March 4, 2024 • 17 mins
Be inspired as we delve deeper into the powerful messages hidden within the scriptures and explore Christ's call in Matthew chapter 5 for believers to go the 'extra mile'. We examine Jesus's teachings on service, generosity, and the cultivation of a second-mile mentality. This sermon highlights the importance of doing more than is expected as an act of honoring God while confounding those harboring ill will towards us.
Through a thoughtful examination of Psalm 34, we offer an insightful understanding of why we should engage in good deeds and exceed expectations. It isn't just about fulfilling obligations of faith, it is an expression of our eternal gratitude, and a testimony to God's limitless generosity. Furthermore, we discuss the need for Christians to present a radically different lifestyle, representing Christ in ways that puzzle others into asking soul-searching questions.
We reiterate the urgent call to discipleship by connecting the concepts in Psalm 34 with Matthew 28. Our faith shouldn't be a secret kept hidden and our love for Christ shouldn't be muted. This sermon urges listeners to rise to the role of disciples with deep-seated conviction, unashamed love, and unrestrained expression of faith. It challenges the hesitation to share the magnitude of God's transformative power with the world, encouraging believers to inspire others to 'taste and see' the goodness of the Lord.
Our call to action resonates on two fronts. First, to commit to financial giving in support of the church’s various outreach missions. Second, to pledge discipleship, inviting others to experience and comprehend the life-altering impact of embracing the Gospel of Christ. The sermon ends with a heartfelt prayer, seeking God's blessings and guidance as we go an extra mile to ensure the light of His love illuminates the darkest corners of the world.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:08):
Each year at this time, you are invited to go the extra mile,
and this is referring to Christ's call in Matthew chapter 5.
You might remember we read from the Sermon on the Mount last week.
Well, a little further down the text from where we left off last week,
(00:28):
Jesus tells you that if someone compels you to go a mile in their service, go an extra mile.
If he asks you for your cloak, give him your shirt too.
And the idea is that insurgents are people who do more than is asked for them
(00:48):
as a way of honoring God and frankly confounding those who would be evil to them.
And so this second mile emphasis that we do each year is an invitation to do
not only that which is a sort of obligation of faith and devotion,
but to go the extra mile, to do as Jesus commanded.
(01:12):
Now, with that in mind, I'd like to share with you from Psalm 34, the why.
So, if you would read along with me as we go through Psalm 34,
I will extol the Lord at all times.
His praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
(01:34):
Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame.
The poor man called, and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles.
(01:59):
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear Fear him, lack nothing.
(02:20):
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.
Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.
(02:45):
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(03:09):
The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked. The foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord will rescue his servants. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
(03:33):
And this is the word of the Lord for the people of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Now, listen, this is the why.
Why do we do good works? Why do we go the second, third, fourth mile?
Why do we pick up the one who falls down in their driveway and needs our help? Why do we do it?
Because it is our way of extolling the Lord or proclaiming his name.
(03:59):
It is our witness to give more than is expected of us because the Lord has given us more than we need.
He always exceeds our expectations and needs, unless, of course,
we impose upon him expectations and desires that are not consistent with the Lord's will. will.
(04:24):
This whole entire lifestyle of gratitude is the goal of every believer.
When we talk about being insurgents and recognizing our unique calling in society
to be different and to undermine what is considered normal, it's done with our attitude.
(04:46):
It's done in a way that represents presents Christ and it gives glory to God,
not in the things that we do that subvert like some sort of destruction or violence,
but rather by being so radically different from the norm that people can't figure
out what to think with us.
(05:07):
They look at us and they're perplexed. Why would you go the extra mile, they think?
Why would you give this person who has offended you even more.
Why? And the answer is because we love the Lord and because if we can somehow
bait you into asking these questions,
(05:29):
you heard me right, it's what missionaries have been doing for generation after generation.
Through good works and through extolling the Lord by way of deeds that are are
endlessly generous and gracious by doing more than is expected of us,
we perplex people into asking us questions that invite the opportunity to explain
(05:54):
to them what's behind it all.
And so it's a taste and see moment.
Remember, right in the middle of the psalm that we just read,
There is this statement, taste and see, the Lord is good.
