The Mystery of God’s Help

Posted by David on February 22, 1998 under Sermons

Answer three questions for me with a yes or a no. Are you superstitious? Yes or no. Should you be superstitious? Yes or no. Is being superstitious a weakness? Yes or no.

Let me anticipate two sequence of answers. Sequence # 1: are you superstitious? No. Should you be superstitious? No. Is being superstitious a weakness. Yes.

Sequence # 2: are you superstitious? Yes. Should you be superstitious? No. Is being superstitious a weakness? Yes.

If you consider yourself a Christian, whether you are or are not superstitious, you likely believe a person should not be superstitious because it is a weakness.

Why? Why do you believe superstition is a weakness? Do you believe superstition is a weakness because the powers attributed to superstition do not exist? Do you believe superstition is a weakness because it is based on fear? Do you believe superstition is a weakness because in our scientific age you believe everything has a “this world” cause-and-effect explanation?

1. I am grateful to live in the age of science and technology.
   1. I truly appreciate the benefits science produces.
      1. I appreciate the incredible difference those benefits make in:
         1. My living standards.
         2. My work.
         3. My health.
         4. My total life environment.
      2. I literally cannot imagine what my life would be like without electricity, home appliances, pure water, safe food, modern medicine, the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, the computer, the fax machine, and the Internet.
   2. Yet, as a Christian, I grieve as I watch the philosophy of science alter faith.
      1. When I see Christians’ faith change because of the influence of science, my grief intensifies.
      2. How is faith changed by the philosophy of science?
         1. The philosophy of science affirms that all occurrences can be explained by understanding “this world” facts in cause-and-effect relationships.
         2. Inference number one: science deals with reality.
         3. Inference number two: the spiritual ignores, evades, or distorts reality.
      3. It is common in the church for many of us to use a scientific approach to faith.
         1. We affirm our faith in the creation, the miracles of the Old and New Testaments, the incarnation, the resurrection, and the return of Christ.
         2. We affirm our faith in the current existence of God.
         3. We affirm our faith in the current Lordship of Jesus Christ.
         4. We affirm our faith in the current existence of the Holy Spirit.
      4. Without hesitation we emphatically endorse as fact that God, God’s Son, and God’s Spirit were powerfully active and at work in creating salvation.
      5. We are very definite in our affirmations about what God did, but we are very hesitant in our affirmations about what God does.
      6. We question, challenge, or doubt any declaration that states specific ways that God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are active and at work today.
      7. It is as though:
         1. Jesus died on the cross, and Jesus’ active work ended.
         2. God raised Jesus from the dead, and God’s active work ended.
         3. The Holy Spirit worked powerfully in the church of the first century, but as soon as the New Testament was written, His active work ended.
      8. While we do not hesitate to affirm God’s work from creation to the close of the New Testament, we question any suggestion that God works or intervenes in any direct manner today.
         1. So when we pray for the sick, we pray for God to bless the doctors.
         2. When we pray that God help in a crisis, we pray for God to bless the efforts being made.
         3. As a rule, when we ask God to act, we commonly limit God actions to physical cause and effect actions that we can explain.
      9. Many of us have reasoned ourselves into this corner: “If you can’t explain how God does it, then God does not do it.”
      10. Too often Christians exchange the mystery of God’s work for scientific cause-and-effect explanations.
2. Paul clearly stated that an essential part of salvation involves mystery.
   1. For example:
      1. In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote to those Christians:
         1. 2:7–“…We speak God’s wisdom in a mystery…”
         2. 4:1–“Let a man regard us…as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”
         3. 15:51–Jesus’ return involves a mystery.
      2. In Ephesians Paul associates mystery with Christ and our salvation six times.
         1. 3:4–By reading what Paul wrote, these Christians could understand Paul’s insight into the mystery of Christ.
         2. 5:32–The relationship between Christ and the church is a great mystery.
      3. In Colossians Paul associates mystery with Christ and our salvation four times.
         1. 1:26,27–The key element in the mystery of how God could save people who are not Jews is found in this statement: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
      4. Paul also wrote this statement in 1 Timothy 3:16–“By common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
   2. The reality of mystery in God’s salvation work includes at least two things.
      1. Mystery includes the fact that God planned and did things in ways that we could not know unless He revealed them .
         1. We would never have guessed or expected that God would create the means for saving people by:
            1. Letting His Son live a human existence.
            2. Allowing His Son to die for us.
            3. Conquering Satan through the suffering of His Son.
            4. Creating a spiritual kingdom that could exist on earth.
            5. Achieving spiritual victory by allowing Christ to live in us.
         2. If you and I were on a committee to create salvation, we would have suggested none of that.
         3. It is a mystery.
      2. Mystery includes the fact that we know what God did or does but cannot explain how God did or does it.
         1. God allowed a part of Himself to become a living, physical human.
            1. How did God do that?
            2. I don’t know; it is a mystery.
         2. Jesus literally lived a more demanding physical existence than any of us will ever live, yet he never sinned.
            1. How did Jesus do that?
            2. I don’t know; it is a mystery.
         3. God took the beaten, bruised, bloodless, spear lanced body of Jesus and resurrected that body to life.
            1. How did God do the impossible?
            2. I don’t know; it is a mystery.
         4. God allowed Jesus to appear in physical form in that body to many after the resurrection.
            1. How did God do that?
            2. I don’t know; it is a mystery.
         5. When I combine faith in Christ, repentance of my sins, and baptism, God uses the blood that Jesus spilled on the ground 2000 years ago to destroy all sin and all guilt in my life.
            1. How does God do that?
            2. I don’t know; it is a mystery.
         6. If I am in Christ, and if I have a heart ready to repent of evil, God uses that same blood to constantly cleanse me of the evil I know I did and of the evil I don’t know I do.
            1. How does God do that?
            2. I don’t know; it is a mystery.
   3. You believe in the mystery.
      1. Most of you never question the incarnation, Jesus’ sinless life, Jesus’ atoning death, Jesus’ resurrection, or Jesus’ resurrection appearances.
         1. You not only believe in them; you accept them as unquestionable facts.
         2. If anyone suggested that these things did not happen, you would be insulted and indignant.
         3. Oh yes, you believe in the mystery.
      2. But do you trust the mystery?
         1. Do you trust the mystery when you are baptized?
         2. Do you trust the mystery to cleanse you daily?
         3. Do you trust the mystery when you pray?
         4. Do you trust the mystery by knowing that Christ lives in you and the Spirit makes your body its temple?
         5. Do you trust the mystery with a confident understanding that God is working in your life in ways that cannot be explained to help you develop spiritual strength and maturity?
3. Do you try to grow in faith without trusting the mystery?
   1. Faith exists as a result of two things: what the person does and what God does.
      1. No person has faith only through what he or she does.
      2. No person has faith only through what God does.
      3. Each believer grows in his or her faith because of what he or she does and because of what God does.
   2. One of the better known scriptures to us is Romans 12.
      1. The first two verses urge Christians to give their bodies to God and to renew their minds.
      2. Verse three urges them to humble themselves and to develop sound judgment “as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
      3. Verses 4 and 5 states that all of us with our individual differences compose a single body of Christ in which we all function in different ways.
      4. Verse 6 says we all have different gifts, that those gifts came from God’s grace, and that the size of our faith is one of those gifts.
   3. It is very important that you not misunderstand my point.
      1. Your faith is not 100% dependent on you.
      2. Your faith is not 100% dependent on God.
      3. Your faith is dependent on both you and God.
      4. You do not “just have it” and you are not “just denied it.”
      5. Just as you study, learn, understand, and trust in order for faith to exist, God is also at work in you developing and advancing your faith.
   4. How does God do that?
      1. I cannot explain how God does that anymore than I can explain how God raised Jesus from the dead.
      2. God does it; it is a part of the mystery.

Jesus did not retire when he ascended back into heaven. His work had begun, not ended. God did not retire when He resurrected Jesus. The primary work He planned for His kingdom on earth had begun, not ended. The Holy Spirit did not retire when the Bible was in written form. His work was far from complete.

From the moment that you became God’s son or daughter, God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit began working in your life. Until you are at home with God, they will not stop working in your life. Until you are at home with God, Their work in your life is not complete. Let God complete His work in you. Love and serve him with all your being. And never stop trusting the reality of the mystery of God’s work.

Are you a Christian?
Do you really believe God created salvation as a result of Christ’s Resurrection?

“I am too evil. I have problems I can’t conquer. I’m beyond God’s help.” Have you said this or know someone who says this?
What will we tell such a person?

We understand that nobody is beyond the help of God. How? I don’t know. But I have seen people turn their lives around by giving it over to God. God does things in human life beyond explanation.
God can forgive. God can redirect in Jesus Christ.
You are not the exception.

We can’t explain it. We just know that it is true. Endorse the truth. Place your confidence in God. Place your trust in the mystery of the blood of the Savior. The Savior who died for you invites you to Him.

God, Me, and Freedom

Posted by David on February 15, 1998 under Sermons

To you, what does it mean to be free? Most of us never do in-depth thinking about freedom. In 1980 my father and mother accompanied Joyce and me on a trip to Israel. It was a rich, enjoyable experience. To my Dad it was a unique experience–it was the only time he ever traveled outside the United States.

He enjoyed the experience far more than I expected he would…until we were returning to catch our departing flight. We flew into Amman, Jordan and traveled by bus to Israel. Getting into Israel was relatively simple. Getting out of Israel was very difficult. Suddenly, my father realized that he could not go where he wanted to go. He realized that he was totally controlled by the decisions and orders of others. For the first time in his life, he was not truly free.

It had a chilling effect on him. It made him realize what freedom was. Let me tell you how powerfully this impacted my Dad at that moment. He despised paying taxes. At that moment, he said, “If I ever get home, I will never complain about paying taxes.”

Have you ever had an experience that made you realize what freedom is?

