Posted by David on November 5, 2000 under Sermons
A thinking, reflecting member recently asked me a perceptive question. “What did people in the early church study when they assembled? We study the Bible in our classes and worship. What did they study?”
Early Christians frequently studied the scriptures we call the Old Testament scriptures. For Jewish Christians, this always was God’s word. Israelites respected and learned from this living word of God, this divine authority, this holy scripture for hundreds of years. For Christians who were not born Jews but attended Jewish synagogues prior to conversion to Christ, the Old Testament was the living word of God, the divine authority, and the holy scripture. They were taught the value and authority of God’s word by learning the value and authority of those scriptures. For Christians who were not born Jews and never attended the Jewish synagogue, they needed to learn God’s concept of holiness, righteousness, and godliness. These scriptures were used to teach them these concepts.
In addition to Old Testament scripture, they heard, read, or studied the writings of early Christian apostles and missionaries. Some of these writings became what we call the New Testament. But before they could hear and study these writings, they had to be written and shared. That took time. By our standards, it took a lot of time.
- Let me ask you to think about some things.
- Consider 2 Timothy 3:14,15.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
- This was Paul’s personal instruction to Timothy, the young preacher and missionary that Paul guided, taught, and mentored.
- Timothy was to continue following the things that he was taught.
- His godly mother and grandmother taught him these things from his childhood (2 Timothy 1:5).
- Paul wanted him to remember and follow the lessons of the “sacred writings.”
- His understanding of these “sacred writings” gave him wisdom that would lead him to salvation.
- Wisdom produced by the “sacred writings” produced faith in Jesus Christ.
- What were the “sacred writings?” We call them the Old Testament scriptures.
- Consider Romans 4:19-25.
Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God hd promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
- Paul is reminding Christians in Rome of Abraham’s faith in God’s promises.
- God promised Abraham a son, an heir, and years passed without that son being born.
- In Genesis 15 a discouraged Abraham asked God to allow Eliezer, his servant, be the promised heir.
- God said no; He would keep His promise; the son would be born to him.
- Genesis 15:6 states Abraham believed the Lord, and God “reckoned” (credited, regarded, considered) Abraham to be a righteous person.
- Carefully note Paul’s point.
- Paul said this occurred for their benefit as well as for Abraham’s benefit.
- If Christians place their confidence in the God who resurrected Jesus in the same way that Abraham placed his confidence in God, God will regard us to be righteous just as He regarded Abraham righteous.
- God had written what happened to Abraham for the benefit of Christians.
- Consider Romans 15:4.
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
- The Old Testament scriptures were written for Christians’ instruction.
- Those scriptures exist to give the Christian hope.
- Those scriptures challenge us to persevere and be encouraged.
Those understandings serve as a background for this truth: the book of Deuteronomy served an important role in the lives of early Christians.
- Deuteronomy played an important role in Jesus’ life and teachings.
- One of the critical moments in Jesus’ life occurred when Jesus faced Satan in the early wilderness temptations (Matthew 4:1-11).
- Jesus rejected the temptation found in turning stones into bread by both understanding and quoting Deuteronomy 8:3.
- Jesus rejected the temptation to jump from the temple area by both understanding and quoting Deuteronomy 6:16.
- Jesus rejected the temptation to worship Satan by both understanding and quoting Deuteronomy 6:13 (or 10:20).
- An understanding of those scriptures will just as surely help us fight those kinds of temptation just as they helped Jesus fight those temptations.
- Jesus often used statements found in Deuteronomy in his teachings.
- An excellent illustration is Jesus’ use of Deuteronomy 6:4 to declare that the greatest commandment God ever gave was to love God with all the heart, mind, and soul (Matthew 22:37).
- Jesus stressed an eternal truth: the only proper foundation for obeying God is loving God.
- I assume we agree that for the Christian there still is no greater commandment than loving God with all the heart, mind, and soul.
Perhaps this is your reaction: we should expect to hear Jesus use Deuteronomy in his teachings since Jesus was a godly Israelite who lived before the Christian age.
- If that assumption is correct, we would not expect the see New Testament writers using Deuteronomy for scriptural authority after Jesus’ resurrection.
- If the reasoning is that Jesus used Deuteronomy because he taught prior to the Christian age,
- Then the reasoning would follow that you would not find the writers of the epistles citing Deuteronomy’s concepts as divine authority.
- May I state clearly that I do not agree with that reasoning.
- For me, to dismiss any emphasis in the teachings of our own Lord and Savior with that kind of reasoning is a rejection of the word of the divine Son of God.
- I do not believe the eternal God abandons His word and its concepts.
- Allow me to read scriptures from Deuteronomy and then read scriptures from New Testament epistles.
Examples of Deuteronomy’s statements and concepts found in New Testament epistles.
- Deuteronomy 4:6 So keep and do them [the commands], for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
- 2 Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
- Deuteronomy 4:9 Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.
- Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 4:16,17 so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky
- Romans 1:18,23 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . . and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
- Deuteronomy 4:20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.
- Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
- Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
- Deuteronomy 5:33 You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
- Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.
- Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
- Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
At times we get so caught up in the worship differences, the differences in forms of purity, and in ceremonial differences that we fail to see fundamental parallels.
- Many things never change in God’s people of faith who follow Him in any age.
- The basic qualities of godly character never change–God’s people always trust Him.
- The basic qualities of godly integrity never change–God’s people always are honest and trustworthy.
- The basic qualities of reverencing God never change–God’s people always humble themselves before Him.
- The basic quality of treating people properly never changes–God’s people always treat other people like they want to be treated.
The eternal God has not changed, and He has not changed His will.
- He always wants the same kind of godly character and integrity in His people.
- What changed was the way people can come to God and belong to Him.
- Jesus Christ is the perfect means of coming to and belonging to God.
