Quick Fix or Enduring Solution?

Posted by on May 3, 1998 under Sermons

Recently, early on a Saturday evening, I ran over something that punctured a tire. The tire went flat after we returned home. When Joyce noticed the tire was flat, it was too late to have it fixed. So I inflated the tire with “Fix-a-Flat.” The tire held its pressure and looked fine. But I knew that I temporarily solved the problem.

Monday morning I took the tire to be repaired. It looked repaired when I took it. It held air pressure fine. It drove fine. But the problem was only temporarily corrected. I knew it needed an durable repair. That meant finding a place that would make the repair, taking the tire off the rim, locating the puncture, patching the puncture with durable material, and remounting the tire. That took time, and it was inconvenient.

I learned two interesting things about the quick fix for flat tires. First, “Fix-a-Flat” makes it very hard to find the puncture because it temporarily seals the hole. Second, the puncture was located by washing the inside of the tire with water. Water dissolves the “Fix-a-Flat.” If you wash it with water, the tire loses air pressure again.

What is the difference between a quick fix and an enduring solution? A quick fix meets the pressing need of the moment and temporarily controls the problem. An enduring solution corrects the situation by eliminating the problem.

  1. I need to make a preface statement to the thoughts that I want you to consider this evening.
    1. The problems facing us today in the church and in our society are complex problems composed of several different parts.
      1. Rarely does any problem have a simple solution.
      2. Often the solutions that sound simple create new problems as they solve old problems.
      3. Consider an illustration.
        1. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s the United States had a huge grain surplus and our grain storage facilities were full.
          1. Farmers growing grain crops could not sell their crops for enough money to cover the cost of production.
          2. The government proposed a solution:
            1. Instruct all the farmers to grow no grain for one year.
            2. Take the surplus grain already in storage and sell it on the world market.
            3. Use the funds from the grain sales to pay the farmers for what they would have made had they grown their crops.
            4. Return to normal production in the following year.
        2. When I first heard that proposal, it sounded sensible.
        3. But the solution would create enormous new problems.
          1. Of the many, let me use two.
          2. The seed industry informed the government that it could not survive a year with no seed sales.
          3. The fertilizer industry informed the government that it could not survive a year with no fertilizer sales.
          4. Those were just two of the primary industries that would experience disastrous effects if that solution was used.
    2. To form enduring solutions to problems in the church and in society, we must take many realities into consideration.
      1. Enduring solutions use multiple approaches to address all aspects of a problem.
      2. It is always dangerous to oversimplify the problem or the solution.
      3. What I am asking you to think about does not oppose using multiple approaches to address all the realities of a problem.
  2. The concept of “quick fixes” is very popular in our society today.
    1. Many reasons make quick fixes look very appealing.
      1. First, there is our view of time.
        1. Today, people value time more than they value money.
        2. We are fanatics when it comes to saving time.
      2. Second, there is our pace of life.
        1. Almost everyone is living too fast as we try to do too much.
        2. We are so over committed that most families do not average eating a meal a week together.
      3. Third, we are impatient.
        1. All of us are amazingly contradictory.
        2. We complain about the pace of life being too fast, and agree that everyone is too busy–“things need to slow down.”
        3. But, we expect anything that affects us personally to happen immediately. Never put us on a waiting list!
      4. Fourth, we live in the age of technology.
        1. One of the justifications for technology is that it is faster.
        2. Faster is good because faster is more profitable.
    2. Our commitment to quick fixes easily transports itself from the “every day, real world” problems to religious and moral problems.
      1. Relationship problems in our society are enormous in number and overwhelming in consequences.
        1. People just do not know how to relate to people.
        2. We demand a quick fix to relationship problems.
      2. Marriage problems are devastating to homes, to spouses, and to children.
        1. Troubled marriages and divorce causes enormous suffering in our nation.
        2. We demand a quick fix to divorce problems.
      3. The fabric of our society is being unraveled by:
        1. Angry people.
        2. Dishonest people.
        3. Greedy people.
        4. Selfish people.
        5. Irresponsible people.
        6. Lawless people.
        7. Self-indulgent people.
        8. “We must do something about what is happening in our society–NOW! It must happen, and it must happen fast!” Is that the way you feel?
      4. Our society is undergoing a visible transformation because of the moral problems in our nation.
        1. The problems created by sexual immorality are devastating to every level of human relationship.
        2. The loss of character is devastating.
        3. The loss of integrity is devastating.
        4. The loss of honor is devastating.
        5. The loss of truthfulness is devastating.
        6. And we want things to turn around immediately.
    3. In our “every day world,” the quick fix is the ideal solution, the solution of choice.
      1. For our moral ills, the quick fix is seen as the ideal solution.
      2. For our religious ills, the quick fix is seen as the ideal solution.
      3. For our relationship ills, the quick fix is seen as the ideal solution.
    4. Why? Why are we so convinced that a solution designed to meet the pressing needs of the moment is the desirable, ideal solution?
      1. Because we are afraid.
        1. We are afraid of our changing world.
        2. We are afraid of the directions that we see our society moving.
        3. We are afraid of present consequences and future consequences.
        4. We are afraid of uncertainty.
      2. Because we feel things are out of control.
        1. We are tempted to believe that control in and of itself is good and will produce good.
        2. We live under the illusion that we came from a past that was under control–which is simply not so. Do you remember the cold war and the fear of the atomic bomb?
        3. We desperately want to feel that things are under control.
      3. Because we want to preserve our values and put them in control.
        1. The values that we want to preserve probably were never in control.
        2. They were ideals that appeared to be in control.
        3. But, as ideals, they were more commonly accepted in the past.
  3. That leads to an interesting question: is Christianity a “quick fix” religion?
    1. Through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, Christianity provides an immediate solution for the sins of the individual.
      1. It destroys the past and current guilt of the believer who comes to Christ by providing him or her forgiveness.
        1. The greatest sin that has ever been committed was the execution of God’s son.
        2. Peter told the people who called for Jesus’ death that even they could receive the remission of sin (Acts 2:38).
      2. Because forgiveness destroys the sin, guilt is destroyed.
        1. God does not remember forgiven sins (Hebrews 8:12).
        2. The objective of forgiveness in Christ is to remove the consciousness of sin (Hebrews 10:3,4,16-18).
      3. Forgiveness brings the person into full relationship with God, and in that new relationship forgiveness is a continuing reality.
    2. But this just begins relationship with God.
      1. This is just the beginning of new life in Christ.
      2. This is just the process of being born.
      3. This just produces a spiritual infant; at this moment the person is a spiritual infant regardless of his chronological age.
    3. From that moment forward, the person must be spiritually growing, developing, and maturing in Christ.
      1. Maturing in Christ is a slow process that involves time, experience, and learning.
      2. Spiritual maturity is not a “quick fix” reality.
    4. Christianity is an enduring solution, but it is not a quick fix solution.
      1. It is impossible for a person to go from spiritual infancy to spiritual maturity quickly.
      2. Just as a child cannot reach adult life without living through the years of adolescence, neither can a Christian reach spiritual maturity without going through spiritual adolescence.
    5. Carefully think that through.
      1. If it takes time for a Christian to achieve spiritual maturity, is it not evident that it will take more time for a person who has not yet come to faith in Christ?
      2. Is it not evident that we are searching for the impossible when we want to find a quick way to either convince or to force people who do not believe in Jesus Christ to live under the values of a spiritually mature Christian?
      3. Do we expect to convince people who are not Christians to learn to live by Christian values quickly when it takes years to develop that life in Christians?
  4. What is our message to Fort Smith? What is our message to this nation?
    1. Is our message this: we don’t care what you think, or what you want, or what you feel, or what you believe about God and Christ–even if you don’t believe, we want you to live by our values and our principles.
      1. Is that really our goal?
      2. Is that our mission as people who believe in and belong to Jesus Christ?
    2. Do you realize that if we do not change minds, if we do not change hearts, if we do not bring people to faith in Christ, we have changed nothing.
      1. Let me use one illustration.
      2. I do not support or believe in abortion for many reasons.
      3. But let’s assume that by law we could make it impossible to get an abortion.
      4. Even though we place our convictions in control, have we changed people?
        1. The people who believe abortion is right and good will still believe that.
        2. The people who want abortions will still want them–even if they can’t get them.
        3. The children born to mothers who were forced to have them will not miraculously enter loving families who nurture them as persons of value and importance.
        4. If all that we do is impose control, what will we accomplish spiritually?
    3. Someone asks, “Well, David, do you advocate we legalize abortion and stop opposing it?”
      1. Of course not; that is the reason I began with my preface statement.
      2. That certainly is not my point.
      3. This is what I am saying: if Christians believe that antiabortion laws are a quick fix to this major spiritual problem, we have forgotten who we are and what we are about.