1. Is the greatest gift that any society can receive the gift of freedom?
   1. When communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, many of us immediately assumed that new freedoms would bring great blessings to the peoples of eastern Europe.
      1. Why would we not conclude that?
      2. We associate our greatest blessings with our freedom–our prosperous lifestyle is inseparable from our freedom.
      3. To us it is perfectly logical to assume that freedom will produce the lifestyle and the prosperity that we enjoy.
   2. When those societies were freed from the totalitarian control of atheistic communism, some very interesting things happened.
      1. Some societies immediately resurrected old hatreds and turned on those they hated.
         1. They had not been free to vent their hatreds.
         2. Freedom gave them the liberty to hate.
      2. When the totalitarian control of the superpower collapsed, some smaller groups wanted totalitarian power locally.
         1. They were free to begin civil wars within their own societies.
         2. Their hunger for control was free to fight against and destroy factions within their own society.
      3. Freedom created new opportunities for greed and the abuse of power.
         1. Elections provided people access to power.
         2. They had the freedom to speak and to persuade.
         3. Becoming elected officials created new opportunities, and some abused those opportunities.
      4. In the past civil order was the product of totalitarian control; now civil order depended to a large degree on the responsible choices of individuals.
         1. Organized lawlessness soon became more powerful and advanced than the police.
         2. Crime soared as it exercised a powerful presence within many of those societies.
   3. It was quite evident that freedom is much more than the absence of totalitarian control.
      1. It takes far more than the collapse of dictatorial control for freedom to exist.
      2. If freedom is to exist, some basic essentials must also exist.
         1. A strong foundation of ethics and morals must be accepted and held by the greater majority of the society.
         2. The greater majority in the society must hold a common sense of responsibility that seeks the good of society.
         3. Individuals within the society must understand that selfishness and self-centered existence destroys freedom. (There is a delicate balance that must be maintained between the rights of the individual and the best interest of the society.)
         4. The society itself must be educated in the definition of freedom, the objectives of freedom, and the goals of freedom; the society must know what freedom is, what it accomplishes, and where it is going.
   4. What happens when you free people within a society that:
      1. Has lived for generations under totalitarian control?
      2. Has never experienced individual rights?
      3. Had all systems of religious ethics and morals destroyed?
         1. For generations nothing was done because there was good and evil or right and wrong.
         2. Everything was done because it was the will of the totalitarian system.
         3. The totalitarian system destroyed religious ethics.
      4. What happens? You enter chaos, not freedom.
   5. What happens when people seek to bring freedom into existence:
      1. Where people have lived without freedom in any form for generations?
      2. Where no one has experienced the responsibility of freedom?
      3. Where people had no opportunity to learn or understand the critical links between freedom, rights, and responsibility?
      4. What happens? You enter chaos, not freedom.
   6. People do not step out of totalitarian control into freedom; people make the journey from totalitarian control to freedom.
2. Because you understand freedom from the political and social perspective, I want to challenge you to understand freedom from a spiritual perspective.
   1. I want you to let Paul, the freedom expert, teach us.
      1. Paul is the freedom expert.
      2. Before he became a Christian, he was an expert in the law of Moses.
         1. He likely was the most scholarly Jew converted in the first century.
         2. His credentials in the Mosaical law were superior and superb.
      3. After he became a Christian, he was an expert in the gospel of Christ.
         1. I sincerely doubt that any Christian had a clearer understanding of the good news of the grace of Christ than Paul had.
         2. The leader of the movement that tried to destroy the church became the leading spokesman for the church.
         3. The man who fought Jesus the impostor became the man who knew that Jesus was the Lord and Christ.
         4. His encounter with Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road turned this expert in the law into the expert in the grace of Jesus Christ.
         5. Both experience and revelation created his understanding of freedom in Christ.
   2. Listen carefully to these statements that Paul made.
      1. To the Christians in Galatia who had turned away from the grace of Christ to accept the law of Moses, Paul wrote:
         1. Galatians 5:1–It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
            1. Please carefully note the statement, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free…”
            2. Christ set the Christian free in order for the Christian to be free.
         2. Galatians 5:13–For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
            1. Carefully note that the Christian was called to be free.
            2. That freedom is not to be perverted to satisfy ungodly desires.
            3. However, Christians are called to be free.
      2. To the Christians in Rome, Paul contrasted life lived according to physical drives with life lived in the Spirit.
         1. Paul contrasted life ruled by the concern for the physical with life lived in the Spirit.
         2. Romans 8:15–For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
            1. Life lived in the spirit cannot produce the mind of a slave, the heart of a slave, the circumstance of a slave, or the fear of a slave.
            2. When you become a Christian, you do not enter a new form of slavery; you are adopted into God’s family.
            3. You enter a “Daddy-child” relationship with God.
   3. What does Paul, the freedom expert, want Christians to understand?
      1. What God did for Israel through the law and what God does for Christians in the gospel are two entirely different things.
         1. God’s objective in the law was to gain control of an out-of-control people.
         2. God’s objective in Christ is to free people who are enslaved to evil and guilt.
         3. The law was an intermediate step toward freedom.
         4. The grace of Christ is the entrance into freedom.
      2. Consider this illustration: Is marriage freedom or slavery?
         1. A wife can declare to her husband, “By law you are responsible to be faithful to me.”
            1. “I demand that you abide by that law.”
            2. “If you don’t, you will pay the price: I will divorce you and you will suffer.”
         2. A wife can tell her husband, “In my love for you, I commit to you totally.
            1. “My love for you is unconditional.”
            2. “My commitment goes far beyond refusing to be unfaithful.”
            3. “I am committed to everything that faithfulness is.”
      3. Questions:
         1. Which creates trusts?
         2. Which produces freedom?
         3. Which is the least likely to prevent adultery?
   4. Spiritual law by its nature:
      1. Stresses consequences.
      2. Searches for mistakes.
      3. Condemns when it uncovers mistakes.
   5. The objective of spiritual freedom is to give life and create relationship.
      1. It gives life by forgiving.
      2. It nourishes life with continued grace and unconditional love.
   6. But freedom exists only if:
      1. The Christian understands the concept of freedom.
      2. The Christian accepts the responsibilities of freedom.
      3. The Christian enters a relationship with Christ in order to have freedom.

When Christians see spiritual freedom as opportunity to pursue personal agendas or to live irresponsibly, they have no better understanding of spiritual freedom than Eastern European societies had of political freedom.

What kind of relationship do you have with God?
Are you interested in being free in Christ?
Or are you just trying to live under the controls of the law?

Can I Live Without That?

Posted by David on February 8, 1998 under Sermons

Three men got into a heated discussion about which part of the body was the most essential to life. It began when two of the men expressed a difference of opinion about escaping life threatening situations. One said, “Nothing is as important as your legs. If you are in a life threatening situation, you have to have your legs to carry you to safety.”

The other said, “That depends on the danger. Many times your hands can eliminate the danger faster than your legs can take you away from the danger.”

The argument was on. “Well, if you want to argue in that way, the ears must hear the danger before the hands can act.”

“That may be true, but the eyes can see the danger much faster than the ears can hear it.”

The third man jumped into the argument. “Both of you are talking about external factors. Internal factors are much more important. The brain is absolutely essential in all this. It tells the legs or the hands what to do. It interprets what the ears hear and the eyes see.”

“That is true, but if there are no muscles to respond to the brain’s orders, nothing would happen. The brain can interpret all it wants to interpret and give all the orders it wants to give. But if the muscles do not respond to the brain, the brain will be killed.”

“Well, let’s get real here. The muscles cannot do anything without the bones. Muscles are useless unless they have bones. The brain can give the orders and the muscle can receive the message, but if there are no bones, nothing happens The most that the muscles can do without bones is jerk.”

Does that remind you of some of the discussions that Christians have? Just ask a talkative Bible class that has Christians with definite opinions, “What is the most essential thing we must do to escape hell?” Or, “What is the most necessary thing we must do to be saved?” Or, “What is the most critical thing that must occur for the church to be Christ’s church?” I predict that you will hear a very similar discussion.

