Since we are no longer living under law but under grace the issue of how much to tithe has actually become more difficult rather than easier. We don’t “have” to follow the law but rather through the Holy Spirit we “want” to follow the law.
Under the law the Israelites were required to support the Levites in full time ministry by giving 10% of their income to this tribe. In addition 10% of what was left was to support the government and church, which at that time was the same. Finally of what was left 10% of this was to go towards festivals and celebrations to celebrate and worship God.
So a mathematical example:
$100 salary
$10 – Goes to Levites
$90 left
$9 – To church & governmental affairs
$81 left
$8.10 – To festivals and celebrations
Leaving: $72.80 (27.2% of their income)
The issue is that this also formed their taxes, income and personal. Of course while they were under their own rule. Once the Romans took over there were additional taxes collected.
So how much should we give today? 10%, is that enough? What about the missing portions? We are under a new covenant; this does not remove the law but fulfills it. Rather than being forced to follow the law, through the Holy Spirit we will want to follow the law, but it comes back to the question of how much to give? The answer is easy and very difficult at the same time; the basic message is that you should give as much as you want to.
At first this sounds great, you don’t have to give. The problem is that if you are progressing in your Christian walk you should want to give. If you don’t want to give and want to hang onto all your money this means it is more important to you than anything else, including God. Jesus told us that the greatest commandment was to love God, this means that nothing will come in front of God. For many of us money is the little god we follow.
A natural outpouring of the grace you have been given is that you will want to bless others and see them also enter the kingdom of heaven. You will want to give.
Jesus does not call you to give out of duty, the math is simple at 10% but that’s about it, he wants you to give out of love. If you’re not progressing on your giving you need to search out and determine if you truly believe in Christ or if you have formed your own god to follow.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Why not topical preaching from the pulpit?
The only thing that should be taught is Jesus and Biblical concepts. We should focus on understanding the relevance, message teaching, and details of the gospel of Jesus. Why only this and not purely topical or subject based? This is for many reasons:
- Topical preaching will only be relevant to the people who relate and only those who may be impacted by that particular subject.
o For example if a subject is dealing with the loss of a child or getting through a divorce, this is only relevant to a certain group of people and excludes a great many people
o Subjects like this can be handled in a variety of other ways, special seminars, small groups, etc.
- Topical preaching leads to “self-help” style and messages, it becomes not about how God wants you act and behave, but what God can do for you. The truth is that God has already done enough for you in sacrificing Himself for you, is this not enough?
- It allows people pastors to pick and choose subjects, ignoring or skipping text. This leads people to not have a full belief in the whole Biblical text and rather believe in only that with which they are comfortable. This could lead to a false image of Jesus, forming a god in our own image and hence a false god. If belief in Jesus is what gets us into heaven then we must ensure we believe in the right Jesus.
- Topical preaching will only be relevant to the people who relate and only those who may be impacted by that particular subject.
o For example if a subject is dealing with the loss of a child or getting through a divorce, this is only relevant to a certain group of people and excludes a great many people
o Subjects like this can be handled in a variety of other ways, special seminars, small groups, etc.
- Topical preaching leads to “self-help” style and messages, it becomes not about how God wants you act and behave, but what God can do for you. The truth is that God has already done enough for you in sacrificing Himself for you, is this not enough?
- It allows people pastors to pick and choose subjects, ignoring or skipping text. This leads people to not have a full belief in the whole Biblical text and rather believe in only that with which they are comfortable. This could lead to a false image of Jesus, forming a god in our own image and hence a false god. If belief in Jesus is what gets us into heaven then we must ensure we believe in the right Jesus.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Acts 13 – Jesus Always Was
Today we are going to go through some pretty big concepts, it’s going to be a heavy and long session so I hope your ready. Today we are going to talk about who Jesus is, what it means to preach the gospel and what it means to be saved. So buckle up and let’s get started.
Acts 13 starts with our Paul coming back from Jerusalem and they were called prophets and teachers. They were commissioned by the Holy Spirit to go out and preach the gospel. The church supported this by laying hands on them and praying for them.
The first challenge is a witness encounter with a false prophet. A man named Segius Paulus who was a proconsul (Similar to today, a premier of a province) who wanted to hear what Paul and Barnabus had to say. However there was a problem, there was a man in their way who was a sorcerer, they refer to him as Bar-Jesus and as Elymas and he stands in their way. Paul “looked intently at him” (V9) and said some very politically incorrect thing to him:
- Full of all deceit and fraud
- Son of the devil
- Enemy of righteousness
- Cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord
Elymas was then blinded and the proconsul believed.
This type of thing is contrary to the current teaching of universal acceptance and relativism.
Paul and Barnabus then enter the synagogue at Antoich and there they begin the greatest missions trip in history. The timing here was about 46 AD and this missions trip continued for 22 years until Paul’s execution in 68 AD. During this time Paul really was living his best life now, the blessings of the Lord were pouring out all over him. In his owns words he wrote in about 56 AD after ten years of mission works for Christ this is what he wrote:
2 Corinthians 11:25-27
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness
So what sort of gospel message did Paul teach? Here he was going to enter into a Jewish synagogue and tell people about Jesus. Was he going to tell them that Jesus would solve all their problems, make their life better, get them that new camel they have always wanted?
Paul starts of speaking to them about their own history, with a 5 minute old testament overview from Moses right through to their current day, showing them that Jesus was the messiah they had been waiting for.
This is a message specifically to the Jews. The Jews had been waiting thousands of years for the messiah and many were apprehensive about Jesus being the messiah. This was also over a decade since Jesus had left and as a result it meant that this was likely new information to many present.
Look what is missing from his preaching, something that today many people insert. This is the joy, peace, and happiness that Christ is supposed to bring. Isn’t that why you should come to Jesus?
To answer that let’s look at how Jesus Himself preached:
Luke 18:18-27
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” 27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
Again what’s missing? The most important element…the good news, Jesus doesn’t even give it to the rich young ruler. He doesn’t even tell him that he the way the truth and the life. Why?
What was the promise of Jesus, what did he tell us about what we could expect from following Him?
Matthew 5:3-5,10-12
3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth… 10 …Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus never spoke of happiness the way it is often presented. Here are some current excerpts from some of the most current presentations of this teaching. This is one example from Lifeway Church in Houston, Texas and Joel Osteen, writer of the book, Living your Best Life Now:
“There are so many people who don’t expect anything good in life. They don’t expect to get breaks, they don’t expect to get promoted, they don’t expect anything positive. So I just try to get people to say, I believe if we expect God’s favor, if we declare it, if we thank him when we do see good things happening, then we’re going to see more of that.
A lot of psychological principles and even medical principles, you see them coming around to what the Bible said hundreds of years ago: a merry heart is good like a medicine. I’ve read many articles on how a positive attitude, laughing every day and being happy, does help people to recover and live longer.
The main reason I decided to write it was to help people enjoy their life and to realize God has a good plan. I wanted people to see that you can be happy today --- that you can bloom where you're planted and enjoy your life right now.”
As with any heresy there is an element of truth to it, God does want your happiness, He will make things right in the world again until then we live in a fallen broken world full of sin and hatred. Jesus knew what we would face and wanted to prepare us for this by telling of the persecution to come. There is only one way to find lasting happiness, this is by repent of your sin and putting your faith in Jesus Christ, this faith will be the source of your happiness. This happiness will not come from the carnal knowledge.
This sort of thinking came from the Campus Crusade for Christ, the leader Bill Bright invented the 4 spiritual laws that started with God has a wonderful plan for your life. (Quote from book)
This sort of thinking is rooted in what can God do for me? This is a man centered response, rather than a God centered response. Rather when a sinner has full knowledge that he has sinned against God, he will drop to his knees in repentance and come to the cross humble and broken. Then the sinner is in a position to receive the gift of grace from the cross. If you come to the cross with the attitude of giving Jesus a try to see if it will fix you marriage, finances, job or relationships this is demanding of God and putting yourself and your needs above God’s position.
The biggest proof for this not being a reasonable gospel message can be found in the current situations all around the world. Many people are living in poverty and deal with daily persecution even martyrdom. Are they living their best lives now? You judge for yourself:
Iran
Assyrian Christian Boy Beheaded – Assyrian International News Agency (AINA)
The AINA has reported that a 14-year-old Assyrian boy, Ayad Tariq, was beheaded by Muslim militants in Baqouba, Iraq, on October 21. Ayad was beginning his shift of maintaining an electrical generator when a group of disguised Muslim militants approached him and asked to see his identification. When the Muslims saw his identification and noted he was a "Christian," they (called him) a "dirty Christian sinner!" They then threw him to the ground, held down his arms and legs, shouting "Allah Akbar!" (God is great), and beheaded him. Pray God will comfort Ayad's family and friends, giving them the supernatural gift of peace that comes from forgiving our enemies.
Eritrea
Two Christians Tortured to Death - Compass Direct
On October 17, security police tortured two Christians to death, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara. The deaths came after officials detained a U.S. citizen and re-imprisoned a popular Christian singer who was hospitalized as a result of spending 29 months in a metal shipping container. Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, eyewitnesses told Compass. Earlier this month, Eritrean authorities returned popular Christian singer Helen Berhane to military detention after she spent three days in Asmara’s Halibet Hospital for medical treatment. Berhane’s leg had been seriously damaged as a result of beatings she received while imprisoned in a metal shipping container since her arrest in May 2004. Pray the Holy Spirit will move in power to overcome the vicious and senseless attacks against Christians in Eritrea.
On October 16, 2006, Pastor Irianto Kongkoli was shot and killed by two masked gunmen. He was 42 years old.
The attack happened at 8:15 a.m. local time. That morning, Pastor Kongkoli was shopping for tile with his wife, Mrs. Rita Arianti Kopa, and five-year-old daughter, Galatea. The trio took the family van to a local hardware shop. Pastor Kongkoli was browsing the store’s yard when two masked men shot him in the head at a range of two meters. According to witnesses, one of the men was on a motorbike.
Following the attack, the masked men fled. Pastor Kongkoli’s wife heard the shots from inside the van and rushed to help her husband. Rita, who is a member of the East Palu police force, immediately took her husband to a hospital for aid. He died that same day.
Local police are following a lead on the two men suspected in Pastor Kongkoli’s murder
Pastor Kongkoli is survived by his wife, Rita, and three children. Rita is not seeking retaliation against her husband’s murders, but plans to let local authorities handle the case.
“It is God’s will,” she said. “He gives life and then He also takes life.”
