Mark 12:41-44
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Point one: We are all guilty. Did you get that? Guilt isn’t reserved for the seedy, deceptive reprobates of our world. Humanity is guilty before God, and that includes you (Rom. 3:10-12). Every person is deviant. Every person is liable for their unholy behavior. Each one of us is without excuse. Therefore God will hold all of us accountable for our action. If you struggle to cover your guilt now, how well will it go for you when examined by the eternal, omniscient, righteous Judge? If you sense your guilt, be thankful because the overwhelming sense of guilt was created in us to search for a solution to escape the weight of our condemnation.

You will choose one of three ways

First, there are those who feel no guilt and offer no excuse for their sin because they have a seared conscience. 1 Timothy 4:2 speaks of lying, hypocritical, faith-deniers who de-activated their natural conscience. Don’t be fooled by their actions. They are guilty, but they have subverted guilty emotions by believing the doctrine of demons and listening to deceptive spirits (1 Tim. 4:1).

Second, there are believers who feel guilt for the right reasons. This person is devastated by a sense of remorse over sin and seeks relief from their burden. Their good conscience is accompanied by a pure heart and sincere faith. If this is you, be thankful for the Spirit’s work in  your heart because you’re exhibiting a biblical conscience. However, guilt from a biblical conscience is a path, not a destination. It’s designed to lead you, not cure you.

Third, there are believers who suffer with a weak conscience (Rom. 14:1-2, 23). These individuals suffer from hyper-active, pharisaic self-mastication. In effort to produce righteousness in addition to the Gospel, they impose religious standards and fundamentalist regulations – all in an effort to overwhelm their guilty conscience by doing good works.

There is an answer

Please begin with the truth: We are not innocent, but guilty. Because of our guilt we are without hope. Our only hope outside of ourselves is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This Gospel declares us righteous from our sin by faith in Jesus Christ. God himself assures of us of our “forgivenness.” But complete freedom from sin and its accompanying guilt is reserved for eternal life. So overcoming guilt is less about feeling better about our condition, and more about believing the faithfulness of God about the Gospel. Victory over guilt is a hopeful anticipation of future glorification. What God has declared us to be in the Gospel, he will ultimately make us. “We will be like him for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2).

Confession never comes before conviction. God, as a loving Father, convicts his children in order to change them. This is a stressful, sometimes embarrassing, always painful process of sanctification. AND it is always GOOD! If you’re regularly convicted of sin, especially moral heart-issues, this gives evidence of your genuine faith. Hebrews 12:7, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

Conviction leads nowhere without confidence in God. When confidence in God is related to conviction of sin, it becomes like a bathroom faucet. Turn the left knob for hot water, and turn the right knob for cold. Both are useful under different circumstances, but normally it’s a balanced mixture of both that cleans your hands. Our confidence in God works exactly the same way. Both the heat of his correction and the light of his grace cleanses our soul. When we sin and refuse his correct, we’re assured of his discipline and judgment. But if we sin and confess, we’re equally assured of his grace, forgiveness and healing. Which part of confidence in God motivates you to confess? Do you confess because you HAVE to, or do you confess because you GET to? Both work, but his goodness is more enjoyable than his judgment. “Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead  you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4)

Conviction built on confidence leads us to confession. Only confession focused on the Forgiver rather than the forgiven will merit the refreshing joy of being cleansed. Sexual sin is a persistent foe. Long after the offense, the accuser continues to enslave the forgiven with the penalty of their sin (Rev. 12:10). True confession involves more than admitting one’s guilt. It includes believing in the continuing power of the Gospel – that we cannot establish our own righteousness, but receive a righteousness that is from God by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross (Rom. 10:3). You can be forgiven and freed to live a new life (different from your past) ONLY because of the cross of Jesus Christ. Wear it around you neck, or hang it from your rearview mirror, or stick it to the refrigerator door. Joyful forgiveness demands that we see the cross every day.

Mahaney gives useful daily tips for cultivating humility and crushing pride. You can purchase his book HERE. May the notes inspire you to invest in the book, as well as humility.

p. 13 - “I’m a proud man pursuing humility by the grace of God.”

p. 22 - “Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.”

p. 31 - “Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon him.”

A method for daily weakening pride, our greatest enemy,

and strengthening humility, our greatest friend.