1. This situation is not a frivolous matter; it places the spotlight on Christian thinking and Christian focus.
   1. We seem to be obsessed with trying to decide what is the most important.
      1. Some declare that knowing the word is the most essential thing that should be stressed.
      2. Some declare that faith is the most essential thing that should be stressed.
      3. Some declare that love is the most essential thing that should be stressed.
      4. Some declare that obedience is the most essential thing that should be stressed.
      5. Some declare that service is the most essential thing that should be stressed.
      6. And everyone says that we do not have the proper balance in the things that are being stressed.
   2. So what is the most essential?
      1. Knowledge?
      2. Faith?
      3. Love?
      4. Obedience?
      5. Service?
   3. Can you be spiritually alive and spiritually health without any one of those?
      1. Can you have spiritual strength and spiritual health if you have knowledge without faith, emotion, or service?
      2. Or if you have faith without knowledge, emotion, and service?
      3. Or if you have emotion without knowledge, faith, and service?
      4. Or if you have service without emotion, faith, and knowledge?
   4. If you have two, do you need not be concerned about the other two, or if three do you need not be concerned about the other one?
   5. Could I ask you to give thought to something ?
      1. Don’t think about this for just a few minutes tonight as we discuss it.
      2. Put it in your thoughts to chew on for a while.
      3. Have you ever considered that this discussion about what is most important is our discussion, not the New Testament’s discussion?
         1. Can you think of a scripture, placed in its proper context, when a New Testament writer says, “The most important thing in being a Christian is…”
         2. Have you ever noticed that is discussion focusing on our debate, our concerns, our chosen emphasis?
      4. Any religious group who is concerned about being correct biblically, who accepts scripture as God’s word and God’s authority, is vulnerable to this kind of thinking.
         1. Concern for being biblical means that we want to place our emphasis where the New Testament places it.
         2. That means that we must decide where the emphasis is placed.
         3. Therein is the trap–we decide.
         4. It is too easy to focus on an emphasis that addresses our personal concerns or problems created by our personal concerns.
2. Believe it or not, this is a very old problem, a problem that existed before Christianity existed.
   1. The Pharisees were dedicated restorationists who had two basic goals.
      1. They wanted to restore national and spiritual dependence on Old Testament scripture with a proper emphasis on the law of Moses.
      2. They wanted to spiritually return the Jewish people to the “old paths”–literally their words.
   2. In the process they were very concerned with placing the greatest emphasis on the most important commands.
      1. One of the significant discussions and debates that they continued among themselves and with others was this: “What is the most important commandment?”
      2. They recognized that all of God’s commands were not of equal importance.
         1. Some of God’s commands took priority over other of God’s commands.
         2. It was a practical concern: when obedience to God would result in contradictory actions, which command should be obeyed?
      3. Let me give you an example of a situation that places God’s commands in conflict.
         1. A neighbor runs into your house to escape some men who are trying to kill him. Realizing the danger, you hide him.
         2. Before you can telephone 911, the men trying to kill him are at your door asking if you have seen him.
         3. How many Christian commands or teachings do you confront in this situation?
            1. Christians tell the truth; they do not lie.
            2. Christians are honest.
            3. Christians love their neighbors as they love themselves.
            4. Christians are committed to doing good.
         4. Do you tell the men that he is not there and that you have not seen him, or do you tell them the truth and let them carry him away?
      4. The Pharisees were concerned about addressing this kind of conflict, so they debated the priority of commandments.
   3. So one of the questions that they asked Jesus was, “What is the greatest commandment?”
      1. Have you ever considered the fact that Jesus never answered that question with giving the two greatest commandments?
         1. They never asked him for number one and number two.
         2. He never answered without giving them number one and number two.
         3. That was no accident–number one would be abused and misapplied, if they did not accept number two.
      2. What was Jesus’ answer?
         Matthew 22:37-40 And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two comandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         1. The first commandment:
            1. Love God with all your heart–all your emotions.
            2. Love God with all your life.
            3. Love God with all your knowledge and understanding.
            4. The first thing you must do is love God, but love for God must be rooted in all your emotions, all your life, and all your knowledge and understanding.
         2. The second commandment:
            1. You must love people like you love your own self.
            2. If love for people is based in the same context that love of God is based (and it is), you love people with your emotions, with your life, and with your knowledge and understanding.
      3. Pay careful attention to the balance, and the balance obviously is there because Jesus never separated these two commandments.
         1. You cannot use loving God to justify not loving people.
         2. If you do not love people, your love for God becomes meaningless.
   4. The Pharisees’ concern for restoring the place of scripture in Israel was a correct, good concern.
      1. Their concern to return people to the “old paths” was a correct, good concern.
      2. However, in the pursuit of correct, good concerns they misplaced their emphasis.
      3. Because of their misplaced emphasis they became the most formidable enemy of God’s own son while he was on earth.
      4. I find that a terrifying understanding!
      5. If we are not careful, we can become so concerned about restoring the church and doctrine that we become blind to the Savior.
3. So, which is the most important: knowledge, faith, service, or emotion?
   1. May I make an observation and ask a question.
      1. My observation: perhaps the answer to that question has much to do with whether you are running from hell or you are running toward God.
      2. My question: which one of them is unimportant?
   2. It is apparent to me that:
      1. An ignorant Christian is easily deceived and led away from Christ.
      2. A faithless Christian trusts himself and his deeds and is without a Savior.
      3. An inactive Christian renders both his knowledge and faith useless.
      4. An emotionless Christians goes through the motions, but has no true relationship with God.

Can I be spiritually alive without knowledge of scripture? Or without faith in the promises and power of Jesus Christ? Or without ministering to people as I serve God’s purposes? Or without genuine emotion for God, Christ, people, and God’s eternal objectives?

Perhaps the question is, “What is my concept of being spiritually alive?

Ephesians 4:11-13 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

Do you need to flee from the wrath of God? Have you allowed Him to remove your sins by immersion into Christ? We want to encourage you to run toward God.

Family Members Are Unique

Posted by David on under Sermons

When you were growing up, how many children were in your family? How many brothers do you have? How many sisters?

Could you list all the ways that you and your brothers and sisters were alike? Could you list all the ways that you and your brothers and sisters are different? Sure you can. In fact, in most instances, it would be easier to list all the differences than to list all the ways that you were alike as children. With some brothers or sisters, you would declare that you were completely different–there were no ways in which you were alike.

When all of you became adults, did all those differences disappear? Did all of you, as adult brothers and sisters, become exactly alike? As adults, some similar characteristics may have developed, but your differences remained, and always will remain. Each of your brothers and sisters are distinct persons with a personal package that includes a unique personality and distinctive abilities.

1. When a person becomes a Christian, that person establishes a relationship with God.
   1. Scripture verifies a relationship comes into existence by using specific concepts.
      1. A believing, penitent person’s baptism into Christ is a spiritual birth (John 3:3; 1 Peter 1:22,23; Galatians 3:26,27).
      2. After baptism, the person is said to be a spiritual infant (1 Peter 2:1-3).
      3. If that infant does not spiritually grow, serious spiritual problems develop (1 Corinthians 3:1-5).
      4. The person is expected to continue the growth process until he/she reaches maturity (Ephesians 4;11-16).
      5. All this growth occurs within the context of a spiritual family.
         1. God is the Father.
         2. Jesus Christ is the oldest brother.
         3. Christians are brothers and sisters to each other.
   2. Do you think all spiritual brothers and sisters are spiritually just alike?
      1. Because we all are born into the same spiritual family, do you think we will have identical spiritual personalities?
      2. Do you think all of us spiritually will look like and act like identical twins?
      3. Do you think all of us will have identical strengths and abilities?
      4. If, as baptized believers in Christ, we differ spiritually in many ways, does that mean we are not in the family?
   3. There are two defining realities at work in every person who is a Christian, each person who is in God’s family.
      1. The first defining reality is spiritual growth.
         1. We do not all begin our spiritual growth at the same point of spiritual development.
            1. Just as some infants physically are born with serious problems, some Christians are spiritually born with serious problems.
            2. The birth occurred, he or she is God’s child, and it is unthinkable that we should abandon this spiritual infant, but the problems are real.
            3. Spiritual growth and development does not begin at the same point for all of us; it does not occur at the same rate for all of us.
         2. The rate of spiritual growth and the level of spiritual maturity is unique to the spiritual potential of the individual.
            1. Ability factors and potential factors differ in us as physical individuals.
            2. Ability factors and potential factors differ in us as spiritual individuals.
      2. The second defining reality are spiritual abilities, or, as scripture refers to them, spiritual gifts.
         1. We understand that an ability is a gift that we were born with.
            1. The potential of that ability was within us at birth.
            2. That ability will become useful and significant in a person’s life only if he or she develops it.
            3. But you only can develop the ability that you have, and that ability is a gift of birth.
            4. I would love to be able to express myself through music–but I was not born with the voice, the ear, nor the aptitude; I don’t possess that ability.
         2. The same thing is true spiritually–spiritual abilities are potentials that we have when we are spiritually born.
            1. That spiritual ability will only become useful and significant in a Christian’s life if he or she develops it.
            2. But the Christian can only develop the ability he or she has, and that ability is a gift of spiritual birth.
            3. Spiritually, we certainly were not all born with the same abilities.
         3. Consider Romans 12:6-8–Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
            1. We have different gifts.
            2. God’s grace made those gifts possible.
            3. Prophecy, a form of teaching, is a gift.
            4. Teaching is a gift.
            5. The ability to encourage (exhort) is a gift.
            6. Generosity is a gift.
            7. Leadership ability is a gift.
            8. The ability to use mercy to bring healing and hope is a gift.
            9. The Christian who possesses the gift can utilize the gift only if he develops it.
            10. Paul’s point: develop the spiritual ability God gave you and use it effectively for God’s purposes.
            11. Focus on what you are able to do, develop it, and do it well.
      3. We need an honest understanding of spiritual ability.
         1. Some Christians may have many spiritual abilities, some Christians may have a few, and some Christians may have only one.
         2. Christians must identify and avoid two false conclusions:
            1. False conclusion # 1: “If I can do it, any Christian can do it.”
            2. False conclusion # 2: “Every Christian must work or serve in this specific way.”
            3. Both of those false conclusions wrongly assume that every Christian possesses the same specific spiritual abilities.
         3. God knows what each one of us is capable of doing and being, and what is occurring in each of our lives spiritually.
            1. I cannot see into your heart, mind, and life.
            2. It is impossible for me to know what is occurring in you.
            3. God sees what is happening in everyone of us; He and He alone knows our spiritual abilities and how we are using them.
      4. Expectations based on comparing sons or daughters to each other are horribly unjust in a physical family; they are equally unjust in God’s family.
2. Every time I stand before you to teach or preach I am overwhelmed by the variety of spiritual needs that exist in our assembly.
   1. Regardless of how few or how many are present, it is quite possible that no two persons here are spiritually identical or in identical spiritual places.
      1. Some of you are battling enormous pain, and your struggle with that pain demands your total spiritual focus as you trust God for daily strength.
      2. Some of you wage war every day with something that enslaved your life before you were born into God’s family.
         1. It may be an attitude; it may be a behavior pattern; it may be a moral issue; it may be an addiction.
         2. But each day you spiritually exist by trusting God’s strength, trusting God’s forgiveness, and continuing the war.
      3. Some of you must focus your daily life on allowing God to help you escape the past.
         1. Through no choice or fault of yours, you were the victim of a terrible experience years ago.
         2. The wound was deep, and the scar is ever present.
         3. Maybe no one knows what happened to you.
         4. But it powerfully affected your thinking, your emotions, and your life, and you lean on God every day as you struggle with it.
      4. Some of you rely on God to fight fear every day.
         1. There are days that the fear seems to be bigger than you, bigger than life.
         2. Each day it is a challenge: don’t let fear become bigger than God.
         3. At times that fear terribly depresses you, but you are determined in your faith not to give the fear victory.
      5. Some of you are really growing and developing spiritually, and you are hungry to grow faster than ever.
         1. You are starved for the insights and encouragement that will help you grow faster.
         2. You really want to be fed.
      6. Some of you are filled with dreams and visions of what can be done for Christ and his kingdom (his rule in the hearts and minds of people).
         1. You want those dreams to come true.
         2. You are consumed with a desire to help people and touch lives.
         3. Every day you can see how those dreams could become reality.
      7. Some of you are very gifted, goal oriented, “make it happen” Christians.
         1. The focus of your life is to “make things happen” for Jesus in our community and in our world.
         2. Bible figures like Peter and Paul inspire you and fill you with the flames of spiritual ambition.
   2. And every week my challenge is to try to say and teach things that will be meaningful and helpful to all of you.
      1. I thank God that you give me that opportunity, and I accept it very seriously.
      2. As I accept this opportunity each week, I do so with this awareness.
         1. Everyone of us have different spiritual growth patterns.
         2. Everyone of us have different spiritual gifts or abilities.
         3. And God’s grace is working in each of our lives, just as our love as parents is working in each of our children’s lives.

