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Muskegon SDA Church

Godly Living

Jason Sliger

Called to Be Saints

Father in heaven, as we come into your presence, we have 1 request.

We ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would speak to our hearts, that as we hear the reading of your word and the thoughts conveyed from it, that you would take the message and apply it in our lives.

Father, we want to be more like Jesus, and we pray that you would help us to that end.

Thank you, Father, for hearing our prayer because we ask it in Jesus name.

On April 7th, 2014, after years of investigation, Pope Francis formally recognized Pope John Paul II, arguably 1 of the most famous of modern popes.

He pronounced him a saint in a service that they call canonization.

To become a saint in the Catholic Church is quite a stringent process, the first being that you have to be dead.

I believe that the Lord is looking for living saints.

John Paul II had been dead for 9 years at this point and there had been quite a bit of investigation into his life, into the works that he had done, the things that he had accomplished, not only as a pope, but also as a Catholic cardinal.

And so the process started to bestow upon him The status of saint.

1 of the most difficult processes to pronounce somebody as a saint in the Catholic church is that there has to be 2 verifiable miracles that happened as a result of somebody directly praying to that individual.

The report was that there were 2 people who were healed after praying to John Paul II, a nun who was healed apparently from Parkinson's disease, and a woman who was healed after having a brain aneurysm.

And so as a result of the investigation into John Paul II's life, the so-called miracles that took place, there was this great ceremony that happened where they pronounced him a saint I would suggest to you this morning that the Bible's reading and the Bible's description of sainthood is vastly different than what we find in the Catholic Church.

We read in our scripture reading this morning in Romans chapter 1 and verse 7, where the apostle Paul says this, to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be what?

Called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Catholic view of saints is of an elite group of dead people who have apparently done great things in their lives.

I believe that God is calling living people to be living saints as an example of the power of God to transform the lives of men and women.

In fact, it's very interesting as you read the writings of the apostle Paul, you will actually find that he liked to refer to the believers as saints.

You actually find that nowhere in the writings of Paul does he call the believers Christians.

In fact, there's only a couple of places in the Bible that the believers are referred to as Christians.

Over 40 times in the writings of Paul, Paul calls the believers saints.

I believe that that's a very good title because it carries with it and a very great meaning behind it.

In fact, the word saint means to be set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively His.

Behind the word saint, many times in the Bible, the Greek word here for saint is translated into the word holy.

So you could actually rephrase the passage of scripture to called to be holy ones.

Behind the word is the word sanctified, and we understand the word sanctified means to be set apart for holy use.

Paul is calling the believers of the Church of Rome to be set apart exclusively as gods for a holy purpose that God has designated for them to do and to live.

Throughout the writings of Paul in 2 Corinthians, in the book of Ephesians, in the book of Philippians, and Colossians, in all of these epistles, Paul refers to the believers as saints of God, and I think that this is a very good use of the word because it carries a lot of meaning behind it.

In 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 2, the Bible says this, unto the church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are, what?

To them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and then what does it say?

It's the same 3, 4 words there that Paul is using, that he used in the book of Romans.

God's people are called to be exclusively his, to be set apart for a holy use.

He wants living people to be living examples of the power of God in the lives of men and women.

I want to accept the invitation that God has given to us today to be his saints.

Now as you continue reading 1 Corinthians chapter 1, you'll actually find a brief description, and I've just summarized it for you here.

You can go back and read it on your own if you choose to.

But the next 4 or 5 verses, Paul really outlines for us the description of what it means to be a saint.

He says that they are, as we've already read in verse 2, they are sanctified in Christ Jesus.

They are enriched by him in all utterances or in all speech and in all knowledge.

These people are enriched by their sanctification in Christ Jesus.

He goes on, they are waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Seventh-day Adventists look forward to the second coming of Jesus.

He goes on, they are considered to be what?

They are considered to be blameless as they wait for Jesus' appearing.

And then he says that they have fellowship with what I like to refer to as the saint of saints, Jesus Christ.

And perhaps that fellowship with Jesus is what leads to their blamelessness in their lives and in their actions.

Yes, God has called us to be living saints with him.

And these saints, as we see in this passage of scripture, have a very close relationship with Jesus.

It is apparent that the Bible's description of what it means to be a saint is vastly different than what the world may view it as.

And of course, as we've already seen in the Catholic Church, it's very different than that.

So the question then is this, do we dare claim to be saints?

