Today’s Guides: Eternal Priorities

Posted by David on November 18, 2001 under Sermons

I want to begin our study and thinking this evening by asking you to use your imagination. I want to trigger your imagination by asking a simple question. The question: “What would you do?”

What would you do if just one of the following things happened this evening when you came to this assembly? If you walked into our auditorium this evening and you saw a piano up front in one corner and an organ up front in the other corner, what would you do? Nobody is playing either of them. Both are just sitting there. What would you do? If you came on in and took a seat, and someone began to play either of them, what would you do?

If today you took communion and in the tray containing the bread there was nothing but yeast bread, what would you do? If we concluded today’s sermons without invitation songs, what would you do? If the style of worship today was radically different, what would you do?

Most of us would do something. Some would get up and leave. Some would never come back. Some would say, “I do not feel like I have been to church today!” Some would make a beeline for the elders. Some would begin confrontations and loud arguments. But almost everyone would do something.

To keep you thinking instead of reacting, it is essential not to lose you. No, I do not think we should have musical instruments sitting up front. No, I do not think we should abandon a capella music. No, I do not advocate using yeast bread in communion. No, I do not advocate abandoning the invitation song. No, I do not advocate making radical changes in worship styles.

Keep thinking with me. Consider about another question. The question: how do you react? How do you react when you see another Christian in a situation making it obvious that he or she has little if any love for God? How do you react when you see another Christian speaking or acting with an unquestionable lack of mercy? How do you react when you hear another Christian angrily refusing to forgive? How do you react when another Christian makes it plain that he or she has no interest in being a godly person or a righteous person?

Which would disturb you more: a musical instrument in the auditorium or a Christian with little or no love for God? Which would disturb you more: yeast bread in a communion plate or a unmerciful Christian? Which would disturb you more: people raising their hands in worship or an unforgiving Christian? Which would disturb you more: Christians saying, “Hallelujah!” and “Amen” in worship or an ungodly, unrighteous Christian?

If you saw or heard a musical instrument in this auditorium, if we used yeast bread in the communion, if we did not use invitation songs, if we radically changed our worship style, would you say, “The people responsible for those changes are going straight to hell!”

If you saw or heard a Christian do or say something that clearly indicated he or she did not love God, or act in unmerciful ways, or refuse to forgive, or behave in ungodly, unrighteous ways, would you say, “That is sad; but that is life; maybe God’s grace will overlook it.”

In each set of occurrences which would disturb God the most? About which set of occurrences does God give the most information? Why do we conclude that God gets the most upset about things He said little or nothing about, but God has almost no reaction to matters He said a lot about?

1. Scripture has a lot to say about treating other people with love.
   1. We need to take a moment to focus on the word the New Testament most commonly uses when it declares the importance of love.
      1. The most common word the New Testament uses is the Greek word agape.
      2. Agape is not about “how I feel;” agape is about my will.
      3. The primary emphasis in agape love is on choice, on decision, on exercising a person’s will.
      4. The primary emphasis in agape is not on feeling–the choice to love is not based on how you feel but on your determination to treat others with kind consideration as you are determined to do what is in their true best interest.
   2. Jesus’ emphasis on the importance of loving other people is overwhelming.
      1. Twice he said, “Treat other people like you want to be treated” (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).
      2. He said loving God with your whole being and loving your neighbor as yourself fulfills all the expectations of the law (Luke 22:37-40).
      3. He powerfully stressed the importance of loving other people in his parables.
         1. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the basic point of the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.
            1. A Jew was robbed and injured on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.
            2. Religious leaders walked by him and offered him no help.
            3. A Samaritan, a person the injured man would have ignored, stopped and took care of him.
            4. Jesus gave this parable specifically because a because an expert in Jewish religious law asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” in the desire to evade the responsibility to love his neighbor as himself.
         2. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the basic point of the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35.
            1. A wealthy man was owed an impossible amount of money by a slave, and he commanded the slave and his family to be sold.
            2. The slave pleaded with the owner and promised the impossible: he would repay the debt if he and his family were not sold.
            3. The owner was so moved he eliminated the debt–he said the slave owed him nothing.
            4. Very shortly the slave saw a fellow slave who owed him a payable debt, demanded immediate payment, then had the man jailed until he paid.
            5. When the owner heard what happened, he reimposed the impossible debt and had the slave he forgave jailed and tortured until the impossible debt was repaid in full.
            6. The parable ends with the statement, “That is what God will do to you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
            7. Love others like you love yourself.
         3. Loving your neighbor like you love yourself is the point of the judgment parable in Matthew 25:31-46.
            1. The criteria for determining whom God accepted and rejected was feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, caring for the sick, caring about people in need you don’t know, giving clothes to those without clothing, and visiting those in prison.
            2. It is about the importance of loving your neighbor as you love yourself.
   3. Paul had a lot to say about the importance of loving people. Consider just a few examples.
      1. He told the Christians in Rome to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who wept (Romans 12:15).
      2. He told the same Christians that loving your neighbor as yourself would eliminate all abuse of other people (Romans 13:8-10).
      3. He told the Christians in Galatia to bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).
   4. John told Christians:
      1 John 3:14,15 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
   5. Peter told Christians:
      1 Peter 1:22 Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart

2. Have you ever done any of the things?
   1. Have you ever:
      1. Apologized to a man or woman to whom you were not married for sexually seducing them because you understand that is not loving your neighbor as yourself?
      2. Apologized to a man or woman you took advantage of because that is not loving your neighbor as yourself?
      3. Apologized to a man or woman that you misrepresented because that is not loving your neighbor as yourself?
      4. Apologized to a person that you knowingly caused pain because that is not loving your neighbor as yourself?
   2. If your response is, “That is ridiculous!” let me use just one of those situations as an example.
      1. “Sure, I have had sex with someone I am not married to–but that person wanted me to have sex with him or her; I owe him or her no apology!”
      2. You miss the point.
         1. You are a Christian made spiritually alive by God’s mercy and the grace in Jesus’ death.
         2. The issue is not what “he or she wanted.”
         3. The issue is what you did, and what you did in no way qualifies as loving your neighbor as yourself.

