Posted by David on July 7, 2005 under Bulletin Articles
It has been a difficult week for this congregation. What has happened has not been good. The fact that we as a congregation experience grief together is good. Why? Because we increasingly are a family who care about each other!
This week Helen Branum fell, suffered a brain hemorrhage, and died just under 24 hours later. Larry Schluterman lost a nephew, Ben Schluterman, who was only 21 years old. Ben lost his battle with cancer. Larry and Ben were quite close. Eleanor Casey lost a brother-in-law, Joe Kincy. John Keller lost his grandfather.
With all our sorrows this week, a thought repeatedly came to me. The thought: none of us choose our parents, and few of us choose when or how we leave this life. The thought is not in the context of “us poor helpless victims.” It is in this context: though we do not choose how we enter or exit this life, we exercise an amazing number of choices.
We decide who we are. Regardless of our past circumstances or our present conditions, we choose to be the person we are. We choose what will be the dominant influences in life. We choose what will be the insignificant influences in life. We choose the influences we will add to our lives.
We decide how we will use our lives. We choose our life focus. We choose what to hold to as valuable. We choose our causes-are we an “inwardly turned” person or an “outwardly turned” person. We choose selfishness or unselfishness. We choose anger or compassion. We choose to be hate-centered or love-centered.
Even if we allow a victim mentality to enslave us, that is our choice. Bad things cannot be prevented from happening to any of us, but it is our choices that determine if bad things are allowed to make us bad people.
The great hope in this life in Jesus Christ is found in the power of transformation (Romans 12:1-2). Through God’s forgiveness there is opportunity to begin again and be a different person. Through God’s strength there is the opportunity to be resurrected to escape the seemingly inescapable struggles and hardships of physical life.
What “I am” can end. What “I can be” is the unending opportunity and hope God provides us in Jesus Christ. Incredibly, each of us can choose to end what we are and become what God can make us. Investment in God is life’s most wonderful investment!
Posted by David on July 3, 2005 under Sermons
Last Sunday evening I began a series of three or four lessons on FENCES: FAITH OR CONTROL? First, I want to tell you that I hope to make each lesson complete in itself. However, if you wish to couple all the lessons together, there are several ways to do that even if you have to miss a lesson. You can download the lesson from the West-Ark website. Most of the time, we are able to post the Sunday night lesson the following day. If you do not have a computer, the material is available to you from the office in a hard copy form or you may acquire an audio tape of the lesson.
Second, I want to begin with a brief review of the first lesson.
- First, let me begin by saying that today there are four primary expressions of Judaism (and many divisions under those collectively).
- There is the Orthodox expression that primarily focus on the law or Torah.
- There is the Reformed expression that primarily focuses on the ethical calls of the Jewish prophets.
- There is the Conservative expression.
- The is Reconstructionist Judaism.
- The material last week focused primarily upon the Orthodox expression and its focus on the law; in the Christian religious circles would be they would be called a fundamentalists approach.
- The approach of the orthodox Jew of today is basically the approach followed by the Pharisees before Christianity came into existence.
- This approach basically follows what is understood to be the literal and ancient meaning of the Law or the Torah.
- The basic focus of last week’s lesson was on the Pharisees’ approach to keeping faithful people from accidentally violating an unchangeable law from the unchangeable God.
- That approach was basically to build a fence around the Law.
- The approach was basically this:
- Identify the meaning of the specific law.
- Protect against the violation of that law through building a fence of rabbinical rulings.
- Further protect against the violation of that law through building a fence of accepted customs.
- We used the fourth commandment in the ten commands to Israel as an example: keep the Sabbath day holy by not working.
- We read from the Mishnah to note their 39 divisions of work.
- One of the recorded confrontations Jesus had with the Pharisees concerned Sabbath work violations.
- Consider the confrontation recorded in Matthew 12:1-8.
- Jesus and his disciples took a Sabbath walk along the edges of some ripened grain fields.
- The Pharisees were following them, observing their actions.
- The hungry disciples striped some raw grain heads by the path and ate the raw grain.
- The Pharisees immediately declared that the disciples had violated the law not to work on the Sabbath.
- According to the Pharisees, what the disciples did was cross one of the fences.
- According to the Pharisees, what they did violated one of the 39 classifications of work–they were either reaping or harvesting.
- Jesus rejected their accusation and declared his disciples innocent. He did this in four fascinating ways.
- First, he used the well known example of an act of David before he became king.
- David was still recognized as a man of God, as the most godly king Israel ever had, as ruling the golden kingdom of Israel.
- For Jesus to cite David was to cite someone the Pharisees accepted as a godly Jew.
- The incident Jesus cited is found in 1 Samuel 21 when David fled from King Saul because it was certain that King Saul intended to kill him.
- As he fled (too quickly to make preparation), he stopped at the village of Nob and asked Abimelech, the priest for some food, some bread.
- The priest said, “I do not have any ordinary bread to give you–all I have is the bread of presence (or the consecrated bread).”
- Listen to these instructions concerning the bread of presence in Leviticus 24:5-9:
Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths ofan ephah shall be in each cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before the Lord continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel. It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the Lord’s offerings by fire, his portion forever.”
- First, these loaves of bread were to be on that table constantly (Exodus 25:30).
- Second, only the priests were to eat the replaced loaves.
