When It Actually Is Spiritual | Different Standards | Judah Smith

Hey, church home. Welcome to the month of August. August. My sister was born in August, actually. So, Wendy, if perhaps you're watching this this uh this sermon, happy birthday. I love you. Um that is my older sister. She's been my older sister my whole life. And uh I love her very very much.

But welcome to the month of August. And here's my thought process for the whole month. And we're going to look at uh five verses in essentially five weeks here in the month of August. What do you do when something actually is spiritual? Now in the line of work that I'm in um that is a preacher working with people helping them along their spiritual journey oftentimes I find as the scripture says first the natural then the spiritual for instance people often will pray for whiter teeth but they could also brush their teeth.

Uh people will hope to not have body odor and they could also wear deodorant. By the way, side note, I see a lot of like deodorants that are really bad for you. And what happens when you're 46 and you've been wearing those bad deodorants your whole life? Like, I'm willing to change for sure, but um I know there's like there's like aluminum or something in my deodorant.

Guys, just pray for me. I don't know what to do. I've been wearing aluminum under my armpits for 40 plus years, and that's just the facts. Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program. Um there are things that are just natural and the scripture speaks to that. For instance, sometimes when we're thirsty, we can pray that we won't be thirsty or we can get a glass of water.

Um there are things that are more natural than not. But there are things that are first and foremost more spiritual than not. What do you do? What do you do when it actually is spiritual? Um, overspiritualizing things is, man, I I almost want to call it an epidemic in my line of work.

Often times I see people overspiritualizing stuff they're going through. It's like, well, it's the devil attacking me. Well, it also might be the things you're eating, you know, like it also might be, you know, the fact that um you're not getting out of bed, you know, but what happens and what do you do when you find yourself in a chapter, a season, a moment where it is spiritual?

Like it actually is a spiritual fight. It actually is a spiritual moment. And that brings us to a passage just the other day that I felt came to my mind and to my heart based on some things that I'm facing in my own life. So I want to read you five verses.

These five verses we'll dedicate the whole month of August to looking at, understanding, extrapolating, expounding on, and applying to our everyday life. What do you do when suddenly it dawns on you this is more spiritual than natural? What should be your response? What should be your reaction? What should be your mode of operation?

Listen to this. Now, please listen. Paul says to the church in Corinth, I need to address an issue. Now, before we go any further, I want to say these five verses are not written to an individual. They're written to a community. A community in uh a city called Corinth.

Uh Corinth has become a port city. It's a very metropolitan, a vogue city, if you will, but it is rampid with um a lot of sex, uh a lot of partying, a lot of drinking, and a lot of idol worship. By the time we get second Corinthians, Paul has when he's writing this, he might have about six, seven, eight years left to live.

He's probably in his 50s or so. He started this church in Corenth. Um probably I think it was like 10 years now the church has been going as he's writing this letter. So again this letter is written in a format so that the leaders of the community will read it publicly to the whole church.

So this is five verses. We're read we're extrapolating from this second letter to those living in Corenth following Jesus. But this is a letter that is to be read to the whole community. So you'll see a lot of we in there, which I think is incredibly applicable to you and me because we're a part of a community called church home.

And so this is what we ought to be thinking. This is what we ought to be doing. This is what we ought to be absorbing together. Paul says, "Now, please listen. I need to address an issue. I'm making this personal appeal to you by the greatness and self- forgetfulness of, excuse me, by the gentleness and self-forgetfulness of Jesus.

I am the one who is humble and timid when face tof face with you, but bold and outspoken when a safe distance away. That, by the way, was gossip and critique about Paul that his letters that he wrote were so bold, but when you see him in person, he's skinny and frail and unimpressive.

He says, 'Now I plead with you that when I come, don't force me to take a hard line with you, which I'm willing to do, but by daring to confront those who mistakenly believe that we are living by the standards of the world and not by the spirit's wisdom and power.

For although we live in the natural realm, here we go, we don't wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized. Our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God.

