Sharing Jesus (Part 1)

Posted by David on August 16, 2007 under Sermons

I want us to prayerfully begin with a reading. Take a Bible and read with me John 1:1-5.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John began writing his gospel (the word means "good news") by introducing Jesus. While each of the gospels were written to a specific readership for specific objectives, they all also shared a common goal. Each of them wanted to introduced their original readers to the man Jesus and affirm God the Father worked through him to achieve God’s long-standing purposes. Each gospel identified Jesus as the focal point of God’s work. Simply stated, one cannot understand God’s work unless he/she understands Jesus.

John’s introduction is profound! If you have been a part of the church of Christ for a few years, you likely have heard at least one part of the introduction discussed in a class or a sermon. In a brief declaration, John affirmed Jesus’ origin, Jesus’ role in creation in Jesus’ pre-human existence, Jesus as the source of life, and Jesus as the light. I would like you to focus on Jesus as the source of life and light.

1. When I was a teen (many years ago), my understanding of what I heard was this: Sharing the gospel is a simple matter.
   1. The process of this sharing was quite simple.
      
      1. Any caring person would quickly see the genuineness of your message.
         
      2. All you needed to do was present their need and their responsibility.
         
      3. As soon as the one receiving your message understood his/her need and responsibility, they would respond.
         
      4. The core of the concept seemed to be this: factual information presented, plus the presentation of need, resulted in a response (that is quite simple).
         
         1. Thus, knowledge of the facts resulted in a response to the facts.
            
         2. Spiritual growth and development was assumed.
            
         3. Devotion to the church was assumed.
            
         4. A change in lifestyle was assumed.
            
         5. It was assumed that if a person was converted, he/she would become "just like you."
   2. Those were simple, convenient assumptions in that situation.
      
      1. We pretty much lived in isolation.
         
      2. There were only white, lower middle-class people in the county.
         
         1. While there were some distinctly poor people there, such people were the minority.
            
         2. Almost everyone was similar–struggling to improve their lifestyle but not at all regarding themselves as deprived.
      3. There was a total absence of colors, cultures, or languages–only English was spoken, people were white, and only the local culture existed.
         
      4. The assumption among the younger people (teens) was that even if colors and languages existed, everyone would be the same–just look different or sound different.
         
      5. Of the thirteen congregations of the church of Christ in the county at that time, twelve were rural.
         
         1. Only one congregation existed "in town."
            
         2. It had the only full time preacher in the area.
   3. One of the naive convictions of people who live in isolation is that they are equipped with an uncanny insight that gives them all the answers–and the answers are simple.
      
      1. Life was simple so problems, by declaration, were simple.
         
      2. Needs were simple so solutions were simple.
         
      3. Problems primarily existed because people complicated life by ignoring the simple.
         
      4. As a result, there was a genuine willingness to help "those who are trying" and a deep confusion when those with complex problems were occasionally encountered.
2. How the situation has changed most everywhere in the last 50 years!
   1. Whereas "culture" was not even a word I heard in my teen years, it is often a common vocabulary word of almost everyone.
      
      1. Differences in color often mean differences in outlooks, traditions, values, concerns, and priorities.
         
      2. Differences in languages also often reflect differences in outlooks, traditions, values, concerns, and priorities.
         
      3. In our city there is a Buddhist temple, several Moslem mosques, and a group of Jewish worshippers with deep roots in this community.
         
      4. Recently, I was in our mall in the early evening, and I could have been in any cosmopolitan city of the U.S.A. as I listened to diverse languages–English definitely was not predominant!
         
      5. In our physical church facilities:
         
         1. A congregation of Laotians meet weekly with a Laotian minister maintaining an office in the physical complex.
            
         2. We are building a Hispanic building as we and our Hispanic brethren move toward an independent Hispanic work in our city.
            
         3. In the original congregation, we have African-American members, Laotian members, Hispanic members, and Native American members, as well as Caucasian members–all of whom rarely miss meeting as a congregation on Sunday morning.
            
         4. Any person who thinks we are all alike with our different cultural backgrounds simply because we all speak English is either unobservant or pretending.
3. The challenges in sharing Jesus are enormous!
   1. Recently, I began (again) reading What Every Church Member Should Know About Poverty by Ruby K. Payne and Bill Ehlig.
      
      1. What they share is enlightening and frightening at the same time.
         
      2. They discuss and illustrate the hidden languages and hidden rules of the poor, the middle class, and the wealthy–and these languages and rules are silent!
         