The changes we seek in the hearts, minds, and lives of people are faith changes that change the person, that change his or her view of the world, that change a person’s understanding of the purpose of existing, and that change people’s view of people.

We want people to come to a Savior, to turn to God, and to be transformed. Our mission is not to control them; it is to bring them to Christ. We do not seek to alter society by controlling it; we seek to alter society by bringing people to faith in God.

And that is not and never will be a quick fix solution. That is an enduring solution. Only enduring solutions that change the hearts and minds of people will redirect our society.

Have you allowed Jesus Christ to change your mind, your heart, and your life? Has He redirected your focus?
Bring faith and repentance, and be born again into Christ through baptism.

Misunderstanding Is Easy: Understanding Is Hard

Posted by on under Sermons

Alan Smith, in “Thought for Today,” shared this hilarious, real life newspaper ad that appeared four days in a row. Mr. R.D. Jones was trying to sell a sewing machine.

Monday:

For sale: R.D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Phone 948-0707 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs. Kelly, who lives with him cheap.

Tuesday:

Notice: We regret having erred in R.D. Jones’ ad yesterday. It should have read “One sewing machine for sale cheap. Phone 948-0707 and ask for Mrs. Kelly, who lives with him after 7 p.m.”

Wednesday:

Notice: R.D. Jones has informed us that he has received several annoying telephone calls because of the error we made in the classified ad yesterday. The ad stands correct as follows: For sale–R.D. Jones has one sewing machine for sale. Cheap. Phone 948-0707 after 7 p.m. and ask for Mrs. Kelly who loves with him.

Thursday:

Notice: I, R.D. Jones, have no sewing machine for sale. I smashed it. Don’t call 948-0707 as I have had the phone disconnected. I have not been carrying on with Mrs. Kelly. Until yesterday she was my housekeeper but she quit!

What an incredible illustration of two truths. Truth one: it is hard to communicate understandably. Truth two: established thinking always distorts new information.

  1. When the writers of the New Testament attempted to teach congregations the concept of the church, they were teaching them a new concept.
    1. Established thinking distorted this new concept.
      1. The writers used numerous images that everyone understood as they attempted to teach new Christians this new concept.
        1. For example, they compared the church to a kingdom (Matthew 16:18,19), an old concept that everyone understood quite well.
        2. They also used the images of a bride (Revelation 21:9); a flock of sheep (1 Peter 5:2); and the household or family of God (1 Timothy 3:15), all old concepts very familiar to everyone.
      2. Three times, one of the writers, Paul, used the image of a physical body as he tried to teach three different congregations the concept of the church.
        1. Each of those three times, Paul addressed a different problem.
        2. All three lessons make some of the same points, but each lesson to each congregation has a different focus and a different basic emphasis.
    2. Let me focus your attention on each of the three lessons. I invite you to follow in your Bible as I discuss each lesson.
      1. Paul used the image of the physical body to teach a lesson to the church in Rome (Romans 12:3-8).
        1. Paul’s basic lesson to these Christians in Rome: just as there is enormous diversity in a physical body, there it enormous diversity in the church.
        2. What reality was Paul addressing in the church in Rome?
          1. This congregation was composed of Jewish Christians who had lived by the law of Moses and non-Jewish Christians who had worshipped idols.
          2. These Christians came from backgrounds that were in total contrast; they were completely different people.
          3. Their differences made adjusting to and accepting each other a horrible, demanding experience.
        3. Paul stressed these lessons:
          1. Every ability that every one of you have came from God; therefore, do not exaggerate your importance to the church.
          2. Different body parts have different abilities and perform different functions; yet, each part uniquely benefits the body.
            1. My fingernails and my knee caps have no similar function.
            2. But both fingernails and knee caps provide my body unique benefits.
          3. Whatever you are able to do, do it well for the benefit of the body.
      2. Paul used the same image, the physical body, to teach a different lesson to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:12-31).
        1. This was Paul’s basic lesson to these Christians: all parts of a body are interdependent (every part depends on every part).
        2. What reality was Paul addressing in this congregation?
          1. Most of the Christians in this congregation were non-Jews, and they had fairly common backgrounds.
          2. However, they were competing with each other as they tried to prove who had the greatest spiritual significance.
          3. They were abusing the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gave them by using those gifts to compete against each other in the congregation.
          4. The Holy Spirit gave each one on them a gift to use to bless the whole congregation.
        3. By using the image of a physical body, Paul stressed these lessons:
          1. Diversity of function and diversity of ability exists within a body for the good of the body.
          2. A body is not composed of identical parts.
          3. No part of the body is independent; every part of the body needs and benefits from every other part of the body.
          4. If all parts were identical, there would be no body.
          5. Every part of the body should have “the spirit of reciprocal concern” (Richard E. Oster, Jr., 1 Corinthians: The College Press NIV Commentary, page 306) which is illustrated by the body’s response to pain–that is the way we should respond to each other.
        4. In these lessons, Paul placed a heavy emphasis on God’s design.
          1. God designed the body to be interdependent.
          2. God’s gifts to members in the body came from God’s spirit.
          3. God made the body for unity, not for division.
          4. God gave individual’s gifts so that the individual could serve the body.
          5. All this exists by God’s design; it is not a matter of choice or preference.
      3. Paul used the image of a physical body to teach a third lesson to the congregation at Ephesus (Ephesians 4:11-16).
        1. This was the basic lesson to the Christians at Ephesus: every spiritual role that God established in the church has the God-given responsibility to benefit the church.
        2. The reality in that congregation: they did not understand God’s purposes in the church.
          1. In that ignorance, we have a lot in common with them.
          2. In their society, a person used existing groups to advance himself–you used the group to promote yourself, to win honor, to gain prestige.
          3. You did not exist for the good of the group; the group existed to create opportunity for you.
          4. We have a similar problem–the group exists to honor and respond to “my rights”; “my rights” are more important than the group.
        3. Paul used the image of the physical body to teach these lessons:
          1. All divinely established roles exist to accomplish two divine objectives: (a) to equip Christians to serve, and (b) to build up the body of Christ.
          2. This is a continuing objective because it seeks unity of the faith, unity of knowledge of Christ, and spiritual maturity.
          3. The congregation must be committed to creating a spiritual environment that will encourage all Christians “to grow up in every aspect of Christ.”
  2. I want you to focus on a specific point that Paul made in Ephesians 4:16.
    1. This is the statement: “…from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which 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.”
      1. Practical question: how can all this diversity come together in a manner that permits a body to function?
        1. Just because you have a lot of different parts with just as many different functions does not mean that you have a body.
        2. Something has to fit all these parts together and bind them together in a way that produces a body and in a way that allows the body to function.
        3. The body parts must fit and be knit together in a way that lets the body function productively, not just jerk in spasmodic, useless motion.
      2. Paul’s illustration is powerful–he focused them specifically on the joint. knee
      3. For the sake of being clear and simple, consider a knee joint.
        1. A leg muscle and a leg bone have nothing in common.
          1. They do not look alike; they are not made of the same material; they do not have the same function.
          2. The muscle and bone have only one thing in common: each is in the same body.
        2. Yet, every time the leg moves, the muscle and the bone work together.
        3. When the body walks or runs with balance and control, they work together perfectly.
      4. How is that possible? They are fit together, knit together, bound together at the joint by something that is neither bone or muscle; by ligaments.
        1. If the ligaments did not tie them together, the muscle and bone could not work together.
        2. Cut the ligaments, and you make the joint useless by destroying the function of both the muscle and the bone.
        3. Without the ligaments, neither the muscle nor the bone benefit the body; walking or running becomes impossible.
    2. Misunderstanding is easy; understanding is hard.
      1. With all the diversity we are supposed to have in the church by God’s own design, something must fit us together, knit us together, and bind us together.
      2. If something does not fit and knit us together, we just jerk and jump around as we function very poorly–at our best!
      3. By God’s design, we are to equip every Christian for service, to strengthen the body, to pursue unity of the faith, to pursue unity of knowledge of Christ, and to pursue spiritual maturity.
      4. But that can happen only if something fits, knits, and binds us together.
    3. There is only one person who can fit and knit us together: Jesus Christ.
      1. We are his body.
      2. He is the spiritual ligament that fits us and knits us together.
      3. But every single one of us must choose to let Christ fit us to and knit us to the body.
      4. Being a living, functioning part of the body of Christ really is not about:
        1. What I like.
        2. What I prefer.
        3. What I would stress.
        4. What I want.
      5. Being the body of Christ is about helping serve God’s complete purposes in Jesus Christ.

