Heights Church, how we doing today? Good? Anybody
glad to be in church? Yeah? Okay, good. I'm in
the right place. If you're new, welcome. We always
want to slow down and welcome everyone online.
You are part of our Heights family, and we love
you and are so glad you're here. A couple things
I need to let you know right off the bat is,
one, me and my wife, Piper, just love y 'all
so much. We pray for you constantly. We're down
at our Prescott Valley Park collective location,
so we don't get to make it up here a lot. But
just please know that you are loved and prayed
over, not just by us, but our staff, and we just
care for you greatly. The other thing is, is
that Pastor John will be back next weekend. Okay?
Yep. I already know some of you are like, thank
you, Jesus. And that's okay. I don't take that
personal. I feel that way too. I'm like, I'm
so glad he's coming back. If you're new to Heights,
Pastor John is our lead pastor, okay? And he's
been on a three -month sabbatical. And it's been
a sabbatical of restoration, rest, and celebration
because we want to create longevity for John.
So he'll be here for decades to come. And so
I'm sure you're gonna get to hear more about
it when he speaks next weekend, okay? So I know
I don't need to tell y 'all this, but when y
'all see him, y 'all let him feel the love, okay?
Good, good. So have you ever been confronted
face -to -face? Have you ever felt the need like
you needed to confront someone face -to -face?
I actually had to do this a couple weeks ago
in churches. It's not easy. These are hard conversations.
They can be difficult. And the situation was,
is we were at our home and it was early in the
morning and our kids had got up earlier than
normal. And it was 5 .30. It was one of those
mornings where 5 .30 to 7 a .m. felt like 39
hours. I mean, we got a three and a two -year
-old. Kids are running around. Dogs are running
around. Wife's getting ready. I see my two toddlers
leave the kitchen table with half -eaten peanut
butter jelly sandwiches disappearing. That's
getting smeared somewhere. And I hear in their
back room, I hear this very aggressive sound
of my little girl Izzy going, no puppy, no puppy.
And then you hear the distinct sound of nails
on hardwood floor. And my dog runs around and
runs right past me down the hall. And my sweet
little princess is right behind that dog with
a toy kitchen kid's butcher knife chasing my
dog. And doing this motion. I had to confront
her. I said, you look crazy right now. You can't
be acting like that. But my hope is, is that
we all have people in our lives that can have
difficult, face -to -face, honest conversations.
You know, I hope we've had teachers, bosses,
mentors, friends. Spouses, one of the things
my wife Piper does really well is after we leave
whatever type of gathering it is, there are times
in the car or at home, she'll go, hey, did you
mean to come across like that? And I'll be like,
huh? Because I don't see things in my life. I
have blind spots. And if I'm being really honest,
church, there's things I don't want to see. And
so spouses are great, but church, we need more
than that. We need, I would say, anywhere from
three to five people in our lives that we have
given permission to, to have honest, hard conversations.
So the question I want to wrestle with today,
church, is do you give people the right to speak
into your life? Do you give people the right
to speak into your life? And we've been studying
the book of Galatians, and we've been talking
about, like, Paul's super direct with this church.
It's the early church. It's a young church. But
he's not being direct just because they're messing
up. He's also being direct because he loves them
dearly, and he wants to see them grow, and he
wants to see them to be able to mature. And we're
going to continue with Paul's directness in Galatians
2, verses 11 and 12. When Peter came to Antioch,
I, Paul, opposed him to his face because he was
clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came
from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.
