An Inside Out Faith

INTRODUCTION
Good morning. My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church.
The other day I was reading a story about a radio show that had recently asked people if they would rather have the superpower of invisibility or flight.
“And if you got it, what would you do with it?”
And a ton of people called in and shared all sorts of funny, weird, and fascinating things they would do.
And the hosts were reflecting afterwards that basically no one said they would use their superpower to fight crime.
Which, we ASSUME…if you’ve been given a superpower, it is your DUTY to protect humanity, right?
But turns out, if people are really given the opportunity to do good, our hearts turn first to ourselves.
In fact, one guy on the show even called in and said, “I don’t think I would want to spend a lot of time using my power for good. I mean, if you had to rescue somebody from a burning building, you might get burned.”
Which is a great summary of how Americans think.

PROVERBS 3:27-35
But what should we really do if we have an opportunity to do good?
Let’s see what God’s Word says.
Everybody grab a Bible
Proverbs 3:27-35
Page 434
We are in the middle of a series called, “Ways of the Wise,” where we are teaching verse-by-verse through the first 9 chapters of the Book of Proverbs in the Bible.
And we are going back to the end of Proverbs 3 this week.
Let’s take a look:
(Proverbs 3:27-35) – NIV
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
    “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
    when you already have it with you.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
    who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
    when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent
    or choose any of their ways.
32 For the Lord detests the perverse
    but takes the upright into his confidence.
33 The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
    but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
    but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
35 The wise inherit honor,
    but fools get only shame.
(An Inside Out Faith)
I want to specifically focus on those first two verses.
So let’s go back to verse 27.
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
The Bible is saying here if you have the power to act, and you can bless someone with good, you should.
So who do we owe good things to?
The first question to ask is: “Do I actually owe money to someone?”
As representatives of Christ, we have to act with integrity, faithfulness, be people of our word.
If you haven’t paid someone back, start paying them back.
Who else do we “owe good things to?”
Well, the chapter seems to talk about bringing good to those who are in need.
Do you have a neighbor in need right now?
Don’t just say, “Praying for you!”
As the Word says, “If you have the power to act, ACT.”
James 2 in the NT says this:
(James 2:15-17) – NIV
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Real faith results in real action.
So what does your neighbor, your family member, your coworker need right now?
Do they need help raking their leaves?
Help with their kids?
Help fixing their car?
Do they you to bring them a meal?
Have you met their biggest need? Do they know the Gospel.
That’s a word I’m going to say a lot today.
The Gospel is that that Jesus loves you & died for you, and if you put your faith in that, you can be saved.
(An Inside Out Faith)
And there is a way you can help your General Neighbor even this week.
And that’s to go out and vote on Tuesday.
And listen, if you’ve been at this church for longer than a minute, you know that I am a KINGDOM of GOD guy, and not a KINGDOM of this world guy.
I teach OFTEN that the most important thing is not who is seated in the White House, but Who is seated on the Throne in Heaven.
But that being said, I’m struck that God has us in this passage this week: Because, as verse 27 says, we do have the power to act…to help our neighbors by helping to foster a better society (in our city, our state, our nation)
Again, the best way to bring about that change is the Gospel, not political power.
It’s power under, not power over, that changes the world.
But laws are real…and they affect real lives.
And listen, many, many people around the world don’t even have the right to vote because they live under a dictatorship…or, they do vote, and their vote isn’t really going to count because some guy is going to win “the people’s hearts by 98% again”
But here, in America, we can vote. And it’s important.
Our church is even a polling place to the local neighborhood.
All the neighbors are coming into our building on Tuesday. That’s really cool! Pray for that!
And yet 1 out every 3 of Christians doesn’t vote.
And so I urge you, as verse 27 says:
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
And it is in your power to act this week…for the good of those around you.
So go home, pray, study the issues, seek Biblical perspective, study all the candidates on your particular ballot, and vote.
And maybe this passage is fairly easy to apply when you think about your nice neighbor who is in need or even helping the general public around you by voting…
…but what about helping those who are deeply in need, who, if you’re totally honest, you're not sure that you even want to help??
The Bible says, here too, we should not withhold good.
Look at verse 28 again
Do not say to your neighbor,
    “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
    when you already have it with you.
There is SO much that we have that we can bless others with.
And not just monetarily, but in our time, our wisdom, our service.