Given this description in the Bible, do we dare claim to be saints?

Are we developing a saintly disposition and saintly characters?

Are we following the saint of all saints?

If we are following Jesus's example of what it means to be a saint, then we will turn the other cheek when somebody mistreats us.

We will give extensively of ourself for the betterment of others, and we will follow the golden rule.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

If we are following Jesus as the example of being a saint, we will follow the golden rule so extensively and carefully in our lives that it will naturally result in the fulfillment of the last 6 of the 10 commandments that reveal our love to our fellow human beings.

Yes, indeed, God's people are called to be saints.

Notice what the Bible says here in Daniel 7, in verse 18.

Daniel says this, the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, even, forever, and ever.

Who are the ones that possess the kingdom of heaven?

Who are the ones that receive the gift of eternal life?

Who are the ones that inherit the new heavens and the new earth?

So the Bible here is telling us that before we can accept the, or before we can get the gift of eternal life, before we can walk on streets of gold and accept the citizenship of the kingdom of heaven, the Bible here is telling us this morning that we need God to transform us into saints.

We have to accept the invitation that God has given to us to a higher standard of living than what the world and what Christianity says is acceptable.

We have to accept this invitation to be called as saints and allow God to perform the miraculous miracle in our lives of transforming us into living saints for Him.

For it is the saints of God who will inherit the new heavens and the new earth.

In the book of Revelation, we find this elite group of people talked about once again.

All are invited to be part of the group, these people that are called saints.

But the Bible here describes them once again in a passage of Scripture that we are familiar with, very familiar with, that Seventh-day Adventists.

It's 1 that you hear thundered from our pulpit quite often during an evangelistic series.

It is at the very beat of the heart of Seventh-day Adventists, that is Revelation chapter 14, and there we find the 3 angels' message, what John describes as the everlasting gospel.

And right after the third angels' message is repeated, John says this in verse 12.

We have the 3 angels' message, and then we have here is the patience of the saints, and we miss the connection.

There is a tight connection between these 2 because John is describing the people who will live during the time of the third angel's message.

As he's describing these people who live during the time of the third angel's message, what is the third angel's message, by the way?

So it's the time period in Earth's history where the Sunday law is going out, where the mark of the beast is being enforced, and all the world has to choose between obedience to God and obedience to men.

This is the scene that is taking place in earth's history when John says, here is the patience of the saints.

Here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.

This is the people that John is describing, the people who are living during the time of great persecution in the last days.

In fact, the Bible says in Revelation 7 in verse 14, these are they which came out of what?

Great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the land.

Called to be Seekers

Father in heaven, we thank you that we can assemble ourselves in your home, in your house.

And Father, we seek more than anything for your presence to be here, to be felt, And that the message from your word would resonate in our hearts That your Holy Spirit would draw us up yet a little higher And I'll walk together with you.

Today we live in 1 of the most seeking, searching, quest-finding generations that has ever existed.

The unknown is a place where man, for some reason, likes to explore.

And it's because of this that this curiosity of the unknown that we have been driven to the far-flung places, not only of this planet, but of others as well.

It took us to outer space and then eventually to the moon and now they are seeking to find a way to Mars.

This curiosity has caused us to dive to the depths of the ocean some 7 miles below the surface of the water.

It has driven us to crawl to the belly of the earth, some 7, 000 feet below the surface of the earth as we know it.

Curiosity, seeking, is something that is in our DNA as human beings and we see this in the world we live in today.

But it's strange to me as I was thinking about this and meditating on the passage that we are going to study together this morning, that we as Christians oftentimes will applaud and praise and maybe even look up to these people who have perhaps put their life in harm's way to seek out the unknown.

But yet when we come across a dedicated Christian who is willing to put everything on the altar in their quest to know, to serve, and to give their hearts undivided to God, we tend to think that to be perhaps a little strange.

And I find this to be a contradiction oftentimes that we see in our church.

As though the discovery of the unknown, these great places that men have gone, is a nobler quest than giving our hearts to the Lord and seeking first his kingdom.

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon put it this way.

He said, it is to be feared that many give their force to worldly pursuits and their feebleness to their religion?

Should it be so that self should have our energies and Christ have our lukewarmness?

It's something to reflect upon as we think about where we are at in our spiritual journey with God.

I would submit to you this morning that we live in 1 of the most distracted times of Earth's history.