So may I give you a challenge? Do all within your ability to encourage others as we grow and develop at different rates in different ways. See every Christian’s ability for what it is–a gift from God valued by God. Measure no other person’s gift by your gifts. No matter where another Christian is in his or her spiritual development, extend your hand of encouragement with your heart of love.

Don’t ever fail to encourage. Don’t ever fail to lift from the heart.

I am so happy we have a God. I am so happy we have a Savior.
God knows everything that has ever happened in my life. He knows my every weakness. He still loves me in spite of knowing every bad thing about me.
God says, “I take you like you are, where you are, because I have somewhere to take you.”
God is willing to risk your making mistakes. Sometimes we are so afraid of ourselves that we are afraid of dealing with life. God can use any ability you have for eternal purposes.

Will you believe the promises He has given you? Will you allow Him to rebuild you?

Learning How To Develop Love In Marriage

Posted by David on February 1, 1998 under Sermons

This evening I want us to interview God just before Jesus began his earthly ministry. We are interviewing God one month before Jesus is baptized by John. We ask the questions. God gives the answers.

We: “God, I understand that in less than five years You will start Your plan to save the world.”

God: “Actually, I will put the plan in motion in about a month.”

We: “That is quite an ambitious project–most people do not even know that You exist. Most people have never heard Your name. They worship other gods that they believe exist, and they trust them. So what is Your plan to make Yourself known to all people in the whole world when most of them have never heard of You?”

God: “I will start with one man, Jesus, who is my son. He will teach and work in one small nation, Israel. As he works with these people, he will choose twelve men to follow him and learn from him every day. Then Jesus will be killed, be buried, and be resurrected from the grave. I will make him the Savior of the world, Lord, and Christ. Forty days after his resurrection I will bring him back to me. Then I will use my Spirit to work through the men he trained. At first, they will teach only in that one small nation. But, in time, they and the people they teach will begin working in many nations. Through believing people who teach other people, in less than a hundred years Jesus will be the heart of a world movement.”

We: “Now let me get this straight. You plan to give the world a Savior, and you will start with one man in one small country. He will prepare twelve men. And with only that, You will produce a world movement in less than 100 years? That is hard to believe.”

God: “I am using the mustard seed principle. You must understand that I am not interested in controlling people. I want to completely change people. So I am putting the power of life in My message about the Savior. That life giving message will have a small beginning, as small as a mustard seed. When a mustard seed springs to life, it becomes a huge plant. When My message springs to life, it will touch the whole world.”

1. God has never used quick fixes.
   1. From the time God promised Abraham a son until Isaac was born was twenty-five years, twenty-five years of struggle and faith building.
   2. Israel had to leave Egypt at night, had to walk to the other side of the Red Sea, had to travel through a harsh desert wilderness–it was a faith building experience that involved struggle.
   3. Faith in Jesus is not a quick fix; nor is repentance, baptism, or forgiveness–it is a faith building experience that involves struggle.
   4. God changes lives through faith, understanding, and struggle; He does not fix situations in ways that require no effort.
2. Marriage in America is in an awful state–the troubled ones far outnumber the love filled ones.
   1. Marriage in the church is in an awful state–the trouble ones far outnumber the love filled ones.
   2. That is unnecessary, but a quick fix that requires no effort, no time, no pain, no commitment, and no prices does not exist.
      1. Enjoyable, enduring, love filled marriages that provide life long closeness, companionship, and romance are available to any couple who will make the commitment to learn how to build them and pay the price.
      2. It can happen for couples who learn how to make it happen; it never happens by accident.
   3. The problem is enormous and the need is enormous.
      1. It has taken generations to bring marriage problems to their present state.
      2. While there are no quick fixes, there are effective ways to significantly improve any marriage regardless of how good or how troubled it is.
   4. We will use God’s mustard seed principle to begin teaching people how to build romantic love in their marriages.
3. All marriage relationships have the same ten basic emotional needs.
   1. Those needs are:
      1. The need for affection.
      2. The need for sexual fulfillment.
      3. The need for conversation.
      4. The need for recreational companionship.
      5. The need for honesty and openness.
      6. The need for the spouse to be attractive.
      7. The need for financial support.
      8. The need for domestic support.
      9. The need for family contentment.
      10. The need for admiration.
   2. In any marriage, the most important emotional needs of the husband and the most important emotional needs of the wife are not the same emotional needs (Dr. Carl Brecheen talked to us about this during our December “Marriage Enrichment Seminar”.)
      1. Understanding each other’s most important emotional needs and fulfilling those needs is the key to building romantic love in every marriage.
      2. Most husbands and wives have never learned nor understood the other’s emotional needs.
   3. There are five things that destroy romantic love in any marriage (Dr. William F. Harley, Jr., Love Busters):
      1. Angry outbursts: the deliberate attempt to hurt your spouse by using anger.
      2. Disrespectful judgments: the attempt to change your spouse’s attitudes, beliefs, or behavior by forcing him or her to think like you do.
      3. Annoying behavior: habits or activities that annoy your spouse.
      4. Selfish demands: the attempt to force your spouse to do something through an implied threat.
      5. Dishonesty: the failure of a spouse to reveal thoughts, feelings, habits, likes, dislikes, personal history, daily activities, and plans for the future.
      6. Each of these attack romantic love in marriage.
   4. Virtually all marriages are less than they could be for two reasons:
      1. We fail to meet each others’ emotional needs because we do not understand them.
      2. We do things that attack romantic love in our relationship.

Helping a couple learn how to meet each other’s emotional needs and helping them learn how to stop attacking romantic love will powerfully bless any marriage.

Is Affection a Stranger To Strong Faith?

Posted by David on under Sermons

Recently, in another city, I heard a sincere, conscientious Christian man make this statement: “I grew up in a strong Christian family, but my family did not show affection.” In context, he meant, “My childhood family had great faith in God, but my family did not show affection for each other. I realize that I have not given my wife what she deeply needs and wants because I do not know how to show affection.”

This certainly was not the first time that I heard this statement. But this time, it powerfully caught my attention. I thought about all the troubled marriages I have known. I thought about all the pain and misery caused by troubled marriages. I thought about the times that I have not been the husband I should be. And a voice shouted inside me, “That is what is wrong with too many Christian marriages!”

Is it possible for a family to have a strong faith in God but express no affection in the family? Yes; it is much too common. Why does that happen? The most common reason that happens is this: the childhood family of the husband or the wife never taught him or her how to express affection.

Both Jesus and the New Testament letters powerfully stress the natural bond between faith in God and developing our human relationships.

1. The New Testament emphasis on the natural bond between faith in God and developing human relationships is overwhelming.
   1. A major emphasis in the letter of I Peter stresses the responsibility of Christians to develop their relationships.
      1. I Peter 2:13-17–“This is how you as Christians are to treat all human institutions including government.”
      2. 1 Peter 2:18-25–“Christians servants, this is how you are to treat your masters.”
      3. 1 Peter 3:1-3–“Christian wives, this is how you are to treat your husbands.”
      4. 1 Peter 3:7–“Christian husbands, this is how you are to treat your wives.”
      5. 1 Peter 3:8,9–“To sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit;” don’t return evil for evil or insult for insult; instead give a blessing. “You were called for this very purpose…”
   2. The same emphasis is seen in many of the other letters.
      1. The letter of Romans:
         1. 13:1-7–“This is how you are to act toward the government.”
         2. 13:8-10–“This is how you are to treat all people.”
         3. 14–This is how you are to treat Christians who disagree with you.”
         4. 15:1-6–“This is how strong Christians are to treat weak Christians.”
         5. 15:7-13–“This is how Christians are to treat Christians.”
      2. The letter of Ephesians:
         1. 4:25-5:2; 5:21–“This is how Christians treat each other.”
         2. 5:22-33—“This is how Christian wives treat their husbands and Christian husbands treat their wives.”
         3. 6:1-4–“This is how Christian parents treat their children and children treat their Christian parents.”
         4. 6:5-9–“This is how Christian slaves treat their masters and Christian masters treat their slaves.”
      3. The letter of Colossians in 3:21-4:1 states how Christians wives and husbands; parents and children; slaves and masters are to treat each other.
      4. The letter of 1 Timothy in chapters 5 and 6 discusses how Christians who are older men, younger men, older women, younger women, widows, elders, slave owners, and slaves are to treat each other.
         1. Paul said anyone who rejected these relationship instructions advocated “a different doctrine,” did not agree with “sound words” from Jesus Christ or “the doctrine conforming to godliness.”
         2. Building healthy, godly relationships is a matter of doctrine.
2. The crisis of the Christian home is the most dangerous, destructive internal crisis in the church today.
   1. I do not want to oversimplify the problem; many important factors work together to create this painful, destructive crisis.
      1. One of those primary factors is this: years ago we separated faith in God from affection in Christian relationships.
      2. For years the church has considered it acceptable to express strong faith in church-approved ways while neglecting affection in our homes.
      3. In too many situations, in the name of faith, we have taken affection out of the church and out of the Christian home.
   2. Perhaps you are saying within yourself, “David, you are exaggerating the problem.”
      1. “If a person has faith, expressing affection is not important.”
         1. “If you love, you don’t have to show your love.”
         2. Just as faith that does not express itself is dead, love that does not express itself is dead.
      2. When a congregation nurtures faith in God without expressions of affection, it is not nurturing:
         1. The heart of compassion.
         2. The tenderness mercy.
         3. Loving forgiveness.
         4. Tenderheartedness.
         5. Gentleness.
         6. Kindness.
      3. When a family nurtures faith in God without expressions of affection, it is not nurturing:
         1. The heart of compassion.
         2. The tenderness of mercy.
         3. Loving forgiveness.
         4. Tenderheartedness.
         5. Gentleness.
         6. Kindness.
      4. All these qualities existed in Jesus perfectly; they could exist perfectly in Jesus because of his incredible love, which he expressed.
3. As a specific example, let’s examine a common problem in Christian marriages.
   1. The church has created the overwhelming, overriding impression that all it takes to please God in marriage is refusing to divorce.
      1. We created the conviction that the marriage crisis will be solved if we convince people not to divorce–if there is no divorce, there is no problem.
      2. We created the conviction that the church would have no marriage problems if the church just eliminated divorce among Christians.
   2. So what is our answer, when we face these very real, very common questions?
      1. “For years my spouse has totally alienated himself/herself from me. We live under the same roof–period. We put on a good front when we are in public, but I have suffered all the pain that I can take. I cannot endure the pain of living in a ‘less pretend’ marriage any longer.”
         1. Question: “What should we do?”
         2. Answer: “Don’t divorce.”
      2. “When we exchanged wedding vows ten years ago, we promised each other companionship. God created the home for companionship. I married for companionship. There has been zero companionship in our marriage for years. We do not share life, and we do things together only when it is necessary. It has reached the point that we simply do not want to be with each other–the less time we spend together, the better our lives are.”
         1. Question: “What should we do?”
         2. Answer: “Don’t divorce.”
      3. “My wife abuses me physically, verbally, and emotionally. When she goes into her rage, she abuses me and the children. When rage kicks in, she loses control and is totally unpredictable. There are times I physically restrain her to keep her from hurting one of us.”
         1. Question: “What should I do?”
         2. Our answer: “Don’t divorce.”
      4. “My husband is hooked on pornography. I did not know it, but he was already hooked when he was a teenager. He hides it well, but he buys it. When he travels out of town, he spends a lot of money on it. Sexually, our relationship is terrible.”
         1. Question: “What should I do?”
         2. Answer: “Don’t divorce.”
      5. “My spouse is on drugs and alcohol. He/she has hidden it for years by carefully picking and choosing the places and times to use it. But the addiction is getting worse every month. That growing addiction is creating problems that are becoming more and more serious.”
         1. Question: “What should I do?”
         2. Answer: “Don’t divorce.”
   3. In too many Christian marriages, the husband and wife do not know how to build or sustain successful companionship, or romantic love, or affectionate support.
      1. For years I have known families in which the adult children never saw mother and father kiss, hug, or hold each other.
      2. I know families that shook hands with their sons when they returned from the war arena.
      3. I know adults who as children watched their parents fight, but never saw them resolve a conflict.
         1. They got a Ph.D. in understanding how to fight mean, argue dirty, and attack viciously.
         2. They got a Ph.D. in how to withdraw, how to isolate, how to give the silent treatment, how to criticize, how to find faults, and to be controlling.
         3. They got a Ph.D. in how to inflict pain, how to cause emotional suffering, and how to wound the heart.
      4. But they never witnessed tenderness, or forgiveness, or supportiveness, or compassion.
         1. They never were taught how to hold a spouse when he or she is hurting.
         2. They were never taught how to be tender with someone who is grieving.
         3. They were never taught how to soothe emotional pain.
         4. They were never taught how to use loving forgiveness in failure.
   4. One of two things happens much too frequently.
      1. A son who does not know how to be a husband or; a daughter who does not know how to be a wife marries.
      2. Or a son or daughter who knows how to be a good spouse marries someone who does not know how to be a husband and wife.
      3. And the problem passes from one generation to the next.
      4. And with each generation relationship ignorance grows greater, selfishness grows worse, anger grows more intense, and problems grow bigger.