But when they arrived, he began to draw back
and separate himself from the Gentiles because
he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision
group. Okay, so right off the bat, you hear words
like circumcision group, Gentiles. So there was
the Jewish people and anyone who wasn't Jewish
was considered a Gentile. And the circumcision
group were the Jewish people. But we see Paul
opposing Peter. This is the same Peter in Matthew
17 that was on the mountaintop with Jesus, James,
and John and heard God say, this is my son with
who I'm well pleased. This is the same Peter
that said, you are the Christ, the son of the
living God in Matthew 16. This is the same Peter
who denied knowing Jesus three times in Mark
14. And it's the same Peter who walked on water
with Jesus and then a few moments later began
to sink. One of the things we do at night is
we love to tell. stories to our children. And
my son loves Marvel comic stories and he loves
Bible stories. And his favorite Marvel comic
character is Spider -Man. Okay. And everyone
knows his true identity is Peter Parker. And
so one night we're telling this Bible story and
I'm talking to him about Jesus walking on water
and I'm telling him how Peter got to go out there
and he is... Hearing this story, and he's in
this deep thought, as much as a three -year -old
can be. And his face is squinched up, and I'm
like, what is it, son? And he goes, Peter Paca
can walk on water? Getting your genres mixed
up, son. We got to keep those straight. But this
is the same Peter who gave the first sermon in
Acts 2 when the church as we know it was birthed.
And it's the same Peter who got confronted by
Jesus. And Jesus told Peter, get behind me, Satan.
Because Peter was saying he wasn't going to let
him die on the cross. You could call Peter the
apostle of extremes. One of my favorite things
about the Bible is how it doesn't hide all the
scars and character defects that God chooses
to use. Because the story's not about them, is
it? It's about God and his character and his
interaction with humanity. But why do we have
these peaks and valleys in our walk with Christ?
Why are we still learning the same lessons today
that humanity's been learning for thousands of
years? In 1 Thessalonians 5, 23 -24, it says,
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you
through and through. May your spirit, soul, and
body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the one who calls you as faithful,
and he will do it. So you hear, may God sanctify
you through and through in your spirit, in your
soul, and in your body. We know as believers
that the moment we accept Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior and that he died on the cross
for our sins, and it was the only way, to be
in communion with God. The only way to pay for
sin was through Jesus. The moment that happens,
we're sealed with the Holy Spirit, it says. It's
a promise in Ephesians. And we're covered in
the blood of Jesus. And God sees us perfectly.
It says we are without blemish. We can approach
him with confidence, church. But then you also
still have your soul and body, and that's your
feelings, your thoughts, your emotions. You ask
any believer worth their weight in salt, they'll
go, I'm redeemed in Christ. But this is a work
in progress. We're continuously being worked
on until the day we die, church, we should not
stop growing. Because it's the age old question,
how do people sinful by nature come to God who
is holy by nature? See, it's not just a clash
between Paul and Peter. It's also a collision
against Christ and culture because there's all
these things that affect our feelings, thoughts,
and emotions. Our environments can affect it.
The people we're around can affect it. The traditions
we grew up in can affect it. Our old way of dealing
with problems and issues can come back in. And
so we see that here in these verses as these
Jewish Christians, and this is a church of believers.
So you have Paul, you have Peter, it says, People
from James were sent, which means that these
disciples were sent from the half brother of
Jesus. So this is a church letter, right? I mean,
these people are saved. We don't have any question
whether or not Peter was saved. And yet we see
him being pulled off center because of what's
going on around him. And these Jewish Christians
are saying, hey, I believe in Jesus. But man,
I really think a lot of this other stuff is super
important and it helps keep me clean. And so
we see where Peter starts to pull back from eating
with the Gentiles. And in our Western fast food
culture, we're like, Peter, go have a burger
with them. What's the big deal? But to the Jewish
culture, it was super significant. When you broke
bread with somebody over a meal, you were saying,
we're in alignment with God together. You have
the Mosaic law where you had ceremonial washing
of hands. No pork. You had a lot of other food
restrictions. No blood for the food. And so what
you see is these believers who have accepted
Christ start to pull in these old habits, these
old traditions, these old religions. And when
we do that, church, it becomes Jesus plus. Anytime
it is Jesus plus, we are off center. When it
becomes a what and not a who church, we have
lost our center bearing in Christ. So how does
that play out in today's culture? I mean, not
many of us, if any, grew up within those Jewish
customs. But let me ask you this, church. Have
you ever felt like God was disappointed in you
because you weren't reading your Bible like you
used to? You felt like God was frustrated with
you because you didn't pray or give or serve
as much as you did the month before. Anytime
you've done that, you've brought yourself back
under the power of the law, church. What about
the flip side of that coin? We've been redeemed
in Christ, but there's these things that used
to bring us relief. Whether they were chemicals
or substances, or maybe we found our worth within
a relationship or somebody we were dating. We
found our identity within our bank account and
our influence in the community. Church, all these
things means we've taken our eyes off all that
matters, which is Christ. In verses 13, 14, it
says, the other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy
so that by their hypocrisy, even Barnabas was
led astray. When I saw that they were not acting
in line with the truth of the gospel, I said
to Peter in front of them all, you are a Jew,
yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.