So why would modern churches change the message? It all starts with marketing, in business we never let the engineers talk to customers; this is why we invented sales and marketing groups. They will outline the features and benefits of a particular product or service and hope to obtain you as a customer. The hope is that once you are in as a customer that you stay as a customer due to your company not sucking as bad as other companies. In business what is needed is a balanced or realistic view. One that tells people what to expect, that this will not solve all their problems, but will address many issues they face. The church today has done the sales and marketing pitch. They have taken the fruits of salvation, fruits that are real and used these as draw cards to build churches. Joy, peace, and happiness are real when a person is saved, your outlook on life will change. However the first step is the most important. Your life itself will likely change, you be met with persecution and difficulties. Just ask those people from the previous stories; their life will certainly did not change for the better. The simple act we take for granted of open worship of Christ will mean death for them and their family. Where is their promise of happiness? Does God not care about them? Of course he does. The sales pitch is a balanced view of the gospel, in this case leading with the fact that a person is a sinner.
Why did Jesus not give the gospel to the righteous young ruler? Because he would have come for the wrong reasons. He was looking for continued life enhancement, his life was already pretty easy and he thought he was a good person. Notice that Jesus doesn’t run after him, doesn’t offer up options, and doesn’t invite him to become a disciple so he could learn more, he lets him leave. This man was not ready for the gospel. Jesus likely could have said to him “All you have to do is let me into your heart and I will fix everything wrong in your life”. Instead he just let him leave because he wasn’t willing to take the first and most important step, the one that we so often miss when bringing the gospel to people. You must admit that you are a sinner and come to Christ with humble of spirit, asking for nothing other than His forgiveness. If you come asking, or worse demanding something, you have no humility and Christ will turn away from you.
Hear what Jesus had to say:
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Many like to quote the first part, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. However they don’t complete the verse.
Luke 13:2-5
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Acts 3:18-20
18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before
Acts 17:29-31
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Part of the problem is the current view of Jesus, the world view Him as a humble Galilean peasant, who looked like he should be at Woodstock and be driving a “73 Volkswagon Van with peace and flowers all over it. We have pictures of Jesus that have been produced showing him as a good looking European man with flowing hair, blue eyes and soft skin. More or less you get a picture in your head of someone who you could beat up, this is not someone who is worthy of worship, maybe a guy who you can share your feelings with, but worship a big wus?
This distorts and hides the true face of Jesus from us, yes He is that person. He preached peace, love and compassion. However a careful read of the gospels demonstrates that Jesus preached repentance, righteousness, and holiness. So what did Jesus look like? His earthly appearance from 30-33 AD is irrelevant, the only clues we have is from
Isaiah 53:2
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
So there was nothing special about His appearance when he was here with us, but what about when He comes again as promised?
Looking to Revelations 19:11-16 we see the following description:
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Now this is someone worthy of worship, a robe dipped in blood, I would presume not his own. He judges and makes war? Rule with an iron rod? What a contracting picture of Christ. What changed? How come Jesus is so much different here?
They add little bit to the gospel thinking that it will win souls to Christ; they have not faith in the gospel.
Was Jesus around from the beginning of time? What are the more common views of this?
Jehovah’s witnesses – Jesus is actually a created being, he was Michael the Archangel
Mormon’s – Jesus became the Son of God and became a God himself as a result of what he did on Earth.
What does the bible have to say? The first big thing is that it says that no one can see the face of God and live:
Exodus 33:20
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
How can this be when we look back and look in Genesis and Jacob clearly wrestled with God, not a in a spiritual way, but physically wrestled with him.
Genesis 32:24, 28-30
24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day… 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
OK, so you could argue, as some have the God changes, that he is progressively revealing Himself to us. This would mean that it was OK for Jacob to see God, but not OK for Moses. However this argument falls apart when we look at:
Daniel 3:23-25
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
This has been translated several different ways in various Bibles. In the NIV, NASB it will says like a son of the gods, the CEV says like a god. Either way the same applies, one looks at it from the perspective of the king stating this and since he was a Pagen it would be his inclination to refer to Him as a god (little g) and the KJV and others look at it from the logical who He would be. Both support the case the God remained the same.
Of course the best scriptural support for this lies in
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So Jesus was around forever, he was there at the beginning in Genesis.
Why this is important is to establish that Jesus didn’t “change” anything when He came to Earth. He fulfilled the promise and confirmed God’s covenant as prophesied. God didn’t suddenly become “nice” where He was “mean” before. He always was and the character of God is the Character of Jesus, they are the same. So the wrath, punishment, and judgment of the Old Testament is also in the New. The reason we don’t see as much written is really a simple matter of time. The Old Testament spans thousands of years while the new, excluding Revelations, spans only about 30.
The reason it is important to establish that Jesus has been around since the beginning is to understand that God didn’t suddenly change all the rules when Jesus was made flesh on the earth. This was the fulfillment of prophesy and was always the plan, right from the beginning. The Old Testament points to the saviour to come, the New to the saviour who came. Jesus didn’t change the rules, take away the ten commandments or provide us with a “new” way of doing things, he fulfilled the plan.
Why is this so important to establish? Why does it matter? If people come to the cross with distorted views of the truth they will not have the correct gospel and will not find the salvation they desire, they will instead find themselves outside the kingdom of heaven. Rather than worshiping the God of the Bible, they will be worshiping a God they have created, one that they feel more comfortable with, one that fits their lifestyle better. This is a false god and worshiping such a god is worthless and will result in a path to Hell. Strong words, but they come right from Jesus:
Matthew 7:15-16
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits…
Just so there is no confusion, because many who preach the prosperity gospel will actually use this as weapons in support of their argument. Fruits are not material possessions, they are not good relationships or significant influence. Fruits of the spirit, something our children learned about this summer are found in Pauls letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 5:22-26
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Speaking from my heart I can tell you that I do not want to be the one that is going to teach someone incorrectly, this is very serious because I will be called to give an account of all my teaching.
Now we can return to our book of Acts and pick up with Paul in the Synogogue. He finds that there is some major opposition to what he is presenting. The question is why? Shouldn’t he have been a little softer with his presentation? He seems as though he is rather harsh, look at what he does. They shake the dust from their sandals and move onto the gentiles, they accepted the message.
So what should we do in preaching the gospel to the lost. First don’t “sell” the gospel, God doesn’t need any help in changing the message to make it more palatable. Attempting to change it runs the risk of preaching a false gospel that will not lead to salvation but damnation. You must also have faith that the Holy Spirit can work in people the way it has been outlined in the Bible, not by softly treading and telling people what you think they want to hear but rather telling people the truth and bringing them humbly to the cross.
Perhaps at this point you’re questioning your own motivations for coming to Christ or haven’t made a decision yet. This may be the first time your hearing this type of message. Don’t put yourself at the center of the gospel rather God’s glory needs to be the center. Good news, it’s not to late if you are hearing this right now. There is still time, but you could die soon and you want to be sure that your going to heaven. The steps are repentance and faith, repentance of your sins, this means turning away from them. Put your trust in Jesus as saviour and Lord, Lord as the righteous judge of the Earth coming again, not as a humble peasant. Do this now, don’t wait. Read your Bible everyday, yes everyday and you can be happy and content in the fact that Jesus has you in his hand and will bring you one day into His kingdom. There is no magic prayer, this is a connection between you and God, do it today, don’t wait.
Acts 13 starts with our Paul coming back from Jerusalem and they were called prophets and teachers. They were commissioned by the Holy Spirit to go out and preach the gospel. The church supported this by laying hands on them and praying for them.
The first challenge is a witness encounter with a false prophet. A man named Segius Paulus who was a proconsul (Similar to today, a premier of a province) who wanted to hear what Paul and Barnabus had to say. However there was a problem, there was a man in their way who was a sorcerer, they refer to him as Bar-Jesus and as Elymas and he stands in their way. Paul “looked intently at him” (V9) and said some very politically incorrect thing to him:
- Full of all deceit and fraud
- Son of the devil
- Enemy of righteousness
- Cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord
Elymas was then blinded and the proconsul believed.
This type of thing is contrary to the current teaching of universal acceptance and relativism.
Paul and Barnabus then enter the synagogue at Antoich and there they begin the greatest missions trip in history. The timing here was about 46 AD and this missions trip continued for 22 years until Paul’s execution in 68 AD. During this time Paul really was living his best life now, the blessings of the Lord were pouring out all over him. In his owns words he wrote in about 56 AD after ten years of mission works for Christ this is what he wrote:
2 Corinthians 11:25-27
25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness
So what sort of gospel message did Paul teach? Here he was going to enter into a Jewish synagogue and tell people about Jesus. Was he going to tell them that Jesus would solve all their problems, make their life better, get them that new camel they have always wanted?
Paul starts of speaking to them about their own history, with a 5 minute old testament overview from Moses right through to their current day, showing them that Jesus was the messiah they had been waiting for.
This is a message specifically to the Jews. The Jews had been waiting thousands of years for the messiah and many were apprehensive about Jesus being the messiah. This was also over a decade since Jesus had left and as a result it meant that this was likely new information to many present.
Look what is missing from his preaching, something that today many people insert. This is the joy, peace, and happiness that Christ is supposed to bring. Isn’t that why you should come to Jesus?
To answer that let’s look at how Jesus Himself preached:
Luke 18:18-27
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?” 27 But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
Again what’s missing? The most important element…the good news, Jesus doesn’t even give it to the rich young ruler. He doesn’t even tell him that he the way the truth and the life. Why?
What was the promise of Jesus, what did he tell us about what we could expect from following Him?
Matthew 5:3-5,10-12
3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth… 10 …Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus never spoke of happiness the way it is often presented. Here are some current excerpts from some of the most current presentations of this teaching. This is one example from Lifeway Church in Houston, Texas and Joel Osteen, writer of the book, Living your Best Life Now:
“There are so many people who don’t expect anything good in life. They don’t expect to get breaks, they don’t expect to get promoted, they don’t expect anything positive. So I just try to get people to say, I believe if we expect God’s favor, if we declare it, if we thank him when we do see good things happening, then we’re going to see more of that.
A lot of psychological principles and even medical principles, you see them coming around to what the Bible said hundreds of years ago: a merry heart is good like a medicine. I’ve read many articles on how a positive attitude, laughing every day and being happy, does help people to recover and live longer.
The main reason I decided to write it was to help people enjoy their life and to realize God has a good plan. I wanted people to see that you can be happy today --- that you can bloom where you're planted and enjoy your life right now.”