- Jesus does for us perfectly what all the Jewish ceremonies and rituals did imperfectly for Old Testament Israel.
- God has not changed.
- His eternal, living word has not changed.
- What changed is the way we can come to and relate to God.
- That changed because it no longer depended on imperfect human deeds.
- That changed because it now depends on the perfect Savior.
When you study from the Old Testament, study to learn and study to understand. It can strengthen your bond with Jesus Christ. It will make you wise as it brings you to salvation.
Posted by David on under Sermons
If you had a child, or a husband, or a wife, or a father, or a mother who was addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, or anything else that devastated life, which of these two things would you choose? Would you choose behavioral modification to immediately bring the person’s conduct under control? Or, would you choose for the person to change internally in ways that weakened or destroyed the addiction?
The stress of the immediate situation can be so great, so destructive, so devastating that we grasp for change. We desperately can hunger for the “quick fix” of behavioral modification. If we do that, we face a real problem. Behavioral modification does not address the internal demons that cause and sustain the addiction. If those demons are not addressed, the “quick fix” has a short life. As long as those demons are alive and well, the demons constantly threaten to break their chains and again consume your child, husband, wife, mom, or dad.
A lasting solution either severely damages or kills the demons that cause the addiction. But to damage or kill the demons, the person must address the problems that surrendered to the demons. When a real, lasting solution occurs, the person changes who he or she is.
- Perhaps the most devastating transition in Christianity came when behavioral modification was swapped for conversion.
- How do Christians swap behavioral modification for conversion?
- Behavioral modification is the foundation of “you must not do that!” preaching and “that is wrong!” teaching.
- I certainly do not suggest that we refuse to oppose evil or accept evil acts.
- I do suggest when we attempt to control human behavior without answering the question “why,” without helping a person understand God’s love, without helping a person understand Jesus Christ, we are not trying to convert the person.
- Conversion is a response of a man or woman who is willing to change his or her person.
- It is based on the conviction that Jesus has the power to change us.
- It is based on the realization of our need for forgiveness.
- It is based on our desire to be forgiven.
- It is based on our willingness to use God’s power to redirect life.
- The converted person understands what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
- The converted person wants to be a different person who is alive in Christ.
The most extensively documented conversion in the New Testament is the conversion of the Paul who arrested and imprisoned Christians to the Paul who served Jesus Christ.
- Paul’s conversion is one of the few events that is repeated several times in the New Testament.
- The book of Acts records the conversion events in Acts 9.
- Paul presented his account of his conversion in Acts 22:6-21 and 26:9-18.
- A number of times in the letters he wrote [which are preserved as books of the New Testament], Paul referred to the profound result of his conversion.
- Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
- 1 Timothy 1:12-16 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. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
- Ephesians 4:20-24 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.
- Colossians 3:9-11 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him–a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
Paul powerfully illustrates the distinction between behavioral modification and conversion.
- Consider Paul prior to conversion to Jesus Christ:
- He took charge of the robes of Stephen’s executioners and was in complete agreement with the execution (Acts 7:58; 8:1).
- He directed a house-to-house search for Christians in the city of Jerusalem, dragged them out of their homes, and imprisoned them (Acts 8:3).
- He did many things hostile to Jesus’ name, and he physically abused Jewish Christians found in synagogues in an attempt to make them blaspheme (Acts 26:9-11).
- Consider Paul immediately after conversion:
- Do you think that he would have held the clothes of those who executed a Christian? No.
- Do you think that he would have led a house-to-house search to arrest Christians? No.
- Do you think he would have been hostile to the name of Jesus? No.
- Do you think he would have physically abused Jewish Christians in synagogues? No.
- Do you think that he would arrest Christians in the Damascus synagogue and bring them to Jerusalem as prisoners? No.
- This is the critical, important question: why would the converted Paul not do such things?
- If your answer is behavioral modification, you need to understand Paul’s message.
- The “why” was not “God will get me if I do those things.”
- The “why” was not “I will go to hell if I do those things.”
- That is behavior modification.
- In Paul’s letters he frequently dealt with the “why” of his change.
- This was the “why”: “I am not the same man.”
- “When I understood who Jesus Christ was, it totally changed me as a person on the inside.”
- One primary objective in many of Paul’s letters was to help Christians realize when a Christian understood Jesus Christ, it changed him or her on the inside.
- Understanding Jesus Christ changes the person.
- Does that change the person’s behavior? Absolutely!
- Why? Because he or she is not the same person. Outside actions change because the inside person changed.
- That is what happened to Paul.
- Conversion changed him inside.
- That is what becoming a new creature is all about: a new person comes into existence inside.
- Conversion is about much more than changing what I do; it is about changing who I am.
- Paul’s message was not “change religions.”
- “Jews, change religions.”
- “Idol worshippers, change religions.”
- Paul’s message was “know Jesus Christ and let him change who you are.”
Let me clearly illustrate the difference in a very understandable way.
- Suppose you had one of these opportunities.
- I understand what I am saying is impossible, but pretend for a moment it is possible.
- You are guaranteed that God will never know.
- You are guaranteed not one single person will ever know what you did.
- You are guaranteed no consequences will occur.
These are the opportunities:
- You can take $1,000,000 that does not belong to you, and no one would every know.
- You can spend four of the most romantic days you can imagine in a private place of your dreams with the best looking man or woman you can imagine (who is not a husband or wife).
- You can spend four days in total privacy and wonderful surroundings drinking the alcohol of your choice and taking the drugs of your choice.
- Would you do one of those things?
- If you would choose to do something evil if guaranteed you would never get caught or pay consequences, you do not understand conversion.
- If you would refuse to do something evil because that is not who you are in your love for God, you understand conversion.
The foundation of Paul’s approach to people was not the basis of the need to change religions to escape eternal consequences; Paul asked people to change who they were because they understood Jesus Christ and the God who sent him.