- David took and ate the bread.
- God never condemned David for his act.
- What was Jesus point? “Your fence is too small. God obviously considers matters you do not consider.”
- Jesus’ second illustration focused on the fact that the priests worked when they offered sacrifices on the Sabbath.
- There is not question that they work–killing and preparing animals for sacrifice is hard work!
- Yet, even though they violate the fourth of the ten commandments, they are innocent.
- Jesus’ point: God’s definitions and your definitions are not the same definitions. It is not as simple as deciding what physical act is done; the reason for the act is also important.
- Jesus’ third illustration is striking: “You condemn the innocent because you are ignorant of God’s priorities.”
- God gave His greatest priority through the prophet Hosea in Hosea 6:6 in the declaration, “I desire compassion (mercy), and not a sacrifice.”
- Showing mercy was expressing godliness more than offering a sacrifice.
- Or, giving kindness to people who do not deserve it is more important than worshipping God.
- This is not a rejection of worship, but a declaration that worship of God has meaning when mercy is extended to people.
- Jesus’ fourth illustration is powerful!
- “What God is doing the me is more important that observing the Sabbath.”
- “I rule the Sabbath–the Sabbath takes its meaning from me!”
- Now allow me to try to visually illustrate the problem.
- I need to begin this visual illustration with some definitions:
- “L” equals a “law from God.”
- “M” equals the “fence of meaning.”
- “R” equals the “fence of rabbinical rulings.”
- “C” equals the “fence of custom.”
- This approach to defining obedience to God begins with recognizing a law from God.
- Once God’s Law has been determined, it must be protected (if necessary) by determining its meaning.
- Then another layer of protection must be added by building another fence wherein the rabbis made rulings on exceptional situations.
- Then another layer of protection must be added by building another fence around the Law that recognizes long-standing, approved custom.
- Now look at the problem:
- Sin is a violation of are rebellion against God’s law.
- As fences are built, sin grows to include a fenced in area.
- Finally, sin is a violation of humanly determined meaning, of the rabbinical decisions, and of the customs–yet all these came from humans, not from God.
- I hope the application of the problem to us is obvious.
- Substitute “commandment” for “Law.”
- Then build the fence of meaning or application around the commandment.
- Then build the fence of approved positions on issues in the brotherhood, or by a group of elders, or by a group of preachers.
- Then build the fence of approved ways of doing things (or custom).
- Then expand the meaning of sin to include our meanings, our approved positions, and our way of doing things, and we reproduce the same problem.
- Most of us understand the problem–and even agree that this problem should not exist among Christians.
- Agreeing on the concept is not the difficulty.
- The difficulty occurs then the application of the concept is directed toward something we feel strongly and emotionally about.
- I tried hard to think of a current illustration that would not stir up emotions or pigeon hole me.
- Usually, when we stir up emotions we stop thinking.
- When we stop thinking, we declare, “I know what you are trying to do–and I know where this is going!”
- When that happens, we start reacting and confronting.
- Since this illustration is about something I do, maybe you can think instead of reacting.
- The illustration is about our use of an invitation song.
- I have been preaching for over 50 years, and I do not remember closing a sermon in a church building one time without singing an invitation song.
- Did the first century church sing invitation songs? No.
- Did the invitation songs we sing exist in the first century church? No.
- Does the New Testament command us to use an invitation song? No.
- Is it wrong to sing an invitation song? No.
- Is it wrong not to sing an invitation song? No.
- Then why do we sing invitation songs? We want to be evangelistic.
- So invitation songs have become one of our fences built around Jesus Christ’s desire to be Savior of the world.
- Would you have something to say if you worshipped with a congregation while on a trip that did not sing an invitation song?
- Would their singing an invitation song influence your conclusion about them being faithful or unfaithful to God?
This is not a campaign to stop singing invitation songs. It is a cry to all of us, me included. Brothers and sisters, we need to respect each other’s conscience and stop condemning the innocent.
Posted by David on June 30, 2005 under Bulletin Articles
We are a middle class American church. We may range from the depths of middle class to the higher fringes of middle class, but we are primarily a middle class church. We descended from a strong work ethic in a rural environment that managed with values and behavior strange to today’s America.
Many of us adults adopted those values and perspectives. Most of us do not live as our grandparents lived, but the older of us still hold many of their values and perspectives.
However, times have changed considerably. Now we have adults who do not know those values and perspectives. We have young people who have never seen or heard of those values and perspectives. While our grandparents knew ?hard times’, now there are people in the church who live exclusively in prosperity and its lifestyle.
Do you doubt we are a middle class church? How do you feel if the congregation has a sizeable number who assemble here to praise God from true poverty circumstances? Or, if our building is used to provide support groups a meeting place to teach and encourage those who confront addictions? Or if we mix “our” children in classes with children who come from obviously different environments?
Perhaps the biggest shock comes if circumstances require us to live in a third world country. Much of the world’s population resides in such countries. After we get past the curious tourist stage, our eyes see things and ears hear things never seen or heard before. We see people truly trapped in poverty, who never have enough to eat, who could put the entire family’s clothing in one of our closets-and still have empty space, who are sick most of the time (by our definition), and who likely will die before the age of 50.
Shockingly, these people smile more, are less anxious, are more thoughtful, and are more grateful than many of us. Conversion changes nothing physically for many of them, but they are so grateful to know the hope given by the living God.