As with any heresy there is an element of truth to it, God does want your happiness, He will make things right in the world again until then we live in a fallen broken world full of sin and hatred. Jesus knew what we would face and wanted to prepare us for this by telling of the persecution to come. There is only one way to find lasting happiness, this is by repent of your sin and putting your faith in Jesus Christ, this faith will be the source of your happiness. This happiness will not come from the carnal knowledge.
This sort of thinking came from the Campus Crusade for Christ, the leader Bill Bright invented the 4 spiritual laws that started with God has a wonderful plan for your life. (Quote from book)
This sort of thinking is rooted in what can God do for me? This is a man centered response, rather than a God centered response. Rather when a sinner has full knowledge that he has sinned against God, he will drop to his knees in repentance and come to the cross humble and broken. Then the sinner is in a position to receive the gift of grace from the cross. If you come to the cross with the attitude of giving Jesus a try to see if it will fix you marriage, finances, job or relationships this is demanding of God and putting yourself and your needs above God’s position.
The biggest proof for this not being a reasonable gospel message can be found in the current situations all around the world. Many people are living in poverty and deal with daily persecution even martyrdom. Are they living their best lives now? You judge for yourself:
Iran
Assyrian Christian Boy Beheaded – Assyrian International News Agency (AINA)
The AINA has reported that a 14-year-old Assyrian boy, Ayad Tariq, was beheaded by Muslim militants in Baqouba, Iraq, on October 21. Ayad was beginning his shift of maintaining an electrical generator when a group of disguised Muslim militants approached him and asked to see his identification. When the Muslims saw his identification and noted he was a "Christian," they (called him) a "dirty Christian sinner!" They then threw him to the ground, held down his arms and legs, shouting "Allah Akbar!" (God is great), and beheaded him. Pray God will comfort Ayad's family and friends, giving them the supernatural gift of peace that comes from forgiving our enemies.
Eritrea
Two Christians Tortured to Death - Compass Direct
On October 17, security police tortured two Christians to death, two days after arresting them for holding a religious service in a private home south of Asmara. The deaths came after officials detained a U.S. citizen and re-imprisoned a popular Christian singer who was hospitalized as a result of spending 29 months in a metal shipping container. Immanuel Andegergesh, 23, and Kibrom Firemichel, 30, died from torture wounds and severe dehydration in a military camp outside the town of Adi-Quala, eyewitnesses told Compass. Earlier this month, Eritrean authorities returned popular Christian singer Helen Berhane to military detention after she spent three days in Asmara’s Halibet Hospital for medical treatment. Berhane’s leg had been seriously damaged as a result of beatings she received while imprisoned in a metal shipping container since her arrest in May 2004. Pray the Holy Spirit will move in power to overcome the vicious and senseless attacks against Christians in Eritrea.
On October 16, 2006, Pastor Irianto Kongkoli was shot and killed by two masked gunmen. He was 42 years old.
The attack happened at 8:15 a.m. local time. That morning, Pastor Kongkoli was shopping for tile with his wife, Mrs. Rita Arianti Kopa, and five-year-old daughter, Galatea. The trio took the family van to a local hardware shop. Pastor Kongkoli was browsing the store’s yard when two masked men shot him in the head at a range of two meters. According to witnesses, one of the men was on a motorbike.
Following the attack, the masked men fled. Pastor Kongkoli’s wife heard the shots from inside the van and rushed to help her husband. Rita, who is a member of the East Palu police force, immediately took her husband to a hospital for aid. He died that same day.
Local police are following a lead on the two men suspected in Pastor Kongkoli’s murder
Pastor Kongkoli is survived by his wife, Rita, and three children. Rita is not seeking retaliation against her husband’s murders, but plans to let local authorities handle the case.
“It is God’s will,” she said. “He gives life and then He also takes life.”
So why would modern churches change the message? It all starts with marketing, in business we never let the engineers talk to customers; this is why we invented sales and marketing groups. They will outline the features and benefits of a particular product or service and hope to obtain you as a customer. The hope is that once you are in as a customer that you stay as a customer due to your company not sucking as bad as other companies. In business what is needed is a balanced or realistic view. One that tells people what to expect, that this will not solve all their problems, but will address many issues they face. The church today has done the sales and marketing pitch. They have taken the fruits of salvation, fruits that are real and used these as draw cards to build churches. Joy, peace, and happiness are real when a person is saved, your outlook on life will change. However the first step is the most important. Your life itself will likely change, you be met with persecution and difficulties. Just ask those people from the previous stories; their life will certainly did not change for the better. The simple act we take for granted of open worship of Christ will mean death for them and their family. Where is their promise of happiness? Does God not care about them? Of course he does. The sales pitch is a balanced view of the gospel, in this case leading with the fact that a person is a sinner.
Why did Jesus not give the gospel to the righteous young ruler? Because he would have come for the wrong reasons. He was looking for continued life enhancement, his life was already pretty easy and he thought he was a good person. Notice that Jesus doesn’t run after him, doesn’t offer up options, and doesn’t invite him to become a disciple so he could learn more, he lets him leave. This man was not ready for the gospel. Jesus likely could have said to him “All you have to do is let me into your heart and I will fix everything wrong in your life”. Instead he just let him leave because he wasn’t willing to take the first and most important step, the one that we so often miss when bringing the gospel to people. You must admit that you are a sinner and come to Christ with humble of spirit, asking for nothing other than His forgiveness. If you come asking, or worse demanding something, you have no humility and Christ will turn away from you.
Hear what Jesus had to say:
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Many like to quote the first part, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. However they don’t complete the verse.
Luke 13:2-5
1 There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Acts 3:18-20
18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before
Acts 17:29-31
29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Part of the problem is the current view of Jesus, the world view Him as a humble Galilean peasant, who looked like he should be at Woodstock and be driving a “73 Volkswagon Van with peace and flowers all over it. We have pictures of Jesus that have been produced showing him as a good looking European man with flowing hair, blue eyes and soft skin. More or less you get a picture in your head of someone who you could beat up, this is not someone who is worthy of worship, maybe a guy who you can share your feelings with, but worship a big wus?
This distorts and hides the true face of Jesus from us, yes He is that person. He preached peace, love and compassion. However a careful read of the gospels demonstrates that Jesus preached repentance, righteousness, and holiness. So what did Jesus look like? His earthly appearance from 30-33 AD is irrelevant, the only clues we have is from
Isaiah 53:2
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
So there was nothing special about His appearance when he was here with us, but what about when He comes again as promised?
Looking to Revelations 19:11-16 we see the following description:
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Now this is someone worthy of worship, a robe dipped in blood, I would presume not his own. He judges and makes war? Rule with an iron rod? What a contracting picture of Christ. What changed? How come Jesus is so much different here?
They add little bit to the gospel thinking that it will win souls to Christ; they have not faith in the gospel.
Was Jesus around from the beginning of time? What are the more common views of this?
Jehovah’s witnesses – Jesus is actually a created being, he was Michael the Archangel
Mormon’s – Jesus became the Son of God and became a God himself as a result of what he did on Earth.
What does the bible have to say? The first big thing is that it says that no one can see the face of God and live:
Exodus 33:20
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”
How can this be when we look back and look in Genesis and Jacob clearly wrestled with God, not a in a spiritual way, but physically wrestled with him.
Genesis 32:24, 28-30
24 Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day… 28 And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
OK, so you could argue, as some have the God changes, that he is progressively revealing Himself to us. This would mean that it was OK for Jacob to see God, but not OK for Moses. However this argument falls apart when we look at:
Daniel 3:23-25
23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”
This has been translated several different ways in various Bibles. In the NIV, NASB it will says like a son of the gods, the CEV says like a god. Either way the same applies, one looks at it from the perspective of the king stating this and since he was a Pagen it would be his inclination to refer to Him as a god (little g) and the KJV and others look at it from the logical who He would be. Both support the case the God remained the same.
Of course the best scriptural support for this lies in
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
So Jesus was around forever, he was there at the beginning in Genesis.
Why this is important is to establish that Jesus didn’t “change” anything when He came to Earth. He fulfilled the promise and confirmed God’s covenant as prophesied. God didn’t suddenly become “nice” where He was “mean” before. He always was and the character of God is the Character of Jesus, they are the same. So the wrath, punishment, and judgment of the Old Testament is also in the New. The reason we don’t see as much written is really a simple matter of time. The Old Testament spans thousands of years while the new, excluding Revelations, spans only about 30.
The reason it is important to establish that Jesus has been around since the beginning is to understand that God didn’t suddenly change all the rules when Jesus was made flesh on the earth. This was the fulfillment of prophesy and was always the plan, right from the beginning. The Old Testament points to the saviour to come, the New to the saviour who came. Jesus didn’t change the rules, take away the ten commandments or provide us with a “new” way of doing things, he fulfilled the plan.
Why is this so important to establish? Why does it matter? If people come to the cross with distorted views of the truth they will not have the correct gospel and will not find the salvation they desire, they will instead find themselves outside the kingdom of heaven. Rather than worshiping the God of the Bible, they will be worshiping a God they have created, one that they feel more comfortable with, one that fits their lifestyle better. This is a false god and worshiping such a god is worthless and will result in a path to Hell. Strong words, but they come right from Jesus:
Matthew 7:15-16
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits…
Just so there is no confusion, because many who preach the prosperity gospel will actually use this as weapons in support of their argument. Fruits are not material possessions, they are not good relationships or significant influence. Fruits of the spirit, something our children learned about this summer are found in Pauls letter to the Galatians:
Galatians 5:22-26
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Speaking from my heart I can tell you that I do not want to be the one that is going to teach someone incorrectly, this is very serious because I will be called to give an account of all my teaching.
Now we can return to our book of Acts and pick up with Paul in the Synogogue. He finds that there is some major opposition to what he is presenting. The question is why? Shouldn’t he have been a little softer with his presentation? He seems as though he is rather harsh, look at what he does. They shake the dust from their sandals and move onto the gentiles, they accepted the message.
So what should we do in preaching the gospel to the lost. First don’t “sell” the gospel, God doesn’t need any help in changing the message to make it more palatable. Attempting to change it runs the risk of preaching a false gospel that will not lead to salvation but damnation. You must also have faith that the Holy Spirit can work in people the way it has been outlined in the Bible, not by softly treading and telling people what you think they want to hear but rather telling people the truth and bringing them humbly to the cross.