But too many of us say: “Yeah, I believe Christians should do that…
…and like verse 28, we say, “And I will do it…but later….not now. It’s a busy season of life right now!”
But the Bible says, “If you have it, and you can bless someone, do it”
Delayed kindness is a lack of kindness.
Delayed justice is injustice.
Delayed obedience is disobedience.
If you tell your kids:
“Go, clean your room!”
And they say:
“I agree! That’s such a good thing to do…cleaning your room. But it’s a busy season of life right now…I’ll get to it another time.”
You’re not going to call their “philosophical agreement” with you…obedience.
And I think especially when it comes to serving those who have had a hard life or made many mistakes…I’m talking about even some of the groups we mentioned earlier for our Local Outreach partners….
Those who have kids about to go into Foster Care…the very impoverished…or, especially the incarcerated...
We’re often likely to think (in our hearts…we’d never say this out loud): Yeah, but they’re not that deserving of my help.
They got themselves in this mess.
But when we think like that, we forget the Gospel.
We forget that we were in our own mess, UNDESERVING of God’s help…and yet He came for us, forgave us, cleaned us up, and changed our lives.
It’s actually one of things I really love about Angel Tree, and buying kids Christmas presents on behalf of an incarcerated parent that can’t buy them a present.
It’s a great way to model, even for your children…we bless those whose lives are messy, because that’s what God did for us.

A GOSPEL DEBT
And we have to remember these Gospel Principles because otherwise we’ll look at verse 27, which said:
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
And we’ll think, “Well I don’t owe anyone anything. I’ve paid off all my debts…Dave Ramsey loves me.”
And yet the Christian Gospel is this:
Even if you have no legal debt to anyone, you have a Gospel debt to everyone.
We are to forgive others…why?
Because Jesus forgave us.
We are to be generous (even with our finances)…why?
Because Jesus was generous to us.
And so we feel this calling to reach out to those who are hurting because that’s who Jesus was for us.
The disciple John explains it this way:
(1 John 3:16-17 ) - NIV
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
The Gospel, if it’s really in you, should come out of you.
(An Inside Out Faith)
You need an Inside Out Faith.
And I’m not talking Pixar.
I’m talking about a real Christian faith that has changed you so much, that it comes out of you and blesses hurting people around you.

