Posted by David on April 29, 2004 under Bulletin Articles
In one consideration, being ruled by God is a simple consideration. The person, by choice, gives God control of his/her life. The person makes the will of God the top priority and concern in decisions made, choices picked, and directions taken. While it is understood that there may be a great amount of thought or discussion about “what is God’s will in this matter,” God’s will is the priority concern.
In another consideration, being ruled by God is a complex consideration. The complexity comes in knowing one’s motives. “Am I doing this for me or for God? Am I merely conforming to the expectations of my past and other people, or am I surrendering to God? Am I trying to manipulate God or serve God? Am I trying to make the important people in my life happy or am I seeking to bring joy to God? Does this arise from faith in myself or faith in God?” Those are hard questions to answer honestly! They focus on the truth that response to God must be internal as well as external.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Come be with us Sunday evening as we continue to study Coming to Christ in search for a better understanding of God’s rule.
Posted by David on April 25, 2004 under Bulletin Articles
“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13) |
“God, open my eyes to Your holiness, purity, and goodness. Help me not make You as I wish You to be in order to serve my own interest, but help me see You as You are. Help me realize that it is in seeing You as You are that enables me to see myself as I am. Help me understand that it is only in seeing You as You are that I become aware of how desperately I need You. Help me never doubt that You seek my eternal best interest.
“My world is such a confusing place! It so easily deceives me! It makes me think that the destructive is good for me, that the unimportant is the important, that the temporary is forever, that physical pleasure is my ultimate good, and that security is found in possessions rather than in You. The more physical things I have, the emptier I become. The only enduring peace I experience is the peace that comes when I am full of You. It is Your kingdom, not my wants, that gives my life meaning. It is your will, not my physical desires, that give my life purpose. Help me find my meaning in You!
“Give my mind the eyes to see that every truly good thing that exists in my life is a gift from Your hands. I have so much that it is easy to be selfish. Because so much is available to me daily, it is simple to depend on “my abilities” rather than Your love. As You said to Abraham, may I hear You say to me that I am blessed to be a blessing. May I not search for my meaning in wealth, but in You.
“May in my experiencing Your grace, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion I ceaselessly be challenged to fill my life and actions with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion in all my interactions with others. May I know You made me to reflect You. May I know the only one who reflected You perfectly was Jesus. May I increasingly yield myself to mirroring You in my life. May I understand that if I fail to reflect You to others, I fail in the basic purpose You give my existence.
“I have no hope when I confront Satan in my life and my world unless You are with me. Keep Your promise to never desert me. Give me the courage to trust this promise. Because of this promise, may I never stop using Your strength to confront evil in my life and my world. In the hope of my forgiveness, may I live in and share Your joy!
“Through my perfect mediator and intercessor I come to Your throne of grace in boldness, awe, and reverence!”
Posted by David on April 18, 2004 under Sermons
All of us have known someone who had “tunnel vision.” By “tunnel vision” I mean a person who focused exclusively on one view, one concept so that is all he or she saw. That one concern became “the explanation” for everything that happened in the families, or in the country, or in the world.
If we would be honest with ourselves and others, it is likely that all of us suffer at times from “tunnel vision.” You usually can detect “tunnel vision” by the questions asked. Very complex matters are reduced to single, simple declarations.
Let me give some examples of questions that warn us “tunnel vision” is just ahead. “Do you know what is wrong with American families? Let me tell you what is wrong with American families!” “Do you know what is wrong with our government? I can tell you what is wrong with our government!” “Do you know what is wrong with our economy? This is what is wrong with our economy!” “Do you know what is wrong with our world? Let me tell you what is wrong with our world!” “Do you know what is wrong with the church? I can tell you what is wrong with the church!”
Usually people who suffer from “tunnel vision” are quite sincere and very serious. Their concern may be a legitimate concern. The difficulty: their concern in a complex matter is just one problem of many problems.
Sometimes our study of the Bible is limited because of a type of “tunnel vision.” We hear something so much, we are taught how to look at something so consistently, that we think only one thought when we hear a scripture or look at a subject. I am not talking about adding something that is not there. I am talking about seeing everything that is there.
- Let me give you a possible example of “tunnel vision” in the study of scripture.
- When I say Genesis 1 (the first chapter in the Bible), what do you think?
- Probably all of us think, “Creation,” God’s acts bring the world and life into existence.
- When I say “creation” what do you think?