How is it then that you force Gentiles to follow
Jewish customs? I mean, it says right here that
Paul confronted Peter in front of everyone. Church,
I don't want this to be our get out of jail free
card. This is something, there's one thing I
want us to catch is in the previous verses that
said Peter began to draw away, okay? So this
wasn't a one -time mistake. This wasn't a one
-time slip. It had become habitual sin, okay?
But the verse is also telling us sometimes it
is required for us to confront someone face -to
-face in a group setting, okay? But don't let
it be our get -out -of -jail -free card. Have
you ever heard someone say, I'm not being mean,
I'm just being honest? Hmm. Probably being mean
too. At least the times I've heard someone say
that. How about if we memorize Galatians 6? Someone
who's caught in a sin, we gently restore them.
How about we memorize that one? How about Matthew
18 when it says, if your brother or sister sins
against you, it says, go to them in private,
one -on -one and have an honest conversation
with them. Then it says, if that doesn't work,
bring a couple more. And then it escalates from
there. There's a bunch of different ways to have
hard face -to -face conversations. What we ought
to do is stay prayerful, always praying for God
to let us know what to say and when to say it.
What these do have in common, though, is they're
all built in relationships. within community
through honest conversations. Just as Jesus came
full of grace and truth in 114 John, our conversations
should be seasoned in grace and truth. Because
God designed us to be in community churches.
He's a God of relationships. Before creation,
God was in relationship with the Holy Spirit
and the Son. And he's designed our church to
be in a community that we're the body of Christ,
built up of many parts and many giftings. Church,
that's why we have Growth Track, so that we can
get to know you and you can get to know us. And
then you can step in somewhere to serve and you
can have a smaller community within a larger
community. That's why we have life groups, so
you can be part of a smaller community within
a larger community. That's why we have local
partners. That's why we just sent three teams
across the globe. That's why with our online
family, we have Baghdad and Paulding where people
gather together in communities because church,
we are better together. In 1 Peter 5, it says
to be self -controlled and alert because your
enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring
lion looking for someone to devour. What are
the traits of a lion when it hunts? Don't they
stand back and they look at and observe the herd
and they see who's on the outskirts? They see
who's unhealthy, who's sick, who's young, who's
not paying attention. And then they break them
off from the herd and devour them. Church, we
are at our strongest when we are together. as
a community centered on Christ. And we're at
our weakest when we're isolated. Verses 15 and
16. We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile
sinners know that a man is not justified by observing
the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we
too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we
may be justified by faith in Christ and not by
observing the law. Because by observing the law,
no one will be justified. Okay, in verse 16,
you hear justified three times. And I know we're
familiar with these words, justification, sanctification,
reconciliation. But sometimes I wonder, like,
how well do we really know those words? We're
like reading through the Bible. We're like, I
think I can figure out exactly what it means.
But justification is declared righteous in God's
sight. I mean, is that not the best phrase? declared
righteous in God's sight. So I wanna reread verse
16 and I'm gonna replace justified with the definition.
Know that a man is not declared righteous in
God's sight by observing the law. but by faith
in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith
in Christ Jesus that we may be declared righteous
in God's sight by faith in Christ and not by
observing the law. Because by observing the law,
no one will be declared righteous in God's sight.
Doesn't that have a different ring to it? I mean,
think about it, church. In Genesis 2, we were
given just one command. Don't eat of the tree
of knowledge and good and evil. We broke that
one. Exodus 20, we were given the 10 commandments.
