US | US AND THE WORLD

Sermon Series: “US - Loved People Love People” Sermon #3: “Us AndThe World”

1 John 4:19 (NIV) “We love because He first loved us.”

John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

I love Impact church because its the first church ive stepped into & I wasnt judged. No one cared about my tattoos, my piercings. Everyone was so sweet & so welcoming to me. This made a huge impact on me. I was so worried about attending a church again because of my appearance. But no one cared - since that day, this has been the only church I follow! Ashley

“A substantial majority of Millennials (1981- 96) who don’t go to church say they see Christians as judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), anti-homosexual (91%) and insensitive to others (70%).”
“A study of people ages 16–29 in the United States found that nearly 90 percent of respondents articulated the opinion that Christians are Judgemental.” Barna Research 

When you Judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself. Wayne Dyer

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. Mother Terresa

John 3:16-17 (NLT) “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

John 1:29 (NLT) “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

2 Corinthians 6:19 (NLT) “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”

What is Jesus agenda for sinners?
Not to harm but to help. Not to judge but to justify.
Not to condemn but to convert. Not to hate on but to heal.

The Church is not called to be culture’s critic. The Church is called to be heaven’s government.
We are not called to criticize the world.
We are called to manifest a verdict that has already been rendered.

1. The Verdict Is In
The cross was heaven’s courtroom.  
The enemy doesn’t await defeat. He is operating under defeat.  
We are not trying to get victory. We are enforcing the victory.

John 12:31-32 “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 

John 16:7-11“I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict (Convince) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

2. The Flesh Messes It Up
The flesh sees behavior. The Spirit sees identity.
The flesh sees what someone did. The Spirit sees what Christ did.
The flesh magnifies sin. The Spirit magnifies the Saviour.

John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance (What you see), but judge with righteous judgment.” 
2 Corinthians 5:16 “From now on we regard no one according to the flesh.”

3. We Govern In Righteousness
Critics point fingers. Ambassadors open doors.
Condemnation announces failure. The gospel announces victory.
If our judgment doesn’t sound like reconciliation, it’s not righteous.

1 Corinthians 6:2 “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?”
John 7:24 “… but judge with righteous judgment.” 

Matthew 5:44-45 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

When the Church governs like Jesus, chaos and brokenness meet Divine order.

Judges 6:11-24 “And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’ Gideon said to Him, ‘O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles.’” …’Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?’ So he said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ 
…. Now Gideon perceived that He was the Angel of the Lord. So Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”

John 8:6 “But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger.”
“Wrote” (katagraphein):— a compound word, to write against, as in framing an indictment. 
Just used once in the NT.

Jeremiah 17:13 “O Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed. ‘Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth, Because they have forsaken the Lord, The fountain of living waters.”

Judgment is Love removing what is not Love.  

1 John 4:16-19 “We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love he has for us. God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them. By living in God, love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world. Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love’s perfection. Our love for others is our grateful response to the love God first demonstrated to us.”