Is this moral policing? Augustine-happiness.

Gal 6:1, 1 Cor 5:1-13, 1 Tim 5:20, Tit 3:10-11, Jas 5:19, Rom 16:17, 2 Tim 4:2, Lk 17:3-4, Ezek 33:7-12, Lev 19:17, Gal 2:11-14

“There is a joy that is not given to those who do not love you, but only to those who love you for your own sake. You yourself are their joy”

“Happiness is to rejoice in you and for you and because of you. This is happiness and there is no other. Those who think that there is another kind of happiness look for joy elsewhere but theirs is not true joy.” Augustine.

The Way to Love, Anthony de Mello

• “If you look carefully you will see that there is one thing and only one thing that causes unhappiness. The name of that thing is attachment. What is an attachment? An emotional state of clinging caused by the belief that without some particular thing or some person you cannot be happy.”

Jealousy, Life, Obedience and Joy (Acts 5:17-42)

• 
  What are your takeaways from Dr. Kevin Cassel's sermon "Jesus demands everything, but nothing more" (Mk 8:34-38)?

Tell of This New Life (Acts 5:17-42).

1. JEALOUSY. Why were the Sadducees filled with jealousy (Ac 5:17, 14-16; Jas 5:14-16)? What did they do (Ac 5:18)? Why did they have Jesus killed (Mt 27:18; Mk 15:10)? How does envy affect people (Prov 14:30; 1 Sam 18:7-9)? How do you overcome it?

2. LIFE. What did an angel of the Lord do (Ac 5:19-21a)? What is "this new life" (Ac 5:20)? How does this life come about (Jn 6:63; 8:31-32)? What did the religious leaders find out and do (Ac 5:21-28)?

3. OBEDIENCE. What did Peter and the apostles do (Ac 5:29-32)? How did Gamaliel persuade the Sanhedrin not to kill the apostles (Ac 5:33-40)?

4. JOY. How did the apostles respond to being flogged and warned (Ac 5:41-42)?

JEALOUSY is a fruit of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21), an antonym of love (1 Cor 13:4), a symptom of pride (1 Tim 6:4), a catalyst for conflict (James 3:16), and a mark of unbelievers (Rom 1:29).

• "You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?" (1 Cor 3:3)
• "The acts of the flesh are obvious...discord, jealousy...dissensions, factions and envy... I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:19-21).
• "...love does not envy..." (1 Cor 13:4).
• "...they are conceited...understand nothing...unhealthy... result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions" (1 Tim 6:4).
• " if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts... For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice" (James 3:14, 16).
  
• "They are full of envy...gossips" (Rom 1:19).
• "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones" (Prov 14:30).
• "Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy? (Prov 27:4)
  
• "And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person's envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind" (Eccl 4:4).
  
• "Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it" (James 4:11).
  
• "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves" (Phil 2:3).
  
• "As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David" (1 Sam 18:7-9).

LIFE. John 1:4; 6:63; 8:31-32; 17:17; 3:3; 6:35; 11:25. 2 Corinthians 5:17.

• "Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Gen 2:7).
  
• "In him was life and that life was the life of man" (Jn 1:4). John 14:6; 3:16.
• "Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life" (Jn 5:24).
  
• Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3).
• "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor" (Prov 21:21).

OBEDIENCE. John 14:15, 21, 23. Romans 1:5. Exodus 19:5. Romans 2:6-8). [Obedience to God's commands is the true sign of your love for God, and the only way you can know if you are obeying God is by knowing his Word. The joy of obedience: As we obey God's commandments, we experience the joy of the Holy Spirit. We experience God's pleasure rising in us. If you find yourself stuck in despair, try obeying the Bible's instruction to love God and others. When we obey His commandment to love one another, we are striving to live according to His Word. And what a wonderful experience it is as He fulfills his promise to give us joy through obedience.]

• "You are my friends if you do what I command" (Jn 15:14).
• "...take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor 10:5).
• "And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands" (2 Jn 1:6).