Perhaps at this point you’re questioning your own motivations for coming to Christ or haven’t made a decision yet. This may be the first time your hearing this type of message. Don’t put yourself at the center of the gospel rather God’s glory needs to be the center. Good news, it’s not to late if you are hearing this right now. There is still time, but you could die soon and you want to be sure that your going to heaven. The steps are repentance and faith, repentance of your sins, this means turning away from them. Put your trust in Jesus as saviour and Lord, Lord as the righteous judge of the Earth coming again, not as a humble peasant. Do this now, don’t wait. Read your Bible everyday, yes everyday and you can be happy and content in the fact that Jesus has you in his hand and will bring you one day into His kingdom. There is no magic prayer, this is a connection between you and God, do it today, don’t wait.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Acts 17 - Sermon Notes
Acts 17 – The message comes to all
Summary until now
Acts has been a journey of the early church and the missional journeys of Peter and Paul. We have traveled through 16 chapters of acts to date and are in the middle of Paul’s second missionary trek.
Paul stirs it up in Thessalonica
Paul starts off this chapter in Thessalonica where he encounters heavy resistance to the message he is bringing. He then leave to head for a city called Berea where the group he is reasoning with appear to be receptive to the gospel, but then some of those from Thessalonica show up and start causing trouble. Paul leaves to go to Athens and leaves both Silas and Timothy to deal with the issues in Berea.
While in Athens Paul gets out and tours the city, and starts doing what Paul does best, preaching the gospel. He hits the marketplace and the synagogue, why? This is where the people are, he simply walks around until he finds where the most people are gathered and starts to explain the gospel. The Paul encounters certain stoic and epicurean philosophers in the marketplace where they call him a babbler. They invited him to come to speak at the Areopagus.
Areopagus
This is known as the hill of Ares or Mars Hill. This was the place in the city where many official and unofficial duties took place. This was the cities main court; the groups gathered would hear arguments from people in civil matters and disputes. They would also discuss philosophy and religion on top of this hill. At the time Paul arrived there were two main camps of thought:
Epicureans
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus (c. 340–c. 270 BC), founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention.
For Epicurus, the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) was obtained by knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of simple pleasures, by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on asceticism. He argued that when eating, one should not eat too richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as the grim realization that one could not afford such delicacies in the future.
Stoics
It teaches that self-control, fortitude and detachment from distracting emotions, sometimes interpreted as an indifference to pleasure or pain, allows one to become a clear thinker, level-headed and unbiased.
A primary aspect of Stoicism would be described as improving the individual’s spiritual well-being. Virtue, reason, and natural law are prime directives. By mastering passions and emotions, Stoics believe it is possible to overcome the discord of the outside world and find peace within oneself. Stoicism holds that passion distorts truth, and that the pursuit of truth is virtuous.
Sermon at Mars Hill
So Paul comes before this group and gives what is one of the most important sermons to those of us who would be included as gentiles. We pick it up in Acts 17:22-31. Paul starts off on a positive note, notice that he hits common ground? He doesn’t jump in and tell them they have everything wrong and that they have no idea of truth? Instead he looks for the common ground with the people there.
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
The unknown God is where we now have the term agnostic, Gnostic, knowledge, adding the A in front makes is without. Agnostic, without knowledge, of God.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
Paul establishes who God is in terms that they can relate to and tried to show them that the temples and idols they worship are not the one true God. He is starting down a path to show them that they have broken the second commandment, but in order to do this he must first establish with them who God is and why He created us.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
Paul again was establishing common ground with the gathered crowd, showing them that through creation that we are all related and that God had predestined the times they lived and that if they seek Him, He would meet them halfway.
This raises an interesting question on pre-destination, is God in charge or are you? Why were you born in the place you were and why are you here right now, in this room or listening to this on the internet? Was that God’s will or was that something you did of your own free will? Certainly this is a concept that is not easily answered in the short time we have left, but according to scripture God has decided this, He has pre-appointed the times you live and that means that you are here right now for a reason, the question you have to ask yourself is what that reason is?
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
Now Paul moves to tell them that they are the offspring of the created. He also speaks of their idolatry in a manner that some may have found offensive. Basically he makes a case in the beginning then drives it home here by telling them that they ought not to think of the divine nature is something that comes from humans. He tells them that they have formed a god in their own image.
There is a brilliant turn in Acts 17, where Paul tells the Athenians that God had overlooked their past idolatry. As an act of divine patience and forbearance. He winked at these times; he did not restrain them from these idolatries by sending prophets to them, as he did to Israel; he did not punish them in their idolatries, as he did Israel; but gave them the gifts of his providence, and now calls all men everywhere to repentance and faith in Christ who is coming again. So it is a new beginning, a new message for them, and us.
The two Mars Hills
There are two really big churches on either side of the continent called Mars Hill with completely opposite theologies and viewpoints. The one in Michigan is an emerging church which has a view of scripture where they term themselves “red letter Christians” On the other side you have a group putting the fun back in fundamentalism, Mark Driscoll’s church. They are a reformed church with primary focus on the teachings of the reformed church Luther and Calvin guiding their theology. The liberal left view is a humanistic point of view that puts man at the center of attention, not God. It is based on the assumption that Christians have “failed” for the past 2000 years in accomplishing Christ’s purpose and now they are going to get it fixed and put this world in order. They have opened the Bible p to new interpretations focusing only on the gospels, treating all the rest of the Bible as lesser scripture.
Both were asked in the latest issue of Relevant magazine:
"What do you see as the greatest challenge for young Christians in the next ten years?"
Mars Hill, Seattle, pastor, Mark Driscoll comments, "There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types (want) to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in his hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down his leg, a sword in his hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper; halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity."
Asked the same question, Mars Hill, Grandville, pastor, Rob Bell comments, "The unbelievable amassing of wealth and consumer goods that we have at out fingertips in American culture. Our greatest challenge will be to learn how to move this into blessings for others, or we will continue to be more selfish and indifferent to the cries of the world. These insane amounts of goods that are at our service are not doing good things to our souls."
So what is the most important thing that faces Christians in the next ten years? Is it feeding the poor? Or contending for the true gospel? Paul’s message to the Athenians was that the unknown god they were worshiping and didn’t understand was the God of Israel and the God of our Bible. They were confused because they didn’t have the scriptures and no one to that point had explained it, but what’s our excuse? In a time where we have free and full access to the Word of God.
Jesus said when asked what is the greatest commandment, that it was to love your God then love your neighbor, not the other way around. It is insulting to think that Christians have failed in the past 2000 years when nearly every single humanitarian organization formed over the past 200 years is Christian based. Some examples, The Red Cross, The Salvation Army, The United Way, and the YMCA just to name a few.
For Christians to come out and say that we are failing because we are not focusing on the “red letters” implies that we have historically been wrong in the interpretation of the Bible. In truth we are now failing because we aren’t focusing on the black letters, the gospels don’t trump the epistles. Opening up the Bible to pick and choose your theology like a menu is a form of idolatry, creating an image of God that you are comfortable with and denying His true nature. This path is one that leads to further destruction and drives us further from God’s word.
Other attacks on the record of Christianity will come from people who are self proclaimed atheists, or from secular humanists. They will often say that Christianity is worth rejecting because of their horrible track record of the past. They will say that the crusades, the inquisition, and the witch trails prove that Christianity has not helped the planet and have harmed society as a whole.
If the measure of harm is the number of people killed as a result of apparent beliefs then atheism and secular humanism win hands down. Lets look at the tally:
Atheism/Secular Humanism:
China – 1949-1965, 21 Million killed
Russia – 1917-1959, 66 Million killed
Germany – 1938-1945, 20 Million killed
Cambodia – 1975-1979, 4 Million killed
Christianity:
Crusades: 40 Thousand killed
Inquisition: 12 Thousand killed
Witch trials: 19 killed
So based upon volume it would appear that Secular Humanism has the edge on volume of death, and this if you notice is just the past 100 years. We also need to look at whether or not the people carrying out these killings were following the ideology they claimed or not? In the case of atheism there can be nothing seen as wrong with killing other human beings, after all if we evolved from monkey’s and before that a random selection of goo, why should it matter if we kill one another? In fact by killing someone else to increase my power and influence and really accelerating the evolutionary process and it fits perfectly with a humanist world view. In fact this is what drove the Nazi regime was the pursuit of the super human, elimination of anything that didn’t fit their ideals. According to this worldview you only get one chance to make an impact on the world, only one time around, you should gain everything you can and enjoy life to it’s fullest.
However from a Christian point of view were these killings justified? Well, for the most part it would appear that those involved in those events were not following the words of our leader, who told us that when we were attacked to present our other cheek to the enemy, rather they were operating in self-interest.
So At the end of the day, God is still in control. Christianity, while social justice and planetary restoration are not the key message has had more of a positive impact than any other group in the history of humans. Bono, Tony Campolo, and George Clooney don’t have the “power” to fix this planet and all its ills. How do we know this? Paul tells us here that God has decided where we were born, where we would live and the extent of our travel. What causes all these problems, why is the world degrading rapidly? The root cause is sin, and the Bible lays out a compelling story of how to eliminate this. We teach this to our children:
A – Admit you’re a sinner
We learn very early in our culture to point out other people’s problems rather than look at our own and we are given a myriad of excuses to reason out why we have the problems we do. These range from a bad childhood to rejection by our father or anything else that Freudian theory can “prove”, excuse or medicate. The true root cause of all of our problems is sin and we need to repent and receive the forgiveness that Christ offers. Jesus taught us to forgive those who sin against us, so all the excuses and reasoning comes from a lack of our own forgiveness and us harboring hatred.
In the case of those present at Mars Hill their sin that Paul addressed was idolatry. What is yours? Do you create images of your god like the Athenians? No you say? What about work, what about money, power? Do these things come before God? How about creating god’s image in one that you’re more comfortable with rather than the God as described in the Bible? I know I have done this, decided I didn’t like God’s rules and decided to create a god of Ryan, built on my principles, do you? Idolatry is not just limited to the physical formation of graven images, but God is always first and foremost interested in the condition of your heart.
This step is often missing today; we like to jump to the good stuff. It fits with our culture better. Why wait to buy the television when you have a credit card? You deserve that spa treatment it will make you feel better. Focus on your happiness not your faults or weaknesses…after all your only human, everyone makes mistakes, we have replaced sin, willful disregard for God’s laws with “I made a mistake”. Similar to the language that insurance companies started using “collision” rather than “accident”, it does mean a world of difference. However now most people think of “sin” as “mistake”
You must tell God your sorry for the sins you have committed and turn from them. Think of it as if you are married and have an adulterous relationship. You come back to your wife and say to her “honey I had an affair, I just wanted you to know that.” And expect everything to be OK? No, you have to be sorry, broken, and on your knees. Same situation you tell your wife you’re sorry and you convince her that you have repented and she accepts you back, then you go out and have another affair, were you really sorry in the first place? Ask yourself the same question about your sin. If you are really sorry for it and want forgiveness for it, why do you keep coming back to it?