3. Let me tell you why we will get so angry and upset about acts of worship (which the New Testament says little about) and do unloving things without thought (which the New Testament says a lot about).
   1. It is easy and personally costs us nothing to have no musical instruments, to keep leaven yeast out of our communion bread, to convert worship into observation instead of participation, and to sing invitation songs.
   2. It is hard and personally costs a lot to be merciful to those who cause us pain, to forgive those who hurt us, and to be godly from the heart in the hard, every day choices of life.
   3. For generations we were taught a set of reactions that are way out of balance and often have little to do with God’s priorities.
      1. We were taught God’s number one priority has to do with details, with gnats, and God is terribly angry if we do not strain out the gnats before we swallow.
      2. We were taught the things God says a lot about–like loving your neighbor as yourself–do not matter much because they do not “shake God up” as failing to observe details does.
      3. We were taught God has no mercy for gnats, but He has nothing but mercy for camels.
      4. So we live life swallowing camels as we diligently strain out the gnats.
      5. And if anyone calls it to our attention we get angry, or we defend our priorities instead of God’s priorities, or we say the person is crazy and liberal, or we say, “I need to give some serious consideration to my spiritual priorities.”

Which are you doing right now? Spiritually, do you live by God’s priorities or do you miss the point?

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Posted by David on under Sermons

In the 1960s I took a course about restoration history under Dr. Earl West. As always happens, final exam came. As did most of my teachers, Dr. West gave essay examinations. He listed several short answer questions. You selected a specific number of questions and gave at least a page answer to each. He also listed several in depth answer questions. You were required to select one and write at least an hour about your answer.

When I selected my “long question,” I knew well the answer to one question on the list. I wrote furiously. I wrote and wrote and wrote. Then, about five minutes before exam time was up, I suddenly realized a horrible truth. I started my answer at the wrong place. By starting at the wrong place, I left out some of the core material. Everything I said was true. All my facts were correct. But because I began my answer at the wrong place, my answer did not address the point of the question. Everything I wrote was technically correct, but I missed the point.

I tried to “fix” my answer by adding an explanation, but it did not work. Because I started at the wrong place, my answer missed the point.

1. Perhaps that is a good way to describe the conflict between Jesus and Israel’s religious experts–the place these experts started simply missed God’s point.
   1. The religious experts who constantly questioned, ridiculed, and challenged Jesus were the scribes and Pharisees.
      1. They were genuine experts in the scripture, and Jesus never challenged the fact that they were well read and knowledgeable.
      2. Jesus’ challenge was simple: these experts missed God’s point.
   2. Late in Jesus’ life, not long before these religious experts insisted on his crucifixion, Jesus was specific on how these experts in scripture missed God’s point.
      1. In all the challenges and criticisms before this occasion, Jesus tried to teach these people.
      2. But on this occasion, Jesus straightforwardly declared exactly how they missed God’s point.
      3. Matthew 23 contains Jesus’ declaration of how the scribes and Pharisees missed God’s point.
         1. In verse 13 Jesus said they used their scriptural expertise to blind the Jewish people to God’s kingdom and prevent them from entering that kingdom.
         2. In verse 14 Jesus said they used prayer to create the appearance of spirituality while they took advantage of the helpless.
         3. In verse 15 Jesus said they spared no effort to indoctrinate converts, but, when they finished, the converts were unspiritual people devoted to Satan’s purposes.
         4. In verses 16-22 Jesus said in worship they made artificial distinctions God never made.
         5. In verses 23,24 Jesus said they gave God ten percent of absolutely everything, but they ignored central spiritual matters that God regards essential.
         6. In verses 25-28 Jesus said they were very concerned about projecting the appearance of being righteous, and very unconcerned about having righteous hearts.
         7. In verses 29-36 Jesus said they condemned the wicked acts of Israel’s past generations while they did the same kinds of evil they condemned.

2. This morning please give serious consideration to Jesus’ condemnation in Matthew 23:23,24.
   Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
   1. If we think carefully about this condemnation, it should terrify us.
      1. First, please note Jesus said not all of God’s commands are of equal importance.
         1. They all come from God.
         2. They all are inspired.
         3. They all are scripture.
         4. But God regards some of greater importance–some are “weighty” and some are not.
      2. May I state this in another way that is also accurate?
         1. From God’s perspective, some exist at “the heart of the matter”–these are “core” considerations.
         2. Others are “edge” matters; they are important, but they are not devoted to God’s “core” matters.
   2. The point is not that core commands should obeyed and other commands should be neglected; both should be obeyed.
      1. However, never make a core teaching out of an edge teaching.
      2. These religious experts gave God ten percent of absolutely everything, even the cooking spices they grew.
      3. But they did little to be just (give everyone fair treatment), to be merciful (to forgive those who made a mistake), or to be faithful (always to be honest and trustworthy).
   3. In fact, their emphasis actually encouraged people to be unfair, to condemn, and to be deceitful.
      1. According to them, giving God ten percent of absolutely everything was extremely important, a core matter.
      2. However, according to them, being just, merciful, and faithful were not core matters.
      3. Jesus said they missed God’s point.

3. On more than one occasion, Jesus stressed the two most important commandments God ever gave (Matthew 22:34-40; Luke 10:25-28).
   1. Both were a part of the core because all other commandments would be obeyed if a person did these two things.
      1. Love God with all your being.
      2. Love other people like you love yourself.
   2. The fact that people who love God love other people has always been a core matter in God’s priorities.
      1. Six of the ten commandments given to Israel are covered by loving other people like you love yourself.
         1. You will take care of your parents.
         2. You will not murder.
         3. You will not have sex with another man’s wife–consensual or otherwise.
         4. You will not steal things that belong to someone else.
         5. You will not ruin another person’s reputation or lie about what he or she did.
         6. You will not look at anything he or she has and be motivated by greed.
         7. You simply cannot do such things if you love people.
   3. Jesus himself said of all the commandments God ever gave, loving people as you love yourself is command number two.
   4. Paul said the Christian who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law because you cannot have sex with someone to whom you are not married, you cannot murder, you cannot steal, you cannot be motivated by greed, you cannot bring harm to anyone you love as you love yourself (Romans 13:9,10).
   5. As far as God is concerned, that is core material.