      3. The different ways that people in different socio-economic groups think regarding "every day" matters is astounding.
         
         1. The different groups do not approach living and life’s needs in the same way.
            
         2. They do not value the same things.
            
         3. They do not learn in the same way (different groups approach their perception of needs in totally different ways)–cause, plus effect, and drawing a conclusion or conclusions, is meaningless to some groups.
      4. Some groups do not approach life with "a plan."
         
         1. If you do not learn how to plan, you cannot predict.
            
         2. If you cannot predict, you do not identify cause and effect.
            
         3. If you cannot identify cause and effect, you cannot identify consequence.
            
         4. If you do not identify cause and effect:
            
            1. You do not end impulsive acts.
               
            2. If you encourage impulsiveness, the end result is often criminal behavior.
   2. To conclude that just putting out facts that concern us will evangelize people is thinking that misses the reality of our situation in our country as well as the world.
      
      1. Why should your view of life and death be my view of life and death?
         
      2. What do the concepts that concern you mean to me?
         
      3. Why should I trust your facts?
         
      4. Why should my daily life change?
         
      5. Why should I concern myself with the future?
         
      6. Why should I concern myself with what happens after death?
         
      7. Why should the thoughts that concern you concern me?
         
      8. Why should the values that concern you concern me?
   3. Here is  one example of failure (as a congregation) to understand that different groups learn and perceive on a different basis:
      
      1. Congregations assume that if a person understands enough to be baptized (which in most cases is very little), the person knows enough to understand what it means to be a Christian.
         
      2. Then the same congregations often are in constant struggle and turmoil as baptized-but-unconverted people constantly champion values that are decidedly unbiblical and unchristian as people reflect little or no interest in being Jesus’ disciples.
         
      3. Such congregations are commonly consumed with internal struggles to the extent that they become virtually paralyzed.
4. We as Christians, individually and congregationally, desperately need a more biblical view of evangelism and conversion.
   1. There is an enormous difference in being convinced of some "facts" and wanting to be Jesus’ disciple.
      
      1. Consider a contrast.
         
         1. A troublesome view:
            
            1. "I need to believe? Okay, done that."
               
            2. "I need to repent? Okay, done that."
               
            3. "I need to be baptized? Okay, done that."
               
            4. "Now what can I expect from God? No serious sickness in my family, right? No tragedy in my family, right? Opportunities for prosperity, right? A lifestyle I really enjoy, right?"
         2. A biblical view:
            
            1. "Jesus Christ can show me how to escape the effects of my mistakes and focus me on the eternal, both in this life and in my death."
               
            2. "Through him my life can have a hope-filled meaning and purpose available nowhere else in nothing else."
               
            3. "In him is freedom from every wrong I have done and from the fear of dying."
               
            4. "I believe in the resurrected Jesus Christ."
               
            5. "I turn from the life I have lived."
               
            6. "I want to be baptized so I can enter a different existence."
               
            7. "I want to be Jesus Christ’s disciple to express my appreciation for his allowing me to be a part of God’s family."
               
            8. "I want to be a disciple; I want to learn how to live; I want to serve; I want to use life for something eternal, something besides me and my desires."
               
            9. "I want God to remake me as a person and use me."
      2. Could you contrast a congregation filled with the people first described and the people last described?
         
         1. We will become congregations filled with the people last described only when we become a converted people who place total confidence in Jesus Christ as the way to God.
            
         2. We will become congregations filled with converted people only when we all seek Jesus as the source of life.
            
         3. We will become congregations filled with converted people only when we want to be light in a dark society that loves evil and its expressions.
   2. So, I urge you as Christians be Jesus’ light wherever you are, in all your life, in all you do.
      
      1. People may learn differently, but everyone understands a consistent example.
         
      2. People need to see the influences of Jesus Christ in you as a person who is single, as a wife, as a father, as a parent, and in all family relationships.
         
      3. People need to see the influence of Jesus Christ in your life as you work.
         
      4. People need to see Jesus Christ’s influence in your life in every community involvement you have.
   3. The essential step in being effectively evangelistic is developing a people who shine for Jesus everywhere, everyday in all they do.

We desperately need disciples of Jesus, not just people who go to church. Which are you?

God Is Not Shallow

Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Almost a decade ago, Joyce and I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time. I have been to numerous places and seen numerous sights, but I have never seen anything that overpowered me as did the Grand Canyon. I have never seen a picture that did the Grand Canyon justice. It is simply too big and too vast for my mind to comprehend. I would love to see it again just to convince myself it is there. I know it is, but my mind kept asking, “Is that really there? Can anything that huge be real?” My reaction to the Grand Canyon is a mere introduction to Paul’s reaction to God’s accomplishments in Jesus.