B – Believe Christ was who He said He was that he came in the flesh, died and was resurrected. (The resurrection being the proof, but a real sticking point and source of mockery for the Athenians)
He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked,
This means he can’t be who you want Him to be, but who He was and is. If you create a God you want to worship you create a false God and give yourself false security. This is also the greatest news of all because if you get the first part right you know how much this means. You know that God should punish you for your sins, that He has every right to do so and should. You know that there is nothing you can do to make things “right”, no amount of good works make up for the wrong. Think of a rapist who stands before a judge, he says to the judge, “Judge I know I raped that women, I admit it but I have dated 30 women since and treated them with respect and dignity”. The Bible says if you break one of the commandments you are guilty of breaking the whole of the law. However instead of punishment He instead chooses to take the punishment in the ultimate display of Love and Mercy. Once you grasp this and comprehend how big a deal this is, your life will be different.
If you don’t grasp this my words will seem foolish and confusing. You will mock me and the message I have to bring. Paul later tells us in 1 Corinthians 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. God purposefully chose a seemingly foolish message, but when it is grasped by those that believe it is amazing. Finally we move onto C.
C – Confess, Choose, and commit to follow Him
This means to put on, not just think about once in a while. Your whole life will be God focused, everything you say, do and think will put God first. The analogy that I think is best is the parachute. You’re on a plane and it is going down, the pilot comes on and says that there is a parachute under your seat. First you must admit that the plane is going down, and then you must believe that there is a parachute under your seat. You do this by reaching down and checking. Once you grab hold of the parachute belief is not enough, you must put on the parachute in order to save yourself from the coming crash. This is the same with Christ, believing isn’t enough. Demons believe and tremble, but they don’t have salvation.
Have you done this? Really put on Christ? Not just in a superficial Sunday I’m all for God but a Monday through Saturday live your own life. Instead you need to wrap your whole life around Christ? The concept of the world is one that is written about often in the scriptures; John tells us in 1 John 15-17 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The world is passing away, degrading every day just a little more, accelerating at a pace unseen before. Our footprint and impact is extending to every single nook and cranny of this planet, the whole of creation groans because of our sinful nature. Don’t focus on the world and all your problems, instead focus on God’s purpose, God’s glory and God’s holiness. When you do this all of your problems and concerns are muted, they aren’t fixed, but it puts life into perspective.
Now we come to the conclusion of Paul’s message and after a great delivery with the demonstrated power of God working through him as demonstrated in the previous 6 chapters you would expect everyone to be struck down and worship God right? Well, remember that many mocked the resurrection and
while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Was Paul’s message a failure? Here he was among a bunch of unbelievers and he preached a revival message. He was THE apostle, shouldn’t the entire city have been converted immediately with all sorts of signs and wonders occurring? Shouldn’t he have had an alter call where all the people fill in cards saying that they have accepted Jesus Christ and then published their stats on how many conversions he had under his belt? Well, that’s not what happened, instead he was mocked by some, others said they would hear him again, and some believed. Only 2 people are named who become believers as a result of the message he delivered.
So how could this have been measured as a success? It was because Paul preached the Word as it was written and communicated by God, he didn’t tickle the ears of the listeners with words they long to hear, he told them the complete council of God and allowed god to do the work.
Remember earlier when we talked of God’s predestination of people of where they live and the places they go? Well this is in the same category. If you change the message to conform it to what you think the culture and the people are comfortable with you are telling God that you think your smarter than Him and you don’t need His help. In fact you are telling God that he got it wrong and that you know better. God knows what he is doing; don’t for a minute doubt it. All the world is his creation, the salvation of humanity is His plan and He lays out the blueprint in the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible that contain around 775,000 words, the bulk of the bible deals with God’s plan to restore and save fallen man. Only 3000 words deal with before and after this in the beginning before the fall and the last part of revelations with the restoration of heaven on Earth. The rest 700,000 words in English describe this plan of the messiah to come, the messiah on earth, and finally then the messiah who came. All is the word of God and to be taken at face value.
Finally I want to look back a little in Acts 17, and go to verse 11. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Everything I have talked about is a little controversial and for some difficult to handle. For those that are seeking God, or call themselves Christians, are you reading you Bible every day without fail? If not why not? And please don’t tell yourself you have no time, this is an excuse that is completely untrue no matter who you are. Do you watch TV? Do you drive to work? Can you live with 15 minutes less sleep and spend your first waking minutes of every day with God?
Summary:
God wants all of you, he is calling you to Him now, and how will you respond to this call?
God is in charge of the planet, the people and your life whether you choose to work with Him or against Him is your decision, but make not doubt about it God is in full control.
Today is the day that God now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
Summary until now
Acts has been a journey of the early church and the missional journeys of Peter and Paul. We have traveled through 16 chapters of acts to date and are in the middle of Paul’s second missionary trek.
Paul stirs it up in Thessalonica
Paul starts off this chapter in Thessalonica where he encounters heavy resistance to the message he is bringing. He then leave to head for a city called Berea where the group he is reasoning with appear to be receptive to the gospel, but then some of those from Thessalonica show up and start causing trouble. Paul leaves to go to Athens and leaves both Silas and Timothy to deal with the issues in Berea.
While in Athens Paul gets out and tours the city, and starts doing what Paul does best, preaching the gospel. He hits the marketplace and the synagogue, why? This is where the people are, he simply walks around until he finds where the most people are gathered and starts to explain the gospel. The Paul encounters certain stoic and epicurean philosophers in the marketplace where they call him a babbler. They invited him to come to speak at the Areopagus.
Areopagus
This is known as the hill of Ares or Mars Hill. This was the place in the city where many official and unofficial duties took place. This was the cities main court; the groups gathered would hear arguments from people in civil matters and disputes. They would also discuss philosophy and religion on top of this hill. At the time Paul arrived there were two main camps of thought:
Epicureans
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus (c. 340–c. 270 BC), founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention.
For Epicurus, the highest pleasure (tranquility and freedom from fear) was obtained by knowledge, friendship, and living a virtuous and temperate life. He lauded the enjoyment of simple pleasures, by which he meant abstaining from bodily desires, such as sex and appetites, verging on asceticism. He argued that when eating, one should not eat too richly, for it could lead to dissatisfaction later, such as the grim realization that one could not afford such delicacies in the future.
Stoics
It teaches that self-control, fortitude and detachment from distracting emotions, sometimes interpreted as an indifference to pleasure or pain, allows one to become a clear thinker, level-headed and unbiased.
A primary aspect of Stoicism would be described as improving the individual’s spiritual well-being. Virtue, reason, and natural law are prime directives. By mastering passions and emotions, Stoics believe it is possible to overcome the discord of the outside world and find peace within oneself. Stoicism holds that passion distorts truth, and that the pursuit of truth is virtuous.
Sermon at Mars Hill
So Paul comes before this group and gives what is one of the most important sermons to those of us who would be included as gentiles. We pick it up in Acts 17:22-31. Paul starts off on a positive note, notice that he hits common ground? He doesn’t jump in and tell them they have everything wrong and that they have no idea of truth? Instead he looks for the common ground with the people there.
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
The unknown God is where we now have the term agnostic, Gnostic, knowledge, adding the A in front makes is without. Agnostic, without knowledge, of God.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
Paul establishes who God is in terms that they can relate to and tried to show them that the temples and idols they worship are not the one true God. He is starting down a path to show them that they have broken the second commandment, but in order to do this he must first establish with them who God is and why He created us.
26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
Paul again was establishing common ground with the gathered crowd, showing them that through creation that we are all related and that God had predestined the times they lived and that if they seek Him, He would meet them halfway.
This raises an interesting question on pre-destination, is God in charge or are you? Why were you born in the place you were and why are you here right now, in this room or listening to this on the internet? Was that God’s will or was that something you did of your own free will? Certainly this is a concept that is not easily answered in the short time we have left, but according to scripture God has decided this, He has pre-appointed the times you live and that means that you are here right now for a reason, the question you have to ask yourself is what that reason is?
28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
Now Paul moves to tell them that they are the offspring of the created. He also speaks of their idolatry in a manner that some may have found offensive. Basically he makes a case in the beginning then drives it home here by telling them that they ought not to think of the divine nature is something that comes from humans. He tells them that they have formed a god in their own image.
There is a brilliant turn in Acts 17, where Paul tells the Athenians that God had overlooked their past idolatry. As an act of divine patience and forbearance. He winked at these times; he did not restrain them from these idolatries by sending prophets to them, as he did to Israel; he did not punish them in their idolatries, as he did Israel; but gave them the gifts of his providence, and now calls all men everywhere to repentance and faith in Christ who is coming again. So it is a new beginning, a new message for them, and us.
The two Mars Hills
There are two really big churches on either side of the continent called Mars Hill with completely opposite theologies and viewpoints. The one in Michigan is an emerging church which has a view of scripture where they term themselves “red letter Christians” On the other side you have a group putting the fun back in fundamentalism, Mark Driscoll’s church. They are a reformed church with primary focus on the teachings of the reformed church Luther and Calvin guiding their theology. The liberal left view is a humanistic point of view that puts man at the center of attention, not God. It is based on the assumption that Christians have “failed” for the past 2000 years in accomplishing Christ’s purpose and now they are going to get it fixed and put this world in order. They have opened the Bible p to new interpretations focusing only on the gospels, treating all the rest of the Bible as lesser scripture.
Both were asked in the latest issue of Relevant magazine:
"What do you see as the greatest challenge for young Christians in the next ten years?"
Mars Hill, Seattle, pastor, Mark Driscoll comments, "There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types (want) to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in his hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down his leg, a sword in his hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper; halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity."
Asked the same question, Mars Hill, Grandville, pastor, Rob Bell comments, "The unbelievable amassing of wealth and consumer goods that we have at out fingertips in American culture. Our greatest challenge will be to learn how to move this into blessings for others, or we will continue to be more selfish and indifferent to the cries of the world. These insane amounts of goods that are at our service are not doing good things to our souls."
So what is the most important thing that faces Christians in the next ten years? Is it feeding the poor? Or contending for the true gospel? Paul’s message to the Athenians was that the unknown god they were worshiping and didn’t understand was the God of Israel and the God of our Bible. They were confused because they didn’t have the scriptures and no one to that point had explained it, but what’s our excuse? In a time where we have free and full access to the Word of God.
Jesus said when asked what is the greatest commandment, that it was to love your God then love your neighbor, not the other way around. It is insulting to think that Christians have failed in the past 2000 years when nearly every single humanitarian organization formed over the past 200 years is Christian based. Some examples, The Red Cross, The Salvation Army, The United Way, and the YMCA just to name a few.