So you ask, “David, does that understanding really terrify you?” Yes! “Why?” Because we too often miss God’s point. Because we have made “core issues” out of things God does not emphasize. Because we are unconcerned about things God clearly emphasized.

We make “core matters” out of worship, out of worship styles, out of religious systems, out of the use of church buildings, out of procedures, out of every imaginable kind of personal preference.

And then our unrestrained greed flows, and we are sexually active outside of marriage, and we hate, and we lie, and we neglect our families, and we justify any kind of ungodly behavior when it gives us pleasure.

And we miss God’s point. And I fear we will hear God say to us, “Woe unto you!” And we will say, “But, God, we sang without an instrument, and we used unleavened bread in communion, and we took communion every Sunday, and we gave, and we had invitation songs, and we were very careful about how we used our auditorium.” And God just might say, “And you missed the point! Your answer started in the wrong place! You used your religious lives to strain out gnats while you swallowed camels.”

The Power and Importance of Respect

Posted by David on November 4, 2001 under Sermons

May I begin by thanking you for the ways you responded to my last three Sunday evening lessons on Christian community, meals, and worship in the first century. Thank you for expanding your thinking.

In practical ways, I want to make some applications based on the insights from those lessons. We can be fascinated by the fact that Paul told Christians in Rome (Romans 14) that they could hold totally different conscience conclusions regarding meat offered to idols, and God would accept both persons conclusion. The requirement: they refused to judge each other or hold each other in contempt. However, if our fascination with that biblical fact is not translated into respect for each other, our fascination produces little benefit or meaning.

This congregation is composed of very different people. Few if any of us have even one thing in common with everyone in this congregation (excluding our love for Jesus Christ). May I use myself to illustrate this fact? I grew up on a farm years ago in a rural area known more for its past coal mines than for its farming. Many of you lived in a city environment all your lives. Does that make either of us good or bad? No. In no way does that give either one of us good roots or bad roots.

I was taught not to respect people who grew up in a city. Was that a good teaching? No, that was a horrible teaching. Any feeling of superiority produced by a rural childhood experience is pure arrogance. I have a first cousin who spent a week in my home when I was a teenager. Because we lived on a farm, I had daily jobs to do through the summer. My particular job when my cousin visited was to stack brush in a creek bottom that had been bulldozed and cut with a heavy disk. I was accustomed to the sun, heat, and dust. My cousin was not. When my cousin quickly wilted under the hot sun, I thought it was funny. I have no doubt that I reflected a superior attitude.

However, if you placed me in my cousin’s city environment, I was scared to death. I could get around in the woods, but I could not get around in a city. I never wanted to spend a week with him in the city. Because he could not function in my environment, that was bad. Because I could not function in his environment, that was insignificant.

What was the tap root of my problem? A lack of respect for my cousin.

1. In our society, little is done to teach the importance of respect.
   1. In our country, people in every distinctive sub-group struggle to respect people from groups who have distinctive cultural differences.
      1. To me it is fascinating to observe the changes since our September 11 tragedy.
         1. Suddenly all forms of bigotry have disappeared.
         2. Have you seen the television advertisement with a number of individuals making the same statement: “I am an American.” There must be 12 to 18 different men and women who make that statement, and each of them is obviously from a distinct cultural heritage.
      2. But bigotry in the United States is not dead.
         1. Hate is still here, and its roots are disrespect.
         2. Racism is still here, and its roots are disrespect.
         3. Sexism is still here, and its roots are disrespect.
         4. Multiple forms of violence still exists, and their roots are disrespect.
      3. If you want to see and hear the enormous expressions of disrespect in this country, look at and listen to our humor.
         1. Note the ridicule in the humor you see and hear.
         2. Note the “put downs” in the humor you see and hear.
         3. Note the contempt in the humor you see and hear.
         4. Notice that “hilarious humor” degrades someone.
         5. What do ridicule, “put downs,” contempt, and degradation have in common? They all begin with a lack of respect.
   2. If we could feel and see respect anywhere among any people, it should be among Christians.
      1. Why?
         1. Because Christians know what it means to be forgiven.
         2. Because we know the acceptance of grace.
         3. Because we know what it means to receive mercy.
         4. Because we have experienced receiving a pardon.
      2. Is that the actual experience Christians have when we are among Christians? Can we move among Christians with the confidence that we will be respected?
         1. Which is the more common attitude: “I know that you are sincere in your convictions and hold them honestly,” or, “If you do not hold my conclusions, you deliberately choose to be wrong and know it!”
         2. Do you feel respect and understanding when you meet with fellow Christians, even when you have differences?
            1. Could you say, “Amen!” It was common practice in the church at Corinth in the New Testament.
               1 Corinthians 14:15,16 What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?
               1. Paul did not tell them to stop speaking in tongues (see verse 39).
               2. He told them to use tongues in ways that were orderly and edified all present.
               3. Please note that one of his arguments is this: people cannot say the “amen” if they do not understand what they hear.
            2. Men, could you comfortably raise your hands as you prayed in public knowing Christians would respect you? Christians in Asia Minor could.
               1 Timothy 2:8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
               1. Paul told Timothy what he should instruct Christian men to do.
               2. This was appropriate Christian behavior.
   3. “David, are you suggesting that we have to say “amen” or have men raise their hands when they pray?”
      1. That is neither my point nor my emphasis.
      2. If that is your reaction to what I have said, that reaction well may illustrate my point.
      3. If a Christian sincerely, from heart and conscience truly dedicated to the Lord chooses to express faith, devotion, and praise to God in biblical, but different ways, will I respect him or her, or will I judge, condemn, or ridicule him or her?
   4. We teach Christians to react to other Christians in a lot of ways.
      1. We teach them to judge.
      2. We teach them to condemn.
      3. We teach them to ridicule and belittle.
      4. We teach them to express contempt.
      5. We teach them to control others.
      6. Do we teach them to show respect?