Paul wrote long after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Prior to his conversion, Paul was quite knowledgeable in God’s past works (Galatians 1:14). Yet, with all he knew, nothing (not even God’s creative acts!) prepared Paul’s understanding for what God did (and does) in Jesus Christ! Nothing documents God’s greatness as do His accomplishments in Jesus Christ! Nothing documents the enormity of God’s love as does Jesus Christ! One cannot fathom God’s greatness until the person begins to see what God did in Jesus.

At times, I hear people speak of God and His ways as being simple. Sometimes I hear people who think they have God all figured out. When that happens, I shake my head internally. Is any ignorance greater than not knowing one is ignorant? The more I seek to understand God and His ways, the more I realize I have far more to understand than I have comprehended. Never will any of us totally comprehend Him in this life.

Always be open to God. Always listen to Him to understand, even if it means changing yourself. Let God mold you rather than you attempting to force God to fit your mold. The object of everyone in Christ is to become more like God. We are catastrophe! He is victory! We are sinful! He is righteous! His ways are not our ways. Our hope is found in being like Him. Never stop seeing Him “again” — He is there!

Limiting God

Posted by David on August 9, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

Those criteria make acceptance of God’s person impossible since (a) He exceeds human comprehension, and (b) does many things humans would never do. For example, God’s patience referred to in last week’s article is definitely not human because humans simply do not do that. We get rid of the problem instead of enduring personal revulsion to reconcile the problem-makers.

Many of those who profess Christian faith, skillfully find a way around that dilemma by making God a superhuman. They say of anything passing human comprehension, “God would not do that.”

However, there are problem areas that do not disappear by forcing God to be human or by saying, “God would not do that.” Consider forgiveness. Human limits of forgiveness do not match God’s limits. Humans tend to give forgiveness to those they regard as “deserving” of their consideration.

For example, Christians tend to think of Paul as a pretty good guy. After all, he was a Christian, an apostle to the gentiles, a preacher, a missionary, and a New Testament writer. However, just before his conversion to Jesus Christ, his convictions were just plain mean. When the Christian Stephen was killed, Paul was there. He “amened” the act. He was actively involved. And who was Stephen? A Christian, a deacon in the Jerusalem congregation, one who cared about the needy, an evangelist! “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. 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 8:1-3).

On the day Paul was converted, he was on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians! Even as a Christian, he did not deny his past. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor” (1 Timothy 1:12, 13). Can you believe God forgave and used a killer of Christians?

Paul declared that God forgave him to demonstrate that the patient God of mercy could forgive anyone (1 Timothy 1:16). John said God would forgive the Christian of “all” unrighteousness if he/she were honest enough to confess sins when he/she were aware of them (1 John 1:5-10). Baptism merely began an ongoing forgiveness from sin.

We can live with that kind of forgiveness! It is not human-like, but it surely is needed!

Ram Tough and Billy Goat Gruff

Posted by Chris on August 5, 2007 under Sermons

Daniel 8: Four Scenes

1. The Ram with Two Horns
2. The Goat with One Horn
3. Four Horns Plus One More
4. A Little Help from the Angel

Where Is Daniel?

• Daniel’s location in time and space within his vision (8:1-2) gives us the starting point in understanding the directions and movements of the Ram and Goat.
• When: Third year of Belshazzar (546 B.C.). Seven years before Persian takeover
• Where: Susa facing the Ulai (in the vision). He is in Persia

The Ram – Persian Empire

• Two Horns = Medes and Persians
• Charges from east and goes west, north, and south. These directions are relative to Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire.
• This follows the expansion of the Persian Empire and includes its conquest of Babylon

The He-Goat

• One Horn = Alexander the Great. He moves without touching the ground shows the rapid progress of Alexander’s campaign.
• Battle of Gaugamela – 331 B.C. Alexander conquered Darius III and claimed the Persian Empire for the Greek Empire
• Attacks from the west – Macedon is west relative to Susa.

