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It’s good to be with you guys. I always, always enjoy our time together. Whether I’m preaching or just doing music or whatever that may be. Being here at alpine. Just a huge blessing for me. Um, I do apologize. I feel like I’m doing you guys a disservice this week. Um, at work, it’s been a crazy week. I’ve put in, um, over 65 hours each week the last two weeks, and so my normal amount of sermon prep was significantly cut down. So I apologize for that. But the good news is, is God. God’s word tells us that His word won’t go forth void. So by preaching His Word, something can happen not because of who I am or what I’ve done, but because of God and who he is. Um, last week we talked about the DNA of of Alpine Bible and what really makes makes up Alpine Bible Church, why we do what we do, why we’re here, and things like that. And Nathaniel shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and moved out here. Um, and this week, I kind of want to piggyback off of that idea of what makes Alpine Bible Alpine Bible here. Um, here at ABC, we’re not about a liturgical system or a religious structure that you’re you follow and must fit in or a mold. I mean, if you if you look around, there’s not really a mold. Uh, to, to fit in here. We’re all very uniquely different.
And at alpine, we don’t want you to to feel like you need to, to be forced into a system that makes you fit in or a framework or structure or anything like that. But we want you to find a real personal relationship with Jesus Christ, because that’s what it’s all about. Um, Jesus says that eternal life is that we may know him. Um, and know God and have that relationship. And so that’s what we’re all about. Um, and based on that, we talked about the idea of how during the winter, we kind of breathe in and we, we, um, tend to dig deeper and do a little bit more deeper theological study. And in the summer we focus on on outreach and going out into the community. And with that idea of reaching out into the community. Um, today I want to look at, um, look at that idea of living outside of ourselves and living for something other than other than ourselves. Um, John Piper, uh, in his book Don’t Waste Your Life, which is an excellent book. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to read it. That actually, um, through reading through that book is what finally pushed me over the edge to to come to Utah. I’ve shared the story of how I got out here multiple times, so I won’t go into it again, but it was the final, final straw that broke, um, broke the camel’s back, if you will, to push me here.
But he says, um, says in that book he says, I will tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who took early retirement from their jobs in the northeast five years ago. He was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells at first when I read it, I thought it might be a joke, a spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream. Come to the end of your life, your one and only precious, God given life, and let the last great work of your life before you give an account to your creator. Be this playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment. Look, Lord, see my shells. That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest. Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life. Nobody wants to come to to the end of their life and think that it’s been a wasted life. Nobody wants to come to the end of being on your deathbed and look back and and look back at your whole life, and you look back and say, oh, it was pointless.
That’s not anybody’s goal in life to come to that point. We all want to get to the end of our life and look back. And it was worth it. It was a life that counted. And so this has been an age old riddle that philosophers have debated back and forth. They might not call it wasting your life or that, but the meaning of life is debated often. What’s the meaning of life? What’s our purpose? Um, and if I were to give you my answer based on what God’s Word tells us, um, I would say that the meaning of life is to die. Um, and that’s what I want to look at today. And we’re going to look in Hebrews chapter 13. We’re going to be in verses nine through 14 is where we’re going to base everything out of. So if you want to go ahead and open your Bible or your Bible app or whatever you’re going to use to follow along. Um, Hebrews chapter 13 and verse nine says this. It says, do not be led away. There we go. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. We have not benefited from those devoted to them which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin, are burned outside the camp.
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Let’s pray before we dive in. Um, God, we just give this time to you, Lord. We ask that your word would go forth with clarity, that our hearts would be ready and receptive, to be changed and molded into who you want us to be. God. Um. Just be at this time. Bless it. God. In Jesus name, Amen. All right, so this is the foundation that we’re going to look at in these, these first two verses in nine and ten is kind of the foundation of what we’re going to build on. Um, and this passage, as I studied it out, I realized I should probably break this passage into like a 3 to 4 week sermon series. Um, but we’re going to try and just cram it into into our session today. Uh, and so we’re going to kind of breeze through a lot of this. But really, if we wanted to dig into it, we could, we could spend a weeks and even months just on these few verses. But the first thing he says to us in nine and ten, it says, don’t be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.
