Jesus Called Me Broke by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Jesus Outside the Church — Revelation 3:20 in Context

Revelation 3:20 is often read from an evangelistic standpoint — preachers use it to challenge those who have not yet received Christ: "Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart; open it and be saved." That is valid. But that is not the immediate context of Revelation 3:20.

Here is how you know. This text was written to a church. Jesus was talking to a church. That should make you wonder: if Jesus is telling a church that he is standing at the door and knocking, how then are they having church without him? Who are they celebrating? What are they celebrating? How is it that you are having church and Jesus is outside?

What makes a church truly great is not numbers, not branches around the world. A church with two members and Jesus is complete. A church with 100,000 members without Christ is not a church.

There must be the humility and sensitivity to test ourselves. In the eyes of the world, things may look impressive. But what does God really think? You can get carried away with the liturgy, with religious calisthenics — playing church — while Jesus is not there.

To that same church at Laodicea, read Revelation 3:17: "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' — you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked." One of the things that gets churches into this quagmire of form without substance is success. When you touch money a little bit, there is a way you stand before a mirror and hear voices — "I'm rich." No one else hears that voice, but Jesus hears it. He is quoting it back: "I hear what you tell yourself."

The people who lasted in the word of God were not perfect people — they were people who were eager to run back to the Lord when they missed it. The greater folly is when you don't even see that you are in error.

To the church at Smyrna, however, the word was different. Revelation 2:8–9: "These are the words of him who is first and last, who died and came back to life — I know your affliction and your poverty, yet you are rich." There are people who call themselves rich and are poor, and people who call themselves poor and are rich. Heaven will be full of surprises.

Two Pitfalls Every Church Must Avoid

There are two pitfalls that every modern church must be wary of — one extreme or the other:

1. Justification Without Justice

   This is the brand of Christianity that makes it okay for a Levite, coming from the temple, to walk past a man attacked by robbers fighting for his life — perhaps even speaking in tongues. A type of Christianity that inoculates you against normal human compassion, or gives you the impression that the spiritual thing to do is to keep quiet.

   It is possible to have a very prosperous church in a community that is not affected by your gospel — planting a nice church past the neighborhood you have never witnessed to, needing that neighborhood only for their real estate.

   In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for righteousness was tsedekah. It means being in a right relationship not only with God but with people — a right standing with God and a posture of justice towards people. That is why righteousness and justice are used side by side. When tsedekah is towards God, it is by grace. When it is towards people, it is by actionable works. There must be things visible around you that point to how your relationship with God has changed how you relate to other people.

   Proverbs 21:3 — to do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to God than sacrifice. God says: "I know you come to church regularly. I know you don't miss your tithe. I know you give your offerings. But how do you treat the people around you? That is more acceptable." Lest you be surprised that at the end of the age he will say, "I was naked and you gave me no clothes."

   Not only is righteousness as important as sacrifice — in many contexts it is more important. The Bible says it is more important than sacrifice.

   Psalm 89:14 — righteousness and justice are the foundations of his throne, and mercy goes before him. This is the aura of the presence of God: righteousness, justice, mercy. If you are a tongue-speaker and you don't know this, you don't know God.

   Psalm 106:3 — "Blessed are those who act justly and who always do what is right." Righteousness is not just a gift — that gift propels you to do right by the people in your society.

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   Apostle Emmanuel Iren

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   Genesis 18:19 — "For I have chosen Abraham, that he may command his children to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice." Those who have received the free gift of righteousness will always seek justice. As a person full of the Spirit, some things happening in society should bother you.

   When you are full of the Spirit, you don't just plant churches or sponsor the planting of churches — you will sponsor orphanages. You start thinking: how can I make education cheaper? How can I make healthcare cheaper? James 2:14–19 — those who see someone naked and destitute and say "be filled" without giving what is needed for the body: shall faith alone save them? We need to see more people who, by virtue of their relationship with the Holy Spirit, are doing things for society. That is righteousness — not just going to church, not just dressing decently, but doing things for society.

2. Justice Without Justification

   When the Bible tells us that Jesus healed the man possessed by many demons in Mark 5, understand how important this is. A man was carrying thousands of demons — somebody's husband, somebody's son, somebody's brother, lost to demonic attack. He couldn't stay at home; he was sitting at the graveyard, bound with fetters on his hands and feet. Jesus sees him, casts all the demons out. The demons leave and enter pigs. When the pigs drown themselves, the community is more concerned about the economic loss — so many pigs gone. They didn't stop to think that a man who had been mad has now recovered his senses. Because of what they saw, they sent Jesus out of the city.

