Sometimes charity does begin at home.

Steve Brown:
Sometimes charity does begin at home. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is all about God’s radical grace. Grace that has dirt under its fingernails and laugh lines on its face. If you want the Bible to be a book of rules, you may want to stop listening now. But if you’re hungry for the truth that’ll make you free, welcome to Key Life.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you’re just joining us, we’re involved in a very long study of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Now, if you’ve been with us over the past few weeks, we’ve talked about the Holy Spirit and sin. By the way, I hope you had a great week-end, and I hope your pastor’s sermon was as good as my pastor’s sermon. What I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself is that over the past week, we’ve looked at the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit’s relationship to sin. If you meet Christians who are self righteous, who think they’ve got it together, who think they’re obedient and faithful almost all the time, it means the Holy Spirit is not that operative in their lives. Because a part of a job description of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world and also God’s people of a fact that is built into the nature of the universe. You will find in every philosophy with every artist who understands, and it is this, we’re a messed up bunch.

The heart really is deceitful above all things. It’s desperately corrupt. Who can understand it?

I didn’t say that. The Bible said that, and the Bible is talking about me, and you say, I knew that, but the Bible is also talking about you, and the Holy Spirit’s job description is to remind us of that. And then we talked about the Holy Spirit’s reference and relationship to truth. We live in a culture of lies, and they lie to us all the time. And one of the great things about God’s word under the power of the Holy Spirit is that it tells us the truth always. And then the Holy Spirit is also about power, spiritual power that makes a difference in our lives and the lives of those that we love. And then, what I want to do is spend a couple of weeks, maybe longer, talking about the Holy Spirit’s relationship to love. How do we love each other as Christian brothers and sisters in Christ? And then how do we love the world and make a difference with that love? But before we do that, let’s pray. And then we’ll study. Father, we come before you knowing that we have no business here. We’re here only by the invitation of the God that would be you who owns everything and issues the invitation to people that he loves. Father, we’re here because we’re, not because we’re good or pure or righteous, but just because we’re yours. We’re thankful for the blood of Christ that is finished and sufficient, a sacrifice for our sins. We’re thankful for the Holy Spirit who reminds us about you and your love, and we’re thankful for your sovereignty and your power and your greatness. You know everybody who’s listening to this broadcast, the hard places and the soft places, the laughter and the tears, remind us that you’re sovereign over all of it. And of course, Father, we pray for the one who teaches on this broadcast, forgive him his sins, because they are many. We would see Jesus and him only. And we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. All right, let me give you a verse and we’ll be looking at a lot of other Scripture as we go along. And we talk about the Holy Spirit’s relationship to love. I Corinthians 12:1.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.

And love is at the center of those gifts. Whenever the subject of the Biblical mandate for Christians to reach out to the poor, to the lost, to be involved in the mission enterprise of the church comes up, there are always people who will say something like, well, that’s all well and good, but Jesus did say that we would have the poor with us, and he could have added you have the lost with us always. I know we have some responsibility, but after all, the Bible says charity begins at home. No, it doesn’t. The Bible doesn’t say that. They say, Buddha say, who say, I say all the things I say I say. In fact, the Bible, like Buddha, doesn’t say a lot of things people think it says. However, at least in one area, charity really does begin at home, or at least maintenance begins at home. Now, I want to to spend some time to pursue the subject of home maintenance, or if you will, the art, the fine art of bodybuilding, home and body, or other words for the church, the family of God. God is quite fond of his family, and maintaining the family, is the work of our Lord, the Holy Spirit. Let me begin by giving you a Biblical truth that Christians sometimes forget. God’s, now listen up, this is important, God’s primary methodology for evangelism and witnessing in the world is less instruction than it is illustration. In other words, God uses his people as a model for the world to see him. Jesus said.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

And here it comes.

By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Now, that’s John 13:34 through 35. Here at Key Life, we have a number of volunteers who help us out with the thousands of letters and e-mails and stuff that we receive here. The volunteer gets instruction on how to do the job for which they are volunteering. However, I’ve noticed that the volunteers do better when they observe the staff doing the job they do after verbal instruction alone. That brings me to a principle, and it is this. Illustration is almost always better than instruction. The principle of course, applies in a lot of areas. For instance, if you’re a parent, tell your children, do as I say, not as I do, you’re probably going to have some significant problems with your children. If you’re a teacher, and you follow the old saying, them that can do, them that can’t teach, you’re going to have very poor students. But for our purpose as we talk about the Holy Spirit, the principle is central to our understanding of the church. God said this to Abraham, and it’s in Genesis 12:1 through 3.

“Get out of your country from your kindred from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse them who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

In Isaiah, God says something important about his people.

Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity of the Lord, and he is blessed.

That’s Isaiah 61:9. Jesus said this to his disciples in Matthew 5:13 through 16.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? Is it then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Well, we’re going to talk about it this week and probably next week. But the greatest act of evangelism is for you to love me and for me to love you. And it’s hard. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve. That was Steve Brown resuming our exploration of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Tomorrow we’ll continue in our study looking at how God glorifies himself in some surprising ways. That’s tomorrow on Key Life. Don’t miss it. If you are familiar with Brant Hansen, well, you probably just smiled when I said his name. And if you’re not, what a treat it is to introduce him to you. Brant is a national radio host and author. And we recently spoke with him on Steve Brown Etc. about his latest book life is Hard. God is Good. Let’s Dance. It’s all about finding joy and peace in a world that seems bent on being angry. We put that whole episode on CD and we would love to send it to you absolutely free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD featuring Brant Hansen. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Text that to 28950. And hey, if you can’t give right now, or maybe you’re not called to, no worries. But if you think about it, please do pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.