For we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. And this is the foundation to not wasting our life to to living a life with purpose, to finding the meaning of life, its grace versus the law. And this is the battle that’s continually waged. Specifically, the law that the writer of Hebrews is talking about is the rules and guidelines associated with with the temple or the tabernacle. He mentions the tent and he mentions the temple, and it’s talking about the same thing. And he’s talking about the the ordinances and rituals that the Hebrews would, would follow in the temple and what those were. And he’s saying that those those haven’t benefited anyone. When you go to the temple to do those works and offer those sacrifices and do those things, really the only good that comes from it is you. You get a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, and because you did something good and you did something right, and that’s that’s all he says the benefit is. But I mean, if you if you think about it like, I don’t know about you guys, I get a warm, fuzzy feeling like every time I go to JC and get get the the avocado burger or like the mushroom Swiss burger or the bacon burger, any of those burgers give me, they just give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.
I feel really good about myself. And what Paul is saying is the works that you’re doing in the temple, the works that you’re you’re going to fulfill, or accomplishing nothing more than making you feel good. And I don’t know about you, but rather than go and do a bunch of specific, detailed things, I’d rather go get a burger and fries and get a warm, fuzzy feeling that way. But that’s all the law can do for us. It’s either going to lead us to great despair because we can’t live up to it, we can’t follow it, or it’s going to lead us to self righteousness, but it doesn’t benefit us. Galatians chapter three and verse ten, um says that all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law. Just to make sure I didn’t miss, misinterpret or misunderstand what Paul is writing in Galatians chapter three. I looked up the Greek word for cursed and it’s Katara, and it literally means cursed. So those who put yourself under the law, these people in Hebrews that he’s talking about, that are subjecting themselves to the temple rituals and rites, he says, are bringing a curse upon themselves because they’re they’re putting themselves under the law.
Ephesians chapter one. So that’s the law side is the curse that it brings. And he says rather in Philippians or in sorry, in Hebrews chapter 13, he says rather to be strengthened by grace in Ephesians one verses verse three. And then verse seven through eight says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. And Jared just spent a couple of weeks ago, just spent time going through all of Ephesians chapter one, and it’s just a tremendous, tremendous chapter of what we as believers have received through Christ and what he’s done on the cross. And as we look and compare and contrast what grace brings and what the law brings, the law brings a curse and grace brings blessing. Christ has blessed us with all these things. And in verse seven and eight, one of the things it says that he blesses us with is forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. The law doesn’t bring forgiveness. The law shows that we need forgiveness, and submitting ourselves to the law. And a legalistic system doesn’t do anything but bring a curse. What? Let me. Before we get any further, I want to define.
Grace is unearned and undeserved favor and kindness from God. You can’t add anything to grace. And it be grace. It becomes something different. Um. This. This is water. It is H2O. That’s all that’s in it. It tastes good. It’s refreshing. It helps my throat. My mouth was getting a little dry. And so this is Grace and I want to we’re going to take grace. But that’s not enough. We’re going to need a little bit more. So we’re going to add church attendance to Grace. And we’re getting not really water anymore. It’s kind of a pinkish something. Um, but but now it’s. It still works, but it definitely doesn’t taste good. It still wets my throat, but it’s not doing what it’s supposed to. It’s no longer water. It’s water. And something adding anything to grace is going to continue to dilute it. So we add church attendance and let’s add some some tithing to that and say we have to give, you know, 10% minimum. And we’ll add on top of that. We’ll add some a little bit of dress code to it. And everybody better bring your suit and tie next week. And now our grace is turned into. Whatever this is. And. Oh, gosh. In my head. In my head. That was a good picture. And in my mouth, it is not a good taste. Um, but really, if anybody wants to see what that tastes like, feel free afterwards to come up and grab that.