May we develop God’s eyes and ears as we look at ourselves and others!
Posted by David on June 26, 2005 under Sermons
Are fences good things or bad things? Do they exist to keep things in or to keep things out?
As most of you know, I grew up on a mountain top farm. In that area when I was a boy, most farms were 20 to 100 acres in size. Our farm was about 40 acres in size.
Compared to the Fort Smith area, farmers had a short growing season. It got warm enough to plant at a later time of the year, and harvest came much earlier in the year.
My mother still lives in the same house and on the same farm where I grew up. When I was a boy, I knew every inch of that place. Every inch of that place was in some direct way connected to my personal history and my personal development. I either plowed it with a mule, or chopped it with a hoe, or picked up sand stone off of it, or helped clear a overgrown area, or camped on it, or hunted on it.
When I was a boy, you could hunt and roam on any neighbor’s land. So I knew the hills, hollows, and creeks in the area.
I usually go home twice a year. I sleep in the same house I slept in as a boy. The farmland is still there. I can see most of it from the back yard. Yet, it has been about a decade since I have walked the farm and taken a stroll down memory lane.
Why? Fences! There are no longer gates where there used to be gates. Now if you want to climb a line fence, it is built like three fences with two of them barbed wire. And I do not know the neighbors. And I do not know what is on their land. Thus the truth is the fences keep me from going anywhere.
Is that good or bad?
This evening I will begin an emphasis with you that I truly hope to make as interesting to you as it is to me. I hope also to stimulate your insights with the result that your faith will grow.
- This week I went to the Goggle search engine on the Internet and typed in the words, “Fences and the Jewish Law.”
- The reason I typed those words was this: the basic objective of the Pharisees in the first century was to build a fence around the law.
- Determine the commands from God in the first five books of what we know as the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), which is what the Jewish people call the Law or Torah in both the Old and New Testaments.
- Once those commands are determined, build a fence around each one of them so a person does not accidentally disobey an unchangeable commandment from the unchangeable God.
- The web site that appeared is called Judaism 101.
- That web site told me there are approximately 733,000 references to Fences and Jewish Law (or Torah).
- I called up a specific site called Halakhah: Jewish Law.
- This is what the article said:
- Judaism is more than a set of beliefs about God, man, and the universe.
- It is a comprehensive way of life based on rules and practices.
- It is intended to affect every aspect of a person’s life: what you do when you wake up; what you eat; what you wear; how you groom yourself; how you conduct business; who you can marry; how to observe important days; and how to treat God, people, and animals.
- “Halakhah” is commonly translated Jewish law, but it literally means “the path one walks.”
- This approach declares it increases spirituality in life because it declares every act of life has religious significance–everything you do reminds you of your faith.
- The Law or Torah contains 613 commandments that cannot be changed, that came from God.
- Though there is (and always has been) disagreement on what should be included in those 613 commands, there is complete agreement among orthodox Jews that there are 613 commands.
- 248 of those commands are positive, one for each bone and organ in the male body.
- 365 are negative commands, one for each day of the solar year.
- Many of these commandments can no longer be observed.
- Example # 1: commands that target sacrifices and offerings cannot be observed because they were to take place in the temple, and the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
- If there is no temple, there can be no sacrifices and offerings.
- I call two statements to your attention from Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 12:5 But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.
Deuteronomy 12:11 Then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.
- From the time of Solomon, that “place” was the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
- If there is no temple, by God’s command, there can be no offerings and no sacrifices.
- Example # 2: laws that concerned the theocratic state of Israel, its king, and its system of justice can no longer be observed.
- The theocratic state of Israel no longer exists.
- Thus the laws that focused on the theocracy cannot be observed.
- Example # 3: laws that applied to the Levites can no longer be observed.
- A modern rabbi scholar has identified 77 positive and 194 negative commands that can be observed in and out of Israel today.
- The first fence to protect people from violating God’s command:
- First, one must identify the Laws that came from God.
- Second, once these laws from God are identified, they need a fence built around them to prevent people from accidentally disobeying the unchangeable instructions from the unchangeable God.
- The first fence was/is produced by the laws instituted by rabbis to prevent people from accidentally violating God’s laws.
- Let me give you an example:
- The fourth commandment in the ten commandments that God gave Israel was this:
Exodus 20:8-10 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
- Israel must keep Saturday holy.
- They keep it holy by not doing any work.
- Not even their servants, or livestock, or visitors can do any work.
- That day they declare their dependence on God and show they trust God to care for them.
- To obey that command, work must be defined.
- That was/is done in two ways.
- Centuries ago 39 categories of work were defined [these categories can be found in the Mishnah, in the section Shabbath, chapter 7, verse 2].
“The main classes of work are forty save one: sowing, plowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing crops, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing or beating or dying it, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying [a knot], loosing [a knot], sewing two stitches, tearing in order to sew two stitches, hunting a gazelle, slaughtering or flaying or salting it or curing its skin, scraping it or cutting it up, writing two letters, erasing in order to write two letters, building, pulling down, putting out a fire, lighting a fire, striking with a hammer and taking out aught from one domain into another. These are the main classes of work: forty save one.”
- Then from centuries ago, an orthodox Jew is not to handle a implement of work on the Sabbath (like a pencil, or money, or a hammer) lest the person forget it is the Sabbath and perform an act of work.
