How Grace Avoids Sins

Posted by Chris on September 5, 2010 under Front Page Posts, Sermons

A quick survey of history or current events informs us that when there is no faith in responsibility, a increase in laws follows. Here’s one of the sillier examples:

Convinced that Happy Meals and other food promotions aimed at children could make kids fat as well as happy, county officials in Silicon Valley are poised to outlaw the little toys that often come with high-calorie offerings. The proposed ban is the latest in a growing string of efforts to change the types of foods aimed at youngsters and the way they are cooked and sold. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

Let’s not limit this illustration or any other we can imagine to the realm of politics. The lack of personal responsibility can take place in any area of human interaction – including the church, and including our own soul. When a community of people are burdened with laws, rules, and policies personal and communal responsibility are no longer encouraged. All that is emphasized is following the rule or conforming to the decision.

Grace may seem like an absence of responsibility. Freedom in Christ may seem like a catch-phrase to say “Do As You Like.” In reality, God’s grace encourages personal responsibility. How? Because the action of God’s grace gives us a new spirit and changes our heart. Graces makes it truly possible to mature in Christ.

Read Galatians 6:1-10

Carry Your Own Load [Individual Responsibility]

1. Do Good (v. 10)
   • Test your actions – Notice that the individual is encouraged to check his or her own behavior. That may involve turning to others for accountability. It certainly involves going to God’s will – not as a legal code, but as a vision from God for the “new humanity.”
   • Notice that Paul said that circumcision or uncircumcision is not what matter – What matters is the new creation.
   • Don’t compare – Nothing distracts us from growing in God’s grace like comparing ourselves to others.
     1. Looking down on others because we are more righteous than some [Jesus told a parable of a Pharisee and publican who went to pray …]
     2. Looking down on ourselves because we are not as righteous as some [Jesus told a parable about a man with one talent who hid what he had been given …]
     3. Carry your own load – You are accountable to God first and he is not pleased by your ability to compare yourself to another.
2. Avoid Sin (v. 7-8) – I am amazed that a people of the book can still subscribe to the idea that God is not a fair judge. For some reason the notion lingers among us that God is rather a tricky bureaucrat who will find the spiritual equivalent of a forgotten parking ticket on our record and damn us to hell for not following proper procedure. [Maybe we are the spiritual bureaucrats?] The problem with such views is that sin is not something to be avoided; rather we just have to have all sins properly stamped and processed.An important question for a church that trusts in the grace of God is “How do we deal with sin?”
   • What will you reap? Our actions have consequences. Our actions also have motivations. Are we sowing to please the Spirit or to please ourselves?

• The consequences of pleasing the sinful nature are destruction. Not simply damnation to hell, but destruction in this life. There may indeed be some pleasure, but it comes with a high price.
• The source of some pain and suffering in this world is sin – and there’s a direct link to it.
  • The works of the sinful nature come with a high price. Can we remain envious, selfish, jealous, and self-indulgent without there being some sort of negative result?
  • If a man or woman is constantly angry with his/her family and does nothing to manage that anger, is it any wonder that the family is in turmoil?
  • If one has a problem with substance abuse that goes on unanswered is it any wonder that there is brokenness and sorrow in that person’s life and relationships?
  • Even in our church – if we start judging people according to how their righteousness meets up with our standards – do we think that this will not reap destruction?
• Some sins are more obvious, others are intangible. We can be in denial when it comes to drunkenness, sexual immorality, idolatry even though others may recognize it. But we can be in denial about selfish ambition, envy, rage, hatred, and discord and hide it from others while we are at it.
  • Be the “New Creation” – To reap the fruit of the spirit, let us sow the seed of the spirit. That eternal harvest not only is a source of strength for us, but also our community – our church family too.

Carry One Another’s Burden’s [Communal Responsibility = Our Own Responsibility as Part of a Body]

1. Restore the Sinner (v. 1-3)
   • Punishment is not the goal, that’s God’s work. Christ has made sure that the guilty pay for their sins – this includes us.
   • Gently – The Law of Christ is to love on another. Gently also suggests that the work of accountability and restoration takes time. There are burdens that must be endured.
     • The Bartender who “confessed” his sins …
   • Watch yourself; no moral superiority
     1. Moral superiority is not appropriate – Can we claim the power or responsibility for saving another? Are we anyone’s mediator to God?
     2. Moral sloppiness is not appropriate either – Sloppy Agape does nothing to restore one who is sowing destruction. Love must be tough sometimes. Otherwise we participate in the sin too.
     3. Restoration is observed as one begins growing in the new creation
     4. No matter what sin was committed: Once I was, but now I am – by the grace of God
2. Share All Good Things (v. 6)
   1. What will you reap? Support those who teach you how to live and do good. Support the ministries that do good. We reap what we sow.
   2. Do good to others – especially the church family because it sets an example – do good even if they are not so good to you! (The Law of Christ)
   • (Let Us) Be the “New Creation” – If we demonstrate a grace-based way to help ourselves and others avoid sin and also do good, then we will reflect the new creation. Otherwise we are just another organization with by-laws. We are just another sub-culture with unwritten expectations.