Four Horns

• Wars of Succession (323-301 B.C.) – Alexander did not have a stable heir. His generals engage in wars for the next 22 years (and beyond) and divide up the Greek Empire
• Alexander’s Generals:
  1. Ptolemy [Egypt, Palestine]
  2. Seleucus [Babylon]
  3. Antigonus [Syria, Turkey] – Seleucus eventually acquires Antigonus’ territory
  4. Cassander [Macedonia, Greece]
  5. Lysimachus [Thrace, Bythinia]
• The four horns represent the four major divisions following the Battle of Issus in 301 BC – Ptolemy in Egypt, Seleucus in Syria/Babylon/Persia, Cassander in Macedonia, and Lysimachus in Thrace/Bythinia

The “Fifth” Horn

• Antiochus IV Epiphanes is the Fifth Horn that grows up toward the south, west, and the beautiful land.
  • His movement toward the south involves his attempt to invade Egypt in 168 BC. His efforts are thwarted and on his return through Jerusalem he occupies Jerusalem with a vengeance. (See below)
• Ruled Seleucid Empire (175-164 BC)
• Epiphanes = “God Manifested”
• Hellenized Jerusalem

Culture Wars

1. 168 BC – Antiochus invades Egypt
2. 167 BC – Invades Jerusalem
   • Rebuilt Temple as fortress
   • Erected statue of Zeus (that looked a lot like Antiochus himself!)
   • Forbade Jewish religion
   • Abomination of Desolation – He sacrificed a pig on the altar to desecrate the temple. This is an event that lives in the Jewish mindset from this point to the time of Jesus and beyond. The vital connection for relationship and forgiveness between God and his people is violated and seemingly broken by Antiochus.

Faith Crisis

1. How can a ruler like Antiochus invade God’s turf?
2. How can the worship that represents relationship be set aside?
3. Are God and his order for creation reliable?

How Long Will the Desecration Last?

• 2,300 evening and mornings = two daily sacrifices in temple
• 2300/2 = 1150/30 (days in the lunar month) = 38.3/12 = 3.19 years
• 3 years and 70 days
• The temple was invaded in fall 167 (idol of Zeus was set up on Chislev 15, 168) and the temple was restored on Chislev 25, 164 BC. All of this is fairly close to 3 years and 70 days.

His Power At Work Within Us: Wait and Pray

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

Read Acts 1:1-14.

• A new hope and new wave of energy electrifies the 120 believers in Jerusalem. They thought Jesus was dead. They lost heart. But now he is with them.
• A resurrected Messiah is unstoppable, so Peter speaks for everyone when he asks if this is the time for action.
• Jesus reminds Peter that that is God’s call. Everything Jesus had been about was submitting himself to God: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” So even now Jesus is going to ask his disciples to do what they seemed unable to do on the night he was betrayed – PRAY!

Jesus’ advice might be annoying or confusing to action-oriented Americans who live in an instant society. Our cultural wisdom urges us that … the early bird gets the worm, and we need to strike while the iron is hot, and opportunity only knocks once because time is of the essence and time is money, and we need to give 110% because we can’t just stand there, we’ve got to do something, so we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps with the sweat of our own brow just to get-r-done.

Jesus’ advice is probably more frustrating to us than it was to Peter. There’s work to be done – kingdom business – and sitting around praying is something we can do on our own time.
What if Peter and the 120 had had the attitude we sometimes have? What if they had watched Jesus ascend to heaven and then say to themselves – “Well, Jesus gives good advice but he doesn’t really know what its like in the streets of Jerusalem. There’s a lot of work to be done and only a 120 of us.” What if they had got anxious instead of got down on their knees? I wonder if they had done that would there even be a chapter 2 and the day of Pentecost.

God’s power is at work within us. We don’t channel the power or command the power. We cannot bottle it or manage it to serve us. Even Jesus didn’t do that. His power works among us and our response is to be faithful and follow.
We understand that this power works among us to accomplish God’s mission. Reading the text, our first work should always be prayer – not a perfunctory opening prayer, but the humble recognition that the mission and evangelism is God’s power at work among us and not a do-it-yourself job on our part.

Prayer is vital and it might help us to be more active and devoted to prayer, but our cultural viewpoints may make it so that we have …

• We have a hard time believing that prayer actually gets anything done.
  • We want things that we can chart and measure and plan.
  • We want to meet needs and fix problems. We believe prayer is good for the soul, but little else.
  • We equate prayer with a ritual in worship. Certainly it is right to pray in worship, and our prayers in worship are not meaningless, but all of worship is prayer. And prayer is worship.
• Our values are upside down – we believe that prayer is the seasoning for the main course. In reality, prayer is the root, stem and leaves – our effort is just a blossom.