- The second fence was composed by rabbinical rulings.
- These rulings dealt with a specific situation and had the force of law.
- However, these rulings were not necessarily the same in every context.
- An example:
- Many of the Old Testament men of faith were polygamists.
- However, not all orthodox Jews were to be polygamists.
- If an orthodox Jew lived in a country that followed Christian values and made polygamy against the law, polygamy was condemned among orthodox Jews and not to be practiced.
- If an orthodox Jew lived in a country that followed Muslim values and allowed men to have up to four wives, polygamy was not to be condemned.
- A third fence was constructed by custom that is recognized as law for religious reasons and has been recognized for so long that it is binding.
- Things should be done in an area as they have customarily been practiced.
- However, if you change areas and thereby changed customs, you should follow the custom you have always practiced.
- For example:
- In some areas it was customary to stand while reciting a certain prayer.
- In other areas it was customary to sit while reciting the same prayer.
- I want you to see the point of building a fence around the law: it was to control everyone’s actions and protect them from violating an unchangeable law from an unchangeable God–its objective was to protect a person from accidentally doing something wrong.
- Your first reaction may be, “That is really weird!”
- First, you identify the laws from God.
- Second, you prevent people from violating God’s laws by building a fence around it.
- The first fence is built by identifying what the law means.
- The second fence is built by the rabbis’ rulings.
- The third fence is built by custom.
- “What a strange way to approach God’s teachings!”
- May I suggest to those of you who are members of the Church of Christ that you may have much more in common with that approach than you realize.
- When I was a boy we had a gospel meeting virtually every summer.
- In the back of the building we had a question box that allowed anyone to ask any question he or she wanted to ask.
- There was always one question that would be asked–even if there was only one question in the box.
- The question: “must a woman have long hair and must she wear a hat when she comes to worship?”
The question would frequently cite 1 Corinthians 11:5,6
But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head.
- If we paraphrased the question, to me it would be, “What is the actual meaning of that statement?”
- Often an issue was settled by citing the position of preachers: “Brother so-and-so says,” and if enough prominent preachers agreed, that settled the matter.
- What is the basic difference in doing that and the rabbi’s making a ruling?
- It is our custom at West-Ark to stand before someone is baptized into Christ and to applaud after the baptism.
- Why do we stand? In order to see better!
- The applause astounds people who come from congregations who never applaud.
- Is that applause right or wrong or in violation of scripture? No, applause has nothing to do with scripture.
- It is our custom, and as our custom it is appropriate here–but not intended to be binding on others elsewhere.
Quite often our approach has been to identify commands, then build fences around those commands to control people and prevent violations. That is not an ancient Christian approach. That is an ancient Jewish approach.
Posted by David on June 23, 2005 under Bulletin Articles
Jesus declared this statement. In context, he made it to contrast his concern for people with concerns of those who exploited people. The basic contrasts declared two realities. (1) Jesus unselfishly focused on the benefits of people while others focused selfishly on personal benefits. (2) He gave life while others deserted in the moments of crisis and brought death.
His purposes never exploited people. His purposes brought and gave life freely. Ultimately, his death would bring life to people.
Today’s Christians often miss the central point. Most of us are unfamiliar with the relationship between first century sheep and their shepherd. It was founded on total dependence and absolute trustworthiness. Only when sheep had a trustworthy shepherd would the relationship work.
Sheep were totally dependent. Without a shepherd, they could not find food. In fact, they would over-graze an area and literally destroy their food source. A good shepherd had to be wise enough not to allow over-grazing.
Without a shepherd, sheep seldom found water in arid places. A good shepherd led them to water. Thirsty sheep in arid places seldom could find water on their own.
Good shepherds defended sheep. A flock was defenseless without their shepherd. The only thing they knew to do in crisis was panic! In their panic, sheep endangered themselves-rather than hurting their enemy, they in their panic hurt themselves.
A shepherd made it possible for sheep to have life! An excellent, accomplished shepherd provided a good life for his sheep.
We were made to live. We exist because the Source of Life, God, gave us existence. By design we were made to live. Life, not death, fulfills our purpose. It is impossible to diminish life and not diminish us!
Though we do not like to admit it, we are dependent creatures. While we value life, we do not know the focus of life. We do not understand what we are about. Left to ourselves, we are prone to selfishness. We do a poor job of considering future consequences to life. We are so “pleasure” prone and so “lifestyle” conscious we are vulnerable to “now thinking” as if everything in the future will continue as it exists in this moment. We do a horrible job of leading ourselves, focus ourselves, or directing ourselves. We are far, far more likely to make “self-destruct” choices than wise and insightful choices.
We need someone to guide us who unselfishly has our best-interest as his priority. We need someone to teach us what life is about. We need someone to show us how to live. We need a good shepherd, Jesus Christ. He provides life when death surrounds us.
Posted by David on June 19, 2005 under Sermons
Have you ever heard the expression, “Don’t rock the boat!” I am sure most of us have. If one passenger in a small boat unnecessarily causes the boat to “take on water,” the whole boat sinks. It is not just the person who did the rocking who finds himself or herself in the water–it is every passenger in the boat. Instantly everyone moves from a situation of safety to a situation of danger. So, keep the situation stable and smooth–“don’t rock the boat.”