2. God made great effort to get Peter to Cornelius’ house to teach Cornelius, his family, and his friends.
   1. It took a lot to penetrate the apostle Peter’s understanding.
      1. The roof top vision did not penetrate his understanding (Acts 10:10-16).
      2. The Holy Spirit speaking to Peter directly did not penetrate his understanding (Acts 10:17-20).
      3. The testimony of the men Cornelius sent to Peter did not penetrate Peter’s understanding (Acts 10:22,23).
      4. Peter’s initial introduction to Cornelius did not penetrate his understanding (Acts 10:24-27).
      5. “David, that is just your opinion.” No, that is Peter’s testimony–that is actually what Peter said to Cornelius.
         Acts 10:28,29 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”
   2. Finally, the message God wanted Peter to understand penetrated:
      Acts 10:34,35 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.”
      1. The King James translation begins Peter’s statement with these words: “I perceive that God is no respecter of persons …”
      2. God shows respect for all people who reverence Him and do what is right.
   3. The greatest single problem in the church in the New Testament was getting Jewish Christians and Christians who were not Jews to respect each other in their differences.
      1. The greatest single problem in the church of today is getting Christians who are in Christ to respect each other in their differences.
      2. In my personal judgement, that respect will be of enormous importance in the near future–just simple respect may well determine if we have the greatest opportunity the church in American has ever known or the most impossible mess the church in America has ever known.

Is one of the greatest blessings this congregation experiences produced by your ability to respect Christians who are not like you? Is one of the greatest heartaches this congregation experiences partially the result of your inability to respect Christians who are not like you?

God’s Passion to Forgive

Posted by David on under Sermons

What is your passion? I am not asking you what do you like. I am not asking you what gives you a high. I am not asking you what you do anytime you are allowed to indulge yourself. I am asking you, “What is your passion?”

The question I ask has to do with a cause or an injustice that deeply moves you. You are so deeply touched by this cause or injustice that it is your number one priority in life. Any time you must choose between your passion and anything else, you always choose your passion. Absolutely nothing is as important as your passion.

Let me share some examples. Some people’s passion is a political cause. They will do anything legal for their political cause. Some people’s passion is community service. They will endure great personal inconvenience for the sake of community service. Often suffering produces a passion. A parent whose child was killed by a drunk driver opposes drinking and driving with a passion. A spouse whose husband or wife suffered some horrible injustice opposes such injustices passionately.

You can observe this type of passion all around you. Look for anyone who totally devoted to a cause or a “rights” movement. Such people have an obvious passion.

Three questions: do you have a passion? Does God have a passion? Does your passion and God’s passion “hold hands?”

1. “Allow me to answer your questions.”
   1. Different ones of us would answer in different ways regarding our personal passion.
      1. Some would say, “I do not have one. I have never been into causes.
      2. Some would say, “I probably have a passion, but I have never thought about it much–I would have to think about it.”
      3. Some would say, “I surely do have a passion! I can tell you exactly what it is!”
   2. If we discussed God’s passion, we would have differing answers.
      1. First, we could generate an interesting discussion about the possibility of God having a passion.
         1. Most of us tend to think of God as being dispassionate.
         2. Some of us tend to think of God as being “feelingless”–everything with Him is intellectual and never emotional.
         3. Many of us realize God deeply desires some things, but we never thought of God’s desires being causes.
      2. Second, if we agreed God has passionate causes, we likely would disagree about His number one cause.
         1. Knowing our thinking and priorities, we likely would intensely disagree about God’s number one priority.
         2. I have my doubts that we would agree on God’s number one cause.

2. I want you to think, and I wish to issue the challenge in this way.
   1. Have you ever felt so moved, so committed, so passionate about anything that it was your number one priority in life for at least a decade?
      1. God has, and it was His number one priority for several thousand years.
         1. It became His number one priority the moment evil perverted His good creation.
         2. It became His number one priority the moment that evil distorted human beings into something God never intended.
            Galatians 4:4,5 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
            1 Timothy 2:3-6 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
      2. God labored for a few thousand years to give the people a Savior who could offer them perfect forgiveness.
   2. Have you ever felt so moved, so committed, so passionate about your number one priority that you made an enormous sacrifice to benefit your consuming cause?
      1. God has; He was so committed to His consuming cause that he sacrificed His son.
         1. Sometimes people adopt a cause because they suffered the loss of a child.
         2. God sacrificed for His cause knowing that it would cost the life of His only son.
            1 John 4:9,10 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
      2. God knew the ultimate cost of His commitment when He devoted Himself to the cause.
         1. “On the front end” God knew what it would cost.
         2. He knew His commitment would mean the death of His only son, a son who was totally devoted to His will, a son who would depend on Him absolutely.

3. What is God’s passion? What is His number one priority? What is His ultimate commitment?
   1. God wants to forgive people.
      Romans 5:6-8 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
   2. God’s desire to forgive people is greater than any desire or commitment you or I have ever had.
      1. “David, that is just your speculation, maybe your exaggeration.”
      2. No, according to the New Testament, that is fact.
   3. Do you think you could describe the kind of person God would and would not forgive?
      1. Let me describe a person to you.
         1. This person was extremely religious, absolutely committed, zealously devoted, and would kill other people to advance his convictions.
         2. Because of his religious commitment, he was part of a killing machine responsible for the imprisonment and death of many Christians.
         3. He was so committed to destroying these people he thought opposed God that he made a house-to-house search in a major city to arrest those people.
         4. He was willing even to travel to other countries to arrest people who were of his nationality but believed heresy.
         5. He even went into buildings devoted to worship to physically abuse Christians in a determined effort to get them to renounce the heresy.
         6. He tried to destroy the very situation God spent several thousand years bringing into existence.
         7. Did God’s desire to forgive include a person like this?
      2. To make certain that you understand that I am not speculating, read these scriptures with me.
         Acts 8:1-3 And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
         Acts 26:9-11 So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
   4. God not only wanted to forgive this man, He did forgive him, and made him the greatest missionary we have ever known; and allowed him to be the author of many of the New Testament writings.
      1. Why would God do that?
      2. Let him answer your question.
         1 Timothy 1:12,13,15,16 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; … It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

Paul did not know what he was doing; then God got his attention. God showed the scholar just how ignorant he was. God showed the man who believed enough to kill for God that his faith was in himself, not in God.

God wants to forgive you, and He will if you will let Him.