JOY. 1 Thessalonians 5:16. Philippians 4:4. Galatians 5:22. Hebrews 12:2.

• "I have food to eat that you know nothing about" (John 4:32).
• "And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Lk 1:47).
• "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps 16:11).
  
• "...the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh 8:10).
• "When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul" (Ps 94:19).
• "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit" (Ps 51:10).
• "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices" (Ps 16:8-9).
• "Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart" (Jer 15:16). Psalm 1:2; 119:97.
• "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17).
• "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master" (Mt 25:21).
• "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth" (3 Jn 1:4).

Love, Joy, Sin

"Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real." ― Iris Murdoch.

"Love is the nonviolent apprehension of the other as other." Iris Murdoch as quoted by Stanley Hauerwas.

"Christians are obligated to love one another...even if they're married. Love does not create marriage, but marriage creates loves." Stanley Hauerwas.

"If you are a Christian you should be joyful in a way that other people find attractive. It should make people wonder, 'Gee, what makes them tick?'"  Stanley Hauerwas.

"The idea that you need to be convinced you're a sinner in order to come to salvation is getting it backwards. By being saved in Christ you then are able to have some information as to what it means to be a sinner. That's the school of discipleship. The tents (modern evangelism) made sins too interesting. And it's exactly that Christians are saved from the narcissistic fascination with our sins." Stanley Hauerwas.

Of Joy and Dogs (Phil 3:1-7)

Philippians 3:1-7; Key Verse: 3:1

"...rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again..."

This January I had intended to only preach 1 sermon on Philippians to pray for 2012 to be a year of sanctification. (This is my 13th sermon on Philippians.) That sermon on sanctification (Phil 2:12-13) was change is possible. I stressed that the primacy of sanctification is God working in us (Php 2:13). Yet no Christian will ever grow, mature and be joyful and fruitful without "working" "with fear and trembling" (Phip 2:12). Paul said "I worked harder than all of them" (1 Cor 15:10), not to make lazy people feel guilty but to show the beauty of the grace of Jesus working in him. If a Christian is not growing or is unhappy, it is because they are not "working" but "chilling." I am not legalistic about chilling, because there is the biblical teaching of "rest." But Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (Jn 5:17). If the Father and the Son are always working, what should we Christians be doing?

God's Great Heart of Love Toward His Own (Zephaniah)

Zephaniah, an OT prophet, warned Judah during the reign of Josiah (637-608 BC; about 80 years after the northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by Assyria) that their final days were near (Zeph 1:7). Their divine judgment will come at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (605-586 BC), who would conquer and exile them about 20 years later (Zeph 1:4-13).
 
This outline/overview of Zephaniah is from a sermon by Mike Bullmore (senior pastor of CrossWay Community Church, Bristol, Wisconsin), which was delivered at the Gospel Coalition 2011 in Chicago. Watch the video, or listen to the audio of "God's Great Heart Toward His Own" here. Bullmore explained and expounded the message of Zephaniah in 3 steps:

1. There appears to be no hope. (God's judgment is rightly against all mankind.)
2. There is a glimmer of hope. (A word of hope is spoken.)
3. This glimmer bursts into a great and glorious rejoicing of God's people.
   

Here are my previous summations of the 3 chapters of Zephaniah:

1. No Hope (Be Silent Before God) (Zeph 1:1-18)
2. A Glimmer of Hope (Seek the Lord You Who Are Humble) (Zeph 2:1-3:8)
3. Sing, Shout, Be Glad, Rejoice (God Preserves The Meek and Humble) (Zeph 3:9-20)

Zephaniah, along with other OT prophets, is pregnant with the message of the Bible. Therefore it is pregnant with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Granted, in the earlier stages of salvation history and of progressive revelation, the shape of and the specific contours and content of the gospel is harder to detect. But Zephaniah very well has the entire Bible in miniature (as with the other books in the OT), for the gospel is present in Zephaniah in utero.