And that is hard. It is very hard in our American society. It is hard because for decades we have heard that the central issue of life is “my rights.” Everyone of us, from old to young, have been trained to think about “my rights.” That is one powerful reason that “what I like, what I prefer, and what I want” divides so many congregations. “I have the right to make the congregation be what I want it to be.” We Christians have been trained to be more concerned about our desires than God’s purposes.

But it is as wonderful as it is hard. God designed the church to function like a body. By God’s design, the church must be diverse. Being the body of Jesus Christ has the glorious potential of using every type of person to help achieve God’s eternal purposes. If we will let Christ fit us and knit us together, God can work through us to accomplish eternal good beyond our imagination.

When Christ fits and knits us together, we function for God as we accomplish His purposes in incredible ways. When we do not let Christ fit and knit us together, the church does not function; it merely jerks about.

The body grows up into the perfect head of Jesus (Ephesians 4:15-16). The imperfect body must be trying to develop to support Jesus Christ, the Head. Are you growing in such a way to support the Head? No matter who you are, God wants you in the body to achieve His eternal purposes. Once you become a part of the body, you should always be developing and maturing. Are you a healthy part of His body?

I Am Glad That I Am Not God

Posted by on under Bulletin Articles

At certain moments, we all attempt to play God. We do not consciously try to play God. But we do. At the moment we are certain that we know what God thinks. We are equally certain that we know what God would do. We definitely know the direction God would take, the action God would initiate, God’s immediate priority, and the specific results God wants “us all” to achieve.

Confession: when I experience such moments, my confidence, convictions, desires, and perspectives begin with me. Certainly, at those moments, I would emotionally deny this self indictment. “I am so focused on Christ, so ‘into’ the Bible, and so committed to God’s will, I am certain that I am God’s appointed spokesman.” Of course, later, with embarrassment, I realize that I appointed myself.

The truly humbling moments of life occur when I get a glimpse of me as God sees me. A reading from the Bible, a biblical insight, an awareness from a real life situation, or reflection on God’s incomprehensible being provides that glimpse. Such moments are too rare, too infrequent. But they are life’s most useful moments–intensely spiritual and blessing filled. What prayers those moments produce!

The God who created everything seeks to direct me who created nothing. The God who forgives anything seeks to guide me who struggles to forgive. The God who loves the ugliest, evil torn, ungodliest person seeks to focus me who thinks it an accomplishment to love the lovable. If I were God, I don’t think I would like me. I am ignorant, weak, flawed, mistake prone, arrogant, conceited, evil afflicted, and easily tempted. My heart and my mind are a mess. The only righteousness that I can honestly claim as my accomplishment is self-righteousness. Were I God, how clearly and honestly I would see all of that–and so much more! I am incapable of the honesty that permits me to see how weak and flawed that I am. I, as all humanity, am addicted to denial. And were I God, I would see me for what I always have been.

God sees, knows, and understands all about me–in full detail! God knows that when I am the best me that I can become, little of that will change. Yet, He still loves and forgives me when I have the honesty, humility, and courage to repent.

I am glad that He is God.

Gratitude and Prayers

Posted by on April 26, 1998 under Bulletin Articles

“Burnout” is a devastating experience. It occurs when a person feels totally depleted, “used up.” He or she has nothing left to give. He or she is beyond regenerating energy, recharging motivation, and renewing commitment.

A factor that significantly contributes to each incident of “burnout” is ingratitude. People who serve zealously with sacrificial hearts and selfless efforts are refreshed and strengthened by sincere appreciation. God’s family should never allow a single child of God to suffer “burnout.” This congregation must be a fountain of gratitude. We must refresh all servants in its flowing waters of appreciation.

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the building committee. They were given a specific job to do for us, and they did it well. Please create an opportunity to express your appreciation. To each member of that committee, thank you for your hours of work in meeting with groups within the congregation and meeting with the architect. Thank you for taking to heart the many suggestions, for considering present needs, and for considering future effectiveness. To Ron Lenderman (chairman), James Anderson, Sandy Berger, Gary Brown, Richard Broyles, David Dickey, Barbara Herren, Jim Pratt, and Jane Smith, thanks!

Please begin praying in behalf of Gary Brown, Jerry Canfield, Tom Porter, Paul Shirley, Jay Trotter, Bill Walker, and Jim Wilson. Last Sunday evening you selected these men to serve as the congregation’s screening committee. In the Sunday morning worship assembly, the elders will give this committee their charge. In the immediate future, they will receive your nominations for additional elders.

Pray for God to guide their thoughts as the Spirit works in their hearts when they interview the nominees. Pray that their efforts will result in a sense of togetherness and unity that takes us to new levels of service and fellowship.

Pray for God’s guidance as you consider men to nominate as potential shepherds of God’s flock at West-Ark. Pray that God will guide you in understanding of the kind of qualified men we need to lead us to God’s green pastures and still waters.