We've broke those. The Israelites were given
600 laws in Deuteronomy, and they didn't do very
well with those either. Does that make the law
bad, church? Absolutely not. The law was sent
by God. Paul goes, if I didn't know what coveting
was, if I wasn't told what coveting my neighbor's
things was, then how would I know about it? The
law is good, but we were never ever gonna fulfill
it. And it was never ever gonna be able to make
us clean. It was always meant to point us to
something greater, a final sacrifice, a final
answer. Because Jesus has perfectly fulfilled
the law. We have utterly failed to keep it, church.
So what Paul's teaching here within these verses
is justification by faith. So declared righteous
in God's sight by faith plus nothing, church.
That's what we put our hope in. And that faith
is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That in an instant, you can repent of your sins
and ask God to forgive you and put your faith
and trust and hope and a savior that came down
to earth and died on a cross for your sins and
my sins for all eternity. You just have to accept
it. When we have salvation based off works, it's
really our attempt to obligate God to save us
based off our performance. But when you see works
that are produced through grace and faith, that's
the fruit of a transformed heart. It doesn't
say how Peter responded here in these verses.
Reading about Peter, there's a good chance it
might not have been a very good response, Paul
calling him out, but that's nowhere in Scripture.
So we're not going to focus on that. That's just
a guess. But what do we know? For those of you
that like to dig deeper, I want to encourage
you this week to read 1 and 2 Peter. And keep
in mind, the Paul or the Peter rather, excuse
me, that you read about in the gospels and that
you read about here. And you tell me if that's
not the fruit of a transformed heart that is
being sanctified daily and growing in Christ.
Church, we gotta look different than we did.
It's the power of the Holy Spirit. Verses 17
through 19. If while we seek to be justified
in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves
are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes
sin? Absolutely not. If I rebuild what I destroy,
I prove that I am a lawbreaker. For through the
law, I died to the law so that I might live for
God. Okay, so Paul's really delivering the same
message in a different way, okay? Once you're
saved, you can't go back under the power of the
law. Really verses 15 through 21, he's just hammering
a point of what he just saw happen within this
church setting. I think these verses really would
have resonated with the Jewish Christians. It's
like speaking Klingon to Klingons, okay? So he's
just trying to get a point across because you
have Jewish Christians, you have Gentile Christians.
And I really believe these next ones are what's
gonna resonate with us as a church. Verses 20
and 21. I have been crucified with Christ and
I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The
life I live and the body I live by faith in the
son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. I do not set aside the grace of God for if
righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing. I have been crucified
with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but
Christ that lives in me. 13 years ago, church,
I was crucified with Christ. I was saved from
a 20 -year drug addiction and radically transformed.
And 13 years later, I'm still being transformed.
I'm not as prideful as I was before Christ, but
I still have a bunch of pride that needs to get
out of me. I'm not as selfish as I was before
Christ, but I have a lot of selfishness that
needs to be removed from me because my emotions,
thoughts, and feelings get off center all the
time based off my surroundings. And I need the
Holy Spirit to guide me and direct me and prune
me. Why do we keep trying to resurrect our old
selves, church? The old person is buried in Christ.
The only type of person you bury is a dead person,
church. That means that addiction in Christ is
buried. That means that crushing anxiety and
worry has been buried. That means that need to
control every aspect of your life or think you
control your kids and your business and your
family has been buried. It means the need to
act sexually immoral and have anything sexual
outside of how God intended it with a man and
a woman in marriage has been buried. It means
that resentment That judgment, that unforgiveness,
that gossip, that mockery has all been buried
in Christ. We have to stop trying to dig up these
things that are dead and have no power over us,
church. Do you know what you call something when
you get on the ground and you dig up something
that was dead and you try to get it up moving
around? They're called zombies, church. Nobody
likes zombies. They're gross. They try to kill
you. They're not good for you. Church, let's
stop digging up zombies. And every time we try
to go back to that old way of living and try
to dig up something that is dead. We are no longer
a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness.