So the church cries out, “We have to do something!” And someone says, “People need to understand that they are not supposed to divorce.” So one more time we condemn divorce, but the situation gets worse. The message that is desperately needed is not found in the words, “Don’t divorce.” No matter how great the husband and wife’s faith in God is, when they are in pain long enough, when the hurt becomes deep enough, the marriage will end.

From day one, a primary focus of Christianity has been on teaching Christians how to live in their relationships. The New Testament places enormous emphasis on teaching Christians how to live in relationships. As the church, we have ignored that emphasis. And we are paying for it big time. That neglect is threatening our existence.

God never defined successful marriage as the marriage that does not divorce. The only solution to the marriage crisis is teaching Christians how to build successful relationships. That is the only way we will address the growing tragedy of failed marriages.

Our world is such a complicated place to live in. Our society is such a complicated place to live in. Rearing children is such a complicated thing. Being married is such a complicated thing. Nothing is simple.

Where do you start? My recommendation: There is no simple answer without learning and knowledge. It will take a long time to get things untangled. The beginning point is building a relationship with God. Loving God is the first step to loving others. Making peace with God is the first step to making peace with your spouse. There are things that God can do that no one else can do. There are things that can be done in prayer that cannot be done any other way. Rely on a power greater than yourself.

Understanding Christian-To-Christian Sensitivity

Posted by David on January 25, 1998 under Sermons

In this society, as we struggle in our relationships, there is a loud heart cry that few people hear. This heart cry comes from many wives, many husbands, many parents, many children, and many Christians. What is this heart cry that few people hear? “You don’t have to have my feelings. You don’t have to have my needs. But please respect my feelings and my needs.”

“If you ignore my feelings and my needs, you ignore me. If you are blind my feelings and my needs, you are blind to me. If you laugh at my feelings and my needs, you laugh at me. If you ridicule my feelings and my needs, you ridicule me. If you trash my feelings and my needs, you trash me.”

1. Let me share with you a simple but true illustration.
   1. A wife must make a decision that troubles her.
      1. She approaches her husband in this way: “Honey, I really need to talk to you. If I have to make a decision, and I am really trying to think it through. It would help so much if I could just talk to you.”
         1. He says, “Sure!” and begins to listen.
         2. After listening five minutes, he thinks to himself, “She’s rambling. She isn’t being logical. She isn’t putting this together. I will help her.”
         3. He interrupts and says, “What you need to do is obvious. Just do this, this, and this, the problem is solved. Let me logically explain to you why.”
      2. It is obvious that he insulted her; she obviously is angry; and immediately a chilling silence fills the house as she walks off.
   2. Her husband must make a decision that troubles him.
      1. He does not even tell his wife that he has a decision to make.
         1. In fact, he does not say a word to her.
         2. He withdraws into himself and becomes silent and moody.
         3. He is unapproachable and obviously does not want to be disturbed.
      2. She senses that he is struggling, so she tries to approach him: “Honey, is something bothering you? Do we need to talk?”
         1. He replies, “Nothing is wrong! I am just thinking. All I need is space.”
         2. Bewildered, she feels like she has been rebuked and rejected.
      3. He thinks the matter through, makes his decision, and everything is okay.
   3. Consider a huge secret: women search for conclusions; men solve problems.
      1. The way that women search for conclusions is by talking to someone.
         1. When a wife asks her husband to listen, that is all she wants.
         2. She does not want him to think for her or give her advice.
         3. She does not want him to solve the problem for her.
         4. She does not want an editorial.
         5. She wants her husband to listen–if he understands her feelings and needs, he listens.
      2. Men solve problems by reasoning within themselves.
         1. They don’t want to talk; they want to focus.
         2. They don’t want someone else’s evaluations; they want to reason within themselves.
         3. And they want to be left alone while they think.
         4. If his wife understands his feelings and his needs, she lets him think.
   4. Do you realize how many marriages suffer times of excruciating pain because husbands and wives do not understand each others’ feelings and needs?
      1. Do you realize how much heartache this ignorance creates?
      2. Do you realize how much pain is created because husbands and wives are ignorantly insensitive to each others’ feeling and needs?
2. The insensitivity of ignorance is the problem Paul addressed in Romans 14.
   1. Jewish Christians did not understand the spiritual needs of Christians who worshipped idols before conversion.
      1. They did not understand the spiritual realities of a person who worshipped idols in the past but now believed in Jesus Christ.
      2. Jewish Christians were certain that these Christians should think and feel just like they thought and felt.
      3. Jewish Christians did not want to understand their feelings and needs; they just wanted to change their feelings and needs.
   2. Christians who worshipped idols before conversion to Jesus Christ did not understand the feelings and needs of Jewish Christians.
      1. They did not understand the spiritual realities of a person who stopped trusting the law in order to trust a Savior.
      2. They were convinced that Jewish Christians should think and feel like they thought and felt.
      3. They did not want to understand the feelings and needs of Jewish Christians; they just want to change their feelings and needs.
   3. So this is what they did to each other.
      1. Jewish Christians looked at non-Jewish Christians with contempt (Romans 14:3).
      2. Non-Jewish Christians condemned Jewish Christians (Romans 14:3).
      3. Jewish Christians said that there were some days that were more holy and more important than other days (Romans 14:5).
      4. Non-Jewish Christians said that there were no special holy days (Romans 14:5).
      5. So each condemned the other or caused the other to spiritually stumble (Romans 14:13).
   4. Paul said:
      1. Stop the condemning; stop holding each other in contempt (Romans 14:3).
      2. Neither of you are to Lord over the other (Romans 14:4).
      3. Be true to your own understanding and your own conscience (Romans 14:5).
      4. Each of you must understand this: the other does what he does for the Lord to express his faith (Romans 14:6).
   5. Paul said, “Both of you are Christians; you need to be sensitive to each other’s spiritual feelings and needs.”
3. Last Sunday I stated that we did not recognize the spiritual needs of different groups within the congregation.
   1. I stated that we needed to grow in our respect and sensitivity for each others’ spiritual needs.
      1. You may sincerely respond, “David, I think we are a sensitive congregation.”
      2. “I really think that we are quite considerate of other people.”
   2. In many things and many ways that is very true.
      1. This congregation does an incredible job of responding to other people’s physical needs.
      2. Yet, in many ways, we do not understand how to respond to other people’s spiritual needs.
      3. In important ways, identifiable groups don’t understand each other’s spiritual needs.
      4. When we don’t understand each other, we react against each other.
      5. When we react against each other, we stop respecting each other.
   3. Allow me to explain the kind of insensitivity that I am talking about.
      1. In each generation, personal perspective is the interpretation of life and life’s events on the basis of experience and knowledge.
      2. In that interpretation, experience is always more powerful than knowledge.
      3. Life experiences influences all of us more than what we were taught.
   4. For the sake of example, let me continue last Sunday’s illustration.
      1. I contrasted the experiences of those above 60 with the experiences of those below 20.
      2. This is the basic contrast:
         1. Those above 60 have experienced war, poverty, and stable relationships.
         2. Those below 20 have experienced peace, prosperity, and unstable relationships.
4. There are many ways to illustrate this, but let’s illustrate it with the words, phrases, and content of the songs different groups enjoy in public worship.
   1. Since distinct illustrations are best produced by extremes, let’s contrast the songs that the depression and World War II generations love with the songs our below 20 generation enjoy.
   2. The songs the generations who experienced the depression and World War II love to sing are about God helping us with this world’s troubles.
      1. “Be With Me Lord” It includes the statements, “I cannot bear the loads of life unaided,” and “If dangers threaten, if storms of trial burst above me head, if lashing seas leap everywhere about me…”
      2. “Safe In the Arms of Jesus” includes, “Only a few more trials, only a few more tears.”
      3. “It Is Well With My Soul” includes “when sorrows like sea billows roll.”
      4. “Whispering Hope” urges “Wait till the darkness is over, wait till life’s tempest is done” and speaks of the “deepening darkness” and “the night being upon us.”
      5. “Does Jesus Care” talks about pain, burdens, distress, weariness, grief, dread, and fear.
      6. “Precious Memories” is a nostalgia song that talks about precious father, loving mother, old home scenes from my childhood, and not knowing what the years may hold.
      7. “The Church In the Wildwood” is a nostalgia song that talks about the little church building in the woods that I knew when I was a child.
   3. I asked Brad (our youth director) to give me the songs our teenagers most enjoy.
      1. The most popular is, “Light the Fire,” [not in our song book] that praises God and asks for a better relationship with God. “Light the fire–in my soul. Fan the flame–make me whole. Lord you know–where I’ve been. So light the fire in my heart again.”
      2. “Step By step” praises God and promises follow His ways by walking in His steps.”
      3. “I Will Call Upon the Lord” praises the God I trust.
      4. “Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus” thanks God for breaking through “my heart,” and for all that Jesus did in saving me. It declares that “nobody fills my heart like Jesus.”
      5. “Thank You, Lord” thanks God for all He has done and all He will do.
      6. “Listen To Our hearts” says, “God, only my heart can tell you how much I love you.”
      7. “I Want To Be Where You Are” says, “I want to live every day of my life in your presence.”
   4. Let me focus you on some basic insights.
      1. The songs we who are over 60 love cannot mean to our teens what they mean to us because the teens have not had our experiences.
         1. To us, those songs are wonderful, powerful statements of our faith that come out of our childhood, out of our war and poverty experiences.
         2. But those songs do not reflect the childhood or the experiences of our grandchildren.
      2. Our teens live in an evil society, but not a society struggling with war and poverty.
         1. They value relationships.
         2. The songs they love celebrate God’s personal help, praise God for relationship, and affirm that relationship.
         3. To those of us who are above 60, relationship does not mean to us what relationship means to our grandchildren.
   5. Two things must happen to increase our understanding and sensitivity to each other’s spiritual needs just in the songs we sing.
      1. We who are over 60 need to share why our songs mean so much to us, and teens need to listen.
      2. Teens need to share why their songs mean so much to them, and we who are over 60 need to listen.