   There are still people with that mindset, measuring impact only by economic progress. When they see you now full of the Holy Spirit — depression gone, living your best life — how do you explain that economically? How does that show in a balance sheet? How do you persuade someone who doesn't see the value of Jesus that you are having the time of your life? How do you explain to the billionaire without Jesus that you are richer than him? The Bible tells us it is foolishness to the man without Christ.

   Carry your Jesus with full confidence. Do not allow intimidation lower your voice. This thing only works with boldness.

   Be even more daring. Whatever you are, be anointed. Medical doctor — anointed. Architect — anointed. Businessman — anointed.

   A church registered with the government is registered as a charity — measured only by social relevance. But the church exists for more than that. If not careful, it will miss its primary purpose. Social impact without the gospel of justification is incomplete.

   Isaiah 58 — God says, "Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness... to share your bread with the hungry and bring to your house the poor who are cast out." Both dimensions are essential.

The Four Categories God Singles Out

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This teaching on righteousness and justice is broad, but Scripture singles out four categories of people in particular:

• Widows
• Orphans
• Immigrants — for those in contexts of tribal division, this is a call against tribal bias
• The poor

Here is a serious spiritual principle — especially for those in business: deliberately create pathways of access for these four categories of people. Deliberately. An angel appeared to Cornelius and said, "Your alms have gone to God as a memorial." These are spiritual acts. God is the husband of widows and the father of orphans.

Deuteronomy 10:17–18 — "For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome." But he doesn't stop there. He shows no partiality, takes no bribe. Verse 18: "He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing." Verse 19: "Therefore, you also love the stranger, for you were strangers in Egypt."

This is how we know who your spiritual father is. This is how we know if you are a child of God — you too will administer justice for the fatherless and the widow, and you will love the stranger.

Charity Is Not an Option — God Calls It Justice

When it comes to giving to the poor, many times in the Bible God does not call it charity — he calls it justice. This implicates you as a child of God to a degree that not helping the poor will no longer be seen as a free-will gift you may or may not give.

Jesus told the parable of the servant who owed his master what amounts to billions and was freely forgiven. That same servant then refused to forgive a fellow servant who owed him the equivalent of ten dollars, and threw him in prison. In all matters of generosity, you would think that being forgiven freely does not obligate you to forgive others — that is the natural reading. But God does not see it that way. The point of the story is that because of what he has done for you spiritually, it must influence what you do for others financially.

This is how, at the end of the age, Jesus will tell some people: "I was hungry and you gave me no food" — and they will be shocked. "I was in that poor person on your street. The one you ignored every week."

2 Corinthians 8:9 — "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich." The riches and poverty spoken of here are spiritual — Jesus did not become financially poor so that you may be rich. The poverty was that he became a man to identify with humanity. As Philippians 2:5–8 says, he humbled himself, became of no reputation, took the form of a servant — just being a man was equivalent to becoming poor in a spiritual sense.

Paul therefore makes the application: because of what Jesus did, you must be generous. You are implicated as a child of God. He took your place, died your death. Philippians 2:4: "Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others."

You can be born again and not be a Christian. It was not born again people who were first called Christians — it was people who had passed through discipleship to the degree that their actions began to look like Christ's. To be a Christian means there is discipleship; you are bearing fruit. It is one thing to believe Jesus died and rose again and be saved. It is another thing for the same ideology behind what Jesus did to become your mentality — and when that mentality begins to influence social causes, how you treat your money, how you treat people, that is Christianity.

A Fifth Category — Supporting What God Is Funding

Beyond the four categories listed above, add a fifth: if you find yourself part of a vision that you know God is funding and God is sponsoring, contribute. Not just financially — support with your words, with your gifts and talents. Find a way to push the frontiers of what God is doing in your generation.

The moment your heart goes in the direction of social impact, you will always find yourself in the will of God.

Nehemiah never heard an audible word from God. He simply heard about what had happened to the walls of Jerusalem and he couldn't sleep. The burden moved him and he went to build. He didn't know he would enter Scripture. Both Nehemiah — a man of compassion — and Elijah both entered the Bible. This is how to be great in the sight of God.