Um, but that’s what we do to Grace when we try and add something to it. We take it from something that’s great and has a specific purpose and accomplishes what it needs, and we turn it into really gross tasting stuff. And that’s what that’s what we do when we try and add to grace. And he says, that’s it. That grace is what it is. That’s all that you need. And there’s a division between the law and grace. And I love what Paul says in Ephesians when he says that he lavishes his grace on us. It’s the word in the Greek, um, literally means that he gives us what we need, and then he gives us more. Um, it’s like going to a buffet. Apparently, I was really hungry when I was typing this because a lot of my analogies are food, but but it’s like going to a buffet, and you go and you get what you need, and then you’re like, man, that was so good. I’m stuffed. Now I got to go get some dessert. And then you go back and you get more. And that’s what God does with his grace. He doesn’t just give you, okay, this is this is what you need. Once you’ve surpassed that, you’re done. You’re cut off. He gives you what you need, and then he gives you even more so that his grace never runs out and his grace is sufficient for us.
You can’t have both or you can’t say, well, yeah, God’s grace saved me. And that’s fantastic. And I love him and praise him for that. And now I want to focus on these works because that’s what’s going to. That’s what’s going to help bolster that grace and make it even better. That’s what the Galatian church was falling into. That’s why the book of Galatians was written, was because they were trying to combine the two. And it doesn’t work that way. Verse ten in Hebrews 13 says, we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. Those who are following these temple rituals and these temple ordinances don’t have a right to partake of the altar of grace that we partake of as Christians and as believers. The sacrifices that were offered in the temple were kind of the pinnacle of the Old Testament law. They were the the highlight and the peak of it. Without those, the rest of the law really didn’t didn’t hold much water. Um, but those were the pinnacle. And all those sacrifices were were types of Christ. The type of Christ is something in the Old Testament that points us to who Jesus is, or what he would do for us. Uh, and the sacrifices were merely types of Christ. And when these people that are relying on their works and on these rituals and their laws are missing the picture that it points to, and they’re they’re looking backwards instead of ahead, and they’re trying to drive in reverse rather than drive forward.
And Paul says, you can’t do that. You got to look through the windshield and drive ahead and look to Christ. What these point to in the Old Testament, the these sacrifices and the altars, they, they were on and the entire temple, everything that happened in the temple and all of its meanings were pointing the nation to Jesus and the Messiah that was to come. And we now, as we look back and look at the whole picture and the whole canon of Scripture, we can see how these things point to Christ, how the brazen altar points to to his sacrifices for us, how the golden altar points to his intercession for us, and how he intercedes to God for us. Um, and here the writer of Hebrews, he wants to show us the superiority of Christ sacrifice compared to those that were made in the temple, those temporary ones that were merely pointing ahead. Um. One of the distinguishing factors, he says that the altar that we partake of, they have no right to eat of. And he’s referring back to some of the the laws. And this is where just this verse alone, these couple of verses in the beginning nine and ten, you can spend a long time diving into all the different sacrifices and details which praise be to God, that I no longer have to remember and worry about following and obeying, because it’s it’s mind blowing when you try and read through Leviticus and numbers and get some of the rules that you have to follow.
But one of them was the the sin. Sacrifices on the Day of Atonement were not to be eaten and partaken of. They were to be to be left alone. And you couldn’t couldn’t eat those some of the sacrifices after they were sacrificed, you would eat. Um, but but the sin sacrifices you couldn’t. Um, what distinguishes the sacrifice that Jesus made and the sacrifice of the Old Testament is Jesus invites us to partake of him openly and freely, to the point where we get what we need and have more. And the people who who take the law and religious rules and a system and say that this is the way, don’t have a right to partake of the sacrifice that Jesus has given us, because they’re in contradiction to each other. You can’t have blessing and you can’t have cursing. They’re contradictory. They’re opposing to each other. Um. Boom. So you have you have the choice. And Paul presents the same argument in Galatians. He says, you have the choice to choose. And so the law brings cursing. Grace brings blessing. The law brings starvation. Grace brings out a buffet. You have the choice to make which one you’re going to follow. You can’t combine them because when you combine them, nobody wants it. Christ came to set us free from the guilt and the pressure that a religious system brings, because that’s what it brings.
