your name's sake. In Jesus' name. Amen. I think it's important for us to pause and say this. This is not license for someone to treat someone badly and get away with it, like a domestic abuse case. And I want to say today that domestic abuse is not something that should be endorsed or empowered in any way. And if you find yourself in a place where you are not safe, then I encourage you to get yourself in a safe place and seek professional help. So we've seen number two is a test of how we are doing spiritually as followers of Jesus, is how we treat others. Test number three. Test number three is our giving to God. And here I'm talking about our time, our talent, and our treasure. We need to recognize that money represents the use of our time and our talent. You earn money because of the time that you work and using your talents for that business, that company, or in education or in medicine, or in law, or however you serve in your day job. We need to recognize that money represents our time and our talent. And when someone puts something in the offering, they are giving of their lives back to God and recognizing that He is the source of everything in our lives. What we do with our money shows what's important to us. Let's see what Jesus taught us about this in Matthew chapter 6, verse 19 to verse 21. Jesus said, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. As followers of Jesus Christ, we recognize that giving is a part of our worship. If we go back to the first Christmas, we see that the wise men came and worshipped Jesus and opened their gifts. Giving and worship go hand in hand. Now let's look at Proverbs chapter 3, verse 9 and 10. And I love this verse. I often pray this verse over my tithes and offerings when I give to the Lord. It says in Proverbs 3, verse 9 and 10, honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. It's important for us to honor God with our first and our best, rather than just what is left over and what we do not need. Let's recognize that our giving is part of our worship. So as we conclude, I'd like to reflect on the three tests that we should take on ourselves as we examine the level of the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives. Test number one is our speech. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Do we talk about Jesus with the same passion that we do other things in our lives? Test number two is how we treat others. Do we show our love for God in the way we treat others? In particular those who have persecuted us. And test number three is our giving. Do we honor God with our giving? Do we give him our first and our best? Or do we just give him what's left over and what we do not need? Remember, this is not just money, it also involves your time, your talents, and your treasure. As we consider these three tests, if you feel you need to make a change or an adjustment, I believe the way forward is not to try through our own human effort to change outward behavior. I think the way forward is for us to grow in our relationship with God. And as we do, as we draw near to Him and He draws near to us, we will find grace to help us change and grow. And we will find that there will be a natural, supernatural change, and we will see the fruit of these things in our lives. Let's bow our heads and let's pray together. And as we do, I want to encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit, what does He want you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon? Let's pray. Father God, thank you that as we draw near to you, you draw near to us. Today, with confidence, we draw near to the throne of grace, and we ask you to give us mercy and grace to help us change and to follow you more closely. Today we ask you to show us, and in the week ahead to show us, whether our speech honors you and shows a passion and love for you. We ask you for your love to be shed abroad in our hearts, and help us to treat others as you treat them, to love the lost, the least, and the lonely. Lord, we ask you to help us be generous with our time, our talent, and our treasure, for our giving to be worship to you, for our serving to be worship for you. Help us to give you our first and our best. In Jesus' name we pray. Holy Spirit, speak to us and show us how we need to draw near to you and change us from the inside out. In your precious name. Amen.