- Paul knew that change.
- Paul understood that blessing.
- He knew and understood because that is precisely what happened to him.
That is the essence of mission work anywhere in the world: Fort Smith, America, Southeast Asia, Africa, or eastern Europe.
- The message is not:
- If you are in dire poverty and horrible social conditions, become a Christian and all that will change.
- If you are in a communistic society and environment, become a Christian and all that will change.
- If you live in an area of severe unrest and disease, become a Christian and you will be physically protected.
- If you live in an area of starvation, become a Christian and you will never be hungry again.
The message is:
- Jesus Christ can change the person you are on the inside.
- Your external realities will not determine who you are; God will determine who you are.
- And when God determines who you are, you live in hope, peace, and eternal love.
[Prayer: God, create in our hearts the hunger for conversion. Help us use Your power and Your Son to let You change who we are.]
The goal in the West-Ark congregation, the goal in Fort Smith, the goal all over the world is the same: let every person understand he or she has a choice about who he or she is. The love of God and forgiveness of Jesus Christ gives every person that choice.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
The most challenging, demanding growth is growth toward spiritual maturity. Why? (1) It demands we acknowledge and accept a real need to be more mature. (2) It demands we accept as fact the need to grow. (3) It demands we confess that changes founded on good reasons and godly purposes are good changes. (4) It demands we grow in faith in God and understanding of Jesus. (5) It challenges us to allow God to be maturity’s standard. (6) It challenges us to allow Jesus to be maturity’s example. (7) It challenges us to accept this truth: we always need to increase our spiritual maturity.
These challenges and demands are quite similar in the individual Christian’s life and in the life of the Christian community [church]. God’s promised life in Christ is experienced through our willingness to mature. That is true in an individual, in a family, in a child, in a parent, in Christian fellowship, and in the congregation’s life and work.
Among the things shared by the elders in Sunday’s “family meeting” was the formation of an administrative committee. The basic function of these deacons is to care for the congregation’s finances and facilities. Committee members are Dave Cogswell, Bob Davidson, Paul Shirley, Larry Todd, and Jay Trotter. Paul Shirley and Dave Cogswell were presented for your approval as deacons. Paul is a former elder, and Dave has long served as an active ministry leader. [The committee will select two additional deacons to assist them.]
The objective: free the elders to spend more time shepherding the congregation. They are spending more time in prayer for you, more time in visitation with you, and want to increase the time they spend in addressing your spiritual needs.
Elders in the New Testament were mature, spiritual men who addressed the needs of Christians in the local Christian community. This congregation wants to be a Christian community. Our elders want to lovingly care for us. Thank them, encourage them, and help them. May we devote ourselves to God’s dreams and purposes.
We also sincerely thank the men willing to work as our administrative committee for the wonderful service they will render to this congregation’s life and future.
Each of us as an individual and all of us collectively as a congregation need to mature. No one has reached a level of spiritual maturity that makes spiritual growth undesirable or unnecessary. Each of us need humbly to allow God to guide and strengthen our lives. Each of us need to encourage everyone by example to pursue Christ’s mind, God’s heart, and the diligence of God’s Spirit. Help us grow by growing!
Posted by David on October 29, 2000 under Sermons
Life’s most valued blessings are based on a sense of partnership. A great friendship is an incredible blessing. Great friendships are built on a sense of partnership. A successful marriage is one of the most powerful gifts of human existence. Successful marriages are built on a sense of partnership. A love-filled home is one of this world’s precious opportunities. Loving homes are built on a sense of partnership. Being part of a successful business is a source of, personal fulfillment. Successful businesses are built through a sense of partnership.
Many view successful partnerships with great skepticism. Commonly, that skepticism rises from personal experience. “Yea, sure! I tried that, and it did not work for me! Your partnership is not real! I see what they contribute to the partnership. But I cannot see what you contribute to the partnership.”
In America, we are hard pressed to think of a significant, common blessing that does not involve some form of partnership. Perhaps for that reason Americans tend to view salvation as a partnership with God.
Let’s consider salvation on the assumption that it is a partnership. Let’s assume that salvation is a partnership with God that gives us eternal life.
- What does God supply the partnership?
- First, God supplies what I call the inexhaustibles.
- God supplies inexhaustible mercy.
- Our need for mercy can never exhaust God’s ability to provide mercy.
- When I repent, my sins are destroyed by God’s mercy.
- When I repent, none of my sins are bigger than God’s mercy.
- Paul, writing to Ephesian Christians who were converted from an idolatrous lifestyle, said (Ephesians 2:4-6), 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), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
- God supplies inexhaustible grace.
- God does not provide any of us mercy because we deserve mercy.
- To provide mercy to people who deserve mercy is a contradiction.
- Mercy by its nature is given to the undeserving.
- God does not provide us mercy because we are good or are worth saving.
- God provides us mercy because He is good.
- Grace makes it possible for the good God to accept and love evil people.
- Paul, writing to those same Ephesian Christians said (Ephesians 2:8), For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God
- God supplies inexhaustible forgiveness.
- When we place our confidence in Christ’s death and resurrection, when we want to redirect our lives away from evil, God separates us from our sin when we are baptized into Christ.
- God’s forgiveness does not end when we are baptized into Christ.
- God’s forgiveness begins when we are baptized into Christ.
- For us to walk each day with God, God must forgive us every day.
- John, writing to Christians, said (1 John 1:9), If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- A person outside God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness asks, “How is that possible? How can God provide Christians with inexhaustible mercy, grace, and forgiveness?”
- It is possible because God gave us a Savior.
- It is impossible to understand our Savior unless we understand what a savior is.
- A savior rescues a person from a situation or circumstances that are impossible to escape.
- A savior rescues us when we cannot rescue ourselves.