It brings the necessity to I got to do more. I got to please, I got to do this. I got to do that. And Christ says, no, it’s been done. John 317 says that God did not send his son into the world, that the world to condemn the world, but that in order the world might be saved. Through him. Jesus came to do away with a step by step religious system of rules and regulations for us to follow that we can openly and freely partake of the sacrifice that he has made for us. Matthew chapter 11 Jesus says to come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus is about freedom in him and grace in him. It’s not about making sure I show up on Sunday so I can check that box. It’s not about putting on my best so I can check that box. It’s not about throwing the right amount of money into the offering plate, so I can check that it’s not about these things that we can check boxes on. It’s about grace and it’s about freedom. And the argument that arises when you say it’s about grace, and by grace alone, through faith alone, the argument that often arises is, well, that’s just lazy. You just don’t want to do anything. If you focus on grace, then you’re just going to do whatever you want and say, oh, Grace will cover it, which is true.
Grace will cover your sin. But that’s not what Grace calls us to. That means you have a deep misunderstanding of what grace actually has done for you. Grace has saved you from your sin. Grace killed God because of your sin. Because of your sin, God had to die. And grace is what that is. Grace is God dying for you. And if you understand that, it doesn’t lead you to laziness into being content with standing by and watching others do the work that Christ has called us to do. It doesn’t call us to to lay down. It actually calls us to lay down our lives. If you keep reading in Hebrews chapter 11 or chapter 13, sorry, um, verses 11 through 13 says, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin, are burned outside the camp. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. Grace calls us to go, and to do it doesn’t call us to be lazy. To make that argument is to not understand what grace has done for you. Just as the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement were outside the camp. Um, which then turned into the city of Jerusalem, where the temple was.
Jesus was sacrificed outside of the city. The the cross doesn’t call us to to comfortably sit by, but it calls us to get up and go. It calls us to action. The Greek word for camp, um, in these verses is parabolic. It means that it’s a battle array, a fortified encampment, or a castle. It carries the picture of safety, of comfort, of protection. Um, not just physically, but also culturally. The camp and the city was where culture happened and where civilization was. And Christ calls us not only out from safety, but he calls us out from the cultural norms that are around us and calls us to to go outside of those things and to pursue him outside of the camp. If you read in Hebrews chapter 11, it’s full of examples of Old Testament leaders who who went to Christ outside the camp. Uh, it speaks of Noah. If you read the story of Noah. Um, everyone was doing their own thing. Doing what was right in their own eyes is what the Bible says. Um, but Noah found favor with God. He was a righteous man. Um. And he. He followed God even though camp inside the camp. And culturally, what people were doing was what they wanted. The story of Noah happens in Genesis six, and it’s just four chapters removed from God creating man and saying that this is very good. And now in chapter six, he says that I wish I would have never even made man just four chapters later.
That’s how bad it has gotten. But Noah was different because he chose to follow Christ. Um, and as a result of the goodness of Noah and his desire to follow Christ, God didn’t wipe out all of humanity, but kept Noah and his family alive. Um. The bearing the reproach of Christ. Noah was building an ark, a giant ship in an area that was had no body of water remotely close enough to the size to support such a craft. And you can imagine, as Noah is out in his backyard building this monstrosity as the neighbors walk by. Hey, what are you doing? I’m building a boat. You know we’re in the desert, right? Yeah. That’s fine. God told me to do this. This is what I’m going to do. Okay. Just want to remind you, you’re in the desert and there’s no water here, so that boat ain’t going anywhere. No. God’s going to cause it to rain or really rain. It’s never happened before. Um, so you keep building your boat, and they probably, you know, kids would make fun of them and throw rocks at him, or his neighbors would make fun of him. He was probably the joke of many, many, uh, um, family dinner, you know? Hey, did you see Crazy Noah today? But he chose to go outside the camp, ignore society, and follow God, even though it didn’t make any sense whatsoever to build an ark in the desert.