- Do you think, “I sure would like to know the answers to questions arising from the clash between creation and evolution”?
- Do you think, “I sure would like to know where dinosaurs fit in”?
- Do you think, “That is the beginning of history”?
- Do you think, “That tells me how life began”?
- Do you think, “That is the beginning of the Bible story”?
- Just what is it that you focus on when you hear the word “creation”?
- Do you ever think that Genesis 1 holds the key to understanding the basic problem addressed in the entire Bible?
- Do you ever think that if you want to understand God’s actions throughout the whole Bible, you need to begin by understanding a truth in Genesis l?
- First consider some statements from Genesis 1.
Genesis 1:26,27 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- The “us” in this statement is likely not a reference to the trinity, but use of language of a mighty king making a pronouncement, which was a common way that a Near Eastern king made pronouncements.
- God completed His creation by creating human beings, His most important creative act, the crown jewel of His creation, His touch of completion.
- He made them in the image and likeness of God.
- “Image” and “likeness” is about more than what we lost when we sinned.
- God’s purpose for people was to reflect Himself.
- He placed some of His qualities in humans–they were creatures of choice who were capable of exercising independence; they were made to rule.
- Genesis 1:31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
- Question: why was it very good?
- Answer: God’s creation reflected God’s goodness.
- The sovereign king could look at His creation and see something that reflected Who and What He was.
- Hundreds of years later, Paul wrote this about God’s creation in Romans 8:18-22:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
- Paul made this statement in his discussion of Christian suffering.
- This statement is based on some deep theology.
- However, there is one fact this is simple and evident: creation did not serve the role or fulfill the purpose God intended for it.
- That means we did not serve the role or fulfill the purpose God intended for us.
- What was that role, that purpose? To reflect God.
- Instead of reflecting God, we rejected God’s sovereignty and reflected sin (evil).
- The crowning jewel, God’s touch of completion, rejected God’s sovereignty and reflected God’s bitter enemy instead of reflecting God.
- Consider this illustration.
- God created, completed the creation with humans, looked at what He had made, and was deeply pleased–His good creation reflected His own goodness.
- I have no idea how much time passed from Genesis 1 to the rebellion in Genesis 3, but in this period God was perfectly at ease with humans, and humans were perfectly at ease with God.
- Genesis 3:8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
- The first time they were uncomfortable with and felt threatened by God’s presence was after their rebellion, after their rejection of God’s sovereignty.
- Why did they rebel? Why did they reject God’s sovereignty?
- Genesis 3:1b-5 And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
- “Has God ever told you a whopper!”
- “You won’t die!”
- “He knows you will be like Him!”
- Note that when Eve examined the tree, among other things she saw that the tree was “desirable to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6).
- From the moment they rebelled against God and thereby rejected God’s sovereignty until what you and I understand to be the final judgment, God has had a common objective: to reassert His sovereignty over a rebellious creation.
- God did not wish to destroy His creation, but to reclaim His creation.
- Sure He could have used His power to destroy and end the rebellion.
- But He wanted to give humanity opportunity to voluntarily accept His sovereignty and return to relationship with Him.
- That is why Christians exercise the choice to be part of God’s kingdom.
- Perhaps your reaction is, “That is all very interesting but also a very unnecessary understanding.”
- May I assure you that it is not an unnecessary understanding.
- May I assure you that this understanding is the very core of living for God.
- “David, why would you make a statement like that? Why would you dare suggest that restoring God’s sovereignty is the core reason for being in God’s kingdom?”
- The problem is reflected in these attitudes:
- “How can a person go to heaven and stay out of hell–barely?”
- “Please teach me how to live like I want to and not pay any consequences for it.”
- “Show me where the Bible says that I will go to hell for watching pornography, or destroying somebody’s marriage, or being aggressive in business (greed), or finding pleasure?”
- We even have our justifications:
- “God wants me to be happy.”
- “X will make me happy.”
- “God wants me to do this ungodly thing so I can be happy.”
- The result of all such reasoning is that we look at the New Testament as a Christian’s rule book.
- “If I keep the rules, God has to save me!”
- The trick is to get as close to the line without crossing it–so I want to know precisely where God draws it.
- This entire way of reasoning misses the point of Christian existence.
- The question is not [and never has been!], “How can I stay out of hell?”
- The question is [and always has been!], “How does this allow me to reflect God in who I am and the way I live.”
- In fifty years, people have asked me a lot of questions and lectured me on a number of things.