- We desperately needed a Savior to rescue us from evil because we cannot rescue ourselves from evil.
- What did God do when He gave us a Savior?
- God took all our evil and all our guilt and placed them on our Savior.
- 2 Corinthians 5:20,21 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
- This was written to Christians who (1) did not realize that they needed God’s Savior and (2) did not rely on that Savior.
- “God gave you the Savior to make reconciliation possible.”
- “Accept the reconciliation.”
- “God desperately wanted you to be reconciled to Him.
- God wanted you to have reconciliation so much that God made Jesus sin to make it possible for you to be made righteous.”
- “But you cannot become God’s righteousness if you do not accept God’s reconciliation.”
- Someone suggests, “Paul was talking symbolically, not actually–God did not actually make Jesus sin so we could be saved.”
- Peter understood what God did to be actual, not symbolic.
- 1 Peter 2:24 He (Jesus) Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
- Because Jesus paid for our evil with his death and sinless blood, God through Jesus gives the people who enter Christ inexhaustible mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
- When God does that, He creates a real relationship with the forgiven person.
- When God does that, He creates a real relationship between all those who live in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
- It is our responsibility to maintain and mature in our relationship with God and to maintain and mature in our relationship with each other.
When we let Jesus rescue us and reconcile us to God, what do we give to the partnership?
- We give God our sins, so that God can forgive and reconcile us.
- It was our own evil that separated us from God.
- It is because we are evil that we need to be reconciled.
We give God our trust by placing confidence in the Savior God gave us.
- We take God at His word.
- We place our confidence in God’s promises knowing that God will not break His promise–we trust God!
We give God our love because we appreciate our Savior, our forgiveness, and our reconciliation.
- We love God because we understand what God did for us.
- We love God because we appreciate our forgiveness, and we understand how desperately we needed to be forgiven.
- We love God because we understand that we are reconciled to God only through His mercy and grace.
What do we give the partnership? Sins, trust, and love.
- Does that sound like much of a partnership to you?
- So, what do you think it does to God when we arrogantly act like God needs us and has to depend on us?
- So, what do you think it does to God when we deny how much we need God?
- So, what do you think it does to God when we act like God appointed us to be judges who reject and discourage other people?
In the last several decades, too many Christians contributed to a terrible problem.
- This terrible problem offends our God, the God who gave us a Savior, the God who gives inexhaustible mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
- What terrible problem? We asked God to stand on the outside.
- How did we ask God to go outside? We act like the power and the wisdom to “get things done” are found in us.
- We act like salvation is about us, not about God.
- We act like the church is about us, not about God.
- We act like worship is about us, not about God.
- We act like spiritual things serve our agenda, not God’s purposes.
- This seems to be a common attitude among many Christians: “God, we understand what You want better than You do. You do not have a clue about how to accomplish Your purposes in today’s world. So if You will just step outside and stay out of the way, we will take care of the situation.”
Our concept of partnership with God is all about us.
- The partnership depends on us.
- We say we place our faith in God, but we really believe in ourselves.
- We say we trust God, but we really trust ourselves.
- We say we are concerned about God’s values, but we are really concerned about our values.
- Why?
- Because our confidence is in our answers, methods, and approaches.
- Because we really do not think God’s values are that important.
- Because we are convinced God’s way will not work.
- Because we have not learned God’s definition of success.
So we rarely ask God to come inside and work through us to accomplish His purposes.
- When we pray, we often do one of two things.
- We use a formula that touches “all the right bases.”
- Or, we give God our “laundry list” that asks God to take care of situations we do not like.
- We do not beg for guidance or ask for the courage to surrender.
- We do not confess our ignorance and ask for wisdom.
- It is His church, His Son, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace, His purposes, His will, His judgment, and His eternity.
- But we do not give Him the lead and ask Him to teach us how to follow.
- We do all the talking, all the planning, all the figuring, and assume God will say, Amen.
- God is just supposed to listen and do what we tell Him to do.
Would you say these people had a partnership with God: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Mary, Jesus, Peter, and Paul?
- When Noah was bobbling around in the ark, God was in control.
When Abraham was a nomad in a strange land, God was in control.
When Moses led Israel through the wilderness, God was in control.
When David fled from his own son, God was in control.
When Daniel was a captive in Babylon, God was in control.
When Mary was unmarried and pregnant, God was in control.
When Jesus died, God was in control.
When Peter preached to Cornelius, God was in control.
When Paul was executed for preaching Jesus Christ, God was in control.
I have no idea of what is happening your world, but God is in control.
May we as His people give Him control.
[Prayer: Father, teach us to follow. Give us the courage and strength to trust. Help us invite You inside and give You the lead.]
What can we do to destroy the evil idea that God quit after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? What can we do to destroy the wicked conviction that today “it is all up to us”?
Romans 8:32-34 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
I seriously doubt anyone influenced [and influences] the thinking and direction of the American restoration movement as much as did [and does] Paul, the evangelist and apostle. Because the modern tap root of the American Church of Christ is in the American restoration movement, our single most significant spiritual influence is Paul’s thinking, insights, and writings.
That is understandable. We regard New Testament writings to be God-inspired scripture. Paul is the understood author of thirteen of the twenty-seven writings that comprise the New Testament.
How influential are Paul’s thoughts, insights, and writings? Though we call Jesus our Lord and Christ, though we call ourselves Christians [Christ-like ones], we are more likely to quote Paul than we are to quote Jesus. When we research a spiritual question, we are more likely to begin our research in Paul’s writings than in Jesus’ teachings.
Among the many invaluable lessons Paul taught, one lesson is fundamental to understanding Paul the Christian. If we read and examine Paul’s perspective in context before we decide Paul’s emphases, we see that Paul clearly, firmly anchored everything to an understanding of Jesus’ person, cross, and resurrection. The foundation for all of Paul’s emphases is Jesus, God’s crucified, resurrected Son.