The Darkness Within

Posted by David on October 28, 2001 under Sermons

It is distinctly possible that every adult in this audience and most of the teens in this audience all used a similar object this morning. In fact, it is distinctly possibility that all adults and most teens use this similar object every morning. In fact, we all use this object so commonly that we rarely notice it. The only time we think about this object is when no one has one. When we have it, we never think about it. When we do not have it, we really miss it.

I expect some of you are thinking, “No way! Many of us might use something similar, but nothing is used by all of us.” How many mirrors do you have in your house? Do any of you have a bath room sink or a dressing area that does not have a mirror? Is there ever a day in your life when you do not look in a mirror?

The probability is high that you have some very good mirrors in your home. If you want to make a room appear larger, use some mirrors. If you want to brighten up an area, use some mirrors. Good mirrors are incredible in the way they reflect light. Mirrors literally can destroy darkness. But, regardless of the quality of the mirror, it only reflects light. A mirror is never the source of light.

1. I want us to read together a number of passages on light, and I want us to make the connection scripture makes between light and mirrors.
   1. Read with me these scriptures.
      1. First, note God is the source of all light, not the mirror but the source.
         James 1:17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
         1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
      2. Second, note that Jesus is our light because we see God through him.
         John 1:4,5 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
         John 1:9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
         John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
      3. Third, note that Christians reflect Jesus’ light into our world so through us people see Jesus and through Jesus people see God.
         Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
         Ephesians 5:6-14 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”
   2. So you say to me, “Let me get this straight:
      1. “God is the source of light.
      2. “Jesus as our light reflects God to us.
      3. “If we are Christians, we reflect Jesus and through Jesus people see God.
      4. “Are you not just stating your opinion?”
   3. May we allow Paul to verify that is precisely the situation. Consider 1 Corinthians 3:21-23.
      So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.
      1. The Christians in Corinth had many problems.
      2. One reason they had problems was this: they exalted certain people.
      3. They exalted these people because they did not understand the roles of God and Christ.
      4. Paul explained that in the matter of salvation everything, including spiritual teachers like Paul, Apollos, and Cephas existed for their benefit; and they existed for Christ’s benefit, and Christ existed for God’s benefit.

2. The simple, immediate point I want you to see and understand is this: if you are a Christian, you are a mirror to reflect Jesus Christ.
   1. I want us to ask two extremely important questions and to understand the answers.
      1. Question # 1: Why does God’s light shine through Jesus?
      2. The answer given in the verses we read is consistent: the light shines to destroy darkness.
      3. Question # 2: The darkness where? The darkness “out yonder” or the darkness inside of us.
         1. I think most of us would quickly say both.
         2. God wants to destroy the darkness out there and the darkness inside us.
         3. Which darkness do you try to destroy?
         4. May I make an observation that each of us needs to think about very seriously: we will never effectively destroy the darkness outside us until we are serious about destroying the darkness inside us.
   2. As amazing as a mirror is in reflecting light, that mirror reflects absolutely nothing if there is no light.
      1. When a good mirror reflects an intense source of light, it can blind you–never look into a mirror that is reflecting the direct rays of the sun.
      2. Take that same good mirror outside on a pitch-black night that is completely overcast.
         1. In the darkness lay the mirror on the ground, back up two or three steps, and attempt (in the dark) a complete turn.
         2. Then find the mirror; if you find it, it will be by feeling because there will be absolutely no light to reflect.
         3. That mirror is never the source of light; it can only reflect light.
   3. If we are Christians, we are never the source of light; we can only reflect light.
      1. We can only reflect light to the degree that we let Jesus shine through our lives.
      2. We can reflect light only to the degree that we allow Jesus to destroy the darkness within our own lives.
      3. Several things cause me to be very afraid for us.
         1. Some of us are not even aware that there is darkness inside of us to fight–we allow the darkness of evil to exist inside of us without opposition.
         2. Some of us know there is darkness inside us, but we have decided if we can hide that darkness from “the right people” it is perfectly okay to keep it.
         3. Some of us have concluded our darkness is okay, that if other people accept us they will just have to accept and get used to our darkness.
         4. Some of us are so busy opposing the darkness “out there” we never take time to confront the darkness inside.
   4. “What are you talking about?” Let me illustrate clearly what I am saying.
      1. Some of us Christians have our list of big, horrible sins that as black, black darkness are absolutely outrageous.
         1. This list might include things like prostitution, murder, violence, physical abuse, obvious addictions, promiscuous conduct, thievery–things such as those; such things are black, black, black darkness.
         2. But there are other things that we might classify as undesirable, but we would hesitate to say they were darkness, and we surely would not say they were black, black, black darkness.
         3. “What things?” Matters such as greed, deceit, prolonged anger, ungodly words, bitterness, slander, gossip, indulging sexual desires, drunkenness, cheating.
         4. If you are really concerned about letting Jesus’ light destroy the darkness inside, see which of those lists are resisted the most in the epistles.

3. A few days ago Brad received an e-mail I want to share with you. No confidentiality has been violated, and no, I do not read Brad’s e-mail. I do not know who sent this e-mail and have made no effort to find out. Brad received permission from the person for me to share it with you. All I know about the person is this: it is a teenager above 15 years old. This teenager has attended this congregation all his or her life.
   1. This is the message:
      “Okay I know I said I was going to try to come by this week … but I can’t. I have tried to make room but I am booked all week it seems … ah … I feel like I am about to fall into a bottomless pit and I don’t think I am going to be able to get out … ever.
      How in the world am I going to get out of this messy room when I don’t even know whose room this is anyways. How will I know even where everything goes and goes precisely? I am scared of getting yelled at from someone for doing the job wrong let alone just the job. I do not know that I can clean another room besides the room I am in right now … but how do I get to that room when I can’t even see the door to this room I am in … I am confused again and I don’t know where to begin … the fog had fallen and the dew is setting … the temperature is dropping and hearts are getting colder as well … I don’t know where mine belongs. I don’t know where to store it … who to give it to or whatnot.
      I don’t know if you understood that but I hope you do … later.”
      1. I doubt any teenager here above 15 has any difficulty understanding that letter.
      2. I am confident that a number of adults honestly would ask, “What was that teenager saying?”
   2. I want to share with you an insight, not a statement of confrontation or an argumentative statement, but an insight.
      1. We as adults are grieved deeply because so many of our teenagers leave the church when they become adults.
      2. Those of us who still have children at home are terrified that our children might decide to do the same thing in the years ahead.
      3. My insight: our children do not see us using the light God gives through Jesus to fight the darkness inside ourselves.
      4. We have focused so much energy on fighting the “darkness out yonder” that we individually do not even look at the darkness within ourselves.
      5. When something forces us to peek at the darkness in our own lives, we are far more likely to justify the darkness than we are to use Jesus’ light to attack the darkness inside.
      6. And our children see it and know it; they hear us tell everybody else how to fight the darkness out yonder; and they see us unable to shine the light on our own personal darkness.
      7. So when they confront darkness in their own lives, they have absolutely no idea of how to fight it, and the church as they know it suddenly becomes very irrelevant in the battle against personal darkness.