Now, let's go to Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 to 20.
(06:17):
And again, I'll read it. And if you want to follow along, it's on page 993 in your pew Bible.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told
them to go. This is after the resurrection.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him.
But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority on heaven
(06:38):
and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always to the end of the age.
Now, if you combine these two passages that we have read,
(07:03):
you begin to see that Jesus is commanding us to take what has been roiling and
boiling in our hearts and go ahead and express it. it.
We're funny. Most of us are people who don't have any hesitation about expressing
how much we love a sports team or how much we love our community or how proud
(07:25):
we are of our high school or our particular institutions and shared experiences around the community.
But whenever it comes to the expression of this love and magnificence that has
overwhelmed you and changed changed you forever, we feel restrained.
(07:46):
We feel as though we're imposing on other people. Somehow we are doing something that isn't welcome.
And the truth is, it doesn't matter whether it's welcomed by them or not.
If the Lord is compelling you to extol his name, give glory to him, then why not say so?
(08:08):
Really, what's stopping you? What's the worst thing that could happen?
Maybe you lose a few friends, and maybe that's just all right.
Maybe you get laughed at by people whose lives are shorter than yours because
they don't have eternity to look forward to.
Maybe you find out that they just don't know what they're missing.
(08:33):
Have you ever been to one of those warehouse stores like Costco or Sam's when
they're giving out samples? examples, what does that sweet little old lady want you to do?
She wants you to taste and see that it is good. And maybe you're tasting the
thing and you're going, hey, that is good.
And some person is standing a few feet away thinking about trying it and you can't help yourself.
(08:57):
You turn to this total stranger and you say, hey, you need to taste and see this is.
I mean, it's really good. And so you take the little mini weenie or whatever
it is, and you hand it to them, and you say, taste and see, it's good.
It's that easy, and yet we don't do it when it comes to this not only life-altering
(09:19):
experience, but eternity offering that we received.
Taste and see that it's good. Taste and see that the liberty that comes with
freedom in Christ is like nothing you've ever had before.
Taste and see that it's better than good.
(09:42):
It's freedom. It's freedom that, frankly, many of us Christians find difficult
to handle because it's easier to stay in the box and follow rules.
But we really need to be willing to express the freedom that comes through Christ
(10:04):
more than anything else.
And when we do that, people do taste and see that it is good.
As we discuss giving missions money to funds and offering extra cash to the
church's outreach missions and opportunities.
(10:25):
There is a certain act in that that is disciple-making in that we enable and
fund that and certainly can't do it without your giving.
And so it's vital that you continue to
pledge and then fulfill your commitment to the
Lord to give the extra mile in the form of extra offerings so that the church
(10:50):
and its many volunteer disciples can do the work that is undergirded with financial support.
There are things we can't do without money, but the real act of discipleship
is the person going into the field and saying, taste and see.
(11:13):
It is good. So I'm going to challenge you today to go ahead and make your pledge,
but pledge not only to give financially to support the ministries of outreach
and evangelism, but also to pledge your discipleship.
To pledge your discipleship means that you'll go into the field,
(11:33):
you'll go outside these doors and continue to be witnesses for Christ.
And honestly, churches don't make it a very good habit of inviting people to
do that, but there's never been a more important time than right now for doing that.
There's never been a more important time to go out and tell people that they
(11:54):
are missing something, and they're not going to be able to get this anywhere else.
If you can't get the name brand drug, you can get the generic.
If you can't get the expensive stuff in your grocery store, they have the less
expensive offerings too, and so on and so forth.
(12:16):
If you are no longer able to afford to go out to eat because of inflation,
you can still afford afford to eat.
But when it comes to the offering that we are talking about,
there are no alternatives.
There's no generic brand. Remember when the generics were all in white boxes with black lettering?
(12:38):
Can you imagine if you were offering people the generic version of the Bible
and it was white with black lettering and it just had a few words in it?
You know, as though, yeah, yeah, well, this one's the cheap version.
There is no cheaper version of the gospel.
There's no generic version of the gospel. There's no short-cutting the truth
(12:59):
that saves people's lives for all eternity.