For Christians to come out and say that we are failing because we are not focusing on the “red letters” implies that we have historically been wrong in the interpretation of the Bible. In truth we are now failing because we aren’t focusing on the black letters, the gospels don’t trump the epistles. Opening up the Bible to pick and choose your theology like a menu is a form of idolatry, creating an image of God that you are comfortable with and denying His true nature. This path is one that leads to further destruction and drives us further from God’s word.
Other attacks on the record of Christianity will come from people who are self proclaimed atheists, or from secular humanists. They will often say that Christianity is worth rejecting because of their horrible track record of the past. They will say that the crusades, the inquisition, and the witch trails prove that Christianity has not helped the planet and have harmed society as a whole.
If the measure of harm is the number of people killed as a result of apparent beliefs then atheism and secular humanism win hands down. Lets look at the tally:
Atheism/Secular Humanism:
China – 1949-1965, 21 Million killed
Russia – 1917-1959, 66 Million killed
Germany – 1938-1945, 20 Million killed
Cambodia – 1975-1979, 4 Million killed
Christianity:
Crusades: 40 Thousand killed
Inquisition: 12 Thousand killed
Witch trials: 19 killed
So based upon volume it would appear that Secular Humanism has the edge on volume of death, and this if you notice is just the past 100 years. We also need to look at whether or not the people carrying out these killings were following the ideology they claimed or not? In the case of atheism there can be nothing seen as wrong with killing other human beings, after all if we evolved from monkey’s and before that a random selection of goo, why should it matter if we kill one another? In fact by killing someone else to increase my power and influence and really accelerating the evolutionary process and it fits perfectly with a humanist world view. In fact this is what drove the Nazi regime was the pursuit of the super human, elimination of anything that didn’t fit their ideals. According to this worldview you only get one chance to make an impact on the world, only one time around, you should gain everything you can and enjoy life to it’s fullest.
However from a Christian point of view were these killings justified? Well, for the most part it would appear that those involved in those events were not following the words of our leader, who told us that when we were attacked to present our other cheek to the enemy, rather they were operating in self-interest.
So At the end of the day, God is still in control. Christianity, while social justice and planetary restoration are not the key message has had more of a positive impact than any other group in the history of humans. Bono, Tony Campolo, and George Clooney don’t have the “power” to fix this planet and all its ills. How do we know this? Paul tells us here that God has decided where we were born, where we would live and the extent of our travel. What causes all these problems, why is the world degrading rapidly? The root cause is sin, and the Bible lays out a compelling story of how to eliminate this. We teach this to our children:
A – Admit you’re a sinner
We learn very early in our culture to point out other people’s problems rather than look at our own and we are given a myriad of excuses to reason out why we have the problems we do. These range from a bad childhood to rejection by our father or anything else that Freudian theory can “prove”, excuse or medicate. The true root cause of all of our problems is sin and we need to repent and receive the forgiveness that Christ offers. Jesus taught us to forgive those who sin against us, so all the excuses and reasoning comes from a lack of our own forgiveness and us harboring hatred.
In the case of those present at Mars Hill their sin that Paul addressed was idolatry. What is yours? Do you create images of your god like the Athenians? No you say? What about work, what about money, power? Do these things come before God? How about creating god’s image in one that you’re more comfortable with rather than the God as described in the Bible? I know I have done this, decided I didn’t like God’s rules and decided to create a god of Ryan, built on my principles, do you? Idolatry is not just limited to the physical formation of graven images, but God is always first and foremost interested in the condition of your heart.
This step is often missing today; we like to jump to the good stuff. It fits with our culture better. Why wait to buy the television when you have a credit card? You deserve that spa treatment it will make you feel better. Focus on your happiness not your faults or weaknesses…after all your only human, everyone makes mistakes, we have replaced sin, willful disregard for God’s laws with “I made a mistake”. Similar to the language that insurance companies started using “collision” rather than “accident”, it does mean a world of difference. However now most people think of “sin” as “mistake”
You must tell God your sorry for the sins you have committed and turn from them. Think of it as if you are married and have an adulterous relationship. You come back to your wife and say to her “honey I had an affair, I just wanted you to know that.” And expect everything to be OK? No, you have to be sorry, broken, and on your knees. Same situation you tell your wife you’re sorry and you convince her that you have repented and she accepts you back, then you go out and have another affair, were you really sorry in the first place? Ask yourself the same question about your sin. If you are really sorry for it and want forgiveness for it, why do you keep coming back to it?
B – Believe Christ was who He said He was that he came in the flesh, died and was resurrected. (The resurrection being the proof, but a real sticking point and source of mockery for the Athenians)
He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked,
This means he can’t be who you want Him to be, but who He was and is. If you create a God you want to worship you create a false God and give yourself false security. This is also the greatest news of all because if you get the first part right you know how much this means. You know that God should punish you for your sins, that He has every right to do so and should. You know that there is nothing you can do to make things “right”, no amount of good works make up for the wrong. Think of a rapist who stands before a judge, he says to the judge, “Judge I know I raped that women, I admit it but I have dated 30 women since and treated them with respect and dignity”. The Bible says if you break one of the commandments you are guilty of breaking the whole of the law. However instead of punishment He instead chooses to take the punishment in the ultimate display of Love and Mercy. Once you grasp this and comprehend how big a deal this is, your life will be different.
If you don’t grasp this my words will seem foolish and confusing. You will mock me and the message I have to bring. Paul later tells us in 1 Corinthians 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. God purposefully chose a seemingly foolish message, but when it is grasped by those that believe it is amazing. Finally we move onto C.
C – Confess, Choose, and commit to follow Him
This means to put on, not just think about once in a while. Your whole life will be God focused, everything you say, do and think will put God first. The analogy that I think is best is the parachute. You’re on a plane and it is going down, the pilot comes on and says that there is a parachute under your seat. First you must admit that the plane is going down, and then you must believe that there is a parachute under your seat. You do this by reaching down and checking. Once you grab hold of the parachute belief is not enough, you must put on the parachute in order to save yourself from the coming crash. This is the same with Christ, believing isn’t enough. Demons believe and tremble, but they don’t have salvation.
Have you done this? Really put on Christ? Not just in a superficial Sunday I’m all for God but a Monday through Saturday live your own life. Instead you need to wrap your whole life around Christ? The concept of the world is one that is written about often in the scriptures; John tells us in 1 John 15-17 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The world is passing away, degrading every day just a little more, accelerating at a pace unseen before. Our footprint and impact is extending to every single nook and cranny of this planet, the whole of creation groans because of our sinful nature. Don’t focus on the world and all your problems, instead focus on God’s purpose, God’s glory and God’s holiness. When you do this all of your problems and concerns are muted, they aren’t fixed, but it puts life into perspective.
Now we come to the conclusion of Paul’s message and after a great delivery with the demonstrated power of God working through him as demonstrated in the previous 6 chapters you would expect everyone to be struck down and worship God right? Well, remember that many mocked the resurrection and
while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Was Paul’s message a failure? Here he was among a bunch of unbelievers and he preached a revival message. He was THE apostle, shouldn’t the entire city have been converted immediately with all sorts of signs and wonders occurring? Shouldn’t he have had an alter call where all the people fill in cards saying that they have accepted Jesus Christ and then published their stats on how many conversions he had under his belt? Well, that’s not what happened, instead he was mocked by some, others said they would hear him again, and some believed. Only 2 people are named who become believers as a result of the message he delivered.
So how could this have been measured as a success? It was because Paul preached the Word as it was written and communicated by God, he didn’t tickle the ears of the listeners with words they long to hear, he told them the complete council of God and allowed god to do the work.
Remember earlier when we talked of God’s predestination of people of where they live and the places they go? Well this is in the same category. If you change the message to conform it to what you think the culture and the people are comfortable with you are telling God that you think your smarter than Him and you don’t need His help. In fact you are telling God that he got it wrong and that you know better. God knows what he is doing; don’t for a minute doubt it. All the world is his creation, the salvation of humanity is His plan and He lays out the blueprint in the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible that contain around 775,000 words, the bulk of the bible deals with God’s plan to restore and save fallen man. Only 3000 words deal with before and after this in the beginning before the fall and the last part of revelations with the restoration of heaven on Earth. The rest 700,000 words in English describe this plan of the messiah to come, the messiah on earth, and finally then the messiah who came. All is the word of God and to be taken at face value.
Finally I want to look back a little in Acts 17, and go to verse 11. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Everything I have talked about is a little controversial and for some difficult to handle. For those that are seeking God, or call themselves Christians, are you reading you Bible every day without fail? If not why not? And please don’t tell yourself you have no time, this is an excuse that is completely untrue no matter who you are. Do you watch TV? Do you drive to work? Can you live with 15 minutes less sleep and spend your first waking minutes of every day with God?
Summary:
God wants all of you, he is calling you to Him now, and how will you respond to this call?
God is in charge of the planet, the people and your life whether you choose to work with Him or against Him is your decision, but make not doubt about it God is in full control.
Today is the day that God now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Church Discipline
Church Discipline
This was gathered from a variety of sources, but primarily from a talk given by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
Submission is not submission until there is a disagreement. All issues in the church boil down to one of two things; either moral sin or theological error. Church leaders are often afraid of confrontation so rather than address the issue it is left alone and grows.
This is am important issue because of the variety of attacks from within and outside the body of Christ. We must be ever vigilant in the protection of the sheep and the gospel of Jesus Christ. As leaders we will be called to give an account for our leadership, for everything we have taught. We need to ensure it is theologically sound, doctrinally clear and be unwavering in our commitment.
What is the focus of church discipline?
The goal is repentance and reconciliation
Resolution and recompense
Protection of gospel and the entire church
Church leaders are given authority and are not to abuse it
Discipline is unpleasant but necessary
Self discipline is important
Matters of discipline must be orderly (1 Corinthians 14:40)
Leaders should not let anger turn to sin (Ephesians 4)
Both sides of a dispute must be heard (Proverbs 18:17)
Multiple witnesses where possible (1Peter 3:1-7, Deuteronomy, 2 Corinthians)
Communion table – 1 Corinthians 11
Sin is serious
People should repent
Or bring on judgment
How can we fall into sin?
One Christian sins against another
Matthew 18
i. 2-3 witnesses there for the process, they don’t need to be witnesses to the event. This is in response to the issue of some churches that would not discipline leaders in child sex cases because there were not 2-3 witnesses present. This is an incorrect view on this issue.
ii. Refusal of repentance means refusal of membership, conversely repentance means reconciliation, but it doesn’t mean free and clear to go about, it depends upon the sin involved.