Um, the story of Abraham, who literally went outside the camp. His family was centralized in this area. And God said, Abraham, I want you to get up and I want you to move and leave this camp behind and go, and you’re going to become a great nation. And me Abraham says, okay. And God doesn’t even tell him where he’s going. He’s just, just get up and let’s go. And he’s like, all right, let’s go. Where are we going? You’ll find out, oh, okay. Like that’s that’s how I kind of like somebody like, hey, let’s go do something. Okay, well, what are we going to do? I don’t know, all right, that’s fine. Let’s go. But like Greg and his very. Hey, let’s go do something. Okay. What are we going to do? When is this going to happen? How long is that going to take before the next thing starts? And then when’s the next one going to start? And we got to plan this all out. And God doesn’t give that for Abraham. He just says let’s go. And Abraham goes. He goes outside of the camp and he sacrifices and follows God. Then you have the story of Joseph who went outside the camp. And even though it cost him his well-being and his livelihood, and he got thrown in jail, he stood up for what God believed, what God told him, and what he knew was right and what he believed in his heart was true.
Um, and was thrown into jail as a result of it. He went outside the camp. That’s just the Old Testament. If you look in the New Testament and even just the apostles in the New Testament, Peter, Philip, Andrew, Bartholomew were all crucified for preaching the gospel, some of them crucified upside down. James was stoned after he preached to the Jews. James, the brother of John, was was beheaded by Herod for being a Christian. Thomas was speared through while preaching in India. John was wasn’t killed, but he was boiled alive in oil, and then he was banished to an island by himself because of his preaching. Paul was beheaded by Nero. These are the church founders. They they understood what following Christ meant. They didn’t look at God’s grace and say, okay, awesome, God, thank you. I’m going to go do my own thing. They saw God’s grace and knew that it called them to much more than themselves. It called them to much more than laziness. It called them to much more than sitting idly by. It called them to action and to go outside the camp and to serve and to do. Grace doesn’t call us to sit down. It calls us to get up and to go. And that’s just in the the New Testament. If you read through history, just the the millions of martyrs that have given their lives for the Christian faith, just the church fathers who were were crucified, Nero would light his garden at night with human torches made out of Christians, that he would put on a stake and burn so he could see in his garden.
At night they would throw Christians into the arena to be torn apart by lions just because they were Christians. That’s going outside the camp that’s willing to get up and move. That’s what Grace calls us to, is to sacrifice. Grace calls us to look upon the sacrifice of Christ and to look at our lives and see. I got to give something back. For what? What Christ has given me. And then you look today, just even in the 1900s, Jim Elliott, who was a missionary to South to South America, who saw people who had never heard the gospel before and knew they needed to go. And people said, it’s hostile. They might they might attack you. You don’t know what’s going to happen. And he said, that’s fine. They need to hear the gospel. And they went and he laid down his life to take the gospel to these people. What about the Christians today in Iraq, Egypt, India, China, all these places that are hostile to the gospel of Christ, where every day Christians are laying down their life and sacrificing for the sake of Christ. They go to him outside the camp because they understand what grace has called us to. Even today I have friends who are missionaries that I can’t tell you their names or where they’re at because somehow if word got out who they are and where they are, um, they’d be arrested.
Or if their neighbors found out before the government could get to them, they’d probably be killed. That’s going to Christ outside the camp, that’s seeing that Grace has called us to so much more, that seeing that the meaning of life isn’t to live for ourselves and get an early retirement and retire on the beach. But the meaning of life is to die. To our selfish desires, to our selfish ambition and live for Christ. John 1518 says, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before. It hated you. The world hated Christ and were followers of Christ. So if they hate our leader, they’re not going to like us that much either. Expect it. He goes on. Um, and in Matthew chapter 16, verse 24, Jesus tells his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The Christian life is about dying, the meaning of life, the purpose in life, where you’re going to find the most purpose in life isn’t by working really hard to retire early and have all of your physical needs met the meaning of life and finding purpose and finding yourself at the end of your life, not wasting it, is to die to yourself, to go to Christ outside the camp, to go to him even when it isn’t convenient.