And we have to be willing to give that to people so they can taste and see that it is good.
And we all must be willing to do that. This has never gone over particularly
well with people in church, but I have to say it anyway.
(13:19):
There's a reason why we don't have our children and grandchildren in church
with us like we used to back in the day.
And the reason ultimately comes back to us.
Now, I'll grant you some of them are living elsewhere and going to church elsewhere,
and thank God for that. But the point that we need to own, whether it feels
(13:39):
good or not, is that we haven't been telling them to taste and see.
We haven't been compelling them to consider the gospel.
Instead, we've been inviting them to church.
We've been inviting them to experience a religion or a social environment.
(14:00):
Environment, and it turns out they're not that interested because we've been
offering them something other than the one and only gospel that cannot be downgraded
to something easier to swallow.
We can't give them anything but the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
That thing we've been talking about for the last several weeks now,
(14:22):
for months, we've been talking about the gospel of the the kingdom.
Christ is the king.
And we know that under his leadership, it is good.
And that when we try to be in charge of our own lives and our own affairs to
the extent that we disregard his leadership, we're not really acting much like
(14:46):
citizens of the kingdom at all.
And so this year, I want to ask you, I want to plead with you,
not only to support the mission and outreach of the church in financial ways,
but I want to plead with you to be disciples who seek disciples.
Who intentionally and deliberately, wherever you're called to do it,
(15:07):
which might be a pup ministry like the video or might be in your own family before it's too late,
you invite them to taste and see the gospel of Christ and his kingdom.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you with our hearts full of gratitude,
(15:27):
echoing the words of the psalmist, I will bless the Lord at at all times,
his praise shall continually be in my mouth as we prepare to give our first-mile
offerings and pledge our second-mile commitment.
We acknowledge the abundance of blessings you've poured onto our lives.
(15:51):
Lord, the message from your heart and mine today, woven through the Psalms and
your son's great commission resonates deeply within us.
We have tasted and seen your goodness, and our hearts are compelled to respond.
We thank you for the opportunity to participate in the mission you've entrusted to us.
(16:16):
Just as the patriarch David couldn't contain his praise, we cannot contain our
desire to share the love of Christ with others.
As we give to mission funds and prepare to serve in discipleship,
outreach, and evangelism, may our actions reflect the joy and gratitude we find in your presence.
(16:39):
We pray that our contributions, both financial and through service will be used
to make disciples of all nations.
May our giving be an extension of our worship, a tangible expression of love
we've experienced in you.
Empower us, Lord, to be vessels of compassion, bringing your light to the darkest corners of the world.
(17:06):
As we present our offerings, we do so with the faith and expectation,
trusting that you will multiply them for the advancement of your kingdom.
Bless each giver, Lord, and bless the work of our hands and hearts in service to your mission.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray. Amen.
(17:30):
Music.
Music.
(00:08):
Each year at this time, you are invited to go the extra mile,
and this is referring to Christ's call in Matthew chapter 5.
You might remember we read from the Sermon on the Mount last week.
Well, a little further down the text from where we left off last week,
(00:28):
Jesus tells you that if someone compels you to go a mile in their service, go an extra mile.
If he asks you for your cloak, give him your shirt too.
And the idea is that insurgents are people who do more than is asked for them
(00:48):
as a way of honoring God and frankly confounding those who would be evil to them.
And so this second mile emphasis that we do each year is an invitation to do
not only that which is a sort of obligation of faith and devotion,
but to go the extra mile, to do as Jesus commanded.
(01:12):
Now, with that in mind, I'd like to share with you from Psalm 34, the why.
So, if you would read along with me as we go through Psalm 34,
I will extol the Lord at all times.
His praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
(01:34):
Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord and he answered me. He delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame.
The poor man called, and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles.
(01:59):
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear Fear him, lack nothing.
(02:20):
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies.
Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.
(02:45):
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them. He delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
(03:09):
The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
He protects all his bones. Not one of them will be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked. The foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord will rescue his servants. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
(03:33):
And this is the word of the Lord for the people of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. Now, listen, this is the why.
Why do we do good works? Why do we go the second, third, fourth mile?