Person is a gossip
Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends.
2 Corinthians 12:20-21
For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.
What do you do? – Avoid them – this is difficult a lot of times, but this is necessary as it will infect a church faster than anything else.
i. Proverbs 20:19
He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips
It is critical that this start and end with the leadership team. The leadership team must act to stop this behavior and never, ever start it on their own.
Someone who says they are a Christian but live a life of habitual sin
1 Corinthians 5
i. The church and leadership endorse this person’s life
ii. Kick them out if they are not repentant
iii. It is not good to be tolerant of sin
Someone who continually blasphemes God
1 Timothy 1:18-20
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
i. People who will not stop teaching false doctrines
ii. Someone who was not teachable
Someone appoints themselves to leadership
3 John 1:9-10
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.
i. Refused to welcome the brothers
Revelations 2:2
“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
If you don’t appoint someone to leadership, someone will appoint themselves.
Someone is divisive
Single issue voters, for example people who come into the church and say that everyone must speak in tongues or that we must burn all Bibles that are not the King James Version.
Titus 3:10
Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition
Idle busybody
Someone who is into everyone’s business
2 Thessalonians 3:6-11
6 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he[a] received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.
Titus 2
i. Keep away from those who are idle
Commits a minor offence out of character
Proverbs 19:11 – forgive them
The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Christians sins and is repentant
We should be ready to forgive and come along side such a person as this, teaching them sound doctrine and helping them through.
Galatians 6:1
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
2 Corinthians 2:5
But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe.
Now we enter into the more specific ways that sin can enter into a church, these are the things we must be on guard for always vigilant and ever ready to address.
Teaching Sins
Someone who encourages false doctrine
Open handed or closed handed issues
i. Someone tries to move something from the open hand into the closed hand
ii. Someone tries to debate a closed hand issue
Acts 20 – the challenge will come from within
1 Timothy 1:3-7 – they must stop
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
1 Timothy 4:1-8 – some will follow demons
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
2 Timothy 4:14,15 – be on your guard
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. 15 You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
Colossians 2:8 – do not get confused, do not lose sight of Jesus
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Romans 16:17,18 – watch out for those who are ready to take over
17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
Habitually nit-picking the doctrinal message
2 Timothy 2:14-16,23 – Godless chatter, Have nothing to do with these arguments
14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.
Titus 3:9 – Avoid silly talks
But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.
People who only listen to false teachers
2 Timothy 4:1-5
i. Preach the word, do nothing with the freaks
ii. Correct from the pulpit
iii. Rebuke
iv. Encourage
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Acts 6:4
but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Self-righteous legalist
They think they are Jesus 2.0
i. In them is no humility or repentance
Galatians 5 – run the good race
i. People will try to tell you that you must do something to prove yourself to God
2 Corinthians 1:21
i. Taking credit for their righteousness
ii. Council of leaders Vs. a single leader
iii. Confidence and humility
1. All things in Christ
Someone who promotes a false gospel
Galatians 1:6-10
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
The glory of the Lord is at stake
Sincere but deceived
2 Corinthians 11
i. Satan will masquerades as an angel of light
ii. Be sure to know who Jesus is
iii. Be sure to know the true gospel
Legal Issues
1 Corinthians 6:1-8 – This covers the legal dispute between two believers.
Sin not crimes
i. Romans 13 – This deals with crimes, God has placed laws and authorities over us with government
Responses for church leaders and members
Hebrews 13:17 – Obey leaders and submit to authority.
2 Thessalonians 3:14,15 – A person counseled by a leader but refusing the council
14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Someone leaves the church to pursue sin and heresy
1 John 2:19 – They went out from us (you assume they never were a Christian to begin with)
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
Someone who is consistently not in community
Hebrews 10:25 – Don’t forsake gathering together – we need to encourage these people
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
When a teacher is in moral sin or doctrinal error
James 3:1 – they will be judged more strictly
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
1 Timothy 5:1 – They should be treated with respect
i. Listen to those who bring a credible charge
1. witnesses
2. evidence
3. investigate
ii. Rebuke publicly
1. 1 Timothy 3
2. Titus 1
a. These speak of the qualifications for an elder, if they disqualify themselves then they are fired
b. There are disqualifying issues and rebuke issues
iii. There is no room for partiality and favoritism
iv. Pastor needs to set example of coming under authority
Confidentiality
There is no confidentiality as that means keeping things in the dark.
Waiver of confidentiality
i. This covers sin issues (i.e. adultery) and legal issues (i.e. rape)
Need a good insurance rider from frivolous lawsuits
i. May need restraining order for some people.
Registered sex offenders – need a policy, should they be allowed in the church? To someone’s house? Background checks on nursery workers?
We welcome all people, but that doesn’t mean we trust all people
This is different than gossip
This was gathered from a variety of sources, but primarily from a talk given by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
Submission is not submission until there is a disagreement. All issues in the church boil down to one of two things; either moral sin or theological error. Church leaders are often afraid of confrontation so rather than address the issue it is left alone and grows.
This is am important issue because of the variety of attacks from within and outside the body of Christ. We must be ever vigilant in the protection of the sheep and the gospel of Jesus Christ. As leaders we will be called to give an account for our leadership, for everything we have taught. We need to ensure it is theologically sound, doctrinally clear and be unwavering in our commitment.
What is the focus of church discipline?
The goal is repentance and reconciliation
Resolution and recompense
Protection of gospel and the entire church
Church leaders are given authority and are not to abuse it
Discipline is unpleasant but necessary
Self discipline is important
Matters of discipline must be orderly (1 Corinthians 14:40)
Leaders should not let anger turn to sin (Ephesians 4)
Both sides of a dispute must be heard (Proverbs 18:17)
Multiple witnesses where possible (1Peter 3:1-7, Deuteronomy, 2 Corinthians)
Communion table – 1 Corinthians 11
Sin is serious
People should repent
Or bring on judgment
How can we fall into sin?
One Christian sins against another
Matthew 18
i. 2-3 witnesses there for the process, they don’t need to be witnesses to the event. This is in response to the issue of some churches that would not discipline leaders in child sex cases because there were not 2-3 witnesses present. This is an incorrect view on this issue.
ii. Refusal of repentance means refusal of membership, conversely repentance means reconciliation, but it doesn’t mean free and clear to go about, it depends upon the sin involved.
Person is a gossip
Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends.
2 Corinthians 12:20-21
For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.
What do you do? – Avoid them – this is difficult a lot of times, but this is necessary as it will infect a church faster than anything else.
i. Proverbs 20:19
He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; Therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips
It is critical that this start and end with the leadership team. The leadership team must act to stop this behavior and never, ever start it on their own.
Someone who says they are a Christian but live a life of habitual sin
1 Corinthians 5
i. The church and leadership endorse this person’s life
ii. Kick them out if they are not repentant
iii. It is not good to be tolerant of sin
Someone who continually blasphemes God
1 Timothy 1:18-20
18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
i. People who will not stop teaching false doctrines
ii. Someone who was not teachable
Someone appoints themselves to leadership
3 John 1:9-10
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church.
i. Refused to welcome the brothers
Revelations 2:2
“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
If you don’t appoint someone to leadership, someone will appoint themselves.
Someone is divisive
Single issue voters, for example people who come into the church and say that everyone must speak in tongues or that we must burn all Bibles that are not the King James Version.
Titus 3:10
Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition
Idle busybody
Someone who is into everyone’s business
2 Thessalonians 3:6-11
6 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he[a] received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, 9 not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 11 For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.
Titus 2
i. Keep away from those who are idle
Commits a minor offence out of character
Proverbs 19:11 – forgive them
The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger,
And his glory is to overlook a transgression.
Christians sins and is repentant
We should be ready to forgive and come along side such a person as this, teaching them sound doctrine and helping them through.
Galatians 6:1
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
2 Corinthians 2:5
But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe.
Now we enter into the more specific ways that sin can enter into a church, these are the things we must be on guard for always vigilant and ever ready to address.
Teaching Sins
Someone who encourages false doctrine
Open handed or closed handed issues
i. Someone tries to move something from the open hand into the closed hand
ii. Someone tries to debate a closed hand issue
Acts 20 – the challenge will come from within
1 Timothy 1:3-7 – they must stop
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. 5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.
1 Timothy 4:1-8 – some will follow demons
1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
2 Timothy 4:14,15 – be on your guard
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. 15 You also must beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.
Colossians 2:8 – do not get confused, do not lose sight of Jesus
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Romans 16:17,18 – watch out for those who are ready to take over
17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. 18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
Habitually nit-picking the doctrinal message
2 Timothy 2:14-16,23 – Godless chatter, Have nothing to do with these arguments
14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.
Titus 3:9 – Avoid silly talks
But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.
People who only listen to false teachers
2 Timothy 4:1-5
i. Preach the word, do nothing with the freaks
ii. Correct from the pulpit
iii. Rebuke
iv. Encourage
1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
Acts 6:4
but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Self-righteous legalist
They think they are Jesus 2.0
i. In them is no humility or repentance
Galatians 5 – run the good race
i. People will try to tell you that you must do something to prove yourself to God
2 Corinthians 1:21
i. Taking credit for their righteousness
ii. Council of leaders Vs. a single leader
iii. Confidence and humility
1. All things in Christ
Someone who promotes a false gospel
Galatians 1:6-10
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
The glory of the Lord is at stake
Sincere but deceived
2 Corinthians 11
i. Satan will masquerades as an angel of light
ii. Be sure to know who Jesus is
iii. Be sure to know the true gospel
Legal Issues
1 Corinthians 6:1-8 – This covers the legal dispute between two believers.
Sin not crimes
i. Romans 13 – This deals with crimes, God has placed laws and authorities over us with government
Responses for church leaders and members
Hebrews 13:17 – Obey leaders and submit to authority.
2 Thessalonians 3:14,15 – A person counseled by a leader but refusing the council
14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Someone leaves the church to pursue sin and heresy
1 John 2:19 – They went out from us (you assume they never were a Christian to begin with)
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
Someone who is consistently not in community
Hebrews 10:25 – Don’t forsake gathering together – we need to encourage these people
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
When a teacher is in moral sin or doctrinal error
James 3:1 – they will be judged more strictly
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
1 Timothy 5:1 – They should be treated with respect
i. Listen to those who bring a credible charge
1. witnesses
2. evidence
3. investigate
ii. Rebuke publicly
1. 1 Timothy 3
2. Titus 1
a. These speak of the qualifications for an elder, if they disqualify themselves then they are fired
b. There are disqualifying issues and rebuke issues
iii. There is no room for partiality and favoritism
iv. Pastor needs to set example of coming under authority
Confidentiality
There is no confidentiality as that means keeping things in the dark.