Some of you are a source of great personal joy and encouragement. Some of you understand that the first battlefield in the war between good and evil is the battlefield of the darkness inside self. Some of you understand that the only way to fight the darkness inside is with the light of Jesus. Some of you realize that to become lights to the world, we must constantly fight the darkness within. We are mirrors who reflect Jesus Christ. If we do not fight the darkness within, our mirrors have nothing to reflect. When we use the light to fight our own darkness, we shine Jesus’ light in our world as well as in ourselves.

Christian Community: Relating to Differing Children

Posted by David on October 21, 2001 under Sermons

Joyce and I have three children. We laughingly say our children are so different people would not believe they had the same parents. They have been different since they were born. Our oldest son wanted to please. His feelings were obvious. How other people felt about him mattered. Emotional reactions were common. Our middle son was quite independent. He did not show emotions. He was very much his own person, very much in control of himself. He worked hard. He set goals. He met his goals. Our youngest, a daughter, was a people person. She was always around people. She was very social minded.

Though as children they were very different, we loved each of them. Because we loved each of them, we dealt with them as individuals. Though with each of them we functioned on the same principles of love, we communicated our love to each child differently. Though we functioned on the same principles of fairness with each of them, we communicated our fairness to each child differently. Though we functioned on the same principles of encouragement and responsibility with each of them, we communicated those principles of encouragement and responsibility to each child differently.

Let me give you specific examples. I drove an o-l-d Ford pickup truck. It had way over 100,000 miles on it when I bought it. That truck served very pragmatic purposes. One of those purposes was providing me “in town” transportation. It provided only “in town” transportation because I did not trust it out of town.

Occasionally it was necessary for me to take one of them to school. The boys made no complaints when they had to ride to school in the truck. But, if it was our daughter, a truck ride to school was embarrassing. She would plead with me to let her out two blocks from the school so no one would see her riding in our very old pick up truck.

This has been our practice for buying cars: buy it, take care of it, and drive it until it is unreliable. In the course of our married life, we have owned and driven each travel vehicle for about ten years. The first car we bought when we returned from the mission field was driven until it had almost no trade in value. So when we replaced it, we kept it.

Our children did not have cars to drive in high school. With the exception of special circumstances for a few semesters, they did not have cars in college. When Jon was a senior in high school, he was the only senior who rode a school bus. When Kevin was a senior in high school, he was the only senior who rode a school bus.

When Anita was a senior in high school, our family schedule was extremely hectic. To us it made sense for her to drive the old car with no real trade in value to school. Jon and Kevin, who were no longer at home, protested. Anita bought a bumper sticker: “Make My Day: Steal This Car.”

My point is simple: loving parents treat each children differently. To accomplish love’s objectives in each child, parents must relate to children as the individuals they are.

1. As I challenge you to think, I ask you to listen in my context.
   1. I am specifically speaking of men and women who are Christians, who are in Jesus Christ, who are cleansed of evil by Jesus’ blood.
   2. I am speaking in the same context of the past two Sunday evenings.
      1. We focused on the fact that for hundreds of years one way people worshipped was by eating a sacred meal.
      2. We focused on the fact that both Jews and idol worshippers often ate a meal as they worshipped through animal sacrifices.
      3. We focused on the fact that most men and women who became Christians in New Testament times previously participated in worship by eating a meal.
      4. We focused on the fact that worship meals created confusion and crisis among Christians in the first century.
         1. Some Christians thought they should do whatever they considered okay.
         2. Some Christians thought some things could be done and some things could not done.
         3. Some Christians thought all Christians should become vegetarians and give up eating meat.

2. God interacts with his children individually; He relates to and understands each child as an individual.
   1. Most of us are quite comfortable with that understanding when it comes to human parents and their children.
      1. We understand that each child born into our family is a unique individual.
      2. We understand that our principles must not change, but that we must relate to each child as an individual as we teach those principles.
      3. We understand that even though each child is an individual, they need to learn to respect each other. Differences do not justify disrespect.
      4. We understand the need to help them learn how to encourage each other.
      5. Even though each child is different, we are still the parents of all our children and love each of them–they do not have to be identical to receive our love.

   2. While we are quite comfortable with those truths in regard to human parents and their children, we do a poor job of understanding those truths in regard to our divine Father and His children.
      1. Paul clearly taught that God relates to His children individually.
      2. The challenge is to get us to relate to each other as God relates to each of us.
      3. We are the ones who try to make clones out of all Christians.
      4. We have not understood that is not and never was God’s objective.
      5. The truth that God relates to and accepts each of His children as individuals is powerfully stressed in Romans 14 and the crises created by sacred meals.

3. Let’s begin by considering the context of Romans 14.
   1. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome.
      1. Some were Jewish people who were converted from backgrounds in Judaism.
      2. Some were not Jews who were converted from backgrounds of worshipping idols.
      3. Some probably were converted from backgrounds that held pretty dim personal views of the entire religious scene.
      4. Some converted Jews were certain they knew how God wanted things done.
      5. Some converted idol worshippers thought these Jewish Christians were ridiculous.
      6. Some had a hard time separating their background experiences of the past from their present conversion to Christ.
      7. Some clearly understood what God was doing in Christ.
      8. Some were spiritually weak.