1. Prayer keeps us from apathy and anxiety
   • Sometimes we accept that things are the way they are – – And the way they have always been.
   • Sometimes we worry about things they may or may not ever happen.
   • Both ends of this spectrum – apathy and anxiety are due to an overemphasis on US. If it’s all up to us, things probably won’t change much. If it’s all up to us, then we aren’t doing enough or we aren’t good enough or we are going to do it all wrong.
   • But when we stop and pray we get centered on the power that is at work among us. We wait for God to work and then we simply have to be faithful and follow.
2. Prayer keeps us from arrogance
   • So you can see how prayer keeps us from arrogance. When we are arrogant, we put more faith in our own ability than in the ability of God.
   • We will spend months planning programs and budgets; we will spend thousands on new ideas, but we are skeptical or unconvinced of the value of a whole night in prayer. Why?
   • It runs against our “do-it-yourself” grain. Our individualism has made us less dependent on God.
   • Sometimes we go ahead of God. We continuously invent another program, another plan. We toil and labor and sweat, and like those apostles who worked and worked to cast out a measly little demon from a poor suffering child. Once they surrendered the effort to Jesus the demon was cast out and when they wanted to know why he could when they couldn’t he told them “That this kind only comes out with prayer.” (Mark 9:14-29) Let’s not think that prayer isn’t important.

Be Still and Know That I Am God
About eight years ago I attended an evangelism conference with an elder and fellow minister of the church I served in Texas. It was a good conference. We were inspired. We left the conference in Ft. Worth buzzing and enthusiastic about all that we could do back home. We were driving along I-45 talking and brainstorming about plans and about halfway home near Fairfield, Texas the van started losing power. I couldn’t understand it. And then I caught sight of the gas gauge. [In 26 years of driving, I have run out of gas twice. And the first time it was the car’s fault. The gas gauge lied to me.] But this time I was so caught up in plans and programs to do the work of the church I forgot something as simple as getting fuel.
The loss of power in our American-built van sort of made all of stop and re-focus. What were we skipping over in all of our high and mighty ideas? Who were we outrunning? We ran out of gas, but God has power that never quits. There was only one thing that we needed to do – and it wasn’t finding gasoline. As the world rushed on beside us at 70 mph, we sat and prayed. All of our talk about plans and programs and busy-ness were put aside. In a van with no gas on I-45 near Fairfield, TX we humbled ourselves before God in prayer. We prayed for the lost. We prayed for the church. We prayed for wisdom and patience and we prayed for power – all in God’s own time.

There were so many interesting things that happened in the months that followed. Things we never would have imagined. Things that we certainly would not have been prepared for if we hadn’t prayed. And things we probably wouldn’t have chosen if we hadn’t prayed.

You and I may not be here today if those 120 folk in Jerusalem had decided to strike out on their own and do their own work instead of pray and wait for God’s work in them. But thank God they did and can you believe what happened next? Sure you can, for here we are today.

So let’s get busy – let’s get busy praying. And we may just be amazed at what happens next.

Changing Focus

Posted by David on August 2, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

In scripture, people often see what they look for. For example, when today we talk of the creation in Genesis 1 or the flood which begins in Genesis 6, our conversation may immediately turn to evolution. Our following discussion likely focuses on some conflict or perceived conflict between science and religion.

While that focus is relevant to faith in God now and His work today, is evolution the writer’s point in Genesis? Since science and religion as we know it today did not exist when the writer wrote Genesis, is it possible that we miss his point if we focus only on evolution considerations? Since evolution was an unknown to the writer of Genesis 1 and 6, is it possible the writer’s point had nothing to do with evolution? If so, what was his point? Would it benefit today’s Christian to know his point?

Consider this perspective. Once there was only good, good defined by God (Genesis 1:31). Humanity knew only good, and had a unique relationship with God. Once there was only evil (Genesis 6:5, 6). Humanity knew only evil and had no relationship with God. When humanity knew only good, there was blessing and joy. When humanity knew only evil, there was destruction and death.

Though the patient God was grieved, experiencing the full agony of that grief, He did not give up on reconciliation with humanity. God persisted. He found and revealed Himself to Abraham. He formed a nation through Abraham and gave them opportunity to be His people (Exodus 19:3-6). Through that nation He sent His son, Jesus, to be our guide to Him (John 14:6). In His son’s sacrificial death and resurrection, He gave us a Lord and the Christ (Acts 2:36). In him we can be righteous before God (Romans 3:21-26). Jesus Christ can teach humanity the worthwhile life to live [again] (Ephesians 4:1-5:14). Through Jesus Christ we have a hope of more than just the physical (1 Corinthians 15:12-19); we live for eternal values.