And let no one who serves among us suffer “burnout” because we did not notice their service and failed to express gratitude!

How Do We Stand For Christ?

Posted by on April 22, 1998 under Sermons

One of the oldest hymns that I know is “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.” It has been familiar as long as I can remember.

All of us agree that we should stand for Jesus. All of us have an opinion about how Christians should stand up for Jesus. All of us have a strong opinion about what we should stand for as we stand.

Tonight I propose that we let Jesus tell us how to stand for him.

  1. Let’s begin by considering Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:20.
    1. After Jesus introduced his lesson, he made this statement:
      “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
      1. That is a very specific, very definite, very clear statement.
      2. We need to understand it and allow it to form our understanding of how we should stand for Jesus.
    2. First, let’s focus on the statement.
      1. Jesus was born, lived, died, and was resurrected to bring into existence a spiritual kingdom that would never end.
        1. To most of us, that is not a new understanding, and we would agree that Jesus brought that spiritual kingdom into existence.
        2. Most of us would agree that a man or a woman who enters Christ immediately becomes a part of that kingdom.
      2. Jesus was specific about what was necessary to be a part of that kingdom: our righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
      3. Who were the scribes?
        1. The scribes were the educated, trained Jewish men who had the responsibility of reproducing the Old Testament scriptures by hand.
        2. That was the only way to reproduce scriptures in a world without printing.
        3. When a new copy of an Old Testament book was needed, these men made it.
        4. They were committed to accuracy.
          1. They knew how many times each letter of the alphabet occurred in the book they copied.
          2. They knew the middle letter of each book, and they knew the middle letter of each main section in the book.
          3. They counted letters to make certain the book was accurate.
        5. Can you imagine how much knowledge of scripture they acquired as they copied books over and over?
      4. Who were the Pharisees?
        1. The Pharisees were a specific segment of Judaism who were dedicated to taking the nation of Israel back to “the old paths” of the fathers of Israel.
        2. They believed that scripture was the literal word of God, was God’s complete authority, was the living word of God, and was to be applied to any situation in any age.
        3. They were literal in their study, literal in their application, and committed to the true meaning and intent of scripture.
        4. They were the dominant religious influence in Israel.
        5. Jesus himself paid this tribute to their knowledge: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe…” (Matthew 23:2,3).
        6. The Pharisees’ spiritual problems were not rooted in their knowledge.
    3. Jesus specifically said that our righteousness must exceed their righteousness.
      1. That will not happen through knowledge–our knowledge of scripture does not exceed their knowledge of scripture.
      2. That will not happen through obedience to commands and traditions–our obedience rarely equals their obedience.
      3. That will not happen through a commitment to preserving our heritage and traditions–they were experts in preserving religious tradition and heritage.
      4. Then how will we exceed their righteousness? Jesus told us how to do that in Matthew 5.
  2. Jesus contrasted the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees with the righteousness of those who followed him by using two phrases: “You have heard that it was said” and “I say unto you.”
    1. These two phrases contrasted two concepts of righteousness.
      1. “You have heard that it was said” reflected the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
      2. “I say unto you” reflected the righteousness of those who followed Jesus.
    2. Contrast number one: Matthew 5:21-26.
      1. You have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not commit murder.”
        1. You obey that standard by not murdering.
        2. If you do not physically destroy someone’s life with intent and purpose, you meet the standard of the scribes and Pharisees’ righteousness.
      2. Jesus declared, “But I say to you:”
        1. Do not be angry at others.
        2. Do not hold others in contempt (“Raca” declared contempt).
        3. Do not slander others (calling someone a fool slandered him).
      3. Further, Jesus said, before you approach God in worship, make peace with any brother that you have offended.
    3. Contrast number two: Matthew 5:27-32.
      1. You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit the physical act of adultery.”
        1. Refrain from sexual intercourse with anyone but your husband or wife.
        2. As long as a person did not physically commit adultery, he meet the standard of the scribes and Pharisees’ righteousness.
      2. But I say to you:
        1. Adultery involves more than the physical act.
        2. Do not indulge your sexual desires through your eyes.
        3. Don’t look at women as non-persons, as creatures who exist to indulge the fantasies of your imagination.
        4. Moses gave the divorce laws to protect women.
          1. Moses would not permit you to desert your wife.
          2. If you left her, you had to inform her that you were leaving her.
          3. You had to inform her in front of witnesses in writing.
        5. I tell you when you marry a wife, you make a covenant with her.
        6. Keep your covenant.
        7. Abandoning your covenant is also adultery.
    4. Contrast number three: Matthew 5:33-37.
      1. The ancients were told, “Do not make false promises; do what you promised God that you would do.”
        1. As long as you technically did what you said you would do, you met the scribes and Pharisees’ standard of righteousness.
        2. But they placed a heavy emphasis on technicalities.
      2. But I say to you:
        1. Be a person who keeps his word.
        2. The scribes and Pharisees said technicalities voided a promise, so you could deceive someone or break a promise if you did it the right way.
        3. I say, keep your promises–even if you are not legally liable.
        4. When you say, “Yes,” mean yes, and when you say, “No,” mean no.
    5. Contrast number four: Matthew 5:38-42.
      1. You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
        1. As long as you did not exceed justice, you met the scribes and Pharisees’ standard of righteousness.
        2. It is fine to make the offending person pay the full price of justice, but do not be vengeful.
      2. But I say:
        1. Be ruled by kindness, not by justice.
        2. Be ruled by humility, not by justice.
        3. Do more than is expected of you.
    6. Contrast number five: Matthew 5:43-48.
      1. You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.”
        1. If you did that, you met the scribes and Pharisees’ standard of righteousness.
        2. By their standard, that is the maximum.
      2. But I say:
        1. Love your neighbor, and love your enemy.
        2. Pray for those that physically abuse you.
        3. Treat your human enemies like God treats His human enemies, and that will make you God’s sons.
        4. If you are mean to people who are mean to you, and if you are good to people who are good to you, then you are just like everybody else.
        5. God’s love is to be your standard.
  3. Recently I enjoyed a very profitable, private conversation.
    1. In this conversation, a Christian friend shared a thought that powerfully illustrates the point.
      1. As Christians, we have not learned the difference between redemption and godly character.
        1. Redemption is a gift from God that comes to us through Jesus’ blood.
          1. It blesses us through forgiveness.
          2. Because of redemption, we receive mercy and grace.
        2. Godly character is built.
          1. Godly character is built after we have been redeemed.
          2. It is not a gift and does not come automatically.
          3. It exists when we develop godly behavior.
      2. Is redemption real? Absolutely!
        1. When is redemption real?
        2. The moment we enter Christ; the moment we chose by faith and repentance to join Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection.
      3. At that moment do we suddenly have godly character?
        1. No.
        2. There is a lot of evil to be killed in our lives.
        3. There is a lot to learn from Jesus.
        4. There is a whole new value system to build and live by.
    2. Our failure to understand that truth often costs us dearly in the church.
      1. Some Christians think that standing for the church is standing for Jesus.
      2. Some Christians are convinced that they can stand for the church and:
        1. Be angry with fellow Christians.
        2. Hold Christians they disagree with in contempt.
        3. Slander Christians they regard to be enemies.
        4. Regard it an act of faith not to seek peace.
      3. Some Christian men are convinced that they can be fine Christians and:
        1. Look at women as impersonal, sexual objects.
        2. Indulge their sexual desires through their eyes.
        3. Break promises by using carefully crafted technicalities.
        4. Be ruled by justice instead of kindness and humility.
        5. Regard doing more than is expected as a sign or weakness.
      4. Some Christians think that you represent the church well when:
        1. You are committed to justice in and out of the church.
        2. You love those that like you.
        3. You hate those that oppose you.