To go to him, even when it’s dangerous to go to him, even when it doesn’t make sense. We go to him outside the camp. We go to him outside of our comfort zone and follow him. We deny ourselves. We take up our cross and we follow Christ. Roman chapter 12 and verse one. Says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. The only thing reasonable in light of God’s grace is a complete and total sacrifice. Is to give God everything that you have. And lay it down on the altar and sacrifice it for him. Paul gets to Paul’s, uses the first 11 chapters to to to explain the gospel and the fact that we are all sinners, all deserving of hell. But God came and died for us. To save us from that hell and that punishment that we deserved. And in light of that, therefore present yourself as a sacrifice back to him because of what he’s done for you. That’s what Grace calls us to. That’s what. That’s what Grace calls us to. It’s what it’s not a life of. Well, God saved me. My sins are forgiven. I can do whatever I want now. So I’m just going to do my own thing. And every now and then I’ll show up at church or.
Or maybe even if I’m feeling really good, I’ll come to a Bible study or something. But, you know, I’m just going to kind of do my own thing, and Jesus will kind of be there as a spare tire. So when something bad happens, I can bring him out and and use him when I need him. But that’s not what Grace calls us to. And Paul even combats that in a lot of his epistles, and he says, yes, we’re saved by grace. But that doesn’t mean you keep on doing what you want to do. That means you give and you serve, and you find ways that you can can give back and go outside the camp. For us here in the West, it’s hard for us to to kind of wrap our heads around and think about the physical sacrifice of, of some of the Christians and some of those areas that I talked about and the the physical sacrifice of literally giving your life by going outside of the camp. But you can commit social suicide by going to Christ outside the camp. In some countries, it’s literally suicide to profess yourself as a Christian and let people know that you’re a Christian because they’ll kill you. But here in the United States, socially, you can experience much the same execution and ridicule. You face, um, isolation. You face embarrassment. Um. Discrimination. All these things can happen to us if we take a stand. And that’s what Christ calls us to, is to take a stand with him outside the camp.
Sometimes it doesn’t mean that you physically give your life. Sometimes going outside the camp might just mean standing up for what’s morally right. When you know what’s happening is wrong. Sometimes it can mean just sharing your faith with your neighbor or your brother or sister. Sometimes it can mean just bowing your head before a meal and going outside the camp and showing your co-workers at lunch that you’re different. Sometimes it can mean opening up your wallet. And you’re like, whoa, whoa whoa whoa, everybody hold on. You’re starting to talk about money. Let’s check your wallet. Make sure it’s still there. But the reason the early church was willing to give their life was because it started with sacrifice. Financially. It didn’t just go from from A to B that they they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice because their lives had been based on small sacrifices that led to that point. If you read in acts chapter four, verse 34, it says there was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. And they laid it at the feet of the apostles, and it was distributed to each as they had need. Sacrifice of the early church started with giving. Started with the wallet. It’s. It’s been said that if you want to see where someone’s heart truly is to look at their checkbook.
Um, I don’t know anybody that still uses a checkbook. Really? So if you want to see where someone’s heart is, look at their online bank statements. And there you’ll find where the heart of a person really lies. I’m not saying this to to convict or condemn or anything. I’m saying it because this is a biblical principle that we, as a church as a whole, are very lacking in. Um, the majority of Nathaniel’s income comes from churches back east that support them, some of which are smaller than ours. Our church. 4050 people on a Sunday. Um, yet they have enough and sacrifice enough and give enough to support their own pastor, as well as Nathaniel and pastors throughout the world. They go outside the camp with their wallet. And they sacrificially give financially. You realize as a church that what this building costs. As a church, we raised percentage wise, less than 25% of this building came from Alpine Bible Church. The rest of it came from outside sources donating to us. And you realize that we have a project coming up outside that’s going to cost almost as much as the entire building did to fix the outside that the city is mandating gets done by a certain time. To see that happen is going to require going outside the camp. Some of it means physically, and we have to show up after work for a workday to help weed or do whatever we’re going to need to do outside, paint those kind of things.