God does not give up on people! He never was an angry God who impatiently sought to punish people. He sought human redemption when nothing in human behavior indicated people were worthy of His concern! Impatience is a human trait, not a divine trait.

Could it be that the author of Genesis wanted people to see that there is joy and blessing in God’s goodness while there are consequences and death in evil? Could it be that the writer affirmed that God’s ways are filled with life and blessing, and godless life is selfish and destructive?

In scripture, do you see what you are looking for, or what God wants you to see?

The Power of Imitation

Posted by David on July 30, 2007 under Sermons

We live in a world that loves to imitate. People seek to be fashionable in the way they dress. Fashion in dress encourages imitation. If you think you are immune to the imitation of the fashion of dress, consider how quickly you adapt your clothing to the area you live in. Accepted behavior commonly influences our behavior. We do things in the "right" way because that is the way everyone else does. With many, it is a tragedy if we do not do something the "right" way as "the in thing to do." Do you not find it fascinating to hear people discuss what is acceptable now and what is not acceptable now?

All of us would likely be surprised at how much imitation we would find in our dress, our speech, our behavior, our cars, our homes, and our lives in general. Imitation is even at the roots of our war. People who embrace Muslim lifestyle and values do not want their society imitating the lifestyle and values of western societies (that includes us!). And we are fearful of the influences of the lifestyles and values of "those societies." Why? Many say they do not want those influences in our "Christian" nation.

We are a "Christian nation"? This nation reflects a "Christian" lifestyle and "Christian" values? Really? Do you think average Americans would even agree on what a Christian lifestyle and Christian values are? How often do Americans associate the Christian lifestyle and values with the dress codes and behaviors of particular groups who declare themselves Christian?

Imitation is not a bad thing of itself. In fact, imitation is impossible to avoid, and has been since societies existed. Imitation plays a key role in influence. Consider a statement from Paul.

"Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1)

1. I want you to begin by thinking about what an enormous challenge it was in the first century to make Jesus Christ a world influence.
   
   1. We usually focus on all the things they did not have in their societies to aid mass communication–no printing press, no radio, no television, no modern advertising agencies, and no modern "spin doctors" to tell people what to think as if people cannot think.
      
   2. I challenge you to think of the enormity of the task from a different perspective.
      
      1. The small Jewish nation into which Jesus was born had Jewish ways to do everything.
         
         1. They had Jewish traditions for marriage.
            
         2. They had Jewish traditions for death.
            
         3. They had Jewish traditions for keeping the Sabbath.
            
         4. There was a "right Jewish way" to do everything a devout Jew did.
      2. The vast majority of people were idol worshippers.
         
         1. Most of the time, we stereotype idol worshippers; the truth is there were many forms of idolatry, and many of those forms had distinct differences.
            
         2. Each of those forms had "correct" ways to do everything.
      3. The key question: how do you make Jesus Christ influential throughout the world, among all people whether Jewish or idolatrous?
         
         1. How do you make Jesus Christ influential in your own society?
            
         2. How do you make Jesus Christ influential trans-culturally?
            
         3. That was an enormous challenge in the first century!
      4. Initially, the world was big and the Christian movement was tiny (sound familiar?).
2. I want to affirm one truth: Christianity is about Jesus Christ, about the impact of Jesus Christ on human life.
   
   1. The central figure in each of the gospels, the first four writings of the New Testament, is Jesus Christ.
      
      1. They affirm Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) God promised.
         
      2. They declare he did the works of God.
         
      3. They affirm he declared God’s focus on human behavior in his teachings.
         
      4. They affirm he died for us.
         
      5. They affirm God resurrected him from the dead.
         
      6. Without Jesus, there is no "good news" (the meaning of the word gospel).
   2. Acts affirms Jesus is Lord and Christ.
      "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36)
      
      1. It affirms the impact of Jesus Christ on Jewish people.
         
      2. It affirms the impact of Jesus Christ on Gentiles.
         
      3. It affirms the impact of Jesus Christ on the arrested Paul.
   3. The epistles affirm how belonging to Jesus Christ affects how people who have accepted Jesus Christ live, how Jesus Christ affect the concerns of the individual, and how Jesus Christ affects those who present him to others.
      