- “Do you think I can marry this person and it be okay with God?”
- “Do you think God will just overlook my affair?”
- “Do you think it would be okay to take this if I promise God to give Him half of it?”
- “God would hate that person, too, if that person treated God like he/she treats me!”
- “I don’t read anywhere in the Bible that says this is wrong!”
- We are giving ourselves the wrong answers and coming to the wrong conclusions because we do not ask the right question.
- God made us to reflect Him.
- When we live or act in ways that do not reflect God, we reject our created purpose.
- It is not about “keeping the right rules;” it is about reflecting God by accepting His sovereignty.
We have kept our focus fixed so tightly on commands that we often cannot see God. Its an old mistake. The nation of Israel made it frequently. The Pharisees made that mistake big time. If we are not careful, we will repeat the same mistake.
1 John 3:1-10 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
Is your life committed to reflecting God?
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Matthew 9:2-8 And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”-then He *said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home. But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
This is a fascinating incident in Jesus’ ministry! Both the paralyzed man and his friends had enormous faith just to come to Jesus. I have no question but that they came anticipating a healing of the paralysis. Jesus gave them more than expected which they likely regarded as less than expected. He assured the man he was forgiven. Forgiveness of sins is eternal. Ending paralysis is as temporary as life in this physical world.
The healing occurred as a result of the reaction of critics instead of the man’s need. The critics said among themselves that Jesus had no right to forgive sins. How dare this human assume to do something only God did!
Jesus responded by asking which was easier: to forgive the man’s sins or to heal his paralysis? To demonstrate he could do both, he healed the paralysis. Those who witnessed the event gave God the glory for giving such authority to men.
Ironically, we are more unlikely to question Jesus’ power to forgive but question his power to do the incredible and unexpected. Ask a person if Jesus can forgive him/her, and the person likely will respond, “Certainly!” Ask the same person if Jesus has the power to change him as a person or her as a person, and the likely response will be, “I doubt it!” Thus Christians likely rely heavily on forgiveness and little on transformation. We desperately want forgiveness, but are hesitant to want change.
There is never a moment we do not need Jesus’ forgiveness, but the objective of forgiveness is internal transformation (change) that ends external disobedience. Remember the sinful lady Jesus rescued (John 8:11)? “Go. From now on sin no more.”
Every moment in a Christian’s life he/she receives forgiveness. Yet, never forget God forgives us in the expectation that we will change.
Colossians 3:1-4 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Posted by David on April 11, 2004 under Sermons
To function in the American culture of 2004, it is absolutely essential to know how to heal relationships. In our current culture, rare is the adult [man or woman] who has not experienced a broken relationship.
It may be a divorce involving parents. It may be alienation from a parent. It may be alienation from a brother or sister. It may be losing a meaningful friendship. It may be experiencing your own divorce. It may be problems with your boss or fellow employees. It may be hostility with a neighbor. It may be a conflict in the congregation. It may be struggle with a church leader. Whatever it is, a relationship is ruptured and in desperate need of repair.
The work of repairing a relationship is called reconciliation. Whether it is repairing a human relationship or relationship with God, we are talking about reconciliation.
The core fact about salvation is centered in healing our relationship with God. Put in terms used in scripture, salvation is about reconciliation. If relationship with God is not healed, there is no salvation. If salvation exists, relationship with God is healed.
Let me be clear and specific about my objective. I am going to do all within my power to make each of us think by going to scripture. I want you to allow God to speak to you from His word. Agreeing with David Chadwell is never the issue. Hearing God is always the issue.
- Let’s begin by listening to God.
- Consider these scriptures.
- Ephesians 2:13-16 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
- Colossians 1:19,20 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him [Jesus], and through Him [Jesus] to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His [Jesus] cross; through Him [Jesus], I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
- Romans 5:8-11 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him [Jesus]. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
- 2 Corinthians 5:18,19 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
- In these readings about God’s act of making reconciliation with people possible, I want to call something to your attention.
- For God, reconciliation is an act, a specific event.
- That divine act or event is centered in God’s action in Jesus’ cross when Jesus became His promised Christ.
- For God, reconciliation involved Jesus’ blood, Jesus’ sacrificial death, and Jesus’ resurrection.
- When God offered Jesus, that offering was the reconciliation event for God–from that moment a perfectly healed relationship between God and sinful humans was possible.