Not necessarily distracted with bad things, but we're distracted.

We're distracted with things that we need.

We're distracted with things that maybe we're trying to convince ourselves that we need.

We're distracted by things maybe that we don't even want, but we live in a time where we are distracted from that which is the most important in our lives.

And lukewarmness has become the new norm in our churches of North America.

I believe the Bible is describing something different for God's people.

We live in a generation that's not just distracted by the world, but we live in a time where we are spiritually distracted from what God would have us to seek after.

And I invite you to go with me, if you would, in your Bibles, to Matthew 6.

We're gonna take a look at a short passage here that is well-known.

As you are turning there, in many ways, Jewish society in the time of Jesus as he shared these words that we're going to take a look at today.

In many ways, the Jewish society was also greatly distracted.

They were distracted by the desire for earthly gain.

They were distracted by the desire for the arrival of the Messiah to break the yoke of Roman bondage upon them and to set up a kingdom here on this earth where all would be good, where they would prosper, where they would have all of their needs met, where all of their physical needs would be met, their health needs would be met.

That's what they were looking forward to.

They were distracted by what God ultimately wanted for them because they wanted what the world had to offer.

And to this spiritually distracted generation in the time of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus spoke 20 words that are probably the second most famous passage in all of scripture next to John 3, 16.

20 words that are packed with depth and meaning.

20 words that you could probably recite off of the top of your head, but they are 20 words that are so revolutionary that many of us do not follow it.

Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33, to a distracted generation in a time of Matthew and to the distracted generation today, Jesus says, but Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6 and verse 33 is the gospel in miniature form.

You don't have to have all 4 gospel books in your back pocket or memorized in your mind.

If you carry with you this 1 Bible passage, you are carrying with you the gospel in miniature form.

And those who obey this revolutionary passage that is extreme by Christian standards today will find themselves 1 day in the place that they have been seeking after, the kingdom of heaven.

This is godly living, in my humble opinion.

This is godly living at its finest, bare and simple.

Now as powerful as these 20 words are, at least in the King James Version.

They are tenfold more powerful when they are read within the broader context of the passage of Scripture.

In Matthew chapter 6, we find Jesus in the midst of the most famous of all sermons that has been preached, the Sermon on the Mount.

The sermon, as you know, is being preached by the greatest of all preachers who has ever walked on the face of this earth, Jesus Christ himself, and the sermon is being preached in the greatest cathedral that earth could ever think of, and that is on the grassy hillsides surrounding the city.

Thousands of people had assembled themselves around Jesus' feet as he gives his, what some people call his inaugural address.

Shortly after his baptism and then his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus is now found on the grassy hillsides proclaiming what I believe the qualifications for what it means to live a godly life.

And I would suggest to you that if you haven't already, that you go back and review this great historic sermon that spans several chapters and is, as I said, the qualifications not only for godly living, but 1 day to be a citizen in the kingdom of heaven.

Go with me to verse 19, Matthew chapter 6, verse 19.

Notice the context of how Jesus, or the context of this passage of Matthew 6, 33 and what Jesus says.

He says in verse 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moss nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through "'nor steal, for where your treasure is, ' what does he say?

"'There will your heart be also.'" So In the context here, Jesus is saying, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

But before he does that, before he tells us what we should seek, he tells us what we should not seek.

Don't lay up for yourselves treasures here upon the earth.

Notice what we find in Testimonies for the Church, volume 6, page 44.

There are only 2 places in the world where we can deposit our treasures.

And all that is not devoted to Christ's service is counted on Satan's side and goes, Lord forbid, to strengthen his cause.

Are you seeking first the kingdom of God?

Or are you laying up treasures here on this earth?

There's only 1 of 2 storehouses, and if we are not working to support the 1, we are by default supporting the other.

And Lord forbid that anybody that is part of the Muskegon Seventh-day Adventist Church would be supporting the cause of darkness.

Now Jesus goes on in verse 24 and he says this, Matthew 6, 24, no man can serve 2 masters, for either he will hate the 1 and love the other, or else he will hold to the 1 and despise the other.

You know, it's interesting to me in the Bible passage, Jesus doesn't say you shouldn't serve.

It's impossible to serve God and mammon, yet I believe that this is 1 of the great frustrations in Christianity because we try to do what Jesus says we can't.

We try to have a little bit of spirituality and a little bit of worldliness.

We try to balance things out, if you will.