When a group makes it clear, “We don’t like your songs, and I am not going to sing them,” are we not being insensitive and destroying respect? Is it not clear that each person loves the songs that reflect his/her experience and touch his/her spiritual needs? If we are insensitive about something as simple as a song, wonder in what other ways we are insensitive?

I am so grateful that we belong to a loving God. And I am so grateful that we belong to the resurrected Jesus Christ.

God can do things humans find so complex we can never master. God knows what every heart needs. He knows what every Christian wants to say to Him. He doesn’t hear us singing and praying as a group, but as individuals.
Your Christian brother or sister may not understand you as you think they should. Your Christian brother or sister may not be as sensitive as you think they should be. But, God knows. God sees. God cares. Don’t think about other people when you worship. Don’t think about other people when you serve. Think about God.
Are you living like a person who trusts in God? Have you become His child? We invite you to Jesus Christ who understands every person, including you.

Jesus’ Focus On “The Price”

Posted by David on January 18, 1998 under Sermons

What is the “price” we Christians must pay to be Christians? Jesus indicated in many ways that the “price” existed. The fact that a “price” exists should not surprise us. If his sacrificial life and death on a cross was his “price” for becoming our Savior, it should not surprise us that there would be a “price” for belonging to him as Savior.

But what is the “price” that Jesus had in mind? The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes that (1) we are saved by grace through faith; (2) we are not saved on the basis of human deeds; (3) we cannot earn our salvation; and (4) we cannot place God in debt to us. All that being true, what is this “price”?

Tonight let Jesus give us some important insights into the “price” by studying Luke 14. I encourage you to take your Bibles and follow with me as we study.

1. Understanding the situation is important.
   1. Jesus was invited into the home of one of Israel’s prominent religious leaders.
      1. The man was a leading Pharisee–a Pharisee who was a member of the Sanhedrin.
         1. If the Sanhedrin was the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, the man was a nationally recognized scholar who was a member of their highest court.
         2. This man invited Jesus and some guests into his home to eat.
         3. It was an honor to be invited to have a meal in this man’s home.
      2. It was a Sabbath day–the day that Jews honored God by not working.
         1. The Pharisees strictly honored the Sabbath by strictly doing nothing that could be considered work.
         2. All human acts of work were divided into thirty-nine different categories.
         3. Ask a Pharisee about any human act, and he would tell you if that act was an act of work that would violate the Sabbath.
   2. Carefully note two facts.
      1. First, note that Jesus accepted the invitation.
         1. Jesus associated with all kinds of people and went into the homes and ate with all kinds of people.
         2. He was so willing to associate and eat with anyone that he was criticized by the Pharisees because he associated with sinners and tax collectors.
         3. Luke 5:29,30 records the occasion when Jesus attended a huge reception for tax collectors in Levi’s house–tax collectors were on the bottom of Jewish society because they had an earned reputation of dishonesty and greed.
         4. In Luke 7:36-50 and in Luke 14:1-24 Jesus had meals in the homes of Pharisees, and this Pharisee was at the top of approved, religious society.
         5. Jesus associated with everybody.
      2. Second, note that Jesus had a teaching for everybody.
         1. Everybody needed to learn something.
         2. Depending on what they needed to learn, Jesus taught different people different lessons.
2. Carefully consider the lessons Jesus taught different people who were in the Pharisee’s home.
   1. First, Jesus taught a lesson to the Pharisee who invited him and to the guests who were experts in the teachings of the Old Testament.
      1. One of the guests was a diseased person; he visibly had signs of a person suffering from heart, kidney, or liver disease.
      2. The Pharisees classified healing on the Sabbath day to be an act of work if the person healed was not dying that day.
      3. Jesus did not ask them if healing was an act of work.
      4. Jesus asked them, “Does it violate the law of Moses to heal someone on the Sabbath day?”
         1. They did not answer his question.
         2. So Jesus healed the sick man.
      5. Then Jesus asked them, “If you had an animal that fell into a well on the Sabbath, would you pull it out of the well?” Their laws permitted them to do that.
   2. Second, Jesus had a lesson for the invited guests.
      1. Your seat at the meal indicated your importance, your social significance.
      2. Each guest was busy trying to determine where he would sit.
      3. They wanted the most honorable, privileged seat they could have.
      4. Jesus taught them by using a parable.
         1. “When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t take the most important seat.”
         2. “If you do, someone more distinguished than you will arrive, and you will be asked to move.”
         3. “You will be embarrassed in two ways: you will be disgraced in front of everyone, and the only seat available will be the most unimportant place at the feast.”
         4. “Sit down at the most unimportant seat, then you will be asked to move to a more important seat and be honored before everyone.”
         5. “The person who exalts himself will be humbled; the person who humbles himself will be exalted.”
   3. Third, Jesus had a personal lesson for the Pharisee who was his host.
      1. “The next time you invite guests into your home for a meal, do not invite friends, relatives, or wealthy neighbors.”
      2. “They will repay you by later inviting you to pay you back.”
      3. “Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind–invite people who need your kindness and cannot repay you.”
      4. “If you do that, God will repay your deeds when the righteous are resurrected.”
      5. Jesus said, “Instead of playing the social game of “who is who,” concentrate on helping people who need your help.”
   4. One of the guests who heard Jesus’ statement said, “Blessed is everyone who eats bread in God’s kingdom.”
      1. There were things in that statement that they understood that you and I would not see.
         1. A very popular idea was that God’s kingdom would be an earthly kingdom.
         2. A common symbol of the resurrection of the righteous was the banquet–in the same way that we use the idea of heaven they used the idea of the feast.
      2. I don’t know what the guest was trying to do–he may have made that comment to break the tension or to ease the awkwardness of the moment.
      3. Jesus responded by giving another parable about the feast , the Pharisees’ common concept of heaven.
         1. In the parable a wealthy man prepared an enormous, expensive feast.
         2. When the food was ready [remember slaughtering, preparing, and cooking took a long time in those days], the man sent a slave to tell all the invited guest to come.
         3. The guests made excuses and refused to come.
         4. The man was angry, and told the slave to go into the streets of the city and invite anyone he saw–including the poor, crippled, blind, and lame.
         5. The slave did, returned, and told him that there was still room for more people at the feast.
         6. The man said, “Go out into the countryside and invite anyone and everyone–my house will be filled for this feast.”
         7. “None of the guests that I invited will eat this meal.”
      4. Jesus point: those who are at God’s feast truly will be blessed, but they will not be the people that you expect to be there.
3. When Jesus left the Pharisee’s home, the enormous crowd waiting on him followed him.
   1. He turned to the crowd and said, “If you want to be my disciple, there are some things you need to understand.”
      1. “Your commitment to me must be more important than your family.”
      2. “You must not be ashamed to carry your cross and follow me.”
      3. “Just like a king that declares war, or a man who begins to build a castle, you need to count the cost before you begin.”
      4. “If you are to be salt, you must keep your saltiness–or you are not useful.”
   2. There are sermons upon sermons in these statements.
      1. He is not teaching that people who follow him must neglect their families to be faithful.
         1. The New Testament is quite clear: Christians have special responsibilities in family relationships; denying those responsibilities make the Christian worse than a person who does not even believe in Jesus Christ.
         2. He is teaching that our top priority in life is following Jesus.
      2. The cross was a horrible symbol of shame and disgrace in that time.
         1. Jesus said they must realize that following him would not lead them to earthly prestige and honor, but to public shame and disgrace.
         2. Their desire to be his disciples was a commitment that was not afraid of shame or disgrace.
      3. The salt statement basically declared that if they were not willing to be an influence for him, they were of no value to him.
      4. Considering these realities, they needed to consider the cost of following Jesus and know that they were willing to pay that price.
4. I want you to see something that is extremely important in this chapter.
   1. This is not just a collection of parables and situations that were just thrown together for no reason at all.
      1. Luke had a reason for placing these things together.
      2. Notice that no one had it “all figured out” and had nothing to learn.
         1. The Pharisee host had something to learn.
         2. The experts in scripture had something to learn.
         3. The guests had something to learn.
         4. The “tension breaker” guest had something to learn.
         5. The people waiting to follow him had something to learn.
         6. It is obvious that the tax collectors and sinners in chapter 15 had something to learn.
      3. Please note that they had different lessons to learn.
   2. No one has all the answers, no one has it all “figured out,” no one has come to the perfect knowledge of all the right conclusions.
      1. The roots that spiritually nourish and develop a Christian are not developed in a system that binds religious rules and requirements.
      2. The roots that spiritually nourish and develop a Christian are developed by having a heart and mind that constantly grow toward the mind and heart of Christ.
      3. There certainly are commands to be obeyed.
      4. There certainly are things that are required of the Christian.
      5. But maturing as a Christian is not as simple as listing the commands and requirements and doing them.
   3. Let me illustrate the point in this way.
      1. If Jesus visited with us, he would do the same thing with us that he did in the Pharisee’s home.
      2. He would say to me, “David, you need to think about and understand this.”
      3. He would say to the elders, “Men, you need to understand this.”
      4. He would say to each group in this congregation, “What you need to understand is this.”
      5. Truthfully, he would say to each individually, “This is the lesson you need to understand.”
      6. And the lessons would not be the same for each of us.

