Pastor David shares a message entitled: “Because I Love Jesus”. Have you ever wondered what the purpose of Christian standards are? Join us for this message on the relevance of Christian standards.

<p>Pastor David shares a message entitled: “Because I Love Jesus”. Have you ever wondered what the purpose of Christian standards are? Join us for this message on the relevance of Christian standards.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

Because I Love Jesus

Our Father in heaven, we are thankful for our mothers.

We thank you today for your grace, your goodness towards us, your tender mercies, which are new every morning.

And as we pause for a few moments to reflect on heavenly themes, we pray that you would speak to us in Jesus' name.

Read an article in Psychology Today, and it said if you put someone on an MRI scanner and flash the word no for less than 1 second, you'd see a sudden release of dozens of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters.

In fact, just seeing a list of negative words for a few seconds will make a highly anxious or depressed person feel worse.

Fascinating article that showed in certain experiments just seeing words on a screen can have physiological effects on a person.

I want to flash a word on the screen, a couple words on the screen, and what is your response When you see the words Christian standards, do you get goosebumps, butterflies?

Sad to say, for many individuals, when they see these words, Christian standards, the blood pressure rises.

And there's a negative association with Christian standards.

That is because sometimes Christian standards has been used as a sledgehammer to beat individuals into compliance.

I think of the story of the woman that was caught in adultery.

And whenever I read this story, I say, where's the man?

They take this woman caught in the very act of adultery, drag her through the streets of Jerusalem, and throw her at the feet of Jesus.

Now, they were so right and yet so wrong at the same time.

They were right, yes, this woman was guilty of adultery, but they were so wrong in the way that they related to her.

And Jesus said these profound words, they that worship me will worship me in spirit and in truth.

I've known people that have the truth, but have very little of the Spirit.

So these religious leaders were so right and yet so wrong at the same time.

And I can't help but think in relationship to Christian standards and ministry, People come up to me from time to time and tell me horror stories of some saint that approaches many times a visitor that is new to a congregation, and upon entry into the church, feels it a burden to administer and to convey that they are not in conformity to certain Christian standards.

And there's a lot of hurt that takes place as a result of that.

We never must judge anything by its abuse.

Heard on radio a woman that wanted to win an Xbox and there was a contest who can drink the most water.

So she wanted to win this Xbox for her son.

She drank so much water that it flushed out all her electrolytes and she died.

But you should not judge water by its abuse.

Most of our body, most of our brain is comprised of water.

So the same applies to Christian standards.

Yes, it has been abused, but I would argue that Christian standards do have a proper place in the Christian experience.

When we talk about Christian standards in relationship to Christian experience, it relates to 2 aspects.

1 is the body, what we do with our bodies, what we put in our bodies, what we put on our bodies.

The other has to do with our minds what we put into our minds what we think about what we read what we listen to now this is from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 through 10 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourself, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no 1 can boast.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Nothing you can ever do can earn your salvation, which includes Christian standards.

You're not going to get to heaven and say, Lord, these are all the standards I kept.

We're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Nothing you can do can ever inherit or earn your salvation.

Now this leads us to an interesting question.

If standards do not save us, yes, then why do we need standards?

This is something that I've thought about all the time.

Now, I grew up in our administrative school system, went through academy, and there's lots of standards.

I read the handbook and say, oh, wow, and all these things that we need to come into compliance to, and we need them for specifically educational institutions.

You know, when you come to an institution, there's certain guidelines and so forth.

But if standards do not save us, then why do we need standards?

Now, there are several reasons, but I want to highlight 3 distinct reasons for the role of Christian standards.

And I want to be very clear from the beginning.

Do they have a place in the Christian experience?

Now reason number 1, very quickly, is the nature of humanity, and I want to invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 7, verses 14 through 20.

The nature of humanity, If standards do not save us, then why do we need standards?

And here, Paul, using the first person, describes a real human struggle that we all go through, this internal battle between what we know what we should do, between what we know and what we want to do.

There's an inner conflict that takes place, Romans chapter 7, verses 14 through 20.

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For what I'm doing I do not understand, for what I will to do that I do not practice, but what I hate that I do.

If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells.

For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.

For the good that I will to do I do not do, but the evil that I will not to do that I practice.

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

Paul is talking about the internal struggle between the conscience and the flesh.

And here in Galatians, He describes it this way, for the sinful, the flesh, desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.

They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want.

Let me give an innocuous illustration, innocent 1.

You've eaten a lot for dinner at your favorite restaurant.

And you've just eaten so much you're about to burst, and then the dessert menu comes around.

And there's this little voice in there that says, David, you really don't need that.

But then there's another side of me that says, oh, that looks so good.

This inner conflict between what you know what you should do and between what you want to do.

So this inner struggle takes place and we call it the sinful nature and this is a question that people have asked, what happens to the flesh, the sinful nature, after conversion?

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Because I Love Jesus

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