   4. The collective point of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ changes the way people who live for God live and act.
3. Please focus your attention on Ephesians 4:17 through 5:2. Please read with me.
   Ephesians 4:17-5:2, "So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."
   (Please keep this text in front of you.)
   
   1. I want you to see for yourself in this text that there is:
      
      1. Life lived before Christ.
         
      2. An understanding of what it means to be in Christ.
         
      3. Contrasts between life before Christ and life in Christ.
         
      4. And a call to imitation.
   2. This book was written to Gentiles who became Christians (look at chapter two).
      
      1. The book stressed the impact of Jesus Christ on people who formerly lived godless lives.
         • Ephesians 1:1,2  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
         • Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
         • Ephesians 1:15,16  For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers
         • Ephesians 2:4,5  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
         • Ephesians 3:4  By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ
         • Ephesians 3:14-19  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
         • Ephesians 4:14-16  As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

      2. Note the continued emphasis on Jesus Christ.
   3. Now look carefully at the text we read in the beginning, which began in 4:17.
      1. Verses 4:17 through 4:19 obviously deal with the lives these people lived prior to their knowledge of Jesus Christ.
         
      2. Verses 4:20 through 4:22 declare plainly that the message from Jesus Christ did not teach them to keep on living as they lived before coming to Christ.
         
      3. Verses 4:23 through 4:24 declare the responding to the message about Christ is to result in a transformation of life
         
         1. There was the former life and there is the new life.
            
         2. There is a "what you used to live for" given in contrast to "what you now live for" as Christians.
      4. Then there are at least six contrast between a life lived that does not know Christ and a life that has been given to Christ in verses 4:25-32.
         
      5. Then there is the challenge to let Christ teach them how to imitate God in the way they live in verses 5:1, 2.
4. The point I want you to see should jump out at you: Christian existence is about living for Jesus Christ.
   
   1. I am going to say some things that could be easily misunderstand. I say them because:
      
      1. I want you to think.
         
      2. I want your faith to develop deeper roots to support a deeper understanding of God’s work.
         
      3. (If you do not understand, ask me about what you do not understand.)
   2. Ultimately, you are not a Christian because of the faith of anyone else–your grandparents, your parents, you favorite preacher, your favorite Bible teacher, your favorite example in the congregation.
      
      1. Spiritual maturity is believing because of your conviction, not because of someone else’s conviction.
         
      2. You belong to Jesus Christ, not to a person you know or to a group you know.
         
      3. Why is this understanding so important?
         
         1. A person is not perfect–all of us (even the best of us) are capable of making some very ungodly mistakes.
            
         2. Congregations are composed of people–all of them are capable of making some very ungodly mistakes.
            
         3. When people fail, you will loose faith if your faith is rooted in people.
      4. We live in an evil world.
         
         1. While we always wish to be the yeast of God’s influence, bad things will still happen to godly people.
            
         2. When good people suffer, you wish to praise God through Christ for His blessings which you see, not denounce God and Christ because things are not happening like you would like for them to happen.
   3. Understanding we belong to Jesus Christ could even change your concept of evangelism.
      
      1. Conversion is not a matter of changing a few facts.
         
      2. Conversion is not a matter of becoming a part of a religious organization.
         
      3. Conversion is about accepting a Savior, placing confidence in a Savior, and following a Savior as his disciple.
         
      4. People need to see how that belonging to Jesus Christ affects who we are and how we live–that is the "light" we reflect that urges them to turn to the Savior we turned to.
         
      5. We want them to seek the Savior, not follow a religious system.

Is godly influence bad? No! Is godly imitation bad? No! But both are stepping stones that should lead to spiritual maturity expressed in Christ-like lifestyles. Godly influence and godly imitation lead to placing confidence in Jesus Christ. The root system that sustains faith in immoral floods and ungodly droughts is sunk deep in Jesus Christ. He sustains, and he leads to God.

His Power at Work Within Us

Posted by Chris on July 29, 2007 under Sermons

Ephesians 3:20

This text is a word of praise from the apostle. He is praising God for all the amazing and astounding things that God has done, can do and is doing. God is able, he affirms, to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine.

I think our imaginations are large enough to accept that. We can accept that God is able to do anything, yes? We can accept that God is able to do more than we could ever ask, yes? We can accept that God’s power and ability is “off the scale,” yes? I don’t think we are the sort of people who would dare to limit God’s power or somehow believe that there was something just too difficult for God.