We stand for Jesus by exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. We stand for Jesus by becoming men and women of godly character.

When we accept the gift of redemption, we must commit ourselves to godly character. When we don’t, we create all types of problems within the church. Then people outside the church see us as looking like everyone else. When we look like other people without character, they reject redemption.

May we rejoice in our redemption. May we pursue godly character. May we stand for Jesus by exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

Are you growing?
Are you growing in the right direction?
Do you need God’s redemption?
It is available free to everyone who wants it.

Opportunity: God’s Golden Gift

Posted by on April 19, 1998 under Sermons

I want to invite you to travel with me to Palestine in 28 A.D. Let’s listen to a conversation between two Israelites named Benjamin and Abda.

Benjamin: “I cannot believe the moral and social decay that has occurred in Palestine since the Romans took control! This was a godly nation! Nothing has been the same since Rome took control. Everywhere I look I see evil.”

Abda: “Things have changed incredibly. Without question we see evil everywhere we look. It’s true that nothing is the same, and I doubt that it ever will be the same. But, Benjamin, I can still see God working.”

Benjamin: “And Herod decided that he would rebuild our temple! He started that project 9 years ago. All he has done is make a mess and disrupt the city! The priests are so preoccupied with rebuilding the temple that they don’t have time to be priests! All Herod is doing is glorifying himself. Jerusalem has just not been the same since Herod started his temple project.”

Abda: “What you say about the rebuilding project is true. Things are a mess, and Jerusalem is not the same. Everybody knows everything Herod does is to promote himself. But still, I see God working.”

Benjamin: “And this new teacher who spends most of his time in Galilee, this Jesus fellow. All he does is stir things up. As far as I am concerned, he creates a lot of confusion. I don’t think that he does anything worthwhile. He has all the common people and all the wicked people all worked up with his teachings. Everywhere he goes with his miracles he generates hysteria. It is all a bunch of showmanship and emotion. I have not heard a single lesson that he taught that emphasized the importance of synagogue attendance, or the necessity of temple sacrifices, or doing the right things the right way. He never talks about tithing or the temple taxes. If people listen to him, all Judaism will fall apart. He never teaches on the important things!”

Abda: “Jesus certainly causes a lot of excitement. I have never seen common people so excited about God! In fact, I have never seen common folks so interested, so willing to listen. Nor have I ever seen the priests, the rabbis, and Pharisees so upset. But I still tell you, Benjamin, I see God working.”

And God was working–powerfully!

  1. God is working right here right now. Do you see Him at work?
    1. “Well, I don’t know.”
      1. “We are doing some things in ways that we never did them before.”
        1. We surely are.
        2. Can you see God working in what we are doing?
      2. “The elders really expect us, as a congregation, to participate in decisions, and that is different.”
        1. It surely is.
        2. Can you see God working in that?
      3. “But, whatever we do, it will happen because we as a congregation decided for it to happen.”
        1. It surely will.
        2. Can you see God working in that?
    2. Tonight, as a congregation, we take one of the most important steps this congregation has taken in its seventeen years of existence.
      1. Tonight we select seven people to serve as our screening committee.
      2. This committee:
        1. Will receive nominations for men to be considered as additional leaders.
        2. Will interview these men.
        3. Will present qualified men to us as a congregation for our consideration.
    3. This is step number one in the process of adding additional elders, additional shepherds, to our congregation.
  2. Last October I taught a series of lessons on leadership profiles in the New Testament.
    1. We looked very carefully at the profiles in I Timothy 3, Titus 1, and I Peter 5.
      1. We noted that the leadership needs in the congregations at Crete (Titus 1) were different to the leadership needs in the city of Ephesus (I Timothy 3).
      2. We also noted that the basic responsibility of elders is to “shepherd the flock” (I Peter 5).
        1. With care and love, they unselfishly lead the flock.
        2. They do it by being examples who care about the sheep, the people.
        3. They do not use the power and control of a lord.
    2. In that series of lessons I wanted to increase your awareness of the full teaching of the New Testament concerning congregational leaders.
      1. The men who lead a congregation as its shepherds must have a spiritually mature foundation.
        1. Each man must have a living faith that allows Jesus to direct his life.
        2. Each man’s life must produce the fruit of the spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).
        3. Each man’s life must demonstrate the Christian graces: faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love (2 Peter 1:5-8).
      2. These men will also fit the profiles of 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5.
        1. They will be men of spiritual experience in whom God’s word lives, who know how to guide others by the teaching of the Bible.
        2. They will have healthy, loving relationships within their families, relationships that bring them love and respect from their families.
        3. They are men who genuinely love God and love people.
        4. They use their lives and the warmth of their homes to minister to and encourage others.
        5. They are kind men who control themselves, who live consistent lives, and are respected even by people who are not Christians.
        6. They are men of courage, men of vision, and men who are flexible.
  3. All the terminology regarding the elders, or bishops, or pastors (all words that designate the same leaders) are rooted in the concept of a shepherd.
    1. That is very understandable because they are to work with people in the same manner that Jesus worked with people, and Jesus was the good shepherd.
      1. In John 10:1-18, Jesus said of himself that he is the good shepherd.
        1. He knows his sheep and they know him.
        2. He knows their names and they know his voice.
        3. He responds to their needs and they respond to his leadership.
        4. He laid his life down for his sheep–he was more concerned about the needs of the sheep than about his own well being.