- The point I want you to keep clearly in mind is this: for God, reconciliation with sinful people is an event that involved sacrificing Jesus.
- Let’s continue to let God speak to us.
- Consider these scriptures:
- 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 1:1,2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- Is anything obvious to you?
- The letter is addressed to God’s church in Corinth.
- These people are believers, penitent ones, baptized ones whom God had added to the church.
- Paul, as God’s ambassador to Gentiles, is making an appeal to these Christians in Corinth.
- It is an earnest appeal–“we beg you.”
- What is the appeal? “We beg you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
- Relevant question: how can it be that these baptized believers are in need of being reconciled to God?
- Why was reconciliation not “a done deal” when they were baptized into Christ?
- If they were baptized, why do they still need to be reconciled to Christ?
- Too often we have either taught or created the impression that all that was necessary was baptism.
- We have not emphasized faith in God’s act in the cross and Jesus’ resurrection much.
- We have not emphasized repentance, the redirecting of life, much.
- We have emphasized baptism a lot.
- I am fearful we have created the impression that “if I have been baptized, immersed in water, for the remission of sins, everything is A-OK (cool) between God and me.”
- If we are not quite careful, we become guilty of encouraging people to place their faith in an immersion instead of in Jesus’ cross.
- May I call something obvious to your attention?
- For God, reconciliation is an event, an act.
- For us, reconciliation is a journey.
- Consider this chart.
- Under consideration is a sincere, thoughtful response to Jesus Christ because of faith in Jesus’ crucifixion and a desire to redirect life.
- If we were to ask this person at baptism into Jesus Christ if he/she understood reconciliation, he/she likely would say, “Yes!”
- After this serious Christian grows for a couple of years, we ask again, “Do you understand reconciliation?” He/she likely responds, “I think so.”
- After this serious Christian grows for ten years, we ask the same question again, “Do you understand reconciliation?” He/she likely responds, “Maybe.”
- After this serious Christian grows for fifteen years, we ask again, “Do you understand reconciliation?” He/she likely responds, “I wonder.”
- After this serious Christian grows for thirty years, again we ask, “Do you understand reconciliation?” He/she likely says, “I have more questions than answers.”
- Why? Why is it that the more we grow toward God the more we are humbled by the concept of reconciliation?
- We grow in understanding to be awed by the vastness, the hugeness of reconciliation.
- When sin first entered this creation, so much more happened than just the perversion of physical creation.
- Something happened to affect God’s sovereignty; something happened in heaven; something happened in the war between good and evil.
- Listen to God speak to us.
- Luke 10:17,18 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.”
- Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
- 1 Corinthians 15:28 When all things are subjected to Him [Jesus Christ], then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.
- Sin caused something huge to happen; reconciliation caused something huge to happen.
- Question: when is a person 100% reconciled to God?
- By the grace and mercy of God, throughout the entire journey toward God.
- If because I believe in what God did in the cross, I want to redirect my life, and I am baptized into Christ, am I 100% reconciled to God? Yes! Because of what I did in baptism? No! Because of what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection!
- After two years of living in Christ, am I 100% reconciled to God? Yes! Because of what I achieve? No! Because of what God achieved in Jesus’ death and resurrection!
- And so it is all the years a person lives in Christ. At every point he/she is 100% reconciled to God because of God’s grace and mercy as shown in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
- In every culture, in every corner of the world, in every degree of education, in every degree of poverty, in the face of every form of injustice and repression, in every degree of being deprived, the man or woman who is in Christ is, by the mercy and grace of God, 100% reconciled to God at every point on his/her journey toward God.
- It is never a matter of how we compare to each other.
- It is always a matter of having confidence in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Have you begun the journey?
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Luke 13:14-16, But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
Poor man! If anyone can sympathize with him, we should! Jesus healed a woman in the synagogue on a Sabbath. The man was a synagogue official (a “leader,” not an “attender”; not uninformed but knowledgeable). Was he upset! “Jesus cannot heal people in this synagogue on the Sabbath! Not here! Not now! How inappropriate!”
Inappropriate? God’s power is inappropriate in God’s assembly among people who supposedly know God? The issue was not: (1) Jesus’ power to heal; (2) “What is the origin of Jesus’ power to do good things?” (3) the suffering woman; or (4) giving God glory for incredible happenings. The issue was, “Not here and now!”