But can we accept that God’s power works within us? Think about that. The God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine is working among us, through us, within us. Will we accept that? It is part of the praise: “according to his power at work within us.” It’s one thing to sing out strongly that “God is so big, so great and so mighty, there’s nothing our God cannot do!” But to also contend that God is at work within me? That makes it personal and real.

We’ve been saying for some weeks now that God is doing great things among us. I, for one, have been telling you this. I believe it. I see it. I want you to see it as well. There are a couple of men I want you to hear from . . .

A Matter of Perspective

Posted by David on July 26, 2007 under Bulletin Articles

Romans 14 dealt with a hard, tricky problem in the first century church-cultural differences. While cultural differences involve many things, may I point to just one familiar to most of us? The impact of culture on most people is this: culture frames the way we think. What we see and understand in the majority of situations is determined by what our culture teaches us to see and understand.

For example, one looks at a situation and sees spiritual danger. Another looks at the situation and sees nothing alarming. Another looks at the same situation and sees actual good. The first sees moral degradation. The second sees innocence. The third sees constructive fellowship. Which is correct? Possibly all are. Why does each see something different? Likely, their culture conditioned the way they looked at the situation.

That was the situation in Romans 14. One strong in the faith could eat anything (an expression of a Gentile culture). One weak in the faith was a vegetarian (Jewish culture feared the meat markets in Rome). One recognized some days as more significant than other days (Jewish culture emphasized the importance of days). Some understood that all days were of equal significance (an expression of some converted to Christ from both Jewish and Gentile perspectives).

Our approach would use a simple question: “Which position is right and which is wrong? What should a Christian eat? What should he/she not eat? Should some days be significant and some not be significant? If Christians should observe days, which ones should he/she observe?” To many of us, it is a simple question of right and wrong. If we decide and convince others of our “correctness,” we solve the problem. All we need to do is announce, “This is the correct behavior for all Christians in all nations.”

Interestingly, Paul the apostle (the Jewish man who was God’s apostle to non-Jews) did not give that solution. He did not issue an edict about what Christians should and should not eat or what days Christians should or should not observe. Instead, he wrote about Christians not condemning Christians, Christians not judging Christians, Christians understanding they were servants, and Christians knowing their only Lord was Jesus Christ. He even began his statement with this affirmation: “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions” (Romans 14:1). He even wrote: “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God” (Romans 14:22).

He also wrote: “So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). That was not written as a frightening statement intended to terrify. In fact, no Christian needed to be terrified by that statement unless he/she exploited the weak, judged the Lord’s servants, condemned the innocent, or tried to coerce other Christians. To those who disagree without being disagreeable, it is a comforting statement. “Whatever conclusion you draw, the Lord will listen to your motives.” We tend not to listen to each other, but the Lord will listen to our “whys.”

Lions, Leopards, and Bears, Oh My!

Posted by Chris on July 22, 2007 under Sermons

Features of the Apocalyptic Genre

1. Account of visionary, history on cosmic scale
2. Use of symbolism: animals, numbers, colors, metals, features (wings and horns)
3. Revelation of God’s involvement in history (re-interpretation of suffering)
4. Promise of divine intervention
5. Air of mystery

Themes of Apocalyptic

• The universe is divided into two forces: good and evil.
• These forces are engaged in a war. So choose sides!
• God will break into history and overthrow all evil. Even if the war seems lost!
• Faithful are encouraged to endure the struggle
• God’s victory is certain.
• Punishment of the wicked is assured.
• Appeal to the senses: sight & sound
• Not reasonable approach to truth, emotional & imaginative approach

Numbers in Apocalyptic

1. The numerical value is not always significant
2. The “mystique” of the number is what counts
3. Consider how we regard the number “13” or “7” – on 7/7/07 lottery ticket sales were at an all-time high. Why?

Apocalyptic Numerology

Daniel 7: Three Scenes

1. The History of the World: Four Beasts and Four Kingdoms
2. The Court of Heaven: The Throne of the Ancient of Days
3. The Son of Man Arrives!

The History of the World

1. Lion = Babylon
2. Bear = Media
3. Leopard = Persia
4. Terrible Beast = Greece
   1. Jaws and Horns = Seleucid Rulers
   2. Boasting Horn = Antiochus IV Epiphanes

The Son of Man

• Four Kingdoms come and go on earth
• The Ancient of Days holds court and judges the earth
• He invests eternal authority in the Son of Man

So What?

1. Imagine you are a suffering saint in the exile
2. Imagine you are a suffering saint in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes
3. The Son of Man is coming! Be faithful! Have hope!