Some of it means financially, we’re going to have to go outside the camp, and even though it hurts and it’s not what we want to do, we give because that’s what God has called us to do. I’m not saying this because Nathaniel said, hey, while I’m gone, can you try and help me out a little bit here, buddy? Um, I’m saying it because as a church, it’s biblical for us to support our pastor. It’s biblical for us to provide for him. I’m not going to get into all the passages that that support it. I can do that with you later if you want. Um, we can go over all those things. Um, but it’s important for us to see the need that that going to Christ outside the camp means we take our money with us. A lot of times we want to give 60% of our life. You know, God, I’m feeling really good today, so I’m going to give you 85% today of what I am to you. But that 15% is mine. Don’t touch it. Sometimes we’ll even be really bold and go up to, you know, the 90s and say, God, I’m going to give you 90% of myself as a sacrifice. But this last 10% is for me. But Paul doesn’t say, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present 75% of your self as a sacrifice, and keep that 25% so you can do what you want to do.
He says, present your bodies. Present yourself as a sacrifice. All that you have should be given back to Christ. And that means that what you own isn’t yours. We’re stewards. I don’t know, a preacher that’s gotten into ministry for money. At least I don’t know a preacher who preaches God’s word that’s gotten into it for money. I know lots that have gotten into it for money, but they do not preach the gospel. They do not preach truth. You probably see a lot of them on TV. Um, again, not going to get into all that. That’s a whole nother sermon for another day. But, um. Being in the ministry isn’t about money. I’ve grown up in ministry my whole life. My dad’s a pastor. There’s about two years in my life where I really wasn’t in ministry. I kind of helped at the church, but I wasn’t actively involved. Um, but but growing up with my dad, being a pastor, now, being a youth director myself, um, there’s been about two years of my life where I haven’t lived at or below the poverty line. Um, and I’m not saying that as woe is me. I didn’t realize we were poor until I heard a comedian make a joke about how broke he was, and that he had to live on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, um, and had to use suave shampoo.
And I was like, dang, he could afford Kraft Macaroni and cheese. Does that mean we’re poor, mom? And I didn’t know I was poor until that point. Um, but. So I didn’t like it doesn’t bother me that I lived at that point, and I am living at that point because I know what ministry is. But, but but for Nathaniel and Stacy, what they do for this church and what they do, they deserve much more than where they’re at, um, financially from us. Um, that’s kind of a side tangent and rant that wasn’t necessarily, um, directly related to the text, but but think about what God is calling you to sacrifice when he calls us to go outside of the camp. What is it that you’re holding on to that you don’t want to let go of? What is it that you don’t want to sacrifice to God, whether it be your checkbook, your time, your energy, your family? Those things. What what what is it that you’re holding on to that you don’t want to give up? What’s keeping you from giving that 100%? God doesn’t ask us for 110% because he understands that physically and mathematically that’s impossible. He just asks for 100%. Everything that you are for him and for his service. So that what he needs, when he needs you’re there to serve. And the reason that this was easy for the early church and the reason they did this is in light of God’s grace and what he’s done.
They saw the need for them to sacrifice, but then they also were looking ahead. And in Hebrews chapter um 13, excuse me. And verse 14 says, here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. The reason sacrifice was easier for the early church is because they weren’t looking temporarily. They were looking big picture. They’re looking long term and they realize that this world is temporary. But they were sacrificing and going outside the camp to give to Christ because there’s a city to come. That’s a lasting city. It says later, earlier in Hebrews chapter 11, that a city or a kingdom that cannot be shaken. The reason that God calls us to give now is because in the future we see the rewards for eternity. Now, it might be tough and it might hurt, and it not might not be what you want to give because it’s not comfortable. But now is temporary. Life, as James says, is but a vapor in the wind. If you read Matthew chapter six, verses 19 through 21 and then 31 through 33, it says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Look in a man’s online bank statement and I’ll tell you where his heart is.
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. I don’t want you to misunderstand what the Bible is saying here. And he’s not saying that the more you give to God, the more God will give back to you. The more that you give, the more you’re blessed. What he’s saying is, focus on his kingdom and you’ll realize that everything else is secondary. Um, and tends to to fall into place. Um, it’s a common conversation for me and Greg, and, um, one of us will typically say, I don’t see how this is going to work. These bills are coming up. That was our last check. This was our next check. This isn’t going to make sense or work in any way. And then somehow and then the other one will reply, I don’t see how it’s going to work either, but we know that we’re following God and we’re seeking God, and he can take care of it. And. Nine times out of ten, he takes care of it, and he’s proven to his time and time again that he’s faithful. And I’m not saying that because we’re we’re awesome.