If we do enough good, then it'll balance out the few bad things that we do.

If you do that, it will drive you spiritually insane.

The interests of God and the interests of mammon have no union together.

He kind of goes on a little preacher's rant, if you will, where he repeats himself a number of times.

He says, therefore I say unto you, what are the next 3 words there?

Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, "'or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, "'what you shall put on, is not the life more than meat, "'and the body more than raiment?' He goes on and he repeats himself again.

Called to be Courageous

Father in heaven, we thank you that we can come into your presence this morning, knowing that you will speak to us from your word.

Father, we ask for the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit to rest upon this place and take your word and apply it in our lives where it needs to be.

Father we want to be more like you and We pray that you would help us as we seek to live godly lives.

1 of my favorite characters in the Bible is Peter.

Oftentimes Peter is used as a bit of a whipping post, but he was a very interesting character as many of you already know.

And as I think of Peter in my mind, I oftentimes visualize him as a big, strong, burly man who wasn't really afraid of much.

After all, he was a fisherman who spent his livelihood, his life, fishing on the lakes surrounding the area where he lived, oftentimes caught in storms in the middle of the night.

And that's the mental image that I get of Peter in my mind.

But as I survey the Bible, just prior to Peter's conversion, we actually find that there were areas in Peter's life where he was a weak man.

And as burly and confident as Peter appeared to be many times, as I've mentioned, when alone he was a weak man.

We find him in Matthew Chapter 26, just in passing here.

In the stillness of the evening as Jesus and the disciples had gathered together on the Mount of Olives, Jesus is telling Peter about this soon crucifixion that's going to take place.

He's telling all of the disciples about it.

And Peter says in verse 35, though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee.

Very courageous statement that Peter makes.

Luke says of Peter, Peter says to Jesus, Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and into death.

He was a very courageous man, and I believe that Peter meant those words.

He loved the truths that Jesus presented.

He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and as much as it hurt Peter's heart to think about Jesus being crucified on the cross, I believe that he meant those very words that he spoke.

However, as we continue looking at the story that you are well familiar with, we find that just a few hours later, as Jesus is being hauled off to Caiaphas's palace for his first trial, The Bible tells us that Peter followed Jesus a far way off, ashamed at his Lord being drug away as a common criminal.

As we continue looking at the story, Peter, as you know, not only does he deny his Lord 3 times, but Ellen White makes an interesting statement.

John and Peter were really the only 2 that followed Jesus as he went from place to place.

And she tells us that John, and the Bible tells us this, that John went into the courtroom with Jesus as he stood before Caiaphas.

However, Peter, as you know, he was on the outside with the promiscuous crowd trying to blend in as 1 who did not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah.

It's very interesting to me that as we look at Peter's courageous statements, when he was all of a sudden in a situation where he stood alone, Peter became a very weak man.

We can tend to be very courageous when we are with those who think the same way we do.

But The question is how do we react when everyone else around us is thinking 1 way and we're kind of the island in that thought.

How do we react in those kinds of circumstances?

Where do we find the courage to stand up against the pressures of the time?

I believe what Peter needed and what he eventually got when he was finally converted in the book of Acts.

And what we need today is courage to stand for what's right.

Not just any old courage, but moral courage to stand for the truth.

Not the courage of the soldier on the battlefield as courageous as that is.

Not the courage of the athlete who presses himself to achieve some athletic goal as noble as that may be.

But this is a courage that stands against the pressures of the time that we are living in today, the proverbial salmon that is swimming against the current.

To illustrate this, I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of 1 Kings 22.

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Series

Godly Living

Called to Be Saints

Transcript

Parent Series

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Recorded

Q&A Session

1h 6m

The Future of Adventism: Will Our Biblical Foundation Give Way to Culture?

3. The Future of Adventist Lifestyle

1h 20m

Jesus On Prophecy

Prophecy and the Eternal Gospel

51m

Plenary

Remnant Surrender

2h 4m

Being True to Our Trust

Countdown to Glory

1h 8m

Dennis Priebe Weekend 2007

Christian or Adventist?

46m

Being Adventist

The Terrifying Tyranny of Adventist Eschatology

1h 7m

It's Time Someone Finally Told You the Truth About...

The Human Nature of Christ - Part 1

58m

Building Bible Experts

52m

ASI 2012 Plenary Sessions

It’s Time... To Afflict Our Souls

55m

Sound Doctrine