   2. One thing that magnified their differences was eating meat that had been offered to an idol.
      1. Some Jewish Christians said Christians absolutely must not do that–such was an act of idolatry.
      2. Some converted idol worshippers said Christians absolutely could not do that–to eat such meat was an act of worship that honored a false God.
      3. Some stronger Christians with a correct understanding of what God did in Christ said it was unimportant.
         1. A Christian may eat any meat because he or she should understood that God created the animal.
         2. A Christian may eat any meat because he or she understands all food was made acceptable by Jesus’ death and prayer.
      4. As we still do today, they got into a big argument among Christians about who was right.
         1. Some argued spiritual safety said Christians should not eat any meat.
         2. Some argued that was too extreme: Christians just needed to be cautious and ask the right questions when they bought or ate meat.
         3. Some argued that both were concerned about matters that made no difference to God; if Christians properly understood Christ, they would not waste time and energy on such practices.

   3. “Paul, with the Christians in Rome arguing about sacred meals, what did you ask them to understand?” (Romans 14)
      1. “Understand the purpose of being a Christian is to accept other Christians [even weak ones], not to judge other Christians” (Romans 14:1).
         1. “In this matter of sacred meals, Christians, do not hold other Christians in contempt” (Romans 14:3).
         2. “In this matter of sacred meals, Christians, do not judge other Christians” (Romans 14:3).
         3. “You have no right to hold in contempt or judge a person God accepts” (Romans 14:3).
      2. “The Lord is the master, and he can make Christians stand even when they reach completely different conclusions regarding sacred meals” (Romans 14:4).
         1. “Every single one of you is a servant.”
         2. “Servants have no right to judge each other.”
         3. “Only a Master can judge a servant.”
         4. “A servant’s judgment is not the basis of another servant’s approval or rejection.”
         5. “That right of approval or rejection is reserved for the Master alone.”
      3. “God knows and understands why you do what you do” (Romans 14:5,6).
         1. “God knows actions that come from faith when He sees them.”
         2. “God knows actions that come from sincere consciences when He sees them.”
         3. “One Christian observes holy days to honor God.”
         4. “Another Christian does not observe holy days to honor God.”
         5. “One Christian eats no meat to honor God.”
         6. “Another Christian eats meat to honor God.”
         7. “The basic motivation of each Christian is the same, and God knows it.”
         8. “Do not oppose or discourage the Christian who honors God by acts of faith that come from his or her conscience.”
      4. “The focus is to be on the Lord, not on me and my standards” (Romans 14:7-9).
         1. “Our whole existence and our deaths are about the Lord, not about self.”
         2. “Our basic concern is not, ‘Are these Christians living up to my standards?'”
         3. “Our basic concern is calling the world to accept the Lordship of Jesus Christ, not judging other Christians by our personal standards and conclusions.”
         4. “Spend your time advancing Jesus’ Lordship, not judging other Christians.”
      5. “Judging Christians is God’s business, and He can and will care for that matter far better than we can.”
         1. “Let God judge why Christians do or do not eat the sacred meal.”
         2. “Each one of us will explain to God not only our actions but our motivations.”

The fact that everyone of us is different does not distress God. If what we individually do honors God, if what we individually do expresses the faith that depends on God, if what we do praises God from a sincere conscience, God knows and understands exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it.

People in Jesus Christ who depend on God, who honor God, who praise God for what He does for us in Jesus Christ must respect each other. Every Christian needs the encouragement of the respect of other Christians.

The “No Consequence” Mentality–And Me

Posted by David on under Sermons

The situation: Mom treasures an old vase that belonged to great-grandmother. It is the only thing she has that belonged to great-grandmother. It is not worth much, but it is of enormous personal value. She warned her son often not to touch the vase.

The happening: the son shatters the vase. It is broken into so many fragments that it could never be glued together.

The question: should the son endure consequences of his action? What form should those consequences take? How should Mom impose those consequences?

Before deciding if consequences should occur, the form of those consequences, and how to impose the consequences, there are other issues to settle.

How did the vase break? Was it an accident? Was it willful, deliberate disobedience? Or, was it one of those unusual, freak happenings?

Obviously, Mom is deeply upset. Should Mom express her anger and grief in the consequences? Or, should Mom assume the consequences?

If the son broke the vase by willfully, deliberately disobeying Mom, what should Mom do? Should her rage give her son a beating never to be forgotten? Should Mom wait until her feelings are under control before deciding the consequences? Should her son understand the “why” of the consequences?

It seems to me the two “bookend approaches” of Mom’s options are these. One “bookend” is the “no consequence” mentality. “Honey, it is my fault, not yours. I should have placed the vase out of your sight and reach.” The other “bookend” is to give him a whipping that he will never forget. A multitude of options lie between those “bookends,” and hopefully Mom’s wisdom will choose one of those options.

To me, in real terms, those “bookends” contrast our past society with our present society. In the past, a razor strap whipping was almost automatic. Some of you experienced that consequence. Today, “It is not your fault,” is a common approach.

1. Every one of our personal worlds struggle with messes.
   1. In our fantasies, someone else’s life is ideal and has no problems.
      1. The truth: there are no ideal lives.
      2. The truth: everyone struggles in his or her personal life.
      3. The struggle between good and evil expresses itself in personal terms in all our lives.

   2. Nowhere is that struggle more real than in the consequences of behavior.
      1. The consequences of behavior is a complicated, complex reality.
      2. Sometimes we struggle because of consequences produced by our own behavior, even when we do not wish to admit it.
      3. Sometimes we struggle because of consequences produced by the behavior of those we love.
      4. Sometimes we struggle because of consequences produced by the behavior of people we do not even know.
      5. Sometimes we struggle because of consequences produced by behavior within our society.
      6. Sometimes we struggle because of consequences produced by behavior in our world.
      7. Most of our struggles are produced by a combination of these.
      8. The struggle between good and evil occurs in all those arenas, and all those struggles affect our personal lives.