Parable of the Wineskins

Posted by Chris on under Front Page Posts, Sermons

Matthew 9, Mark 2, Luke 5

Context of the Parable:

• Calling of Levi: Jesus calls the tax collector to follow him. The gracious, joyous response of the tax collector is to host a feast in celebration of Christ. The Pharisees and scribes are scandalized because Jesus eats and drinks with sinners

• Question: Why don’t Jesus’ disciples fast? Isn’t fasting a good thing? Isn’t it godly and pious? Didn’t John the Baptist’s disciples fast?
  
• Parable of the Wineskin
  

What the parable means …

• Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12). Sources indicate that it was Monday and Thursday to commemorate the days that Moses went up to Sinai and when he came down.
  
• In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructs his disciples not to fast in order to win approval with others. Don’t put it on display, but keep it between you and God.
  
• Is Jesus against fasting? No, but according to Christ’s teaching (Sermon on Mount and this parable) the call to fasting should not be a prescribed ritual, but the appropriateness of the situation. It is not fitting that the guests of the bridegroom should fast. Fast rather when they are grieved. Grief and joy cannot be manufactured
  

Process of wine fermentation

• Fermenting wine gives off CO₂ which would expand the wineskin.
  
• A fresh, stretchable wineskin that can contain the expanding wine should be used.
  
• Putting it into an old, cracked wineskin would make no sense. The bag would burst and the wine would be lost.

Wine = Spirit

Wineskin = Form

Old Wineskins = That’s how we’ve always done it. Old Wine – traditions

Why don’t we do this anymore?

New Wineskins = The Way of Christ (It’s always new)

• Could this be a comment by the gospel writers taking an episode from Jesus’ history and responding to possible criticism of the first century’s church communion with outsiders? (See Galatians 2.) Every communion is a feast in Christ’s honor. And such feasting could be seen as irreverent when fasting might be seen as more pious. After all, first century communion was in fact a meal, not a ritual.
  

Keeping In Step With the Spirit

Posted by Chris on August 29, 2010 under Front Page Posts, Sermons

Reading from Galatians 5:13-26

The most recent issue of The Christian Chronicle reports on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The article recalls that there were amazing opportunities that God’s people responded to in the aftermath of Category 5 storm. In the first year following the storm Christians and churches bonded together to help strangers. I was also on the phone this week with a friend who spent a good amount of time in New Orleans during that first year working with the relief efforts. He recalls seeing a banner on the a neighborhood church from a different denomination that read “Thank you Churches of Christ.” He told me that the reputation of God’s people to help and serve was well known.

But returning to the article, even though some efforts continue, there is the unfortunate reality that many of the congregations that responded quickly have split. The leader of one relief effort is quoted: “I am aware of several churches that experienced [church] splits and more because of differences of ministry and direction.” How does it happen that churches that give themselves to Christ-like sacrifice in the name of love, suddenly divide and disintegrate over problems like mattresses and canned goods stored in the worship center? The stress and pressure of relief certainly intensified disagreements and tensions that were already present. And then there’s the work of the enemy – Satan’s role is not to be underestimated.

Unfortunately, stories like these are not unique to the national tragedy of Hurricane Katrina.

[Second Illustration – Failed Outreach Ministry]

[Third Illustration – Bus Ministry Conflict]

I do not mention these stories to shame the sincere Christians who have been so wounded, rather to engage us to consider how such things happen and how do we guard against it. Once again, the ancient wisdom of God’s word speaks to us as powerfully as it did thousands of years in the past.

¹³You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

This is Paul’s first statement about loving one another. We are free and the proper exercise of that freedom is to love one another and not to demand privilege. Furthermore, there is a sort of danger of “spiritual cannibalism” that results in the sort of spiritual death and wounding described in the recent examples.