        sheep

      2. In Luke 15, he gave us a beautiful picture of the kind of good shepherd that he is, of the kind of good shepherds elders will be.
        1. A shepherd counted only 99 in his flock when there should be 100.
        2. One sheep did not listen to his voice; one sheep did not follow; one sheep was lost in the wilderness and faced certain death.
        3. This shepherd did not conclude that he still had 99, that the lost sheep was stupid and troublesome, and that a 1% loss was quite acceptable.
        4. He left the 99 secure, searched in the wilderness until he found the lost sheep, and carried it back to the flock.
        5. He rejoiced because he found it; he did not curse because of the trouble this stupid sheep caused him.
        6. Matthew 18:13 said that the shepherd rejoices more over the lost sheep he found than the 99 that were secure–and adds that is exactly the way God feels when He recovers someone who has strayed away.
      3. I Peter 5:1-4 urged “the elders among you” to “shepherd the flock of God” by being “examples over the flock.”
        1. It encourages them by assuring them that Jesus, “the Chief Shepherd,” will reward them with an “unfading crown of glory.”
        2. Men qualified to be elders have the heart of Jesus and the heart of God.
    2. Think about some things that are so obvious that we may not see them.
      1. What is a shepherd? How do you know that you are looking at a shepherd?
      2. For a moment, join me on a tour bus as we tour the southern region of Israel.
        1. Before we started touring the region, you told the bus driver that you really wanted a picture of a shepherd.
        2. The bus driver said, “When you see a shepherd, holler.”
        3. When will you holler?
        4. Will you holler when you see a man with a backpack hiking across a hill?
        5. Will you holler when you drive through a town and see a police man directing traffic?
        6. Will you holler when you see a foreman directing construction?
          sheep
        7. No.
        8. There will be only one scene that makes you holler.
        9. You will holler when you see a man leading and caring for sheep.
      3. As you consider men that you wish to suggest for elders, first ask yourself, “Are they caring for sheep?” We need to appoint good men who know how to shepherd because they are already caring for sheep.
  4. We live among people who are bruised, bleeding, broken, disillusioned, skeptical, and bewildered.
    1. Let’s be honest–we don’t just live among such people; we are such people.
      1. Do you know a frustrated parent? Do you know a child in despair? Do you know a deeply troubled home? Do you know a broken home? Do you know a single parent home? Do you know someone who is devastated by a death, by serious illness, by a moral crisis, by loss of a job, by financial ruin, by injustices, by enemies who despise them?
      2. Oh, yes! In the church, out of the church, everywhere.
      3. What do these people need? They need a wise, loving shepherd who has the heart of God.
      4. What do each of us need? We need a wise, loving shepherd who has the heart of God.
      5. We need someone to guide, to listen, to encourage, to pray with us, to cry with us, to challenge us, and to lead us.
      6. We need someone we want to listen to and want to follow because we respect that person, trust that person, and know that person truly loves and cares about us.
      7. We need shepherds. Jesus, the Chief Shepherd, intended for us to have shepherds.
    2. As a Christian family, two things must happen.
      1. We must give our shepherds the opportunity to be shepherds.
        1. We desperately need to change our expectations of our elders.
        2. Congregational expectations force elders into roles of financial experts, architects, business advisors, a governing board, repair experts, insurance experts, and on and on.
        3. We expect them to do a thousand things well, a thousand things that Jesus and New Testament writers never had in mind for elders.
      2. Our shepherds desperately need to delegate, and do it in good conscience.
        1. We are blessed with talented, capable people who have expertise in finances, buildings, business, administration, repairs, and the thousand other things that legitimately need to be cared for well and responsibly.
        2. Let’s create expectations and a climate where the elders can feel good about delegating.
        3. Let’s rejoice and encourage our elders when they serve as Christ intended, when they shepherd with the heart of God.

The first hands that a lamb feels when it is born are the hands of the shepherd. When it is weak and cold, he carries it. The first help that sheep receives when it is injured comes from the hands of the shepherd. He doctors it and helps it. The first voice that a sheep hears when it is lost is the voice of the shepherd. He is searching for it.

The shepherd leads; the shepherd helps; the shepherd carries; the shepherd rescues. For all those reasons, shepherds always smell like the sheep.

There is a Shepherd that loved us so dearly that He died to protect us from death. He knows every difficult circumstance and every lonely moment. He can address your needs, whatever they are. He wants to be your Shepherd. He will not stop at anything that is in your best interest. He is bigger than life, even bigger than death. Do you want to be a part of His flock? His name is Jesus. Do you want to belong to Him? Do you follow Him? The Shepherd’s voice calls.

If God Can Save You, I Should Respect You

Posted by on under Bulletin Articles

Imagine the experience of having a Christian family from the first century congregation at Philippi spend a month at West-Ark. Suppose they were guests in your home for a week. This family spent a normal week with your family. Their children did everything your children typically do. As wife and mother, you arranged for that wife and mother to accompany you through a typical week. As a husband and father, you arranged for that husband and father to be your “shadow” for a typical week. They got an honest look at life in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

In this month, they also experienced typical life in the congregation. That included Bible classes, morning and evening worship, fellowship, a “family meeting,” a funeral, a wedding, teen studies and activities, children’s world, a care group, visitation with the Hilltoppers, quilting with the quilting ladies, delivering a meal to someone who needed it, a hospital visit, etc.

If for a week the two families spoke the same language, interaction overcame major culture shock, and the two worlds did not clash, what would the experience be like for their family and your family? We could write a book about such a week. I doubt that today’s morals, violence, or marital instability would shock them. All of those were worse in their world.

Two things might shock both families. First, they would not recognize Christianity as we practice it. Christian activity centered around church buildings and church membership would be strange and new. Christian realities without apostles or the Holy Spirit (as they experienced Him) would be strange. Even printed Bibles would be strange and new to them.

Second, I think they would react to our society and the church like this: “We do not believe that Christianity as we knew and experienced it can exist in this world and time.” I can see how they would believe that. Why? Too much had changed! If we struggle with just the changes from the oldest to the youngest living generations, can you imagine their struggle with the changes between the first and twentieth century worlds?

May I share a thought? God loved and saved people in the first century. God loves and saves people in the twentieth century. If this world continues, God will love and save people in the twenty-fifth century–and I cannot image what that world will be like!

No amount of change prevents God from loving and saving people. Regardless of how extreme the differences are from century to century, God loves and saves people. Regardless of how extreme the changes are within a century, God loves and saves people. Our challenge: if God can love and save us, we must learn to respect each other. Our highest goal should be to love every person God saves. Our minimum goal must be to respect every person that God saves.

Personal Reactions to the Resurrection

Posted by on April 12, 1998 under Sermons

The list of “things that you have to do” has always been quite short for most people. Parents insist that their teens “have to” do certain things, and teens commonly declare either by their words, their decisions, or their actions that they do not “have to” do anything.

Controlling husbands tell their wives that there are certain things that a wife “has to do.” Controlling wives tell their husbands that there are certain things that a husband “has to do.”

Those in control of occupations remind us that there are things that we “have to do.”

Government is constantly revising its list of things that we “have to do” as citizens. And, a number of citizens find ingenious ways to show the government that citizens do not have to do those things.

When we are feeling truly defiant we declare, “We don’t have to do anything but die!”

This evening as a Christian I ask you to think about some things each of us as a Christian has to do. I want to suggest that any person who is converted to Jesus Christ quickly discovers that there are three things that a Christian must do.