Years ago two or three of us needed to ask a town leader for permission to preach in the town. The person we needed to talk to lived on an island in the middle of a lake. The only way to get to his home was to go to the island in the middle of the lake by a dugout canoe. Dugout canoe is a fancy way to say a hollowed out log with no seats. The passengers had to be balanced on each side of the log to keep it from sinking or rolling over. When all the passengers were aboard, the sides of the canoe were about 3 inches above the water line.
The prospect of that ride was so unnerving that Joyce chose to stay on the shore with a very vocal drunk man instead of taking the canoe ride!
I guarantee you, it would not have taken much rocking for that canoe to sink!
Religious people tend to cherish the stable, the secure, the certain. We do not like other religious people who “rock the boat.”
Therein lies a significant problem. Our God is the God Who works in history by “rocking the boat.”
This evening I want to ask you to consider a question seriously. I want you to think about this question for a much longer period than just the hour you are in this assembly this evening. The question: “What would have happened if God told you to rock the boat?”
- A name that is extremely familiar to most of us is the name Abraham.
- Most of us are familiar with God’s call to Abraham.
Genesis 12:1-3 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
- This is actually the second time God asked Abraham to follow his directions.
- The call we just read came after his father, Terah, died.
- I doubt most of us have ever considered what an enormous request God made of Abraham.
- The fact that Abraham would even listen to God is incredible.
Joshua 24:2 Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the River, namely, Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods.
- Abraham grew up in a family that worshipped many gods–he grew up under the full influence of idolatry.
- There were no Jewish people who knew and worshipped the living God–the Jewish people eventually descended from him.
- There were no Christian people who knew the living God who sent Jesus Christ–Abraham was the beginning of God’s efforts to send Jesus Christ.
- God communicated directly with a man raised to believe in many gods, and he listened to this new, strange living God who gave him strange instructions!
- The instruction to leave his extended family was unheard of.
- While it is commonplace right now for people to strike out on their own and leave their extended families, that was not even commonplace in this society two generations ago.
- It happened here, but it was the exception rather than the rule.
- In Abraham’s world it did not happen–it meant leaving security for insecurity.
- The instruction could be compared to the request that a person leave civilization and go to an unknown frontier.
- Not even we like to leave the known for the unknown!
- God’s requests to Abraham were real “rock the boat” requests!
- At first Abraham could not leave his father, the head of the family.
- Terah compromised.
- He took the family to Haran and “settled” there–he had no plans to go further.
- Haran was similar to Ur, but it was much closer to Canaan.
- Evidently Terah was a strong, controlling head of the family.
- God did not call Abraham again until Terah died.
- Only when his father was dead did Abraham leave his extended family.
- Thus began God’s journey to the blessing of all people through Jesus Christ.
- What if it had been you instead of Abraham?
- What if the living God Whom you did not know made “rocking the boat” requests of you?
- What if He instructed you to do the unthinkable, something not done by anyone?
- Would you do it?
- Let me call some things to your attention.
- Do you have any idea of how hard it is to stop thinking like a slave if all your family has been for generations is slaves? That was the challenge the Israelites faced when they left Egypt.
- Do you have any idea of how hard it is to live in a tent in a dessert and trust God to provide your food and water every day? That was the challenge facing the Israelites in the wilderness.
- Do you have any idea of how hard it is to settle in a country and totally reject the religions of that country? That is the challenge that faced Israel in Canaan.
- Do you have any idea of the difficulty involved when God gives a message to give to your own people, and no one wants to hear or believe the message? That often was the situation God’s prophets faced.
- I want to call your attention to two Christian situations in the New Testament.
- The first situation is found in Acts 9.
- There was a man named Saul [whom we know as the Christian Paul] who hated Christianity and Christians.
- He thought Christianity opposed the living God’s will and was a grave threat to the nation of Israel.
- His solution: destroy the Christian movement, at that time a Jewish movement, by killing any Jewish man or woman who believed Jesus was the Christ sent by God.
- Years later after he had been a Christian for a long time, he declared these words as he defended himself in a trial.
Acts 26:9-11 So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
- He was on his way to a Jewish synagogue in Damascus, Syria to arrest Jewish men and women who believed Jesus was the Christ, bind them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial.
- He was almost to Damascus when he personally saw the resurrected Jesus, knew he was the Christ, and knew he was totally wrong
- Instantly he realized that his error was responsible for the death of God’s people.
- What I want to call your attention to is found in Acts 9:10-16.
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
- Let me paraphrase the situation.
- The Lord said, “Ananias, I want you to go to Judas’ house where you will find Saul and restore his sight.”
- Ananias said to the Lord, “Wait a minute! I know something about this man you obviously do not know. I know what he did to Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. I know why he came here. I know who gave him authority to do these horrible things. If You knew what I know, you would not send me to him.”
- The Lord knew what Ananias knew and he told Ananias to go on.
- The Lord knew what He was doing.
- If the Lord told you to do something similar, would you do it?
- The second situation is found in Acts 10.
- The situation:
- As far as we know, until this moment all Christians were Jews or proselytes–no people who did not follow Jewish traditions had been converted to Christ.
- God’s intent from the call of Abraham (Genesis 12:3) was to bring a blessing to everyone through Abraham’s descendants.
- At some point Christianity had to become a world movement to all people, not just a Jewish movement in the nation of Israel.