THE GOSPEL COMES OUT: A BALANCED FAITH
The Letter of James, which is a book we taught through verse-by-verse back in 2016, talks often about this “Inside Out” principle.
And James 1:27 is a great example of this principle and the “balance of our faith:”
(James 1:27) - NIV
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress
AND
to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
This is a really helpful verse because the Bible just told us that there is a way we can live out our faith that God sees as pure and faultless.
I want to live that way!
But listen, there are two very different statements in this verse.
#1: Look after orphans and widows in their distress.
#2: And to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Now, there have been times in history where the church has really balanced these 2 things well, but the 20th Century in America was not one of those times…
…and it’s not much better in the 21st century.
Here’s what happened here in America over the last 100 years:
When the Mainline Protestant churches (that’s the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Methodist churches…
…now I’m not talking about every single individual church.
But in general, many of their denominations began to drift away from the authority and inerrancy of the Bible…and began to make revise Christianity in their own cultural image….
And then, most of their churches began to only concentrate on what was called the “Social Gospel”
Serving the poor, the orphan, the widow, building social programs. (which IS the first half of this Bible verse)
And the other half of the Protestant Church (the Bible-believing church), which in the early 20th century was called the Fundamentalist Church…and in the latter half, the evangelical church…
…overreacted to the drift of the Mainline Churches.
And they said, “We are nothing like those churches who’ve walked away from the Bible.”
And so the Evangelical Churches began to focus VERY little on serving orphans, widows, the poor, the foreigner, you name it.
And instead went all in on the 2nd half of the verse: “Keep oneself from being polluted by the world”
And they talked often about the dangers of culture and sexual promiscuity and the pollution of sin.
Which, in their defense is also quite Biblical (there it is in the 2nd half of the verse)
The problem is: You need BOTH to be Biblical!
If you’re just out there serving the poor and you don’t personally know Christ, and you’re not radically obedient to Him and His way…that’s not Biblical Christianity
And on the flip side: if you just go to church every week, and read your Bible, and do your daily quiet time, but your life never impacts the poor, the orphan, the prisoner, the DOWNTRODDEN…that’s not Biblical Christianity either.
You should have an INSIDE-OUT faith.
Christ should impact you in both places.
Have you ever read Jesus’ challenging words in Matthew 25?
It’s when He is talking about how He will divide humanity on judgement day:
Very challenging passage.
We’re going to read it because we read hard passages here…even when they make us uncomfortable.
(Matthew 25:41-45) – NIV
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
(An Inside Out Faith)
I think it’s one of the more challenging sections of the Bible.
But what it’s saying is: If the Gospel is truly inside of you, it should come out of you.
It should spill over on those around you who need the blessing and love of God.
This balance of inward faith and outward love for (especially for the hurting) is the teaching of Jesus.
He tells us that the Greatest Commandment is what?
TO love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? (That’s inward!)
But what’s the 2nd?
To love your neighbor as yourself. (outward)
It’s a BALANCE!
It’s an INSIDE OUT faith.
But like the Pharisees in Luke 10, in our hearts, we say to Jesus, “Ah, but who is my neighbor?”
Are we really talking about the downtrodden here when we say “Love your neighbor”?
And Jesus answers that question by telling the story of the Good Samaritan.
The Foreigner who stopped to help the man in need after he had been robbed, beaten, and left for dead.
I’ve always been partial to author Ken Wytsma’s explanation of this concept
He tells us to imagine a single-mom whose 11-year-old loves baseball.
Sometimes this single mom has to work double shifts to make sure she's free, but when the umpire yells "Play ball!" she's always sitting right behind the dugout, cheering for her boy.
Now, let's suppose a man begins to date that single mom.
Obviously, if he says he loves her, he must love her son. Period.
The mom's sphere of concern wraps around her boy's life, and it always will.
So if this man wants to tell the single mom that he loves her, he must be right there at the baseball game, beside the mom, cheering for her son.
In the same way, if we love God, we'll love who the King loves.
And we see, in His Word, that the King has such a heart for the fatherless, the poor, the vulnerable, the prisoner…
If we say we love God, we want to be right there at His side loving the hurting.

LOCAL OUTREACH PARTNERS
And, if I can be honest, I used to dread having to teach through these types of passages in the early years of our church.
Because we’d come to a passage like this, and I would preach what it said…
…and people would say, “Okay, but now what? What do I actually do?”
And all I could say is, “Go google it! I find some organization to help!”
And I’m sure many did.
But most people just left feeling overwhelmed.
And how you are supposed to vet an organization, and know if they’re even good, or Biblical?
And I know that many of you already have hurting people you’re serving in your life, and that’s awesome!!
But if you don’t, let me just say: I love what our team, with Pastor Nate (our missions pastor) have been able to accomplish here over the last few years.
Because we have some amazing Local Outreach Partners
And I actually want you to know that when you look at all of those Local Outreach Partners on that sheet on your chair…that there has been a TON of prayer and a TON of strategic thought that has gone into this over the years.
In fact, I want to tell you the 4 ways we prioritize choosing Local Outreach Partners:
Our 4 Local Outreach Partner Priorities:
#1: Serving people God tells us to serve
There are a million organizations serving a million people, but we specifically partner with organizations that are serving the groups the Bible specifically highlights: The poor, the widow, the prisoner, etc.
#2: Serving people in Blaine or Anoka County
We strive to find organizations that are truly local…not just in Minneapolis or St. Paul,
Our ministry with Mobile Hope is just 5 miles from here.
And the Senior Living Facility, and even the prison, are just 3 miles from our church.
#3: Giving opportunities for kids to serve alongside their parents
(or Grandparents!)
We want you to model for them, and train them to serve like Jesus.
And this is certainly true for visiting the widows and widowers of Edgewood, and VERY true for having kids in your home (through Together4Good), so your whole family can help stave the Foster Care system for kids. .
#4: Serving where we can share the Gospel
This one is HUGE for our church, and truthfully, it rules a lot of other organizations who simply won’t let you talk about Jesus.
But our Partners do.
Because, yes, we do want to serve people in their need.
But if we only serve people, and never share with them about their greatest need (salvation), we’re not ultimately best serving their soul.
So I pray God leads you to a place to make a difference, and you can have an INSIDE OUT faith!