So what is the lesson? What information about scripture did Paul gain after conversion that he did not possess before conversion? Paul acknowledged he was an advanced student of scripture before conversion (Galatians 1:14; Philippians 3:5,6). There was little difference in his information [his knowledge] of scripture before and after conversion.
Yet, there was an astounding difference between Paul the enemy of Jesus and Paul the servant of Jesus. If his information did not change, what changed? When he understood Jesus was the Christ, his understanding of God’s purposes changed. Before conversion, Paul was certain Jesus was not the Christ. Paul regarded Jesus to be destructive to God’s purposes. After conversion, he understood Jesus was the Christ. As the Christ, Jesus was the centerpiece of God’s purposes.
Paul’s information did not change. Paul’s understanding of the information changed.
As with Paul, information without understanding creates many crises in our lives and the church. As with Paul, a lack of understanding leads us to resist God’s purposes. What can help us? The same thing that helped Paul. We must constantly grow in our understanding of God’s purposes in Jesus Christ. God’s purposes must (without fail!) be bound to God’s work in Jesus Christ. When Paul understood that Jesus was the center and the foundation of God’s purposes, he was transformed. The same understanding can and will transform us as powerfully as it transformed Paul.
Posted by David on October 22, 2000 under Bulletin Articles
Jesus challenged the Jewish people to be godly. His teaching emphasis made several truths obvious. (1) For a person to be godly, he or she must be moral. (2) Morality arises from the internal condition of the person and is reflected by his or her external behavior. (3) A person’s behavior does not always prove he or she is moral. [A person may “wear” the morality mask for motives that neither express faith in God nor a commitment to morality.] (4) However, if one’s heart and conscience is moral, his or her internal morality expresses itself in his or her behavior.
From our perspective, Jesus’ challenges and teachings about morality were given to a strange audience. His audience was the conservative, religious standard bearers inside a religious nation. Why would he teach conservative, religious believers about principles of morality? Why did people who believed in God need lessons on morality? Unfortunately, they did what many religious people still do. They separated godliness from morality. Jesus declared it was impossible to separate the two. A godly person must be a moral person, and a moral person must be a godly person.
One reason for people who are not Christians resenting people who are Christians is based on Christian moral expectations. Too many Christians expect those who are not Christians to be bound by Christian morals. Yet, these Christians are not bound by the morality they teach. Hopefully, such Christians are a minority, but they exist. Too many Christians regard Christian morality to be essential in theory. Yet, they do not consider those morals to be the standards for daily life.
If Christian morality is to become the positive force Jesus intended, Christians must be the light of the world, the city on a hill, and the salt of the earth. Society must be blessed by our lives. Our standards must benefit the community. Homes, families, work relationships, and human relationships must be improved by our standards and our behavior. Our lives, our families, and our spiritual community bless people who live among us.
On election day, November 7, this state will decide the status of gambling. If gambling is legalized, our city and county is a designated site for legalized gambling activity. For the residents of Sebastian County, this decision determines what happens in our community.
Bill Wheeler will be our speaker Sunday evening. He has served as a minister of the church in West Memphis, Arkansas. Presently, he is Executive Director of Families First Action Committee. This committee exists to promote and encourage values that will strengthen families in Arkansas. He will encourage us to be informed about the problems produced by legalized gambling. He encourages Christians throughout the state to oppose Amendment 5 when they vote November 7.
May we do more than support moral stands. May we be godly, moral people. May we not restrict our actions to acts of good citizenship. May we live in a manner that demonstrates the value of godliness and human compassion in Christian morality.
Posted by David on October 15, 2000 under Sermons
Does anyone see what you have spiritually, and want it? Gary Brown just shared with us about missions Sunday and West-Ark’s commitment to and involvement in missions. Basically, missions is a matter of sharing what we have spiritually with other people and creating in them the desire to want it.
Why would anyone want what we have spiritually? What would touch them so profoundly that they would be willing to redirect their lives to have it? If they watch our lives on a daily basis, what would impress them about our spirituality? Our sense of duty? Our fear of hell? Our obligations? Our habits? Our routine?
One attitude is a positive attitude wherever it exists. One bond is an incredible bond wherever it exists. When this attitude, this bond, this emotion is honest, when it is genuine, people want it. People not only want it, people hunger for it. People hunger for it because it is constructive and filled with blessings.
What is this attitude, this bond, this emotion? Love. Many will never respect our sense of duty toward God. Many will never be touched by anyone’s fear of hell. Our sense of obligation, our habits, or our routine will never impress many. But if our love for God directs and guides our lives, builds our relationships, determines our values, and shapes our commitments, people will notice. Love will attract their attention when nothing else can.
- God always wanted people to obey Him because they love Him.
- We destroy something precious when we challenge people to follow God and serve Christ without loving God.
- Spiritually, obedience and love were never intended to be separated.
- If we are God’s people, we love God.
- God loves us, and He wants our love.
- We obey Him because we love Him.
- Love must express itself.
- So the person who loves God wants to obey God.
- Sometimes we think our discovery of love in the God-human relationship is something new, something only Christians understand.
- Jesus demonstrated the depths of God’s love, but Jesus did not reveal the existence of God’s love.
- The cross and the resurrection demonstrated the power of God’s love, but they did no reveal the fact of God’s love.
- God always has loved, and God always has wanted people to love Him.
Please note that we created the impression that God can be satisfied with a form of obedience that “goes through the right motions.”
- In the attempt to stress the importance of obedience, we destroyed the foundation of obedience.
- What wood was Noah to use for lumber in building the ark?
- “Gopher wood (Genesis 6:14).”
- Why? “Because God said so.”
- Why was Nadab and Abihu burned to death when they brought their incense burners before God (Leviticus 10:1,2)?