Surely we understand the man’s feelings. Had not God’s law plainly declared, “Keep the Sabbath holy” (Exodus 20:8)? Had not it clearly declared one keeps the Sabbath holy by refraining from work (Exodus 20:9,10)? Had they not defined work? Had not those definitions regulated activities among devout Israelites for generations? How dare Jesus defile the Sabbath by performing a work of healing on the Sabbath in this synagogue!
So in devotion to scripture he condemned God’s Son for doing a godly thing! He was indignant! This upset official told the audience, “If you want Jesus to heal you, come on one of the other six days; not on a Sabbath!” Interesting! Do not benefit from God’s power on the day set aside to remember God’s creation power. The poor man knew more about scripture than he knew about God. The result: he used scripture to oppose God’s purposes and values.
Jesus declared him to be hypocritical. This representative of God did more for animals on the Sabbath than for a suffering human. He championed his views, not God’s priorities.
I do not condemn the man. I sympathize with him. May God’s grace forgive me when I have the same attitude! May His mercy cover my ignorance (which I consider “on-target” scriptural defenses) when I use God’s word to oppose God’s priorities!
It is so easy to (1) view scripture as an end in itself rather than a road map to God; (2) to hold scripture in higher regard than God; (3) to miss God’s priorities revealed in scripture. It is so easy to react instead of think–even if it means we oppose God’s purposes in His Son.
Posted by David on April 4, 2004 under Bulletin Articles
“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds” (Matthew 11:16-19).
Often God is in a “no win” situation. We simply do not look at situations as does God. Compare John the baptizer’s ministry [through which God worked] and Jesus’ ministry [through which God also worked].
Without question God sent John for a specific ministry. He was born by God’s special act (Luke 1:5-20). The Lord’s hand was with him (Luke 1:66). As soon as he was old enough, he lived in the desert (Luke 1:80). He wore strange clothing and ate a strange diet (Mark 1:6). He did not go into the towns with his message. People came into the wilderness to hear him (Matthew 3:5,6).
Without question God sent Jesus for a specific ministry. He, too, was born by God’s special act (Matthew 1:18-25). The Lord’s hand also was with him (Luke 2:40). However, Jesus dressed as common people dressed. He lived in towns. His diet was common people’s diet. He took his message to the people.
Most of the religious leadership refused to take John or his message seriously. He was weird! He was a recluse! God would not work through a weird man like John!
Most of the religious leadership refused to take Jesus or his message seriously. He was common! He lacked proper academic credentials! He associated with the wrong kind of people! Obviously God would not work through someone who ate instead of fasting and drank like Jesus drank! Besides, Jesus associated with the wrong kind of people!
Jesus’ observation: “You people are incredibly fickle! No matter what God did to inform you, you say He was wrong! Though God sent both John and me to achieve the same purpose, you say we are from the devil–John because he is weird; me because I am common. The time will come when God’s wisdom is recognized in both of us! The time will come when you will recognize people are the fickle ones–not God!”
The irony: people supposedly belonging to God could not see God at work in John or Jesus. God’s ways are not our ways. His values are not our values. His purposes are not our purposes. His priorities are not our priorities.
Our goal: (1) never force God to conform to our expectations [that is idolatry]; (2) always let God form our expectations [that is revelation in Jesus].
Questions: Do your expectations keep you from seeing God at work? Are God’s ways, values, purposes, and priorities obvious in your daily life because it is dedicated to reflecting who God is and what God is about? Do you declare God’s work a work of the devil because your expectations are more important than God’s priorities?
Posted by David on March 28, 2004 under Bulletin Articles
Acts 2:46,47 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 8:1-3 And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
Acts 11:22 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
One of the things I stress to us is this fact: the New Testament church was a community. Christians depended on each other, formed deep relationships with each other, identified through Christ with each other, rejoiced together, and supported each other in times of pain and suffering. They were not perfect or ideal. Yet, because of Christ, they had an incredible bond that was (1) real and (2) sustained by the resurrected Jesus Christ. Because they were devoted to God, they were devoted to each other.
I want personally to thank all of you for continuing to move us in the direction of a personal community of believers rather than an impersonal institution. Are we perfect? No. Do we have lots of flaws? Yes. Are we growing in the ability to care and bond? Yes–in so many ways!
Thank you, ladies, for your example as you often lead the way in closeness and caring! I frequently am amazed at the outreach and closeness in WINGS classes. The spirit of unselfish caring is obvious among the quilting ladies. So many ladies are unselfishly active in the education program. Ladies do so much to make Care Groups and Life Groups possible.