We capture like prisoners of war every thought and insist that it bow in the obedience to the anointed one, a title for Jesus. and it yield to Jesus. I was facing a situation recently uh relationally and just asked God, what do I do? I just asked him, "What do I do?"

And perhaps you've been there, God, what do you what do you want me to do? And it was this passage that came to my mind. Now, if you know me, you know that I didn't know was in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I'm not good with addresses, but uh I try to think about one verse a day.

Uh on this day, all the verses I'm thinking about are what I'm um speaking on, but most days I'll have kind of a random verse that I'll just think on through the day. And so, as a result, scriptures can come to me when I need them most, which is such a dynamic part of my relationship with God.

And a couple of days ago, I was having one of those moments. God, what do you want me to do? And what I heard in my brain was our weapons are not carnal. They're not fleshly, but they're spiritual and they're mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. That is a different version than the Passion translation I just read from, which I think is more descriptive, but that's a verse that I have thought of before and it came to me.

As it came to me, it dawned on me what I'm dealing with is more spiritual than natural. And so from that point, I started to go to this verse. I had to find it first. I went to the Bible app and I typed in uh I think tearing down strongholds or not carnal, whatever.

I typed in and then there it was 2 Corinthians chapter 10. And I started to read it. I read it for a while and then uh we actually had a staff meeting for the church uh for the church home staff and I shared some of these thoughts and then I started to prepare for you and for this and for our community and immediately knew that the month of August we were going to spend time on these five verses because and only because I feel like I'm facing things in my own life that are more spiritual than natural.

And I've had to ask myself in that situation, what do I do? So I shared these five reflections from these five verses with our staff. We have number one, we have different standards. Number two, uh we use different weapons. Number three, we use divine dismantling. Number four, we use the opposite of an arrogant attitude.

We use a different attitude. to number five. We yield all things to Jesus as king. To Jesus and his kingdom. So those will be the next five weeks. Now, if you're like, "Well, that was a lot. I that I I don't know if I can remember that." Don't worry.

We're going to take it one step at a time here. What do I do when it actually is spiritual? Well, that brings us to sermon number one. And for the next 10 minutes, um, I want to start I want to give you three observations here about our different standards.

Different standards. But the first thing I'm going to say is one of the ways you'll know because if you're like me, you're already thinking about this. How do I know if it's more spiritual than natural? How do I know it's more natural than spiritual? And this would be my explanation.

And I gathered this from Paul's letters to the Corinthians. There is a tension that you will feel and the tension is outlined clearly there in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse two that we I plead with you that when I come don't force me he says but we are living by the st we are not living by the standards of the world but by spirit the spirit's wisdom and power and then the next verse he says although we live in the natural realm we don't wage a military campa camp campaign employing human weapons so we live in the natural realm, but it's also spiritual.

Now, I want to say this, how you know something is spiritual and not natural is that you feel this tension. I know it's weird, but you'll feel this tension. You'll suddenly feel the tension of like, hey, this is maybe not just a brush your teeth, get a glass of water moment.

This actually might be spiritual. That's one of the ways. I know that sounds silly, but that's one of the ways you'll know it's more spiritual than natural. You'll just start to have those thoughts. Hey, I I think I feel some tension here. And here's the tension we ultimately live in.

We are in the flesh, but we don't live by the flesh. I'm going to say it again. We are in our fleshly body, but our fleshly body does not dictate and determine how we move through every given day. which is to say, I am not ruled anymore by the impulses of my body.

I am now led by the impulses of my soul and spirit which have been made li alive because of the forgiveness of Jesus. So now my life is lived in this unique tension. I'm in the flesh but I don't live by the flesh. I'm in the flesh, but I live by the spirit.

And so, there is a tension in our life. That tension will be accentuated. You'll be made more aware of it when something in your life is more spiritual than not. If you suddenly have it in your mind to stop and pray, another great sign, what you're in the middle of is more spiritual than natural.

The urge to pray, I believe, is God's way of saying, "Hey, this is not by might. It's not by power. It's not by strength. I want you to stop and talk to me about it." By the way, prayer changes you, not God. Prayer changes you, not God. So, when God urges you to pray, it's because he wants to encounter you.