- They did not use the fire God told them to use.
- Why did they die? “Because they did not do what God told them to do.”
- Think about the primary examples of obedience we stressed in past years.
- What did we stress? That you must do exactly what God said do.
- What was important? Doing exactly what God said do.
- How often did we stress the fact that obedience must be based on love?
God clearly declared to Israel the importance of loving Him.
- Deuteronomy 6:5,6 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
- Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
- Deuteronomy 10:16 So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
- Deuteronomy 11:13,14 It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.
- Deuteronomy 11:18 You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
“Israel, love me.”
- “I destroyed your slavery; love me.”
- “I made you a nation; love me.”
- “I took care of your physical needs in the wilderness; love me.”
- “I will give you your own country; love me.”
Many of the destructive problems existing among Christians today have their roots in our failure to love God.
- Our families suffer in crises because we do not love God.
- We treat people poorly because we do not love God.
- We fail to nurture each other in God’s mercy and grace because we do not love God.
No one ever succeeded in being God’s people without loving God. No one can succeed in being your husband without loving you. No one can succeed in being your wife without loving you. No one can succeed in being your family without loving you. No one can build a successful friendship with you without loving you. In all interpersonal relationships, love is essential for success.
Every successful interpersonal relationship must be founded on the respect, appreciation, and honor that only love can produce. That includes relationship with God.
Posted by David on under Sermons
A part of my weekly routine is walking three miles on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I start about 6:10 a.m. This time of the year those walks are almost over before daylight.
I prefer to walk outside. “Why?” I like the feeling of actually going somewhere. I like the fresh air. I love to be outside. And it is a great time to ponder the “deep issues of life” and to ask “the mysterious questions of human existence.” For example, Tuesday morning I was about a third of the way into my walk when I smelled the distinctive, overpowering odor of a skunk. Immediately, I asked one of those mysterious questions about life. My question: “How can skunks stand to live with each other?”
- Basically, we have two reactions to physical existence.
- Reaction one: “Life is good!”
- Advertisers love to use this reaction.
- Advertisers tell us that life should be good.
- Then they tell us that life will be good if we just buy their product (this car; this toothpaste; this “fun thing to do”).
- In other words, if I cannot say, “Life is good!” it is my fault because Ido not have the right things.
- Reaction two: “Life stinks.”
- Movie makers and television producers love to use this reaction.
- An common theme in too many movies is, “Life stinks!”
- A common theme in daytime dramas, talk shows, and television series is, “Life stinks!”
- We are told that if we honestly look at the ugly facts all around us, “Life stinks.”
- Angry people are angry because life stinks.
- Depressed people are depressed because life stinks.
- Enraged people are filled with rage because life sinks.
- Life is not fair; life is not just; life is not kind; life stinks.
Consider some statements Jesus made that are so familiar that many of you can think of them without thinking about them.
- Scripture # 1:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
- Is that statement familiar to you?
- Have you ever used it?
Scripture # 2:
John 10:10 “… I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
- Is that statement familiar to you?
- Have you ever used it?
Question: what do those statements imply to you?
- Do they imply that anyone who comes to Jesus will receive and experience the “life that is good”?
- Do they imply that anyone who comes to Jesus will never experience pain, frustration, struggle, or hardship again?
Consider three situations that occurred in Jesus’ ministry.
- The first situation is found in Luke 7:36-50.
- A Pharisee invited Jesus to come have a meal at his house.
- The Pharisee also invited the community’s religious elite to come.
- While they were eating, a woman known by the community to be a sexually immoral woman (likely a prostitute) walked in uninvited.
- She went straight to Jesus, washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, anointed them with perfume, and repeatedly kissed them.
- As this happened, the Pharisee (Simon) thought to himself, “If this man was a prophet he would know what kind of woman this is who is touching him.”
- Jesus said, “Simon, let me talk to you,” and Simon said, “Talk.”
- Jesus said two men owned debts to the same man, one owed a huge debt and one owed a small debt.
- Neither man could repay his debt.
- So the man forgave both debts.
- Jesus asked, “Which debtor loved the man the most?’
- Simon gave the obvious answer: “The debtor who owed the most.”
- Jesus said he was right, and compared the debtor who owed the most to the woman, and the debtor who owed the least to the Pharisee.
- Jesus then told the woman, “Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
- What does that mean?
- “You mean what does ‘your sins have been forgiven’ mean?” No.
- “You mean what does ‘your faith has saved you’ mean?” No.
- I am asking what does, “Go in peace,” mean?
- What kind of peace would this woman have the first time one of her former lovers came to see her?
- “I know what your are.”
- “The whole city knows what you are.”
- “You know what you are.”
- “What do you mean ‘never again’?”
- Peace?
- Did the fact that Jesus forgave her and told her to go in peace mean:
- Every man and every wife in the community forgot what she used to do?
- She could go back to worship and no one lift an eyebrow?
- The Jewish religious community would welcome her with open arms praising her because she decided to redirect her life?
- Her life would suddenly be easy?
- Suddenly life would be simple, temptation would end, and everyone would be incredibly encouraging and helpful?
- Those who know much about real life in the real world among real people would say, “No, it did not mean those things.”
- Then what did “go in peace” mean?
- If “life stinks” did not suddenly become “life is good,” what did he mean?
The second situation is found in Luke 8:43-48.
- A woman had hemorrhaged for twelve years.
- No one was able to heal her physical condition.
- She believed touching the fringes on the bottom of Jesus’ robe would stop the hemorrhage.
- Numbers 15:38,39 commanded the Israelite men to wear fringes or tassels on the hem of their clothes as a reminder of God’s commandments.
- Every generation of men were to wear these fringes.
- Jesus wore those fringes.
- I do not know how the woman did what she did.