Why? Because each Christian is growing in mind and heart closer to the mind and heart of Jesus, closer to the mind and heart of God. None of us, on this earth, will ever develop the mind and heart of Jesus and of God.

That is the “price.” We learn. We understand. We change. We develop. We mature. We become more and more Christ-like. And that is hard. That is the most difficult, expensive price that we can pay to belong to Christ. But that is the basic price of following Jesus.

As Christians, we must never be afraid to grow spiritually. We must never be afraid to learn anything scripture teaches us. We must never be afraid to understand anything that we did not understand in the past. As long as Christ and the Bible is the teacher, we must not be afraid.

As we grow, we are always leaving good growth for better growth.

Our “Right Now” Challenge

Posted by David on under Sermons

In today’s world do you think being the church that Christ built is easy? “Oh, no! Being Christ’s church in today’s world is extremely difficult. It is harder than it has ever been. When the church began in the first century, things were so simple. Today things are so complicated. The denominational approach to Christianity confuses people. Today there are so many different theologies. Today many people create their own personal beliefs by combining ideas from different religions. Then there are the problems: abortion, homosexuality, adultery, sexually active singles, troubled homes, divorce, greed, dishonesty. It is much harder to be Christ’s church today.”

Do a little research. The problems the first century church faced were more complicated than the problems Christ’s church faces today. The church of the first century faced difficult problems that we have never faced. Inside the church, things were more difficult than they are now.

So were things outside the church. Divorce was more common among the Jews and the Romans than it is today. In fact, the Roman government was the first government to use civil law to attempt to stabilize marriage. Fathers who did not want a baby had the baby taken outside the city and left to die as soon as it was born. Homosexuality was common in Greek society. Some religions practiced sexual intercourse as an act of worship. The first century world was a very corrupt world.

1. Consider one enormous challenge that faced the early church.
   1. A congregation came into existence in a new area when people were baptized into Christ, and these were the first Christians ever to exist in that area.
      1. Each Christian had to learn 100% of everything about Christian existence.
      2. Many converts had nothing in common but their belief in Jesus Christ.
   2. Consider just three situations.
      1. The first congregation of Christians was established in a Jewish community in Palestine–all its members were Jewish.
         1. A Pharisee was baptized–Pharisees believed that you had to strictly obey Jewish religious laws.
         2. A Sadducee was baptized–Sadducees believed God blessed people by giving them money and possessions; life after death did not exist.
         3. Jews who had always lived in Palestine were baptized.
         4. Some Jews who were reared in other countries were baptized–their worship practices were a little different to the worship of Jews in Palestine.
         5. Can you imagine the problem of trying to lead all these new Christians to the same understandings?
      2. The first congregation in a city in another country is established.
         1. People who worshipped idols are baptized–idol worshippers believed in many gods.
         2. Atheists were baptized–atheists were so disgusted with powerless idols that they rejected all gods.
         3. God-fearers were baptized–God-fearers believed in the God of the Jews, but they had not converted to Judaism.
         4. Proselytes were baptized–proselytes had converted to Judaism.
         5. Can you imagine the difficulty of leading all these new Christians to the same understanding?
      3. Then the most complicated situation of all–the first congregation is established in a community, and this congregation has both Jewish and non- Jewish members.
         1. Can you really imagine the difficulty of leading that congregation to a common understanding?
         2. Can you really image the difficulty of getting these people to agree?
   3. Let me give you a specific example from the Acts 16:11-34.
      1. Paul and Silas visited the city of Philippi.
         1. As always on the first Sabbath they were in a city–they looked for the place that Jews worshipped.
         2. They found and taught a group of women meeting on a river bank.
      2. Lydia was one of those women; she believed in the God of the Jews.
         1. She was a business woman [rare for that time] who sold special color of cloth to wealthy people [only the wealthy and rulers wore this color].
         2. Though she was from the city of Thyatira, she had a household in Philippi; that probably means she was wealthy and had servants.
         3. She and her household were baptized, and she insisted that Paul and Silas stay in her home.
      3. Later Paul had trouble with the city rulers because he healed a girl.
         1. He and Silas were publicly beaten and thrown into jail.
         2. The jailer was ordered to make certain that they did not escape.
         3. At midnight as Paul and Silas sang and prayed in their cell, an earthquake opened all the jail cells.
         4. The jailer rushed into the jail, saw the cell doors open, assumed the prisoners had escaped, and was in the act of committing suicide when Paul stopped him.
         5. Paul taught him and his household and baptized them that night.
      4. This new congregation started with a professional woman who believed in God and with a rough, insensitive jailer who was not a Jew.
         1. From its beginning, it contained people from society’s top and bottom.
         2. From its beginning, it contained people with different religious backgrounds.
      5. The letter called Philippians was written by Paul to this congregation.
         1. Members had trouble getting along with each other (2:1-4).
         2. While many good things happened in the congregation, they also had some bad motives, selfishness, and conceit among the members (2:3).
         3. Paul begged them to improve their relationships. (2:1-2).
         4. Paul’s solution (2:3-11):
            1. Regard other members as being more important than yourself.
            2. Stop thinking about your own interests; be concerned about the best interest of others.
            3. Imitate Jesus’ surrender and humility.
         5. There were two devout Christian ladies in serious conflict with each other; Paul said help them end their conflict (4:2,3).
2. The “right now” challenge facing us is our “right now” realities.
   1. We must make a serious commitment to address the real spiritual needs of every group in this congregation.
      1. The spiritual needs of the married are not the spiritual needs of the single.
      2. The spiritual needs of the widow are not the spiritual needs of the divorced.
      3. The spiritual needs of marrieds with children are not the spiritual needs of single parent homes.
      4. The spiritual needs of the 60 plus are not the spiritual needs of teenagers.
      5. The spiritual needs of those with no Christian background are not the spiritual needs of third generation Christians.
      6. For many real reasons, we are different. Jesus Christ perfectly ministers to every spiritual need in all of our different situations.
         1. As Christ’s church, Christ gave us the responsibility to minister effectively to all spiritual needs just as he ministers to all spiritual needs.
         2. Our “right now” challenge is to become aware of different spiritual needs, to be sensitive to each other’s real spiritual needs, and to effectively minister to all spiritual needs of all Christians in all situations.
   2. Last fall this congregation had twenty-five teenagers of the age to begin college.
      1. Most of them were born in 1978 or 1979. Do you know what that means?
      2. The Iranian hostage crisis happened when they were infants.
      3. They have no memories from the Carter era.
      4. They were not yet teenagers when the Persian Gulf war began.
      5. They were not yet three years old when the world understood the reality of AIDS.
      6. They likely have never played a 78 rpm record or heard an 8-track tape.
      7. The digital disc was presented to Wall Street before they started to school.
      8. All their lives first class stamps have cost more than 15 cents.
      9. They have never seen or used a slide rule.
      10. Few of them have ever lived in a house without an answering machine.
      11. Few have ever used a TV with just 13 channels.
   3. Teens and young adults, let me ask you some questions.
      1. Not counting a camping trip or wilderness retreats:
      2. Have you lived every day where there was an outhouse but no bathroom?
      3. Have you hand drawn all the water you used from a well?
      4. Have you cooked on a wood stove, taken your milk from a cow, fried your chicken after cutting its head off, or harnessed a mule?
      5. Have you ever lived for over a year without electricity, without a telephone, and with only one family car?
      6. Could you live that way?
   4. Look around at all the older adults in this assembly.
      1. Most of them did all of that–for years.
      2. Very few [if any] of them want to do it again.
      3. But most of them could if they had to.
3. May I state the obvious: we don’t understand each other; we don’t understand each other enough to respectfully acknowledge each other’s spiritual needs.
   1. The truth is this: we have as much trouble understanding or being sensitive to each other’s spiritual needs as a converted Pharisee had when he tried to understand a converted idol worshipper.
   2. We have wasted too much time and energy telling each other, “Your spiritual needs do not exist; Christians don’t have those spiritual needs.”
      1. We act like spiritual needs will disappear if we pretend that they do not exist.
      2. Those needs do not disappear; the people who have those needs disappear.
   3. I could illustrate this reality in a hundred ways, but let me use just one.
      1. In the churches of Christ, our teens are in a major, devastating crisis.
      2. Often parents and the church are in denial–we don’t understand the crisis.
      3. Instead of helping them answer their questions, or helping them deal with their real world, we either (1) tell them to isolate themselves or (2) say, “Christians don’t think that or do that.”
      4. Teens, we do that because we are afraid–afraid of your problems; afraid we may not know the answers because we really don’t understand.
   4. Teenagers have been sending us a message for the several years.
      1. We have often said, “Teens are not responsible; teens don’t know how to work; teens don’t take life seriously.”
      2. For several years, American teens have lived in a prosperous country that has had no major war.
      3. They have lived in a country where many adult relationships are terrible.
   5. Adults, we lived in times when there was war, and there was no prosperity.
      1. We worked hard for what we have, and we measure ourselves by our hard work and prosperity.
      2. Here is one major difference: we measure self and life by hard work and achievements; many teens measure themselves and life by relationships.
      3. They look at us and say, “I want relationships; relationships are more important to us than possessions.”
      4. “It is more important to me to protect relationships than it is to work like you work and let relationships suffer.”
      5. And we don’t hear.
      6. And we don’t understand them; and they don’t understand us.

