Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: RSS
We need space in our life. This space doesn’t just happen. We have to intentionally make room for our relationships, for our finances, and for our sanity. š
We also need a margin, a space between us and the things that could destroy us or cause us harm.
The Bible warns that there are evil desires at work inside of each of us. These desires will entice and drag us away into death. We see this at work in our world as an addict is drawn toward oblivion. We see it in someones anger that boils over into abuse or even murder. We have seen little hatreds metastasize from racism to genocide. We have seen religious legalism and pride grow into mobs of people burning people at the stake.
This evil hurts others as well as ourselves. We need margin between us and the thing that is trying to kill us.
Margin 4 – Moral Margin
Sermon Notes by Chris Fluitt
**Bumper Video ā
-MARGIN Title
Get out your bible or your favorite app and join me in James chapter 1.
You are at Redemption Church. My name is Chris Fluitt. I am blessed to be the Lead Pastor here. We are in the last week of our Margin series.
- Margin is the space between you, your needs, & your limits
Week 1 we told you about the importance of space. We told you that Godās plan included Rest.
Week 2 we told you how we needed Margin in our relationships. We needed physical and emotional intimacy
Week 3, Last week, we told you that we need to break free from the insane normal of this world and make margin in our finances.
Today we are going to talk to you about an important area of your life that you REALLY need some Margin.
We need Moral Margin
We know it is important to have plans for your life. How important it is to have goals.Ā We spend time making 5 year plans. We usually focus them on our careers, our education, our finances, on our relationshipsā¦Ā No one ever sits down and centers their 5 year plan on who they want to beā¦ they focus on what they want to have done.
This is a real problemā¦Ā We need to sit down and make some goals hereā¦
In 5 years I will not have had an affair and cheated on my spouseā¦
In 5 years I will not have been stealing from my job and praying that I donāt get caught
In 5 years I will not have started using drugs or become addicted to a chemical dependency
In 5 years I will not have contracted a sexually transmitted disease
You might say āPastor that is ridiculous.. no one needs that in their 5 year planā¦ā
I want to tell you that no one plans on this stuff happeningā¦ but it does. It happens all the time.
In counseling situations when people sit down, and on the other side of moral failure, share their thoughts and feelingsā¦ it is usual to hear them sayā¦Ā I never thought this would happen to me
No one makes plans to wreck their lifeā¦ but the trouble is we donāt make plans to KEEP FROM wrecking our lifeā¦
Whatever the failureā¦ be it lying, stealing, adultery, fornication, drug addiction, porn addiction, greed addiction, being abusive, murdering someoneā¦Ā Whatever the failure you can recognize a lack of Moral Margin.
Moral Margin is the space between YOU and TEMPTATION
You need a bufferā¦ you need distanceā¦ you need a boundary between you and temptation. Do you have Moral Margin?
James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;(NIV)
James 1:14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.(NIV)
James 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.(NIV)
Letās look back over this scripture..
- Itās not God that tempts youā¦ Donāt blame God
- Itās our own EVIL DESIRESā¦Ā We have evil desires inside of you.
- You are enticed
Look at James 1:14 again.. James 1:14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.(NIV)
The Greek word for Enticed is Deleazo.Ā It means to Allure, Lure, Deceive, Drag, temptā¦Ā It is used in a catching of fish metaphorā¦Ā Where you are drawn by baitā¦ and then as you taste the baitā¦ you are hookedā¦ once you are hooked then someone elseā¦ the one who set the trapā¦ drags you wherever they want.
These evil desires are trapsā¦ and the Bible says they are INSIDE OF USā¦
How much do you need moral margin? How much do you need space between you and temptationā¦Ā A heck of a whole bunchā¦ because the desire to mess up your marriage is already inside youā¦ the desire to be angry, abusive, impatient, and domineering is CLOSER THAN YOU THINKā¦ itās already inside of youā¦ the temptation to lie, cheat, steal to get ahead is already floating around inside of youā¦
You need to put spaceā¦ distance between you and the temptation!Ā You need Moral Margin
There is something in our human nature that fights moral margin.Ā We try to see how close we can get without it being a problem. We get very close but try not to go too farā¦
- We try to word our sentences so that they arenāt TECHNICALLY a big fat lieā¦ when we are still avoiding telling the truth and being honest.
- We justify our actionsā¦ we say āWell itās wrong what we are doing, but at least itās not this badā¦ā
- Letās see how close I can get to this harmful lifestyle without letting it effect my lifeā¦
- There is this person on the job that seems to really like meā¦ letās see how close I can get by flirtingā¦ flirting is harmless rightā¦Ā I mean itās closeā¦ but not too closeā¦ right?
Donāt eat up your moral margin.Ā You need space between you and temptation.
It would be crazy to load a revolver with a bullet and spin the chamber and then point the gun at your head and see how close you can get before it is tooo close.Ā Ā WAKE UP!Ā You are already to close!Ā You have a loaded gun pointed to your head DO NOT PULL THE TRIGGERā¦ PUT THE GUN DOWN AND GET THE HECK OUT OF THERE!!!
For some reasonā¦ when it comes to temptation we see how close we can get to the thing that is trying to kill us, ruin our relationship, steal our prosperity..
1 Corinthians 6:18a-Ā Ā Ā Flee from sexual immorality.
The Greek word for Flee is pheugo. It means to run away, to shun, to escape, to DISTANCE oneself
You need to pheugo from temptationā¦ you need to run away from sexual immoralityā¦Ā You need distanceā¦ You need MARGIN.
You know there arenāt many places in your Bible where it tells you to run awayā¦ Your Bible tells you to fightā¦ to wrestleā¦ to resistā¦ to standā¦ to speakā¦ to boldly goā¦
BUT when it comes to temptationā¦ especially sexual temptationā¦ the Bible says RUN AWAY. Put Margin between you and the temptation that could hurt your marriageā¦ put Margin between you and the temptation that could harm your reputationā¦ Put margin between you and the temptation that will hurt others as well as yourself.