He wants to help you see something you're not currently seeing. Help you feel something you're not currently feeling. Help you say something you're not currently saying. So, he'll stop you and give you the idea, I'm going to pray right now. A lot of people will say you need to pray for hours on end.

That may be the case. I say you need to pray as long as he gives you the energy and the strength to pray. And that could be three, four, five minutes, but everything can change. We are in the flesh, but my day is not dictated and determined by my flesh.

So there is a tension here where I say no to my flesh so that I can engage my soul and my spirit that by definition the scripture says is alive because of the forgiveness of Jesus. So we have different standards. We have different standards. What do you mean?

Well, our standard is not go get it done. Go simply do it. Our standard says, "Hey, there's a tension here." And it's not just about in the flesh, by the flesh. I'm in a human body clearly, but I can access a spiritual part of me. Every single human being has a spirit portion of their being and you can access that.

I believe the accessing of the spirit and the soul is a big part of the dynamic relationship you have with God. And sometimes we need to tell the flesh no and say I'm going to yield to the spirit and so what they desire and that can lead to in the middle of the hectic busy wild day you just pray quietly within yourself.

Now this different standard of in the flesh but not by the flesh. So our standard is not we are not going to accomplish what needs to be accomplished in this spiritual chapter of our life by just working it out. We've got to trust him. We've got to walk it out by the spirit.

And this is leads us to our second observation of different standards and that is there is a gentleness that will settle over your life. there is a gentleness that will settle over your life. this gentleness which we will bring up again um I believe in the fourth week of this study Paul speaks in fact if we can go back to verse one look how he opens up this entire chapter and please listen I need to address an issue I'm making this personal appeal to you by the gentleness and self forgiveness self forgetfulness of Jesus so he's saying listen I'm not using force here.

I'm using gentleness. I'm using trust. You are going to be tempted to use a different standard in an urgent time that you might be feeling. I'm going to say it plainly again. The chapter that I'm in in my life right now is very spiritual. It can be painful.

I can wake up with pain in my soul and I don't even know why. It's like something's achy, something's hurting, and there is an urge to instead of being gentle to take control to um instead of trusting God and moving in gentleness, I want to use force. Do you know that feeling?

Gentleness is not weakness. I'm going to say it again. Gentleness is not weakness. It is in times of challenge, times of headwind, calm storms, where the last thing we want to be is gentle. Why? Because that seems weak. But the scripture says, "When I am weak, he is strong and the power of Christ rests upon me."

Gentleness is not weakness. You will be tempted right now to use force in your life. You will be tempted in this chapter of your life to force it, work it, and make it happen. But I urge you, as Paul says, in the gentleness and selfforgetfulness of Jesus, that's a different standard.

Now in the natural realm when you come up against headwind and when you come against problems and of course to use the sports metaphor you know it's a mentality that says like you know we're going to weather the storm we're going to endure it we're going to fight it we're going to resist it we're going to stand we're going to but the way of Jesus is quite different gentleness and self forgetfulness and some will say it's weakness some will say it's weakness And that leads us to the sermon on the mount.

My hero, your hero Jesus taught a wild sermon. Now it has been over the corridors of history and over the ages of time. It has been remarked as the greatest public speech of all time. Jesus his sermon on the mount where he says things like if someone hurts you don't fight back turn the other cheek. where he says if someone speaks ill of you that you that you would bless them that you would be poor in spirit that you would be a peacemaker.

Some things are spiritual friends right now. Perhaps you're going through one of the most peculiar and unique seasons of your life. The tension you feel is not because you're crazy. It's because somehow you know you're in the flesh. But this will not be you will not be seen through this chapter by your flesh.

God's work will lead you into gentleness. And you will think to yourself, I'm being weak, but in God's economy, in the way of Jesus, you're being strong. And then I hope perhaps you can take soulless in the words of Jesus on the sermon on the mount which is a speech he gave on a hillside or a mountain side and it's there that he talks about being blessed and being happy but the standards he set turn the other cheek is radically different than the standard standards we see in today's culture.