Every time we do that, we've lost sight of what
Christ did on the cross and the power that is
there. In church, every time we know we're saved
by the grace of God and through Jesus on the
cross, but go, that can't be all there is to
it. I have to, I need to, I need to be in this
study more. I need to serve more. I need to,
I need to give more. I need to pray more. And
all those things are great, but there is no power
in them of themselves. We have come back under
the power of the law church. If this book right
here, this Bible feels weighty to you and like
its commands are restraining you, and they're
a burden to keep, and you don't like them, I
would say you've come back under the law. Because
Jesus' yoke is easy, and his burden is light,
church. We get to live this book out. We get
to obey these commands. We get to give, we get
to serve. We get to forgive because of what Christ
has done. Because it's no longer I that live,
but Christ that lives in me. So what does this
look like going through the weeks to come? If
you go, all right, Ben, I'm on board with that.
That all sounds good. How do we practically live
that out? We gotta know this book, church. We
gotta know this book. Because there are so many
things in our life that mess up our emotions,
thoughts, and feelings. We have to have this
word written on our heart. And what I mean by
that is we have to have it memorized. We have
to be able in a moment, no matter the stressful
situation, no matter the difficult people, I
can call on the word of God and the power of
Jesus Christ. And I can declare these truths
over my life and over my situation. And I'll
put my hope and trust in that and that alone.
I will not let my circumstances dictate my mood.
I will not match anger for anger or evil for
evil, but to be a light in the world so that
our deeds can be seen and that God can be glorified
in heaven, church. And so I wanna declare some
verses over you and they're gonna be up for a
while. And if you wanna take a picture of them
or write her down, you can, but I just wanna
declare these truths over you. In Christ, you
are without blemish and free from accusation.
You have been made holy through the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ once and for all, church. There
is now no condemnation for those of us that are
in Christ Jesus. You cannot be separated from
his love, church. We are without spot or wrinkle.
We are holy and without blemish. We have been
blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual
blessing in Christ. He who is in you is greater
than the one who is in the world. Where the spirit
of the Lord is, there is freedom, church. And
finally, the one we started with in 1 Thessalonians,
the one who calls you as faithful and he will
do it. These verses, church, are written in what's
called a perfect tense. It means they were true.
It means they are true. It means they will be
true. This is our anchor. What Christ did is
what we put our faith in, not our works. Jesus
said, truly I tell you, unless you change and
become like little children, you will not enter
the kingdom of heaven. What I used to think Jesus
was teaching was talking about kids' innocence.
Then I had kids. They're just a bunch of little
sinners running all over the place. Am I wrong?
I mean, come on. You don't have to teach a kid
to be selfish. You don't have to teach them the
word mine. You don't have to teach them to lie.
They come by it honestly. Because you see the
fall of humanity in a toddler. Honestly, I see
the fall of humanity in me trying to parent.
I'll tell you, though, what I have fully come
to believe Jesus was teaching was that of a little
kid is unapologetically dependent upon something
else to provide for. It's food, it's clothing,
it's shelter, it's protection, it's safety. Church,
let's be unapologetically dependent. upon what
Christ did on the cross. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, I come before you, Lord, just with a
repentant heart of the times I've tried to do
things out of my own power and my own strength.
Lord, that you would ignite a fire within us
as individuals and as a community, Lord, to be
unapologetically dependent upon you. Lord, we
were saved by you. We were saved through you.
We were saved for you. Father, let us be reminded
of your goodness. Lord, let us have people in
our lives that we trust, that can have honest
face -to -face conversations. So Lord, there
will be no division, but we will be a unified
body together, supporting one another, lifting
one another up, Lord. Father, that you would
put people in our lives that would help carry
us and that we could also help carry, Lord. Lord,
forgive us for any time we have added to Christ.
Lord, any time we have gone and tried to dig
up our old selves, Lord. Lord, that we would
recognize those moments when our feelings, thoughts,
and emotions are off -center, Lord. Lord, and
we would be reminded of your word, Lord, that
does not change like sand, but is steadfast and
it is the truth, the way. You are the life and
the light of the world. Father, open our eyes
to that, Father. Father, if there is someone
in this room right now that does not know you,
Lord, that you would reveal yourselves to them,
that this... That we can be seen without blemish,
that we can be forgiven of our sins. You don't
hold these things against us, can be in a moment
of accepting you. And what Jesus did on the cross,
Lord, and everyone said, amen.