Letās take a moment and really narrow down our scope of temptation to sexual sinā¦ And you might say āwhy focus on one sin when there are so many out there?ā
3 Reasons
- Churches have been afraid to talk about sexual sin.Ā People have thought your ears were too delicate for such a topicā¦ never mind that sexual temptation and sin is everywhere in our cultureā¦
- It has ruined so many lives. It has destroyed so many marriages. It has deleazoād, enticed so many peopleā¦ We are going to stand up and say ENOUGH. It is time for some radical change..
- Sexual sin hits closer to home than any other sinā¦
1 Cor 6:18B-Ā Ā Ā Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.(NIV)
You might have thought that all sins are the sameā¦Ā NO!Ā Not all sins are the same.Ā Now the effect of sin is the sameā¦ The wage of sin is death and separation from Godā¦ But not all sin is the same
Not all sin costs you the same personally.Ā Iām speaking personally here.
- If you speed you might get a ticketā¦ if you gossip it may cost you some friendsā¦ BUT IF YOU SIN SEXUALLYā¦ it could cost you your marriageā¦ it could cost you your kidsā¦ it could cost you the respect your kids had for youā¦ it could cost you your own self respectā¦ it could cost you your health or life if you contracted a diseaseā¦ it could cost you your job if your affair happened with an employeeā¦1 Sexual sin can cost you.
1 Corinthians 6:18 tells us that all other sin is outside the bodyā¦Ā but sexual sin is against your own body.
Then the Apostle Paul underlines how important your physical body isā¦
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;(NIV)
1 Corinthians 6:20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.(NIV)
You might say āWell itās my body canāt I do whatever I want with it?āĀ If you are a believer in Christ NO YOU CANāT.Ā You are Godās house.Ā He made you and bought you with a price.Ā You are to honor God with your body.
Sexual sin dishonors the body.. This sin is different.
Ephesians 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.(NIV)
Not even a hint of sexual immorality.
The problem with culture is that the standards are so lowā¦ But with God the standards are high.Ā If you are comparing yourself to the world you will always feel good about yourselfā¦ At least Iām not like those peopleā¦
Donāt look to the culture. Look to the High Standards of Christ.Ā Not only are we to avoid sexual immoralityā¦ we shouldnāt even have a HINT of it in our life.
Here are some examples that some people would sayā¦ Thatās not a big dealā¦ but I will argue that it is seeing how close we can get to temptationā¦ At the least it could be a HINT of immorality..
The greek word for Sexual Immorality is Porneia.Ā Itās where we get the word pornography from. The word applies to anything sexual outside of marriage. We donāt need even a hint of that in our lifeā¦
- If someone dresses seductively to get the attention of someone they arenāt married toā¦ could that be a HINT of immorality?Ā Ā The culture would say noā¦ but what about God? He knows the heart..
- Reading a glamour magazine that promises ā10 ways to drive your boyfriend wild in bedāā¦ could reading that be a hint of temptation?Ā Do we realize we might be trying to get close rather than flee sexual immorality?Ā Ā IN OUR WORLD THAT IS CONSIDERED NORMAL!
You know what else is normal in our world when it comes to sex outside of marriage?Ā Pain, regret, lost trust, shame, guilt, fear, insecurity, divorceā¦Ā Ā If thatās normal I donāt want it.The majority of marriages in the united states will be effected by adultery before the spouses turn 40 years old. That is normal. Normal is Insane.Ā We need Margin between us and the things that can harm us. - Ā A married spouse flirting with a co-worker doesnāt look very destructiveā¦ but how close is too close?Ā Could it be a HINT of sexual immorality?
DECIDE TODAY that you are going to put MARGIN between you and temptation.
If you have a pornography addiction or inclination you need to put margin between you and that computer.Ā Donāt be alone with that computer.Ā Build some accountability and install software that informs someone you trust that you have fallen into that temptation again.Ā You might be sayingā¦ āBut I would feel so ashamedā¦āĀ You already feel ashamed.Ā You feel the guilt every time and say you arenāt going to do it againā¦Ā Itās time for radical change!Ā Be open and honest ā Banish shame by talking to your spouse.
Singles be careful when you are dating. Put space between you and immorality. Decide that you are going to save yourself for marriage.Ā And if you arenāt a virgin that doesnāt mean you canāt bring margin into your life from hear on..Ā I know that what I am telling you isnāt in step with the cultureā¦Ā But this culture is crazy.Ā Godās way is better!
Married couples you need to save yourself for marriage as well.Ā Save your emotions for your spouse.Ā Couples who commit adultery are usually cheating emotionally before they cheat physically.Ā Recognize your need for Margin.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Musician
James 1:15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.(NIV)
The temptation, the desire is conceived.Ā After a time it gives birth to sin.Ā You see temptation is not a sinā¦Ā sin only shows up when we allow temptation to stay close to us.Ā If we had put space between us and the temptation it might have spared us from giving birth to sin.
But if you have been tempted and have fallen into sin what happens then?
If sin is allowed to stick around, James 1:15 says it grows up and gives birth to death.
Your temptations without margin will kill you. Your sin if you allow it stick around will bring death.
So what do we do about this?Ā I want you to come to this altar today. I want you to take time to pray and create space for God. But I also want us to take communion together.
Please join me up here in the altar area right now. Please come by this table and receive the elements of communion. We will be taking them together.
1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.(NIV)
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.(NIV)
This bread represents the body of Jesus
Isaiah 53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.(NIV)
This grape juice represents the blood of Jesus
Matthew 26:28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.(NIV)
Ā