- Acts 10 is the time and the point.
- A non-Jew, though a God-fearing person, was instructed to send for the Jewish Christian Peter to receive the message of the gospel from him.
- In the meantime, the Lord prepared Peter to receive this request from a man who is neither a Jew nor a proselyte.
- Peter had a very confusing vision three times, and at the end of each time was told not to consider what God had cleansed as unholy.
- The Holy Spirit instructed him to go with the gentile men and not ask questions–for God had sent the men.
- When Peter arrived, he said (10:28, 29), “You know I am doing something a Jew is forbidden to do. But I came because God told me not to consider you unholy (common) or unclean. Why did you send for me?”
- Peter was there, but he did not understand why he was there! He did not “get it.”
- Cornelius explained why he sent for Peter.
- Then Peter had one of those eureka moments in which he literally understood something no other Christian understood at that time. Listen:
Acts 10:34,35 “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”
- For the first time he understood that a person does not have to be a Jew or a proselyte to be a Christian.
- God does not care who your father and mother are.
- God does not care what your nationality is.
- If a person reverences God by understanding God at work in Jesus Christ, God will welcome that person.
- Acts 11:1-3 makes it quite clear that other Christians did not like Peter having even social contact with people who were not Jews–that was completely inappropriate.
- Devout Jews did not have gentiles into their homes, and they did not go into gentiles’ homes.
- Devout Jews did not eat food prepared by gentiles.
- All of this had to do with their religious definition of purity.
- Peter did what God wanted him to do, and it cost him dearly–people who were Christians were much opposed to what he did.
- If God had told you to do something that was very unpopular among Christians, would you do it?
This is not a hypothetical principle. If you follow God Who gave us Jesus Christ, there will be moments when you “rock the boat.” There always will be those who do not like it. You will never “rock the boat” to drown people. You will never allow your arrogance to “rock the boat.” You will only allow God’s plans and purposes to “rock the boat.”
Sometimes you will find that having faith in God means trusting God enough to “rock the boat.” May God’s purposes never be neglected or abandoned because we lacked the faith in God to “rock the boat.”
Posted by David on under Sermons
We are consumed with the meaning of things. It is highly unlikely that any of us have gone through this entire week without thinking about what something meant.
This week the casualty toll in Iraq passed the 1700 count. What does that mean?
For several weeks, the U.S. Army has not met its goals in recruiting. What does that mean?
This week there were unsanctioned demonstrations in Iran? What does that mean?
This week in Afghanistan there are farmers who think they made a serious mistake changing from poppy crops to wheat crops. What does that mean?
This week some African nations were informed that they have billions of dollars of indebtedness forgiven. What does that mean?
Representatives of this congregation are having some difficulty in locating property to use in the development of the inner city work and the Hispanic work. What does that mean?
If you took a commercial air flight this week, you may have been asked to take your shoes off before you boarded the plane. What does that mean?
This week a young lady changed her tone of voice when she spoke to a young man. What does that mean?
This week a young man deliberately did things to get a young lady’s attention. What does that mean?
No matter what your age, not matter what your country, you are always concerned about the meaning of happenings.
- Two thousand years ago the gospel of Mark was written some 25 to 40 years after Jesus’ resurrection.
- Very quickly this writing declares this statement made in chapter 1 and verse l5.
Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
- Jesus made this statement.
- The gospel of Mark uses the statement as an explanation of the fact that Jesus was in Galilee preaching the gospel of God–whatever is that?
- We toss the two words gospel and God around so freely that we just assume both we and everyone else knows what those two words mean.
- Yet, when someone asks us to explain the meaning of the phrase “the gospel of God” we likely find ourselves struggling to explain our assumption.
- While Mark’s quote of Jesus’ statement may have made sense to the original readers of this document, it does not make a whole lot of sense to us.
- It contains some very curious instructions.
- Repent–from what?
- Believe or “put your trust in.”
- It also includes a very curious motivation: “the kingdom of God is at hand, and that is good news!” (The meaning of the word gospel is good news.)
- The context makes it obvious that Jesus is speaking to his own people, the Jews.
- He was speaking both to people you and I would call “good people” and to people you and I would call “bad people.”
- He was speaking both to people in a religious situation and to people in horrible circumstances.
- We might understand why he would instruct the “bad people” and the people in “horrible circumstances” to repent and believe.
- But why would he tell “good people” to repent and believe in the good news?
- Why would he tell people in a religious gathering dedicated to studying scripture and praying to God that they needed to repent and believe?
- I want to call your attention to a fact by calling your attention to the sequence of things Jesus did from Mark 1:15 to the middle of Mark 3 when Jesus selects the twelve.
- The sequence begins with Jesus inviting Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow him.
- He asked these men who lived in an area of poverty and few jobs to give up their established occupation and follow him.
- If they accepted his invitation, they had no promise of income!
- He entered the Capernaum synagogue.
- Those in attendance were astounded at the way he taught.
- A demon felt completely comfortable being in a synagogue, but completely uncomfortable with Jesus’ presence.
- The attendees were dumbfounded when Jesus cast the demon out of the possessed man!
- Then we are told of Peter’s mother-in-law who was sick with a fever.
- Jesus instantly healed her.
- He also completely healed her–she was immediately able to assume her work.