Paul is doing what the best teachers and philosophers of his day did – comparing bad behavior to the behavior of animals. Here wild beasts are biting each other and they end up killing themselves in the frenzy. The Galatian church was dangerously close to tearing itself apart because of their turmoil over rules, external religion, and the expectations of others. Of course they thought that they were just trying to be especially righteous and please God.

This is the sad truth of legalism – a slavish obedience not to God but to what we assume are his rules – instead of developing a character and spirit of holiness, it actually breeds jealousy, arrogance and judgment. It may look very disciplined on the outside, but inside there’s no love and no control against sins that work in the heart and the attitude. This is why Paul makes his second statement about the way we treat each other: Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Could that happen to us? Could it happen to me and you? Why would that happen? It would happen if we fail to live by the spirit and keep in step with the spirit.

Between these two statements that Paul mentions is a description of two ways of life. Two sets of attitudes, actions, virtues and vices. One way is the acts of the sinful nature – a religion of law/rules is not able to overcome these acts. It just hides them behind ritual, piety, the right language, and even good works. But beneath the surface these vices can multiply.

Notice how toxic they are to one another fellowship and worship:

• Some are obvious: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;
  Unfortunately, it is possible to get a “pass” on these if we claim that we are defending the truth or just voicing our opinion or standing up for our rights.
• Some of the other acts of the sinful nature: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
  These destroy us and our relationships. Even something like witchcraft, which if you understand it in context it was often about invoking spiritual powers to place a curse on those one hates.

Legalism and “hard religion” is powerless against this sinful nature. It is just “will worship.” What is needed to cultivate love is a different Spirit. That’s the Spirit of Christ that God has placed in our hearts.
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Imagine what those virtues put into action would do among us.
What would happen to “hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy” if we had more of the fruit of the Spirit?
What would happen to immorality of every sort if we had more of the fruit of the spirit?
What would happen to biting and devouring? What would happen to conceit, envy and provoking one another if we had more of the fruit of the spirit?

We cannot legalistically try to acquire the fruit of the spirit. Turning these into a list by which we judge others and ourselves based on a quotient for patience or joy or self-control is not going to work. That’s just a twist on legalism that turns the fruit of the spirit into the law of the spirit. Paul says there’s no law in regard to these. They are fruit. Fruit means that they are the result of something.

• You had better believe that there is a Holy Spirit. The spirit is a seed within us and what comes from it are virtues like love.
• That seed is planted when Christ places his spirit in our hearts in baptism. And at the same time, the sinful nature is crucified along with its passions and desires.
• If you have been baptized – then keep in step with the Spirit. Live by the spirit. Love your neighbor as yourself.
• If you haven’t been baptized into Christ, then hear what it means: Freedom to live in the spirit and to do away with the passions and desires that cause so much pain.

You Foolish Americans

Posted by Chris on August 1, 2010 under Front Page Posts, Sermons

Galatians 3:1-5
¹You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ²I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? ³Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? ⁴Have you suffered so much for nothing-if it really was for nothing? ⁵Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

Paul’s First Question: Who has bewitched you?

• Has someone put the evil eye on them? Meaing: Are you under the influence?
• It’s a rhetorical question. It represents his surprise …
  • Christ crucified was not only preached to them, it was displayed through Paul’s actions and behavior and their own.
  • Christ was at work among them
  • That should have been enough – but its like they are under a spell and obeying the spellcaster
• But as had happened before … (2:4) some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.5We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you
• Paul is concerned about their spiritual growth. They are adopting the ritual system of rules and laws that he himself once practiced. His concern is that “if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.” (5:2)

Paul’s Second Question: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?

• This question gets to the crux of the matter
• Does spiritually involve observation and practice of rules and laws or is it ultimately something much deeper?
• Human effort or change of heart?
• Paul follows up by asking them about the source of real spiritual power: His Spirit or their own ability to follow the rules.

O You Foolish Americans!