Why do we pick up the one who falls down in their driveway and needs our help? Why do we do it?
Because it is our way of extolling the Lord or proclaiming his name.
(03:59):
It is our witness to give more than is expected of us because the Lord has given us more than we need.
He always exceeds our expectations and needs, unless, of course,
we impose upon him expectations and desires that are not consistent with the Lord's will. will.
(04:24):
This whole entire lifestyle of gratitude is the goal of every believer.
When we talk about being insurgents and recognizing our unique calling in society
to be different and to undermine what is considered normal, it's done with our attitude.
(04:46):
It's done in a way that represents presents Christ and it gives glory to God,
not in the things that we do that subvert like some sort of destruction or violence,
but rather by being so radically different from the norm that people can't figure
out what to think with us.
(05:07):
They look at us and they're perplexed. Why would you go the extra mile, they think?
Why would you give this person who has offended you even more.
Why? And the answer is because we love the Lord and because if we can somehow
bait you into asking these questions,
(05:29):
you heard me right, it's what missionaries have been doing for generation after generation.
Through good works and through extolling the Lord by way of deeds that are are
endlessly generous and gracious by doing more than is expected of us,
we perplex people into asking us questions that invite the opportunity to explain
(05:54):
to them what's behind it all.
And so it's a taste and see moment.
Remember, right in the middle of the psalm that we just read,
There is this statement, taste and see, the Lord is good.
Now, let's go to Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 to 20.
(06:17):
And again, I'll read it. And if you want to follow along, it's on page 993 in your pew Bible.
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told
them to go. This is after the resurrection.
And when they saw him, they worshipped him.
But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority on heaven
(06:38):
and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always to the end of the age.
Now, if you combine these two passages that we have read,
(07:03):
you begin to see that Jesus is commanding us to take what has been roiling and
boiling in our hearts and go ahead and express it. it.
We're funny. Most of us are people who don't have any hesitation about expressing
how much we love a sports team or how much we love our community or how proud
(07:25):
we are of our high school or our particular institutions and shared experiences around the community.
But whenever it comes to the expression of this love and magnificence that has
overwhelmed you and changed changed you forever, we feel restrained.
(07:46):
We feel as though we're imposing on other people. Somehow we are doing something that isn't welcome.
And the truth is, it doesn't matter whether it's welcomed by them or not.
If the Lord is compelling you to extol his name, give glory to him, then why not say so?
(08:08):
Really, what's stopping you? What's the worst thing that could happen?
Maybe you lose a few friends, and maybe that's just all right.
Maybe you get laughed at by people whose lives are shorter than yours because
they don't have eternity to look forward to.
Maybe you find out that they just don't know what they're missing.
(08:33):
Have you ever been to one of those warehouse stores like Costco or Sam's when
they're giving out samples? examples, what does that sweet little old lady want you to do?
She wants you to taste and see that it is good. And maybe you're tasting the
thing and you're going, hey, that is good.
And some person is standing a few feet away thinking about trying it and you can't help yourself.
(08:57):
You turn to this total stranger and you say, hey, you need to taste and see this is.
I mean, it's really good. And so you take the little mini weenie or whatever
it is, and you hand it to them, and you say, taste and see, it's good.
It's that easy, and yet we don't do it when it comes to this not only life-altering
(09:19):
experience, but eternity offering that we received.
Taste and see that it's good. Taste and see that the liberty that comes with
freedom in Christ is like nothing you've ever had before.
Taste and see that it's better than good.
(09:42):
It's freedom. It's freedom that, frankly, many of us Christians find difficult
to handle because it's easier to stay in the box and follow rules.
But we really need to be willing to express the freedom that comes through Christ
(10:04):
more than anything else.
And when we do that, people do taste and see that it is good.
As we discuss giving missions money to funds and offering extra cash to the
church's outreach missions and opportunities.
(10:25):
There is a certain act in that that is disciple-making in that we enable and
fund that and certainly can't do it without your giving.
And so it's vital that you continue to
pledge and then fulfill your commitment to the
Lord to give the extra mile in the form of extra offerings so that the church
(10:50):
and its many volunteer disciples can do the work that is undergirded with financial support.