Um, because we fall short in a lot of areas, too. Um, but. Sometimes focusing on God’s kingdom means that we sacrifice a little, and we might not be able to do the things that we want to do or like to do. But because of what God has called us to do, and to called us to go outside of the camp and to sacrifice and live dangerously. We do it and we give, um, whatever that may be. Like I said, financially or with our time or our family or resources. Whatever that may be. We focus long term big picture. One of the I’ll tell you one of the times I regret most in my life, um, is the last two and a half years of high school. Um. Ah. If I could go back and hit a reset button, that’s probably the time I would go to and say, all right, knowing what I know now, I’m going to go back and redo that. Some of you guys are like, you remember high school? When was that? Um, but for me, it was just just under ten years ago. Um. It was high school and I looked so short picture and was so focused on staying inside the camp. I moved halfway through my sophomore year in high school, and that’s why the last two and a half years, um, is what I would replace. I had a chance with a fresh start. I could paint any picture I wanted for these people of who I was, and rather than than live those last two and a half years for Christ, I live those last two and a half years making sure that everyone in that school liked me.
Um, I spent. Tons of energy and time focused on making sure that everybody liked me. It wasn’t a huge school. There was only about 250 students, but all 250 knew who I was and liked me and I man, I made sure that didn’t change. The jocks, the goths, the nerds, the whatever group, the hillbillies and rednecks. We. I was friends with everybody, um, and I was so focused on the short term and temporary that I lost sight of the city that’s to come. That has the city that cannot be shaken, that I was really supposed to be living for. And instead of going outside the camp and sharing my faith with my friends, whether that meant I was a loner or whether that meant they accepted me, I didn’t share my faith. And now, not even ten years later, all of those people that I made sure that liked me and made sure that I invested all that I had, my money and my resources, everything that I spent on them. I talked to maybe one of them on a consistent basis. And for that short time, for those two years, I poured so much into those people for myself and not for God. And now it’s wasted.
If I would have just had one conversation with someone. Maybe today would be a little different. Maybe if I were to sacrificed one time and been willing to be rejected by my peers, by sharing my faith with them, if I would risk it that one time, the second time, maybe it would have been a little easier. And the third time, and the fourth time to the point I didn’t even realize I was putting myself out there and risking rejection and humiliation. And maybe at a ten year reunion. We’d have something to talk about that isn’t temporary, but we could talk about eternity together. But because of my selfishness. My own willingness to go outside the camp and sacrifice. Um. I don’t have a lot to talk to them about eternity that we can rejoice in together. Instead, at a ten year reunion, it’s probably going to be more sorry, I should have told you this ten years ago. God loves you and he died for you. And without him, there’s no hope. You’re a good person and I love you. But without God, you’re going to hell. If I would add that conversation ten years ago, who knows what today would bring. Now, a lot of those people have families, and because I didn’t take the time to step out of the camp myself, now their families have been taken further away and haven’t been raised with the gospel like they could have if I would have sacrificed.
Go to him outside the camp, because the city that we’re looking for is not here. It’s to come and it’s eternal. We don’t want to come to the end of our life and say here, God, look at my seashells. We don’t want to live for early retirement. We don’t want to live for a life of luxury. We want to live for something that lasts. My one of my favorite verses in all the Bible is in Galatians chapter six and verse 14 says, May it never be that I should boast in anything but the cross of Christ crucified. By which I was crucified to the world, and the world to me. Because of God’s grace and the sacrifice that he gave. I can look to the cross and that is all that I have. Everything that I am, everything that I need to be is in the cross of Christ. And I go to him outside the camp, to his cross and say, God, use me. God, have your way. Work in me that the world around us, around me might come to know you. I go to him at the cross and not because I’m spectacular and God needs me on his team. God can do great, marvelous things without me. And he is and does do those things. But we go to God outside the camp, to his cross, and we bear his reproach, his shame, and his guilt. We go to him, risking those things. Because we look forward to the kingdom that’s coming that cannot be shaken, that lasts for eternity.