When I hear young ladies affirm in troubling moments that help “is there for them”; when I see how responsive our ladies are to special needs; when I know how much studying ladies do on a weekly basis; when I hear about how much praying ladies do for specific needs and situations, I am deeply encouraged. Why? These are expressions of community! They exist because the concern and bonding are genuine!
I am encouraged by many of the men as well. So much happens to express caring, to address needs, to extend helpfulness to people, and to encourage those with struggles.
We live in an evil world and an uncertain society. Common values seem to stress money, pleasure, success, exploiting the dependent, and selfishness. May it be increasingly obvious that we are a people guided by God, and God’s influence centers us on people. Faith in God results in caring about people! “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
Posted by David on March 21, 2004 under Sermons
For about two months we have focused on the concept of worship. These were our emphases in our lessons:
Lesson #1 asked you to focus on Cain’s attitude and note how his attitude affected his worship.
Lesson #2 continued our examination of the relationship between a person’s heart and worship God accepted as honoring Him. We examined Isaiah 1.
Lesson #3 examined the basic characteristics of worship of the holy God.
Lessons #4 and #5 focused on the truth that God first acts, and then asks us to respond to his acts. Worship is one form of our response.
Lesson #6 examined the relationship between seeing God as our Creator and giving Him worship.
Lesson #7 examined the moods of worship in Israel and noted those moods ranged from joyous celebration to intense mourning.
Lesson #8 focused on the fact that a Christian subscribes to two forms of worship: collective worship where we as a community praise God, and daily lifestyle where we as an individual honor God each day of physical existence.
Lesson #9 noted that Israel depended on the same person, place, and acts Christians depend on: a high priest, a tabernacle, blood, and a sacrifice for sins.
In these lessons I hope you took note of something frequently appearing in our readings: acceptable worship depends on who we are as a person. There has always been a powerful bond between worshipping God and personal behavior. Take careful note of that bond as read together Amos 5:14-27.
Seek good and not evil, that you may live; And thus may the Lord God of hosts be with you, Just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Perhaps the Lord God of hosts May be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, “There is wailing in all the plazas, And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They also call the farmer to mourning And professional mourners to lamentation. “And in all the vineyards there is wailing, Because I will pass through the midst of you,” says the Lord.
Alas, you who are longing for the day of the Lord, For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you? It will be darkness and not light; As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home, leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?
“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.
Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? You also carried along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. Therefore, I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.
According to Israel, things were wonderful! Prosperity was everywhere! Luxurious living was common among the wealthy! They were so secure in their lifestyle that Amos’ prediction of an exile was unthinkable! In their circumstances, there was no way they could experience an exile! They were on top of things! Life was good and secure! They had “a handle” on everything!
They thought if they could go through the proper ceremonies in worship, God did not care how they lived. That was idolatry at its worst!
Oh, but God cared deeply how they lived! Basically God made two observations. (1) You live very wickedly as you take advantage of others. (2) Your “correct” worship deeply offends Me.
Their “correct” worship offended God because of their evil behavior.
Now I would like for you to read with me Matthew 23:25,26.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”
- What we do in our daily behavior must arise from who and what we are.
- There are not two separate issues in life.
- Worshipping and how we worship is not separated from who we are as persons.
- No one, not even the person who has been baptized into Christ, can separate how he/she lives as a matter of daily behavior from worshipping God.
- Worship cannot be separated from behavior.
- Behavior cannot be separated from who and what we are inwardly
- Any attempt to separate those two realties [the lifestyle we live and our worship] is merely a human, artificial, meaningless separation.
- We cannot rebel against God in our lifestyles and honor God in our worship.
- To attempt to do so is to insult God!
- God knows what is on the inside of a person.
- If the lifestyle of person does not match his/her heart, God is not deceived.
- God is truly honored in a person’s worship only if that person honors God in his/her life.
- Think about Jesus’ statement in Matthew 23:25,26.
- The context:
- The time of Jesus’ death is very near.
- Jesus has spent his entire ministry trying to “get through” to Israel as a nation and to Israel’s leadership.
- From early in Jesus’ ministry, the religious leaders known as the Pharisees were committed to trying to discredit and destroy Jesus.
- Jesus was committed to teaching them.
- They would attack Jesus; he would ask them to think about specific scriptures.
- They would attack Jesus; he would perform a miracle to verify that God sent him.