- I do not know how a woman could fight through all that crowd of men and get close enough to Jesus to touch him, but she did.
- I do not know how she maneuvered to touch the bottom of his clothing without getting stomped, but she did.
- Immediately, when she touched the fringes, she was healed.
- With the multitude pushing and shoving, with countless people trying to touch Jesus as he passed, Jesus knew when someone with faith touched him.
- When she knew that Jesus knew something happened, she was terrified.
- First, as a woman in a man’s world, she had no right to do what she did.
- Second, the fact that she had a hemorrhage made her unclean (Leviticus 15:25-30), and anyone who touched her was made unclean just by touching her–she was not even supposed to be in the crowd.
- No wonder she was terrified!
- You can imagine what she expect to happen when, trembling, she fell down in front of Jesus?
- She explained what she did and why.
- Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
- What did that mean? Go in peace?
- Do you think that the whole multitude applauded, or do you think some said, “Who does this woman think she is touching Jesus? What if she had made Jesus unclean?”
- Do you think instantly everybody and everything made life good?
The third situation occurred the last night of Jesus’ earthly life while he was with the twelve apostles in John 13-16.
- In hours he would be betrayed, arrested, denied, tried, and convicted.
- In less than twenty-four hours he would be dead.
- In twenty-four hours their leader would be in the tomb.
- Jesus made two statements to the twelve who followed and served him, men who thought that Jesus would become Israel’s king in a matter of days.
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
- I am leaving you with peace? In me you have peace?
- Do you remember what happened to these men for preaching about Jesus after the resurrection? Peace?
Does belonging to Jesus end injustice, unfairness, wrong treatment, and turn a person’s life into the physically good life?
- No, and it never has.
- Jesus died on a cross, eleven of the twelve apostles were killed, Stephen was killed, persecution of Christians was common, and having faith in Jesus often resulted in hardship and struggle.
- Faith in Jesus did not solve the physical problems of the early Christians.
Then what was the peace?
- The peace of knowing God’s forgiveness.
- The peace of having your guilt destroyed.
- The peace of living in the mercy and grace of God every day of your life.
- The peace of being loved by Jesus and God.
- The peace of knowing the injustice and unfairness of this world cannot exist in eternity.
- When our faith is firmly fixed in Jesus, because he forgives us, we can go through life in peace. Our peace exists because he overcame the world.
[Prayer: God, help us understand that the peace Jesus gives is something far superior to having our physical desires granted. Help us stop looking for our peace in the things of this world. Help us find peace in our relationship with You. Help us find peace in Your mercy and Jesus’ forgiveness.]
Tuesday morning, shortly after I smelled the skunk, in the dim light of a streetlight I saw something shining on the sidewalk. In that light it looked like a big, heavy, silver, ring. I walked past it, but coming back I thought, I ought to check that out. I stopped, reached down, picked it up. As soon as I touched it I knew it was not what it appeared to be. It was just a worthless aluminum bottle cap.
As we live in this world, things tell us that they are of great worth. But when we pick them up, we discover they are not what they appear to be.
The peace Jesus gives us is not found in things or in physical circumstances. His peace is found in God’s mercy and Jesus’ forgiveness.
Posted by David on under Bulletin Articles
The “God loves me more than anyone else” attitude is ancient. It is first cousin to the attitude, “God cannot love you because He loves me.” God is best understood through love (1 John 4:8). Is it not astounding to hear someone committed to God express lovelessness for other people?
Among the numerous active groups who bless this congregation is our missions committee. It is large, very active, and loves people. Their love of Christ is evident in their love for people.
They help many in a variety of circumstances. They maintain continuing, coordinated commitments to Laos, Thailand, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Guyana. They maintain involved interests in Romania and New Zealand. This year a group plans to begin active involvement in the City of Children in Mexico.
Our missions committee plans and coordinates most of West-Ark’s missions outreach. Several on the committee make short-term mission trips. Some finance their own efforts. All of them are generous and committed. When we are involved in a mission effort, they (a) stay informed, (b) supply meaningful help, and (c) have someone visit.
Our missions involvement takes many forms: evangelistic teaching; preparation of missionaries; training and supporting nationals on the field; assisting the Ethiopian deaf work; ministering to Ethiopia’s drought crisis; providing moral support and spiritual encouragement to Christians in difficult circumstances; medical missions; and working with C.U.R.E. (one of our ministries) to provide medical supplies.
Since 1990 a team travels to Guyana each year to combine four intensive efforts in a week’s work: (a) provide desperately needed medical treatment; (b) through that expression of physical concern create evangelistic opportunities; (c) teach in the schools; and (c) conduct evening gospel meetings in several congregations. Over one hundred members of this congregation have participated in that effort.
The weekend of November 12 will be devoted to missions awareness. In the morning assembly of the 12th, a special contribution will be collected. The purpose: to fund much of the committee’s budget for 2001. The committee will soon share with us the amount needed for the 2001 budget. In the past the congregation has given or pledged from $110,000 to $140,000 in support of the coming year’s work.
May we each think, plan, and pray about the help we will provide that Sunday. Someone recently asked about the significance of the flags in a corridor in our building. They represent the countries that have received teaching or help from West-Ark.
Posted by David on October 8, 2000 under Sermons
Here we are as a nation facing a major election. The presidential candidates tell us this election is a major decision at a critical moment in this nation’s history. (I have observed that every four years presidential candidates declare it is a critical time of decision in our nation.) We are informed that this is a “cross roads” election that will determine the direction of our nation in a new century.
Locally, we face some interesting decisions. We face another initiative to legalize gambling in Arkansas. Gambling zones have been established prior to the decision. Regina’s House of Dolls taught our city a hard, expensive lesson: the importance of establishing zones before a decision. We citizens of Arkansas will decide if the state will or will not legalize gambling.
So what does this nation and this state need?