How long will it be until we begin to identify the real spiritual needs that exist all around us? How long will it be until we work with Christ to meet those needs?

I don’t have all the answers. No one in this life has all the answers.

The good news is that there is not any spiritual need in anyone that cannot be met by Jesus Christ. I know the power is in God and the solution is in Jesus.

This is where we begin– by real faith and real repentance followed by being born into Christ through baptism –the beginning point.

Give your sins to Jesus. The solution begins when you take whatever is your problem to Jesus, the Savior.

If Everyone Agreed With Us . . . What Then?

Posted by David on January 11, 1998 under Sermons

What happens after you accomplish your goal? Nothing? Once you reach your goal is there nothing left to do?

What happens after you achieve your mission? Nothing? Once you complete your mission, is there nothing left to do?

This morning my specific objective is to get inside the mind and the heart of each Christian present. I want each Christian here to think and to feel. I want you to be unable to stop thinking and feeling after you leave.

What you to think and feel are good, powerful thoughts. But I want those good, powerful thoughts to trouble your mind and heart.

So I ask again, what happens after you accomplish your goal, after you achieve your mission?

1. Let’s begin to challenge our hearts and minds by thinking about Jesus.
   1. What was Jesus’ specific mission, what was his specific goal when he was born?
      1. That is a reflex answer–all of us as Christians know that answer by heart.
      2. Jesus’ specific mission on earth from his birth was to die for our sins.
      3. Jesus’ specific goal was his crucifixion, his execution on a cross.
      4. That is why he came; he came to die on a cross.
   2. Did Jesus achieve his mission; did he reach his goal?
      1. Yes!
      2. He died for our sins.
      3. He was crucified on a cross just outside the city of Jerusalem.
   3. When Jesus accomplished his goal, when he achieved his mission, was there anything left for Jesus to do?
      1. “He came to die on a cross for our sins, and he did.”
      2. “He did exactly, completely what he was sent to do.”
      3. “So, he went back to heaven, sat down by God, and was finished.”
      4. Wrong!
         1. Achieving his goal and mission made him Lord, Christ, and Savior.
         2. His death allowed him to begin his work as Lord, Christ, and Savior.
         3. Accomplishing his goal and mission did not complete his work; it only began his work.
         4. His work was possible after he reached his goal, fulfilled his mission.
2. What is the goal, what is the mission of the West-Ark congregation in the Fort Smith area?
   1. Is our goal as a congregation to lead other religious people in Fort Smith to biblical agreement on specific salvation and worship questions?
      1. For example, is our goal, is our mission to seek agreement on:
         1. The importance of baptism by immersion in accepting salvation?
         2. The importance of taking communion every Sunday?
         3. The importance of singing without musical instruments in worship?
         4. The importance of complete independence for every congregation?
      2. Can we define our goal and our mission as a church, in the terms of baptism, communion, singing, and congregational independence?
      3. Please, please do not misunderstand my question.
         1. I fully agree that the New Testament clearly reveals that baptism by burial in water is part of the salvation response of people who become Christians.
         2. I fully agree that the New Testament teaches that baptism is for the remission of sins, that it does place one in Christ, and that it is involved in the process of God adding the person to the church.
         3. I fully agree that the New Testament reveals that the Christians of the first century gathered on Sundays to remember the death of Jesus by sharing the Lord’s supper.
         4. I fully agree that Christians in the first century sang in worship without the use of instrumental music.
         5. I fully agree that congregations in the first century were independent even though they cooperated.
         6. I fully agree that these matters need to be understood.
         7. My question is not should they be a part of our teaching; my question is should these four things define our goal and mission as a congregation?
   2. Did you know that there are 7,959 verses in the New Testament? (Biblical Analysis, C. H. Woodroof and Arvil Wellbaker, ADCO Publications, 1968, p. 251.)
      1. From the time of Jesus’ resurrection and the establishment of the church, there are 39 verses that use the words baptism, baptize, or baptized. That is .005% of the verses in the New Testament. Does that mean baptism is not important? Absolutely not–we cannot make baptism unimportant. But it does mean that baptism is not a core subject.
      2. In the entire New Testament, there are 28 verses that speak about communion or the Lord’s supper. That is .004% of all the verses in the New Testament. Does that mean the Lord’s Supper is not important? Absolutely not–we cannot make the Lord’s Supper unimportant. But it does mean that the Lord’s Supper not a core subject.
      3. From Acts forward, singing is mentioned as a Christian activity in 3 verses. That is .0004% of all the verses in the New Testament. Does that mean it is not important? Absolutely not–we cannot make singing unimportant. But it does mean that it singing in worship is not a core subject.
      4. Congregational independence is never discussed in the New Testament. The word autonomy is not found in the New Testament. Does that mean congregational independence is not important? Absolutely not. It means two things. It means that we have a problem today that they did not have in the first century. And it means that autonomy is not a core subject.
3. Let’s suppose we accomplished our goals regarding baptism, communion, singing, and congregational independence in Fort Smith.
   1. Let’s suppose that every religious group in Fort Smith that declares itself to be a Christian group agreed with our study.
      1. Each group agrees on the purpose and method of baptism.
      2. Each group agrees that communion should be taken each Sunday.
      3. Each group agrees that we should sing without instruments in worship.
      4. Each group agrees that every congregation should be independent.
      5. They all agree that baptism by immersion for remission of sins, weekly communion, singing without instruments in worship, and congregational independence are consistent with the teachings of the New Testament.
   2. If every religious group in Fort Smith reached honest and complete agreement with us on those four matters, what would be different in this congregation?
      1. Would indifferent husbands and wives begin to love each other?
      2. Would Christian husbands and wives who are abusive or neglectful stop abusing and neglecting?
      3. Would indifferent or cold Christian parents become loving parents?
      4. Would Christian parents who ignore or neglect their children stop ignoring and neglecting?
      5. Would homes that experience distress, hostility, and fighting become peaceful and caring?
      6. Would Christians who are in conflict with each other, feel contempt for each other, or ignore each other stop acting that way?
      7. Would Christian husbands who commit adultery, or Christian wives who commit adultery, or sexually active unmarried teens and adult singles stop?
      8. Would all dishonesty, lying, and deceitfulness stop in our lives?
      9. Would the quality of fellowship, encouragement, and mutual burden bearing among Christians improve?
      10. Would our common addiction to materialism, to hunger for money, and to pleasure come to a screeching halt?
      11. Would the quality of our praise to God, would the earnest intensity of our prayers, would the serious study and application of God’s message to our lives make a gigantic step forward?
      12. If every religious body in Fort Smith agreed with us on baptism, communion, singing in worship, and congregational independence, what would change in this congregation?
      13. If we reached our goal, if we achieved our mission in those four matters, what difference would it make in this congregation?
   3. Don’t blow me off. Don’t say to yourself, “David, that is silly nonsense.”
      1. Would you really like to know how many wives or husbands in this congregation have been abused in their marriages in the last fourteen years?
      2. Would you really like to know how many children in this congregation have been abused in their homes in the last fourteen years?
      3. Would you really like to know how many families in this congregation have been hurt by adultery or by sexually active teens in the last fourteen years?
      4. Would you really like to know how many lives have been severely hurt through unethical, unwise, or dishonest decisions in the past fourteen years?
      5. Would you really like the know how many people have been spiritually destroyed by greed in the last fourteen years?
      6. Would you really like to know how many people have mortally wounded themselves in their passion for pleasure in the last fourteen years?
   4. If you sincerely think that I am talking nonsense, would you really like to know:
      1. The actual number of adult children that came from homes in this congregation who are no longer spiritual, who no longer worship, and who are no longer involved with God on any level?
      2. The actual number of people who used to be members of this congregation who now never worship?
   5. Is all that is necessary to reverse all these situations just a matter of getting everyone to agree on baptism, communion, singing, and congregational independence?
4. One core subject in the New Testament is Christian relationships–both with Jesus Christ and with people.
   1. There is major emphasis on being a rebuilt people with new hearts and minds.
      1. This core teaching centers on being transformed, on understanding that God recreated us, on understanding what it means to be new creatures in Christ.
      2. People genuinely converted to Jesus Christ grow to be different people.
         1. You see it in the way they treat their husbands or wives.
         2. You see it in the way they treat the people born to them.
         3. You see it in the way they help and care about other Christians.
         4. You see it in the way they treat people, any people.
   2. May I ask you some questions?
      1. Do you understand how to let Jesus be Lord in your life, heart, and mind?
      2. Do you understand how to let Jesus rebuild your heart, your mind, and your life?
      3. Has the church ever taught you how to do that? I did not ask if the church told you to do it; I asked if the church taught you how to do it.

Do you think that Christianity is just a matter of doing church and agreeing on baptism, communion, singing, and congregational independence?

Do you understand what I mean when I say that it is time to stop doing church? It is time to learn how to be Christians.

Many of you do understand, and understand deeply, why you need to have a higher focus in your life and in this congregation. It’s all right that some don’t yet understand–as long as they are willing to grow.

I am thankful that I can belong to Christ and be a part of His crucifixion through baptism. I am thankful for Communion which reminds us of the Cross. I love to sing and to praise God. I value that no other congregation can tell us what we must do or understand.

There is more to driving a car than just knowing how to start it. There is more to being a child of God than just starting the process.

We want people to see that we have a relationship with Jesus Christ and that we have a relationship with each other.

There is nothing more wonderful than for you to die to sin and be raised to life through baptism into Christ. Surrender your life to Him. We will rejoice if we can assist you in any way spiritually.