Waiver of confidentiality
i. This covers sin issues (i.e. adultery) and legal issues (i.e. rape)
Need a good insurance rider from frivolous lawsuits
i. May need restraining order for some people.
Registered sex offenders – need a policy, should they be allowed in the church? To someone’s house? Background checks on nursery workers?
We welcome all people, but that doesn’t mean we trust all people
This is different than gossip
Justification
Justification – What does it say?
This is the expression we use to say you are “justified” or declared righteous in God’s eyes. In a works based gospel this will not occur until you perform certain acts. These acts would be good deeds, communion, or anything that would “earn” your way into heaven. The reformation in the 1500’s was primarily to restore the true idea of justification as presented in scripture, mainly Paul’s letters of Romans and Galatians that you are justified by faith alone.
Romans 3:28 - Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
However, the main proof of this concept came from Jesus hanging on a cross beside a thief who he told the thief on the cross next to Him that he would be with Him today in paradise (Luke 23:42-44)
Today most mainline evangelical churches believe in this concept, however many have taken it to the extreme and pushed the boundary of what “faith” means. They have taken it to mean that it is enough to simply believe in Christ and accept that you’re a sinner. The problem with this is that the devil would agree with that statement, most of us would agree that the devil will not be in heaven. So what is the faith they are speaking of? What does this faith look like? Well, it is putting your whole trust in Christ and Christ alone for your salvation. You demonstrate this through repentance, a turning from sin and through a change of your heart to a love for everything God loves.
This means you are still guilty of sin, but you are washed clean through the blood of Christ.
Reading through Romans, Galatians, and 1 John reveals many of the details of how you determine if you have truly repented and put you faith in Christ. Each of us should feel perfectly comfortable in answering questions about our salvation, the answers are easy if you’re saved.
The criteria is fairly simple and laid out first by Jesus when he was asked by the teachers of the day; what is the greatest commandment? In response He said, Love your God and Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:34-40)
You are born again – See John 3
You love to worship God – Deuteronomy 6:13, Revelation 19:10, 22:9 (among many others)
This is not just listening to music and feeling good. This is your every thought, word, and deed being dedicated to the glory of God. You thank Him daily for simply allowing you one more day and giving you air to breathe,
You love to read God’s Word – Same as above, the Bible reveals God’s character and plan.
Every day you read the Bible, you love reading God’s Word and any other books which speak of interpretation or application of scripture.
A new heart that hates sin – Romans 6:14, 1 John 2:3-4
This doesn’t mean you don’t like the consequences of sin, you hate the sin itself. It doesn’t mean you will never sin again, but that you have a new heart towards sin, you hate it and do everything you can to remove it from your life.
· People count on God’s grace to get them through, they lean on only the promises of God to forgive them and as a result they continue to sin counting on God’s grace.
· You can numb your conscience because you think that you can sin then just simply repent and be forgiven or worse lean a theology that says that all sins are forgiven past, present and future. The scriptures do not say this, in fact they say much the opposite Romans 3:25, 2 Peter 1:9)
You will want to fellowship with other believers – Hebrews 10:25
You will want to be around like minded people and talk of the things of God. This will be a focus and a love.
You will have a desire to reach out to the lost
This is two fold, one it is a commandment from your king (Mark 16:15), but it also a reflection on your love for other people. You want to see them inherit the kingdom of heaven.
You will extend grace towards others as an outpouring of the grace you have been extended.
See James 2:24, an often confused text. This is a natural outpouring of the grace given to you by God; you will want to pour it out into others.
The reality is that wide is the path to destruction and Christ will say to many on the day of judgment that He never knew you. This should fill us with fear if we can see none of the above manifesting in our lives. It is not a simple thing to believe, you must change your heart. However the good news is that Christ will meet you halfway, when you turn from your sin and put you full trust in Christ He will respond through the Holy Spirit and give you a new heart with new desires.
If this hasn't happened to you, then search your heart and get into the Word.
This is the expression we use to say you are “justified” or declared righteous in God’s eyes. In a works based gospel this will not occur until you perform certain acts. These acts would be good deeds, communion, or anything that would “earn” your way into heaven. The reformation in the 1500’s was primarily to restore the true idea of justification as presented in scripture, mainly Paul’s letters of Romans and Galatians that you are justified by faith alone.
Romans 3:28 - Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
However, the main proof of this concept came from Jesus hanging on a cross beside a thief who he told the thief on the cross next to Him that he would be with Him today in paradise (Luke 23:42-44)
Today most mainline evangelical churches believe in this concept, however many have taken it to the extreme and pushed the boundary of what “faith” means. They have taken it to mean that it is enough to simply believe in Christ and accept that you’re a sinner. The problem with this is that the devil would agree with that statement, most of us would agree that the devil will not be in heaven. So what is the faith they are speaking of? What does this faith look like? Well, it is putting your whole trust in Christ and Christ alone for your salvation. You demonstrate this through repentance, a turning from sin and through a change of your heart to a love for everything God loves.
This means you are still guilty of sin, but you are washed clean through the blood of Christ.
Reading through Romans, Galatians, and 1 John reveals many of the details of how you determine if you have truly repented and put you faith in Christ. Each of us should feel perfectly comfortable in answering questions about our salvation, the answers are easy if you’re saved.
The criteria is fairly simple and laid out first by Jesus when he was asked by the teachers of the day; what is the greatest commandment? In response He said, Love your God and Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:34-40)
You are born again – See John 3
You love to worship God – Deuteronomy 6:13, Revelation 19:10, 22:9 (among many others)
This is not just listening to music and feeling good. This is your every thought, word, and deed being dedicated to the glory of God. You thank Him daily for simply allowing you one more day and giving you air to breathe,
You love to read God’s Word – Same as above, the Bible reveals God’s character and plan.
Every day you read the Bible, you love reading God’s Word and any other books which speak of interpretation or application of scripture.
A new heart that hates sin – Romans 6:14, 1 John 2:3-4
This doesn’t mean you don’t like the consequences of sin, you hate the sin itself. It doesn’t mean you will never sin again, but that you have a new heart towards sin, you hate it and do everything you can to remove it from your life.
· People count on God’s grace to get them through, they lean on only the promises of God to forgive them and as a result they continue to sin counting on God’s grace.
· You can numb your conscience because you think that you can sin then just simply repent and be forgiven or worse lean a theology that says that all sins are forgiven past, present and future. The scriptures do not say this, in fact they say much the opposite Romans 3:25, 2 Peter 1:9)
You will want to fellowship with other believers – Hebrews 10:25
You will want to be around like minded people and talk of the things of God. This will be a focus and a love.
You will have a desire to reach out to the lost
This is two fold, one it is a commandment from your king (Mark 16:15), but it also a reflection on your love for other people. You want to see them inherit the kingdom of heaven.
You will extend grace towards others as an outpouring of the grace you have been extended.
See James 2:24, an often confused text. This is a natural outpouring of the grace given to you by God; you will want to pour it out into others.
The reality is that wide is the path to destruction and Christ will say to many on the day of judgment that He never knew you. This should fill us with fear if we can see none of the above manifesting in our lives. It is not a simple thing to believe, you must change your heart. However the good news is that Christ will meet you halfway, when you turn from your sin and put you full trust in Christ He will respond through the Holy Spirit and give you a new heart with new desires.
If this hasn't happened to you, then search your heart and get into the Word.
Monday, May 29, 2006
What is truth?
That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence. In 1859 Charles Darwin released his Origin of the Species and within months the scientific world was going through a revolution in thinking. Now, by the last half of the twentieth century, even popular culture has accepted Darwinian evolution as "proven." Today, Christians are answering evolutionists effectively, but the results are minimal in terms of changing the minds of people in our culture.
This is called modernism which is an attempt to examine traditional belief according to contemporary philosophy, criticism, and historiography. We now live in a time many are labeling post-modernism. This comes out in the following:
The increasingly universal belief that all cultures are to be equally "respected" and never criticized
The new importance attached to language, as seen in the "political correctness " movement
New versions of history from the perspective of oppressed interest groups (e.g. feminist, or gay and lesbian history ) that purposely leave out even major events in the past
Postmodern feminism--the belief that our concepts "masculine" and "feminine," are arbitrary social constructions intended to subjugate women to men
The term postmodernism can be used in a broad cultural sense, or more specifically for theories perceived as naturalism, relativist, nihilist,; particularly while in opposition to rationalism, universalism, foundationalism or science. It is also sometimes used to describe social changes which are held to be antithetical to traditional systems of philosophy, religion, and morality.
Naturalism is the assumption that the physical world is all that exists, that there is no such thing as the supernatural; no God, no miracles and no divinely revealed moral code.
Relativism expresses the view that the meaning and value of human beliefs and behaviors have no absolute reference. Relativists claim that humans understand and evaluate beliefs and behaviours only in terms of, for example, their historical or cultural context.
Nihilism is a philosophical position which argues that the world, and especially human existence, is without objective meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value. Nihilists generally believe all of the following: God does not exist, traditional morality is false, and secular ethics are impossible; therefore, life has no meaning, and no action is preferable to any other.
Postmodernism hypothesises that all knowledge is merely a discourse, that no knowledge is different from any other as they are all legitimised by the same processes. Ipso facto, religion is no more valid than science.
We are nothing different than animals, we react to stimulus around us just like say a chimpanzee. This makes sense, since we share 97% DNA with monkeys.
So why care about this? Why would we want to talk about this in church?
Because it affects you more than you know, more than you would care to admit. This has been a movement that has slowly gained momentum and is a very real part of every one of your children’s education be it from elementary school to the world they interact with.
There are a few different groups of people you will run into.
People who don’t think they are good enough for God
Knows they aren’t put thank God for the cross
Think there is no God and therefore no reason to do anything.
However the largest group by far in our culture is the group to whom God has become irrelevant. Not that they do or don’t believe in God, but to whom the question is of little importance given the amount of distractions in their lives.
They will eventually get to it, until then they are far too busy living their lives. To them the exposure to God is from popular media and from those around them that call themselves Christians. So how do you reach out to these people?
If truth is relative, then…A. All spiritual truth is valid.
B. Persuasion is not allowed – tolerance is king.
C. No moral absolutes.
If truth is absolute, then…A. It can be found.
B. It must be acted upon.
C. Anything untrue must be rejected
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