- Some say, “We need to return to the moral values that built this nation!”
- It is seriously suggested that we as a people need to return to the great morality that once characterized the American people.
- My question: when and where was that?
- Was that when towns killed women who were accused of being witches? our first president had children by a slave? our early cities used children virtually as slave laborers? the person who controlled bootlegging and “speak easies” became wealthy? the age of saloons, brothels, and violence? the time of Bell Starr (who used to visit Fort Smith)? the time of Pretty Boy Floyd who grew up and is buried not far from Fort Smith?
- Was that when plantations functioned by using slave labor? the Native Americans’ land was confiscated and reservations were established? the Cherokee was forced to walk the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma? the Garrison Avenue area had sixty-six saloons and seven houses of prostitution (about 1900)?
- When was that age?
- My own conclusion: the age of great American morality is a myth we created by remembering what we want to recall and forgetting the ugly.
- In every age, religious people find reasons to think their generation is the worst of ages–conditions and situations were always better in the past.
- If you really examine beneath the facade, get below surface appearances, the ideal age of great godliness and morality never has existed.
- There certainly were ages when “keeping up appearances” were more important, but it was appearances, not substance.
Some say, “This nation needs to return to faith in God!”
- What do we mean by return to faith in God?
- Was there an age of great faith when the whole nation was religious?
- Is it just a matter of talking about God? or passing and enforcing laws that are in agreement with Christian standards? or having religious meetings? or controlling what happens in a community?
- Do we define spiritual success as causing everyone to agree that the God of the Bible exists?
I am confident that the circumstances and situation of my childhood community and the circumstances and situation of many of the older adults’ childhood community are not that different.
- In my childhood community, many people who were not openly religious expected their kids to live by the rules of Christian morality.
- They did not attend a church of any kind.
- In fact, many people in the community were not active in any church.
- They did not oppose Christianity; they did not oppose churches; but they were not religiously involved.
- There also were religious people who were involved.
- And there also were ungodly people who had little respect for religion.
- Is that the way it was in your childhood community?
- Would we conclude we achieved spiritual success as a nation or a city if we reproduced the conditions of our childhood? My question is not, “Would you like that better?” My question is, “Would that be spiritual success?”
What is your understanding of the obedience God expected from Israel?
- “God declared the law and said, ‘Do it!'”
“Israel was expected to do it just like God said to do it.”
“If they did what God said to do exactly like God said to do it, they were okay.”
“If they did not do exactly what God said to do, God destroyed them.”
So your understanding of obedience for Israel was basically “do what you are told to do”?
Take your Bibles, turn to Deuteronomy, and read with me.
- Deuteronomy 4:9
- Context: Moses urged them to remember the great things, the unique things that God did for them.
- “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.”
- Keep your heart in your memories of God.
Deuteronomy 4:29
- Context: Moses said that future generations would turn to idolatry, and the result would be that God would be angry and scatter them.
- “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.”
- What happened in their hearts was the key to the repentance that would cause God to return.
Deuteronomy 4:39
- Context: Moses stressed a basic understanding Israel must never forget.
- “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”
- Their commitment to God had to come from their hearts.
Deuteronomy 5:28,29
- Context: The nation of Israel heard God speak the ten commandments from Mount Sinai.
- They sent a delegation of leaders to Moses who said, “We heard God speak in a human voice and did not die.”
- “But the experience terrified us.”
- “From now on let God speak to you only, and we will listen to and obey everything you tell us.”
- “The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me (reverence me) and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!”
- To God, their words were pleasing, but God understood they had a heart problem; God wanted a heart response, not just a word response.
Deuteronomy 6:4-6
- Context: Moses stressed Israel’s basic responsibility to God (the commandment that Jesus said was the most important commandment God ever gave).
- “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”
- Obedience must began with the heart belonging to God.
Deuteronomy 8:2
- Context: Moses explained God’s purpose for Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years.
- “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”
- God wanted something far beyond control; God wanted obedience to be a response from the heart.
Deuteronomy 26:16
- Context: Moses admonished Israel to obey God’s instructions.
- “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”
- It was not enough to do them; they needed to obey with all their heart and soul.
That is not all the scriptures in Deuteronomy that emphasize that obedience must come from the heart.
- There are too many to read in one lesson.
- Others include 8:5; 8:11-14; 28:45-47; 30:1-3; and 30:6.
Let me ask you to think with me.
- Do you give God control of your life, or do you give God your heart?
- In your relationship with God, is that one question or two questions?
- Is the matter of God controlling your behavior one issue?
- Is the matter of God having your heart a separate issue?
- Or, is it the same issue: God is in charge of your behavior because your heart belongs to God?
- Is the primary issue in obedience the issue of control, or the issue of heart?
God always has expected people’s obedience to come from the heart.
- God always has expected heart based obedience.
- That is what God expected in the Old Testament.
- That is what God expects of Christians.
- The people who truly obey God are the people who love God.
- It is as necessary to belong to God inwardly as it is to do what God says.
- Do these words sound familiar to you? “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8,9).
What do our nation, our society, our state, our city need?
- My understanding: the greatest need in America is the need for men and women who love God with all their hearts.
- Heartless obedience to God will not bless our society.
- Heartless obedience to God will not redirect our families.
- Heartless obedience to God will not rescue our children.
- Heartless obedience to God will not save us.
From the moment they left the slavery of Egypt, heartless obedience would not work in Israel.
- It will not work in the church.
- It will not work in our families.
- It will not work in our personal lives.
- The greatest single restoration need in Christianity is the need to restore the obedience of love–we obey God because we love God.
With all that God did to prove His love and compassion, Israel had every reason to love God from the heart. With all that God did to prove His love and compassion, Christians have every reason to love God from the heart.
Israel quickly forgot what God did for them. Do you remember what God did and does for you?