- Then we are told about all the sick in Capernaum who came to him to be healed.
- Then we are told Jesus made this statement recorded in 1:38–
Mark 1:38 He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”
- He went all over Galilee spreading the news.
- People came from everywhere to him.
- He became so popular he was recognized in most places.
- Then he returned to Capernaum and healed the paralyzed man.
- He granted the man the largest of all gifts, the gift of forgiveness of sins.
- Some of the educated people say, “He cannot do that–only God can forgive sins!”
- To prove that he could forgive sins, he healed the paralyzed man.
- He then called Levi to leave his occupation of tax collector and follow him.
- Levi did.
- Jesus then ate with a group of outcasts–tax collectors and sinners.
- The religious elite complained, “He cannot do that! He is associating with the wrong people!”
- Jesus answered, “These people need the good news!”
- More of the religious elite came to Jesus to ask why he was not following “accepted religious practices.”
- He said something that must have genuinely confused them.
- He said, “It would be inappropriate for me to fast.”
- Then he said, “I did not come to fix things–I came to bring something new into existence. And old ways of doing things cannot contain this new thing I bring.”
- That was just the beginning of some serious confrontations with the religious elite.
- Do you see any connection between all those things? Let me share a connection I see that declares the importance of the kingdom of God and declares the need to repent and believe.
- The call of Peter, Andrew, James and John declared the kingdom of God is bigger than the normal pursuits of physical survival.
- Casting the demon out of the possessed man declared the kingdom of God is bigger than evil.
- Healing the sick, including leprosy declared the kingdom of God is bigger than disease, even impossible disease.
- Forgiving the paralyzed man’s sins declared God is bigger than Satan.
- Eating with tax collectors and sinners declared the kingdom of God is bigger than being an outcast.
- Not fasting declared the kingdom of God is bigger than traditional religious practices or religious forms.
- So, how is all that relevant to me in my life right now?
- The kingdom of God is not about fixing you, about patching you up–it is about making you new.
- The two illustrations Jesus used were commonly understood and made his point powerfully.
- Those illustrations do not speak as powerfully to us because we are accustomed to sanforized or to preshrunk cloth and we have bottles and cans for our juices.
- They did not have sanforized cloth or bottles, and cans and vacuum sealing to store juices in.
- Their cloth shrunk, and they stored grape juice in the hides of freshly killed animals made into containers.
- So old cloth was patched with old cloth.
- You put fresh grape juice in a freshly killed, new animal skin.
- Why?
- If you used new cloth to patch old cloth, the patch would shrink and make the tear worse.
- When fresh grape juice begins to ferment, it produces a gas (carbon dioxide), and fresh skins expand instead of exploding.
- Jesus said those people who are willing to see what God is doing in revealing His kingdom will rethink life.
- If they understand what God is doing, they will repent–redirect life.
- If they understand what God is doing, they will trust God.
- They will not be content to be patched up.
- They will let God make them new.
- Please note: God’s unveiling of His kingdom is good news only to those who will repent and believe.
- What God did in allowing Jesus the Christ reveal the kingdom of God is bigger than us and bigger than our problems.
- God is not about fixing our lives like putting patches on an old inner tube.
- God is about making us a steel belted radial tubeless tire!
- The purpose of Christ is not to dig out our bad spots–there are no good spots!
- The purpose of Christ is to make us a new person who looks at life and self completely differently!
- Why should I allow God through Jesus to teach me how to look at my life?
- Because Jesus is bigger than death.
- Do you have trouble with an addiction–whether pornography, drugs, alcohol, materialism, pleasure, etc.? Anything that controls and possesses your life?
- Jesus is not about merely fixing our addiction–he is about teaching us a new way of seeing life, therefore he is about teaching us a new way to look at ourselves.
Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1:
It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
In context Paul declared that God through Jesus Christ gave gentile Christians a whole new way to look at themselves and at life.
We are reminded frequently these days that freedom is not free–that it costs. We are equally reminded on a continuing basis that freedom does not mean irresponsibility, but responsibly yielding to an authority higher than selfish desires.
Mark says that the highest of all authorities is God. God through Jesus is bigger than physical survival, bigger than the most potent expressions of evil, bigger than disease, bigger than being an outcast in society, bigger than religious forms and traditions. That is why the revealing of God’s kingdom is good news. The revealing of God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ declares God is even bigger than our death.
Have you let God rule you and teach you how to look at life and at self differently?
Posted by David on June 12, 2005 under Sermons
What do you do when you have a problem?
“I ask someone who has the right kind of knowledge to help me. If it is a money problem, I ask someone who is good with finances. If it is a car problem, I ask someone who knows about cars. If it is a electrical problem, I ask someone who knows about electricity.”
Well, I have a problem. In some form or fashion I have been confronting this problem for about 50 years. So I want to put the problem before you. I do not know if any of us will have the answer, but the problem is much more likely to be addressed in our individual lives if we are aware that it exists.
“So, what is this problem we need to be aware of?”
It is a faith problem. The problem is very old. It is so old that it predates the existence of Christianity by over a thousand years. It is a problem that existed in Israel in both the Old and New Testaments. But this problem definitely exists in Christianity today.”
“What is this faith problem that has existed for such a long time?”
The problem: how do you encourage Christians to place faith in God instead of placing their faith in something they substitute for God and calling it faith in God?