There are things we can't do without money, but the real act of discipleship
is the person going into the field and saying, taste and see.
(11:13):
It is good. So I'm going to challenge you today to go ahead and make your pledge,
but pledge not only to give financially to support the ministries of outreach
and evangelism, but also to pledge your discipleship.
To pledge your discipleship means that you'll go into the field,
(11:33):
you'll go outside these doors and continue to be witnesses for Christ.
And honestly, churches don't make it a very good habit of inviting people to
do that, but there's never been a more important time than right now for doing that.
There's never been a more important time to go out and tell people that they
(11:54):
are missing something, and they're not going to be able to get this anywhere else.
If you can't get the name brand drug, you can get the generic.
If you can't get the expensive stuff in your grocery store, they have the less
expensive offerings too, and so on and so forth.
(12:16):
If you are no longer able to afford to go out to eat because of inflation,
you can still afford afford to eat.
But when it comes to the offering that we are talking about,
there are no alternatives.
There's no generic brand. Remember when the generics were all in white boxes with black lettering?
(12:38):
Can you imagine if you were offering people the generic version of the Bible
and it was white with black lettering and it just had a few words in it?
You know, as though, yeah, yeah, well, this one's the cheap version.
There is no cheaper version of the gospel.
There's no generic version of the gospel. There's no short-cutting the truth
(12:59):
that saves people's lives for all eternity.
And we have to be willing to give that to people so they can taste and see that it is good.
And we all must be willing to do that. This has never gone over particularly
well with people in church, but I have to say it anyway.
(13:19):
There's a reason why we don't have our children and grandchildren in church
with us like we used to back in the day.
And the reason ultimately comes back to us.
Now, I'll grant you some of them are living elsewhere and going to church elsewhere,
and thank God for that. But the point that we need to own, whether it feels
(13:39):
good or not, is that we haven't been telling them to taste and see.
We haven't been compelling them to consider the gospel.
Instead, we've been inviting them to church.
We've been inviting them to experience a religion or a social environment.
(14:00):
Environment, and it turns out they're not that interested because we've been
offering them something other than the one and only gospel that cannot be downgraded
to something easier to swallow.
We can't give them anything but the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
That thing we've been talking about for the last several weeks now,
(14:22):
for months, we've been talking about the gospel of the the kingdom.
Christ is the king.
And we know that under his leadership, it is good.
And that when we try to be in charge of our own lives and our own affairs to
the extent that we disregard his leadership, we're not really acting much like
(14:46):
citizens of the kingdom at all.
And so this year, I want to ask you, I want to plead with you,
not only to support the mission and outreach of the church in financial ways,
but I want to plead with you to be disciples who seek disciples.
Who intentionally and deliberately, wherever you're called to do it,
(15:07):
which might be a pup ministry like the video or might be in your own family before it's too late,
you invite them to taste and see the gospel of Christ and his kingdom.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you with our hearts full of gratitude,
(15:27):
echoing the words of the psalmist, I will bless the Lord at at all times,
his praise shall continually be in my mouth as we prepare to give our first-mile
offerings and pledge our second-mile commitment.
We acknowledge the abundance of blessings you've poured onto our lives.
(15:51):
Lord, the message from your heart and mine today, woven through the Psalms and
your son's great commission resonates deeply within us.
We have tasted and seen your goodness, and our hearts are compelled to respond.
We thank you for the opportunity to participate in the mission you've entrusted to us.
(16:16):
Just as the patriarch David couldn't contain his praise, we cannot contain our
desire to share the love of Christ with others.
As we give to mission funds and prepare to serve in discipleship,
outreach, and evangelism, may our actions reflect the joy and gratitude we find in your presence.
(16:39):
We pray that our contributions, both financial and through service will be used
to make disciples of all nations.
May our giving be an extension of our worship, a tangible expression of love
we've experienced in you.
Empower us, Lord, to be vessels of compassion, bringing your light to the darkest corners of the world.
(17:06):
As we present our offerings, we do so with the faith and expectation,
trusting that you will multiply them for the advancement of your kingdom.
Bless each giver, Lord, and bless the work of our hands and hearts in service to your mission.
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray. Amen.
(17:30):
Music.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.