1. The Spirit –
   1. One of the first words that children learn is “Don’t” – Don’t touch that, don’t stick that up your nose, don’t scream while I am driving, don’t spit your gum out, don’t grab the dog by the ears …
   2. They get a little older and learn “Do” and “Did” – Did you brush your teeth? Do that. Did you do your homework? Did you eat your vegetables? Do that. Did you put gas in the car? Go do that. Did you set your alarm? Do this.
   3. Parents wait for the day when suddenly there is no don’t or do. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, there is one day a new creature – beautiful – he or she seems to know what is right and does it and avoids doing wrong. Not because of rules, but because of “want to.”
   4. This day hardly ever comes – what tends to happen, especially in our culture (O You Foolish Americans) is that we just get more sophisticated about the system of do and don’t
      1. Example: Texting and driving. Is it illegal? Even if it isn’t, it’s not a good idea. One who chooses to be a safe driver understands this.
      2. Now Oprah says don’t do it – and that ought to be enough.
      3. But we have to make a law so that people won’t. The threat of a fine may help some people put down the distraction, but they haven’t internalized it – so when the next distracting device comes along that isn’t illegal – they hop on it.
2. You Foolish Americans? Who put a spell on us? There is an intoxicating attraction to signing off on laws and rules that we can control and that we only have to apply externally
   1. It’s easy to look at others and realize how they have only externalized good behavior: government is an obvious target. But what do we expect? They are all about legislation. We pick on the Pharisees and point out how the Old Covenant created their system – but we never realize that it is possible to be New Covenant Pharisees. You Foolish Christians!
   2. Who has bewitched us so that we assume that more rules and following procedures will make us all get along?
   3. Who put the evil eye on us so that we assume that God is more concerned with minor details of practice rather than the heart and mind?
   4. Who has hypnotized us into thinking that unwritten creeds are better than written creeds and if we all accept certain conditions then unity will spring up automatically?
   5. Who hexed us so that we read the Bible like a constitution or law code?
   6. What magic spell induced us to think that we could reduce life with God and salvation down to a few quick easy steps and then be done with it – Salvation is not lather, rinse, repeat.
   7. Maybe we cannot name the magic or the power but we can say that it’s not the Holy Spirit – God’s spirit doesn’t work like that
3. The Spirit – Again
   1. It changes us within. It changes our desires. It rearranges our priorities. It matures us. It may not happen all at once, but it has to begin and it begins within and works out …
   2. The spirit is “In You.” Countless scriptures testify to this. This isn’t spiritual possession or speaking in tongues, it is God’s nature at work with us – body, mind, heart, soul
   3. We believe that God can reach into our bodies and heal – do we believe that he can work on our inner person? Do we pray for the changing of minds and hearts also?

Final Question: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?

• Did you even know that you could receive the spirit?
• We are so concerned about “getting saved” that we have no idea what we are being saved for.
• Who bewitched us into thinking that God’s power has run out? Who cast the spell that made miracles cease? We did.
• Let’s be honest, we think it would be easier to have two or three or twenty simple rules that we should never break than to be caught up in the spirit of God

When an Evil Spirit Leaves a Person

Posted by Chris on July 25, 2010 under Front Page Posts, Sermons

Matthew 12:43-45
“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, seeking rest but finding none. Then it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept, and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation.”

Luke 11:24-26
“When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.”

• Here is a parable taken from the realm of spirits. The references to spirits and their activities would be understood by the hearers. Unfortunately, it is lost on scientific, modernists like us
• The point of this parable is not to give insights into the operations and habits of unclean spirits and demon possession. No more so than farming parables give us insight into agriculture nor do business parables lay out sound economic advice. The world/symbols referenced are connections to teach us about the kingdom and the work of God.

Can we understand a little about unclean spirits?

1. Like termites, mold and disease, we don’t have to understand spirits to be rid of them and the harm they can do.
2. Spirits are weak in “arid places” – Jesus was tempted in the desert.
   In a story well known to the hearers of Matthew and Luke, a particularly nasty demon was defeated in Egypt. Let’s take a look at this.

Back to the Parable:
In both parable versions, this text is found: “He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23)

In Matthew, the context is the rejection of Jesus by those who claim to be righteous. They witness the obvious power of God’s spirit to cast out evil and disease and they attribute it to the power of Satan. Jesus is surprised at how illogical this conclusion is. (“I don’t care what the Bible says …”)
Jesus charges the hearers (this generation) with being empty houses. They have cast out the evil and put everything into order, but the house is empty. The demon they cast out will return and bring others. It would be better if they remained demon possessed because at least they would have an excuse.

• “This generation” may know how to resist evil, but they do not know how to embrace good.
• They are an empty house! And they are going to end up worse than they started

In Luke, the context is similar. There is an additional story about robbing the house of a strong man. You have to get someone bigger to rob the strong man and take his possessions.

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.”
We need power on the inside – the good spirit – in addition to cleanliness and order on the outside.

What does it mean?

• It isn’t enough to simply “cast out evil” or to oppose sin.
• We can do this, but it is no good if we refuse to be filled with the good spirit (The Holy Spirit). [Ephesians 5:18]
• We need the help of the “stronger man.”