  1. What three things would you say that a Christian must do?
    1. Our suggestions would reflect the perspectives of past teachings.
      1. One perspective would suggest that a Christian must believe, repent, and be baptized.
        1. I certainly do not disagree with the importance of any one of those three things; I would strongly “amen” that we need a much better understanding of all three.
        2. But those are three things a person does to come to Jesus when he or she becomes a Christian.
        3. The question is what three things must a Christian do?
      2. Another perspective would suggest that a Christian must come to the assemblies on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.
        1. When I was a boy and a young adult, worship attendance served as the number one criteria for determining faithfulness.
        2. If you attended every time the church building doors opened, you were faithful.
        3. If you attended less than that, your faith needed to grow.
        4. If you attended irregularly you were unfaithful.
        5. Those were simpler days and simpler times.
          1. In those days, you could not live in Fort Smith and commute all over the United States every week as you did your job.
          2. In those days, very few jobs required a person to work on Sunday.
          3. In those days, a weekend had two days–Saturday and Sunday, instead of one day (Sunday).
          4. In those days, you got home from your work before 6:30 p.m. so that you could come to Wednesday Bible study.
          5. In those days one parent, not two, was employed outside the home.
        6. I certainly would emphasize that maturing Christians want to study and worship with their spiritual family on every possible occasion, but I do not believe that our bodies’ physical presence in an assembly is the primary evidence of the depth or quality of a person’s faith.
      3. Another perspective suggests that a Christian must sing praises to God, take communion, and financially support the congregation.
        1. Basically this perspective says a Christian must worship.
        2. Worship is an essential, critical part of being spiritually alive.
        3. It is a unique form of fellowship with God, with Christ, with the Spirit, and with our Christian family.
    2. The three things that I want to suggest are more fundamental than worship.
      1. Each maturing Christ must do these three things on a continual basis:
        1. He or she must react to Jesus’ life.
        2. He or she must react to Jesus’ death.
        3. He or she must react to Jesus’ resurrection.
      2. Personally, I do not believe that it is possible for any man or woman to be spiritually alive without reacting to those three things.
  2. Tonight I want you to consider the importance of a Christian reacting to Jesus’ resurrection. (The thoughts that I share with you certainly are not all encompassing. I freely confess that your thoughts and reactions to the resurrection easily could be superior to these.)
    1. Reaction number one: if God planned for Jesus’ resurrection before the foundations of this world (Ephesians 1:4), if it was that serious and urgent to God, the resurrection should reveal one of life’s basic messages to me.
      1. You and I–and every other person–desperately needs resurrection in Christ.
      2. We were made and intended for more than a grave.
      3. God was and is determined that our existence would not end in a grave, and that it would not end in hell.
      4. If this matter was so important to God that He let His Son leave heaven and become a human being; that He let His Son live in humiliation and suffering in this physical existence; that He allowed His Son be unjustly executed; and that He brought the lifeless physical body of Jesus back to life again–if it was that important to God, how important is it to me?
      5. Nothing that exists in this world endures indefinitely.
        1. In all history, no nation lasted indefinitely, and this one will not.
        2. In all history, no government lasted indefinitely, and this one will not.
        3. In all history, no human endeavor lasted indefinitely, and none of ours will.
        4. In all history, no specific business lasted indefinitely, and ours won’t.
        5. In all history, no specific job lasted indefinitely, and ours won’t.
        6. There has never been wealth that lasted indefinitely.
        7. There has never been power that lasted indefinitely.
        8. There has never been pleasure that lasted indefinitely.
        9. There has never been a human body that did not wear out or a life that did not end, and neither you nor I will be the first exception.
      6. This temporary world is filled with the temporary.
        1. Only one thing will endure indefinitely:
        2. Resurrection in Jesus Christ.
      7. There is nothing that we will ever have, there is nothing that we will ever experience, and there is nothing that we will ever achieve that will be even a close second in importance to resurrection in Jesus Christ.
      8. And to me, that is the first message of the resurrection.
    2. Reaction number two: Jesus came with a God-given mission; He can teach me how to become a person with a God-given mission.
      1. Jesus revealed by death and resurrection that having a God-given mission means that I must trust my God rather than myself.
        1. Achieving His mission was horrible–injustice, betrayal, contempt, rejection, extreme pain, extreme loneliness, and death.
        2. The results of achieving the mission are too incredible to comprehend:
          1. God made Him the eternal Savior for all people (Hebrews 5:8,9).
          2. God created direct access to Himself for us through Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-16).
          3. God produced the power of permanent forgiveness through His death (Hebrews 10:10-12).
          4. God made adoption into His family possible for every person (Galatians 3:26,27; 4:4,5).
          5. God was free to give a life that was eternal in a place and relationship that was suitable for eternal existence.
      2. The resurrection screams to me that God can create opportunity in any human circumstance, in any human condition.
        1. No matter how evil has expressed itself in my life or circumstances, God can create for me spiritual opportunity in my situation–which is precisely what God did in the cross.
        2. God used the evil of the cross to reveal eternal resurrection.
        3. God can use the evil of our lives and conditions to resurrect us to newness of life.
        4. God will use spiritual resurrection to produce eternal resurrection.
      3. “Oh, but you don’t know–you just don’t know.”
        1. “You don’t know what has happened to me financially.”
        2. “You don’t know what is happening in my marriage.”
        3. “You don’t know what is happening with my kids.”
        4. “You don’t know what is happening with my parents.”
        5. “You don’t know what has happened since my divorce.”
        6. “You don’t know what is happening because I am a single parent.”
        7. “You don’t know about my secret life.”
      4. If God could work in the cross, God can work in your circumstances.
      5. If God could resurrect Jesus after the cross, God can spiritually resurrect you after your evil experience.
      6. There will never be a situation in your life that will surpass the evil that surrounded Jesus’ cross.
      7. The second message of the resurrection is that evil is no match for God–and cannot stop God–no matter how vile the evil is.
    3. Reaction number three: God can do what the human is not capable of dreaming.
      1. May I share some deeply personal things with you.
      2. Spiritually, the three years before I moved to Fort Smith were possibly the most difficult years of my life thus far.
        1. I was physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually exhausted.
        2. I experienced a kind and depth of pain I had never known, and it was continual, and it did not go away, and many Christian friends who love me deeply could not ease it.
      3. Someone says, “You must have been in an awful place.”
        1. No, quite to the contrary–I was in a wonderful place with some wonderful people who richly blessed my life and the lives of my family.
        2. I was loved deeply and genuinely by some of the dearest friends I will ever have.
      4. I felt “locked in,” and I was hurdling toward 60, and I was afraid.
        1. Being 60 did not and does not bother me.
        2. Seeing my opportunity to continue to serve disappear was frightening.
        3. For specific reasons, it seemed to me that my usefulness as a preacher was coming to an end at an incredible speed.
        4. It appeared to me that I had no options.
      5. But I was in a very complex situation and in very complicated circumstances.
        1. Most of my life I have been a “fixer.”
        2. I learned, at least in my life, that “fixing” works against trusting God instead of for trusting God.
        3. After years of sacrificial work, I also learned that “fixing” never “fixes.”
      6. “Fixing” is impossible for many reasons.
        1. “Fixing” entices us to play God, even when we are determined not to play God.
        2. Evil is too complex to be “fixed”–we humans are no match for Satan no matter how gifted or talented we might be.
        3. People are too complex to be “fixed”–there is too much evil in all of us.
      7. The third message of the resurrection: humans can’t “fix,” but the God who gives life and creates opportunity can forgive, and by forgiving God can resurrect.
        1. Through forgiveness, God can give a person spiritual life that is renewed every day–if the person is in Christ, each day starts new because each day starts in forgiveness.
        2. Through forgiveness, God gives every child newness of life because he or she is in Christ Jesus.
        3. And, if we trust the God of resurrection, He creates incredible opportunities even when we think there is no hope.

Our physical world screams that death is the end of life and the end of hope. The resurrection says that is a lie. And to those who react to Jesus’ resurrection, resurrection always thunders louder than this skeptical world can scream.

We invite you to let Jesus give you life.

How Do We Celebrate Jesus’ Love?

Posted by on under Sermons

(The song lead-in to the sermon will be #448, “The Greatest Commands,” [Songs of Faith and Praise, Howard Publishing Company, 1994].) The alto verse: “Love one another, for love is of God; He who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, For God is love, God is love.”