Um, I am reminded that in my estimation, and I must be careful because I'm no expert, but any social construct that is in desperate need of justice and biblical equity, it is somehow in some way connected to the wonderful words of Jesus that he speaks on that mountaintop.

It was Dr. King who believed and many other social justice workers and soldiers who understood that gentleness is not weakness. That turning the other cheek would be one of the only ways we could heal the the the divisiveness that destroys the fabric of our country and many around the world.

Why do I say that? Because things like racism are way more spiritual than natural. They just are. What are we going to do? What are we going to do with these overwhelming, depraved mentalities and thoughts that wreak havoc in our culture and in the streets of our city?

Well, one of the ways is we're going to understand and absorb we have different standards. The way of Jesus is quite literally different than the way of all flesh and the way of human effort. There is a tension and perhaps you're feeling it right now. That's a good sign.

You will be pulled into a life of gentleness and your brain will play tricks on you and tell you that you are weak. And then before you know it, you will start to look and live like the words Jesus exclaimed on the mountaintop in that great and grand sermon.

We find that in the Gospels and you'll see the glaring differences of the standards of the world. Simply put, Jesus exemplified this. Jesus walked and moved and spoke and lived and loved just like this with clearly overtly different standards. So in conclusion, resist the natural standards of the world that instruct you to take control, force it, work it, and make it happen.

Perhaps you are being pulled in by God's love and grace to acknowledge the tension in the flesh but not by the flesh. Gentleness is the way, not control and manipulation. And well, the standards of God are different seen in the person of Jesus. You know, I do these sermons and ultimately I don't think you remember them all.

I don't remember them all. I've watched some of these sermons back and I think to myself, I don't really remember that day and I don't remember totally speaking that sermon. But what are we doing here? hop in that one sentence, hop in that one phrase, hop in that even perhaps a story, it sticks with you and you move closer to the wonderful ways of Jesus and most importantly closer to the person of Jesus.

And there and only there your life can change, your standards can change, your priorities can change. And so that is our objective. That's my passion and that's my purpose for being here. If you find yourself resonating with the words I'm sharing, stick with me whole month of August and we're going to go through more of this passage which I think will help you to know what to do when it actually is spiritual.

Let me pray for you. God, thank you for this letter. Thanks for Paul. Thanks for changing his life and inspiring him to write these words. Help us now. We are so inclined to live by the standards of our society and country and culture, but we want to live by your standards.

If you're watching this and you would like to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers, you can do that right here, right now. Just say, "I do. Jesus, my life is yours and it's over. And yet, it's just beginning your journey with Jesus. Let us know on Pastor Chat how we can serve you, how we can help you.

And I really am looking forward to the month of August here as we talk about what to do when it actually is spiritual. I'll see you next week. ((music playing)) I call you faithful for the promises you've kept and every need you've met. Lord, I'm so grateful. You were with me every step and I never will forget.

Cuz when I think of how you've blessed me, how your hand has never let me go. You've never let me go. Cuz you have been so good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. So good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me.

What a friend you have been. I call you Savior. for the blood that washed me clean. For the wrongs that you redeemed and I know you're aable, my eyes don't have to see. One more reason to believe. Cuz when I think of how you've blessed me, how your hand has never let me go.

You never let me go cuz you have been so good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. So good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. Oh, what a friend you've been.

Oh, cuz for every morning, for every open door, I call you faithful. And I just want to thank you, Lord, for every mountain, for every time you brought me through. I call you faithful. And I just want to thank you, Lord, for your forgiveness, for how you never turned away.

I call you faithful, and I just want to thank you, Lord, for your salvation. You paid the price I couldn't pay. I call you faithful and I just want to thank you, Lord. ((music playing)) Oh, and I just want to thank you, Lord. ((music playing)) Oh. Oh. Oh. Cuz you have been so good to me.

God, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. So good to me. God, I can't believe how you love me. What a friend you have been. ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) ((music playing)) ((music playing))