- Every time he tried to open their eyes, they simply became more angry.
- Why did they hate him so much?
- His knowledge of scripture and knowledge of God led him to completely different values and conclusions.
- He repeatedly told them that God’s number one priority was people.
- They concluded that God’s number one priority was “correctness.”
- And they defined “correctness” as being their conclusions.
- As Jesus nears the end of his physical life, he declares the Pharisees failures.
- Remember who the Pharisees are.
- They have an earned reputation for beings experts in the details of scripture, the Law, and approved custom.
- Jesus himself said in the beginning of this passage:
Matthew 23:2,3 “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.”
- “They know scripture.”
- “They do not know God.”
- “Listen to them when they speak from scripture, but do not follow their lifestyle.”
- They had lots of knowledge, but their motives were horrible.
- These people were obsessed with religious appearance.
- They were not concerned about who and what they were, but how they appeared to others.
- As a result, it was “what showed on the outside to others” that got all their attention.
- They were concerned about being “correct” outwardly.
- “You must not eat anything but kosher food.”
- “You must go through the proper ceremony and ritual of washing your hands prior to eating.”
- “You must wear tassels on the hem of your garment.”
- “You must wear phylacteries on your forehead and arm.”
- Thus people could see them doing all these “correct” externals and say, “My, how religious they are!”
- Yet, they could do all these externals to appear very religious in others’ eyes, and be rotten on the inside.
- They could be filled with motives of greed and lust, but that did not matter.
- They could be controlled by hate and malice, but that did not matter.
- They could take advantage of defenseless widows, but that did not matter.
- They could take bribes, but that did not matter.
- People could see the food they ate, see them wash their hands, see their tassels, see their phylacteries; but they could not see their greed, their lust, their taking advantage of the helpless, or the bribing.
- They thought what people could not see was unimportant.
- However, they were deceived.
- God saw, and God is as concerned with internals and with externals–in fact, externals are meaningless if they do not reflect internals.
- Listen to the words of Jesus:
Matthew 6:1-6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Focus yourself on being, and the doing will honestly reflect who you are.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
Matthew 8:19, Then a scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”
Matthew 12:14, But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
Israel reacted to Jesus. We react to Jesus. You react to Jesus. At issue is not, “Will we react to Jesus?” At issue is, “How will we react to Jesus?”
Assume the Jewish scribe heard Jesus’ sermon and witnessed his acts prior to declaring a desire to follow Jesus anywhere. Remember, this educated, specialized, informed man was knowledgeable. Perhaps he was inspired by Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Perhaps he was in the multitude who witnessed the leper cleansed, the paralyzed man restored, the sick healed, and demons cast out. He was impressed! Boldly he announced to Jesus his willingness to follow Jesus anywhere!
There are no assumptions about what the Pharisees witnessed–they heard Jesus and witnessed his miracle. However, they focused on the wrong thing. They did not see Jesus’ miracle because they were blinded by when he did it. Blinded is too weak a word–they were obsessed with when Jesus healed the man with a withered hand.
They were absolutely certain Jesus was wrong! He could not possibly be right! These genuine experts in scripture knew Jesus could not be right! Devotion to God’s will demanded they expose Jesus for the “masquerading fraud” he was! Were not the Ten Commandments explicit about keeping the Sabbath day holy? How could someone speak for God and dishonor the Sabbath?
In an attempt to expose this “fraud,” they asked Jesus if it was in agreement with the Law to heal on the Sabbath. Their conviction: healing on the Sabbath was in violation of God’s Law if the healed person’s life was not in immediate jeopardy.
Jesus answered by restoring the man’s withered hand to a functioning, healthy hand. After healing the man, Jesus said, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.”
The scribe heard and saw Jesus and wished to follow him. These Pharisees heard and saw Jesus and wished to destroy him. Both heard, both saw, and both reacted. Yet, the reactions were opposite. The scribe was attracted. The Pharisees were repulsed.
Jesus does not specialize in telling us what we want to hear or in “performing” for us. Jesus tells us what we need to hear and does what is in our eternal best interest. If you are around Jesus long enough to hear and observe, you will react.
You will react because Jesus will (1) tell you how to be the human God envisions and (2) how to surrender to God’s purposes. Not only does he tell us, but he also shows us. Being the human God wished cost Jesus his life as he surrendered to God’s purposes. However, that was fine. He focused on the eternal, not this world. Where is your focus?