John 3:16-21
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

2 Corinthians 5:14,15
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

1 John 4:16-21
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

  1. If it had not been for God expressing His love through Jesus Christ, we would not know what love is.
    1. We would call many things love.
      1. We would call sexual passion love, but that love is rooted in our physical natures and desires.
      2. We would call loyalty love, but that love is rooted in causes.
      3. We would call commitment love, but that love is rooted in purposes.
      4. We would call the desire for things love, but that love is rooted in materialism.
      5. We would call all those things love, but we would not know how to love people.
        1. It is God through Jesus Christ that teaches us how to love people.
        2. Without understanding and developing that love, we don’t know how to love people.
    2. Jesus teaches us a unique form of love that is reserved for loving people.
      1. We know this love because it is the form of love that God has for us.
      2. We know this love because God revealed it and illustrated it in the life and death of Jesus.
      3. How is this love God teaches us through Christ different?
        1. It is a love that comes from the mind as well as the heart or emotions; it begins in a person’s will, not his feelings.
        2. People have this love because of their will as well as their feeling.
        3. This love:
          1. Is unselfish.
          2. Is sacrificial.
          3. Treats other people as the person wants to be treated himself/herself.
          4. Seeks the best interests of other people.
          5. Had rather forgive than judge.
          6. Had rather show compassion than seek justice.
      4. Humanity did not know this kind of love until Jesus lived it. This world had never experienced the form of love that was shown in Jesus’ life and death.

(Sing the alto and bass verses of “The Greatest Commands.”) The bass verse: “Love bears all things, believes all things, Love hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

  1. This is the love that lives in men and women who allow Jesus Christ to live in them.
    1. How can we look at Jesus and see this form of love?
      1. It was the love that washed the disciples’ feet when the disciples were too proud to wash each others’ feet (John 13:3-20).
      2. It was the love that touched people who suffered from incurable leprosy when law forbid it and no one else wanted to touch them (Luke 5:12-16).
      3. It was the love that gave the living water to a Samaritan divorcee who was an outcast in her own village (John 4:3-42).
      4. It was the love that forgave prostitutes (Luke 7:36-50).
      5. It was the love that ate and associated with people who had the earned, public reputation for being evil people and for using dishonesty to defraud (Matthew 9:10-13).
      6. It was the love that moved Jesus to feed thousands of people when he knew that most of them would misunderstand why he fed them and turn against him (John 6:1-15, 22-71).
    2. In short, it was the love that cared about people who in no way deserved his love.
      1. This love cared so deeply that it looked at people and saw men and women made in God’s image–even when they were filled with evil, greed, and selfishness.
      2. This love proved that it cared, and it declared itself in terms of people’s eternal worth even when they did not respond to his love.
    3. Jesus did not love people after they responded to him; Jesus loved people before they responded to him; Jesus even loved the people who refused to respond to him.

(Sing the alto, bass, and tenor verses to “The Greatest Commands.”) The tenor verse: “God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love, God is love.”

John 13:34,35
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

John 15:12-14,17
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. . . . This I command you, that you love one another” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.)

  1. How could Jesus call the commandment to love one another a new commandment?
    1. The law of Moses commanded the Israelites to love fellow Israelites.
      Leviticus 19:18 – You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
      1. That commandment is as old as the nation of Israel.
      2. The Jewish people had always understood that they were to love their neighbors as themselves.
      3. Even Jesus declared that commandment was the second greatest commandment that God gave.
    2. Why is this a new commandment? Because loving your neighbor as yourself never approached the form of love that Jesus had and has for his disciples.
      1. The love that Jesus had for his disciples, the love that Jesus has for us, is distinctive.
      2. It is so unlike any other form of human love that any man or woman who loves others with Jesus’ love is recognized as Jesus’ disciple.
      3. Only when we follow Jesus can we love like he loved.
        1. Only he can teach us how to love with that form of love.
        2. Only he can give us the strength to love with that form of love.
      4. That is the love that let him die on the cross for us.
        1. That death is the greatest declaration of love that will ever be declared on earth.
        2. That is the greatest manifestation of love that will every be revealed on earth.
    3. Are you a Christian? Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Do people know that you belong to Jesus by the way you love other people?
      1. Can they see that love in your family? In the way you treat your family?
      2. Can they see that love in the way you treat your neighbors, the people you work with, and the people you go to school with?
      3. Can they see that love in the way you treat people who don’t like you, don’t respect you, or harshly judge you?
      4. Can they see that love in the way we treat each other as disciples of Christ?

(Sing the alto, bass, tenor, and soprano verse of “The Greatest Commands.”) The soprano verse: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, all thy strength, all thy mind. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, for God is love, God is love, God is love.”

It is a very simple thing for us to say, “Oh, yes, I believe in Jesus Christ.”
“Oh, yes, I believe in the resurrection.”
“Oh, yes, I believe that Jesus is Lord.”
“Oh, yes, I believe that God sent Him.”

Do you really believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross? Do you really believe that God raised him from the dead? Do you really believe He and God did that for you? Do you believe it in the same way you believe George Washington was the first President of this nation?
If that is the way you believe, then you missed the point about Jesus.

You believe that it was a fact that it happened and you are glad he did that? Or, do you believe that with a life-changing faith? Do you believe enough to let Jesus change your life, your mind, your heart, and your relationships by teaching you how to love?

Repentance means: I can’t go on living like I have been living since I have come to understand what God has done for me. I want to die with Christ. I want to be resurrected with Him. I do that by being baptized. I want my old existence to die and be buried with Jesus. I am resurrected in Him because I don’t ever want to be who I was.

Begin a new existence.
Has Jesus’ death and resurrection changed your life?
If you really believe it, you can never be the same, because God’s love has touched your life.

The only thing you have to give to God is your sin.

Joyfully take His forgiveness.

Knowing What Is Best For Christ

Posted by on under Bulletin Articles

One of my biggest problems is taking myself too seriously. I never realized I did that (and still don’t). There are times when, with every good intention, I try to think for Christ and decide for God. I am so serious, so focused, so committed that I am certain that I know what is best for Christ, know what is best for the congregation, and know specifically what must happen if God’s will is to be accomplished.

I hope God is amused instead of angered. Personally, I suspect God is amused at us a lot. He used a cross to establish His eternal kingdom 2000 years ago. He did so without consulting us humans. Good thing! We would have told Him it wouldn’t work! And He has maintained that kingdom for 2000 years. God must have a sense of humor to tolerate us when we are determined to rescue the church when He protects it.

Today I received excerpts from Jonathan Lee’s “Reservations of an Airline Agent” published in The Washington Post. Jonathan’s experience (over 130,000 conversations) hilariously illustrate people who are “certain” when they should not be.

There was the man in Minneapolis who did not know there was more than one city in the South (“wherever the South is”); the man in Dallas who tried to pay for his ticket by sticking quarters in the pay phone he used; the man who asked if the flight flew to exit 35 on the New Jersey Turnpike; the woman who wanted to know if the airline flew to area code 304; and the woman who wanted to know why she had to change clothes on the flight from Chicago to Washington.

My favorite: a woman wanted to fly to Hippopotamus, NY. When told there was no such city, she became irate declaring that it was a big city with a big airport. When asked if it was near Albany, Syracuse, or Buffalo, she exclaimed, “Buffalo! I knew it was a big animal!”

No, I did not laugh at the people. I laughed at me. I remembered all the times that I was so certain that I knew or was so certain about what had to happen. Thank you, Lord, for not requiring us to relive our pasts! The embarrassment would overwhelm us!

Something fantastic happened Sunday night! Two people prepared for eternity! Cyndi Glidewell, and her daughter, Corey Wakefield, joined Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection by being baptized. They gave Jesus their lives and their sins, and Jesus forgave them and made them his daughters. That’s wonderful! That is what everything we do is about! May we help them mature in Christ as they help us.

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