Every Morning

1. Reflect on the wonder of the cross of Christ
2. Acknowledge your dependence upon and need for God
3. Express gratefulness to God
4. Practice the spiritual disciplines of prayer, study of the Word, and worship
5. Seize your commute time to memorize and meditate on Scripture
6. Cast your cares upon him

Every Evening

1. Transfer all the day’s glory to God
2. Receive the gift of sleep and acknowledge his purpose in it
3. Enjoy someone else sustaining you

Pure Doctrine Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.           The remaining description of the early church given in Acts 2 beginning with verse 42 is distinct from the first two purity aspects of an Organic Church we have studied in the past two weeks. A pure Gospel and pure identity directly refer to the crowd's response to Peter's message on the Day of Pentecost. Yet the following five purity aspects of an Organic Church give an insider's glimpse of the weekly habits of the early church. Certainly Luke records these details for propaganda purposes. He not only intends generations of Christians to read his historical account of the early church, but also to replicate in their own meetings the four elements found in Acts 2:42. This Sunday we will address our relationship to the Apostles' teaching, our mandate for Christian fellowship, our remembrance of the Lord's Supper, and our need for corporate prayer. That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets,            and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 2 Peter 3:2

What is an Organic Church? An organic church is a church unhindered by novelties and tradition, and intentional about the glory of God, the promotion of the Gospel and the maturity of believers.

Pass It Along          Statistics show that 75% of guests check out a church's website before visiting the church. We are consistently updating lexingtonbaptistchurch.org to provide current information about events and ministry happening now.           Please invite your friends and coworkers to LBC's website by clicking on the E-invite icon on our home page. Simply insert your email address and the email address of your friend. Here is a wonderful conversation starter about LBC, the Bible and the Gospel. Print Sermon notes HERE Download recent or archived sermons by clicking HERE Subscribe LBC Podcast by clicking HERE Signup for LBC Enewsletters HERE

I agree with what the author says about community.  That is it should allow people within the group to connect with each other in natural unplanned ways.  This idea is actually very prominent in Christian circles today and is referred to as organic (my favorite term), or as one of my friends calls it, “liquid”.  No matter what this relaxed form of interaction is called there seems to be a great need for it within churches.

Organic community basically means that individuals within the group will meet many times during the week outside of church.  The idea is that the people are always doing things together during the week.  And many times these things they do together aren’t planned but just come up spontaneously. 

In a way the members of this community spend so much time together they become like real family.  In time they can gain things such as “refrigerator rights”.  This is the title of a book written by Will Miller and Glen Sparks that discusses the fact that very few of us have rights (privileges) in other peoples lives.  The term refrigerator rights refers to a person feeling comfortable enough to help themselves to a sandwich and drink from another persons refrigerator without asking.

This kind of community goes much deeper than meeting once or twice a week.  The question is how do we gain this?  The author of the book that started my thinking about this had an idea that I first thought was crazy, but is starting to make sense.  According to him true community can only exist between individuals who live within walking distance of each other’s houses. 

After laughing at the idea for a few minutes I realized that Mr. Frazee was right.  The only way to have this “liquid” or “organic” community is to live within close vicinity to one another.  Of course this led to my next question.  How is it possible to do this in the real world where most of us live thirty minutes or more from most of our close friends? 

This thought is heavy on my heart because I desire to have that deeper community with the teens and young adults who I minister to during the week.  I personally feel that there is an answer to that question, but I don’t know what it is.  I guess it isn’t about knowing all of the answers.  Instead it is about trying to develop deeper relationships with fellow Believers.   Maybe the first step to creating this community isn’t moving to a new home, but opening your refrigerator 

If you parent a teenager with a cell phone, it’s likely that you’ve had a text messaging talk with your child. Maybe you’re willing to share a cell phone bill horror story with me by way of commenting on this blog post. Maybe not. To save you the embarrassment, I’ve already have a collection of similar stories from parents at LBC. But I could always use another good sermon illustration (anonymously of course). The Washington Post published an insightful article on the affects of text messaging on teen culture – the good and bad. You can read the article via msnbc.com HERE.

Whether you’re a thumb-texting machine or a technological hermit, ministry-minded leadership can’t ignore this powerful medium of communication. I have teens at LBC who will text me past 10:00 pm, but will not speak to me in the church hallway. And I am still in my 20’s. This article provokes great thought and discussion. For those of us who desire to communicate the Gospel of Jesus clearly and defend the inerrancy of Scripture passionately, can texting be useful without being destructive?

- William Wilberforce in A Retrospect of the Year 1801 (1802)