Perhaps the problem is best understood by using illustrations.
Illustrations #1: let’s begin by asking a Christian we have never met a simple question: “Religiously, what are you?” The person answers, “I am Church of Christ. My family has been Church of Christ for at least three generations. My father was an elder in the Church of Christ of my teen years. My grandfather was a preacher in the Church of Christ. We are just a Church of Christ family.”
Question: is your faith in a religious organization called “The Church of Christ,” or is your faith in the living God who always has been active in His creation?
Perhaps you ask, “What is the difference?” You see the difference far too often. When a congregation of the Church of Christ behaves poorly, it is amazing to note how many people just quit. They do not worship. They make no effort to serve God. They are very ambivalent about what they believe. Often they become religiously bitter and religiously negative. They did not belong to God.
They belonged to the Church of Christ. Their confidence was in the Church of Christ, not in God. They substituted faith in the Church of Christ as a physical religious organization for faith in God.
Illustration #2: we ask a Christian we do not know a series of questions. “Do you go to church here?” Yes I do. I have been coming here for a couple of years. In fact I rarely miss.
“What do you think of worship?” Oh, I rarely miss, but I hardly ever am in the auditorium. I am always here, but I am rarely part of the worship assembly.
“What do you think of classes?” Oh, I am always here, even on Wednesday nights, but I do not go to a class. There is always someone else to talk to or somewhere to go.
“If you do not worship and you do not go to class, why are you here?” I believe it is essential to come. I would not dream of not coming. Being here is very important to salvation. I just do not think it is necessary to worship or go to class.
This person’s confidence is in being at a geographical place at the right time, not in God to be praised and trusted to direct our lifestyle.
- As I said, misplaced confidence is a very old yet very real problem.
- It was a frequent problem in Old Testament Israel.
- Listen to the words of Amos in Amos 5:21-24.
“I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
- God, did You not command the festival assemblies? Yes!
- God, did You not command the sacrifices? Yes!
- God, did You not command the songs and the instruments? Yes!
- If You commanded all these things, why do You hate them?
- “Because you go through the motions of technically doing what I command, but you do not act and live like people who place their faith in Me!”
- “You are not a just people; you are not a righteous people!”
- An Israelite could not substitute going through the motions for being a person who trusted God.
- It was a problem among the Christians in the first century.
- The Christians at Corinth had a bad case of determining their faith by the preacher they championed. Consider 1 Corinthians 1:10-17.
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
- The first thing I call to your attention is the problem Paul addressed is internal in the congregation, not external among those outside the congregation.
- The second thing I call to your attention is the fact they based their faith on the preacher they championed.
- The third thing I call to your attention is this: to make a preacher the focus of your faith is to nullify what God did in Jesus Christ.
- Our faith must be founded on God’s accomplishments in Jesus Christ, not on a human being we exalt.
- It continues to be a problem among us.
- There are too many who place their faith in the church instead of the God and Christ who allow us to be the church.
- There are too many who base their faith on people they agree with rather than the God of mercy who gave us Jesus.
- There are too many who base their faith on procedures rather than the God of compassion who resurrected Jesus from the dead.
- We urgently need to understand the concern of Paul when he said in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5:
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
- The author of Hebrews wrote these words in Hebrews 11:1-6:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
- Hebrews 11 is called by many the roll call of faith.
- Because of its stress on faith, it is easy to take it out of the context of Hebrews.
- The Jewish Christians to whom the book was written (or sermon given) had sacrificed a lot for their faith in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:32-39).
- Their years of placing faith in Jesus Christ had finally taken their toll.
- These Christians were seriously thinking of renouncing Jesus Christ (not God) and returning to Israel.
- The writer said that was impossible: if they renounced Jesus as the Christ, they renounced God because Jesus was the work and purpose of God.
- Jesus, by God’s design, was superior to everything that declared faith in the nation of Israel.
- Faith in what? What kind of faith are we talking about?
- Faith in a nation? No!
- Faith in an animal sacrificial system? No!
- Faith in a structure that featured a temple, a high priest, and a system of worship? No!
- Faith in God who permanently solved our problems through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
- Faith in God who made the dead Jesus the resurrected Christ.
- I am afraid we can say, “Amen!” to those things and miss the point.
- It is not faith in what we have done or do, but faith in what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection and continues to do in Jesus.
- As essential as obedience is, it is not faith in our obedience, but faith in our God.
- The basic point of Hebrews 11 is this: people who place their faith in God and His achievements in Jesus Christ typically pay a price for having faith in God.
- Hebrews 11 is a long list of faithful people who paid heavy prices for being a people of faith.
- The point: you should understand that nothing unusual is happening when your faith in what God did in Jesus Christ costs you.
- May I say this to us: without what God did and does in the crucified, resurrected Jesus,
- There is no redemption, no buying back from sin, no freedom from sin.
- There is no atonement–we still owe for every evil thing we did.
- There is no sanctification–God looks at us and sees evil instead of seeing people who have been clothed in Jesus Christ.
- There is no righteousness–we exist as unredeemed, filthy people.
- There is no forgiveness–we are still accountable for our sins; we are indebted to God for every mistake we have made.
Perhaps the greatest insult we can give God is to place our faith in anything other than the accomplishments of God. May the most obvious thing in our lives be our faith in God.