   3. This is the truth: in the context of physical life and physical existence, we cannot eliminate bad consequences.
      1. Given our freedoms and opportunities, we can make choices that reduce the number and the effect of some bad consequences.
      2. However, the majority of the people in our world cannot make such choices.
         1. The majority of the world’s population have few opportunities or freedoms.
         2. The majority of the world’s population have little control over what happens in their personal worlds.
      3. Because evil is an ever present reality, bad consequences are a constant part of physical existence.

2. I want to emphasize two simple truths about behavior and consequences by using Bible examples of two men.
   1. The first man was a godly man who thought through manipulation he could escape the consequences of his ungodly behavior. Consider Israel’s King David (2 Samuel 11-17).
      1. King David was truly a godly man who had an enormous heart for God.
         1. Once King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife.
            1. As a result of his “one night stand,” Bathsheba was pregnant.
            2. Uriah was a soldier in David’s army, and he was with the army fighting a battle.
            3. David thought he could hide his adultery by having Uriah come home and be with his wife.
            4. David’s plan failed, so he sent Uriah back to the army carrying orders for him to be placed in the front line in a way that assured his death.
         2. Uriah was killed in a battle; Bathsheba mourned for him the appropriate period; and David married her.
            1. David was certain he had hidden his adultery.
            2. He was certain there would be no consequences.
      2. Months later, after the child’s birth, the prophet Nathan confronted David.
         1. Not for one moment had all David’s evil acts been hidden from God’s eyes.
         2. The consequences were enormous: David suffered; Bathsheba suffered; the child died; and the resulting consequences within David’s family included rape, murder, and a determined effort by one of David’s sons to destroy him.
      3. Though David was a godly man, the consequences of his behavior were enormous.
         1. God forgave him.
         2. But forgiveness did not eliminate the consequences.

   2. The second man was a godly man whose bad consequences were not produced by his personal choices. Consider Daniel in the book of Daniel.
      1. For generations God warned the kingdom of Judah they would pay horrible consequences for their ungodliness and idolatry if they did not repent and return to Him.
         1. The people of Judah refused to repent and turn to God.
         2. After many warnings and a lot of patience, God allowed the people of Judah to suffer the consequences of their behavior.
      2. The consequences began by allowing the Babylonian empire to take control of the kingdom of Judah.
         1. The first to go into exile included young men from the finest families in Israel; young men from the royal family and the families of nobility; young men who were noted for intelligence, wisdom, and understanding.
         2. Among these young men was a young man named Daniel.
      3. Nothing indicates that Daniel went into Babylonian exile as a consequence of his own personal ungodliness.
         1. In fact, the book of Daniel documents the godly faith and godly behavior of this man.
         2. Yet, he was among the first to go into exile.
         3. He never saw his homeland again.
         4. He never walked the streets of Jerusalem again.
         5. He may never have seen his family again.
      4. Yet, he was a godly man in very ungodly circumstances who was committed to God. Once, early in his exile, Daniel praised God with these words:
         Daniel 2:20-23 “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king’s matter.”
      5. Daniel endured the consequences of evil produced by generations of rebelliousness committed before his birth.

   3. David and Daniel represent scary realities.
      1. It is impossible for us to hide anything we do from God.
      2. It is possible for us to endure bad consequences made necessary by the lives and decisions of other people.

3. A loving God in the ultimate kindness we know as grace and mercy did something for us none of us could do for ourselves.
   1. We often say God sent us Jesus to die for our sins, but perhaps we have said that so long that we have forgotten what God did for us.
      1. Jesus declared what God was doing when he talked to Nicodemus:
         John 3:16-19 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
      2. Everyone, including Israel, was already perishing, but the loving God wanted to substitute eternal life for perishing.
         1. So the loving God sent Jesus to save the world, not condemn the world.
         2. Those who continue in faithlessness in Jesus are self-condemned.
         3. But those who place their faith in Jesus are removed from perishing.
         4. Placing our trust in what God did in Jesus removes us from condemnation.

   2. Why? What was it that God did in Jesus that destroys our condemnation?
      1. Many Bible statements tell us what God allowed to happen in Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, but two powerfully come to my mind.
         1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
         1. Jesus wore our sins, actually wore our sins, as he died on the cross.
         2. He did that to give us opportunities that did not exist.
            1. He did that to give us the opportunity to die to sin.
            2. He did that to give us the opportunity to live to righteousness.
         3. Because he was wounded for us, you and I can be healed.
            2 Corinthians 5:21 He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
         4. As Jesus died on the cross, God made Jesus sin for us.
         5. Why did God do that? So in Jesus we might become the righteousness of God.
      2. What God did for us in Jesus is too incredible to completely comprehend.
         1. As he wrote to Christians, John gave this explanation in 1 John 1:5-10.
         2. If as Christians we will do three things:
            1. Commit ourselves to living in God’s light;
            2. Live in fellowship with each other;
            3. Confess (to God) the sins we realize that we commit.
         3. God promises Christians to do the following:
            1. Use Jesus’ blood to cleanse (ongoing process) us from all sin.
            2. Forgive us of the sins we confess.
            3. Cleanse (ongoing process) us from all unrighteousness.
         4. Thus for the Christian every day of life begins brand new because God cleanses us in Jesus’ blood.

As long as we live on this earth there will be evil, and evil will produce consequences. But as long as we live on this earth, in Christ we can begin every day new in the cleansing only God can provide.

Christian Community: The Meal Worship Crisis

Posted by David on October 14, 2001 under Sermons

Last Sunday evening I emphasized a single fact, and I asked you to remember that one fact. I asked you to remember this fact: in both the Old Testament and New Testament world, people often worshipped by eating a meal. The faithful in Israel commonly worshipped by eating a meal. I called to your attention Israel’s Passover meal. I called to your attention Elkanah’s worship meal in 1 Samuel 1:1-5. I called to your attention the evil acts of the priest’s sons at worship meals in 1 Samuel 2:12-17.

Just as many of Israel’s animal sacrifices involved a worship meal, so did the animal sacrifices of those who worshipped idols.

A major crisis existed among many first century Christians because of the worship meal. Virtually all who were Christians worshipped before conversion by eating a meal. That was a common practice in many animal sacrifices for both Jews and those who worshipped idols. Virtually everyone converted to Christ was either a Jew or a person who worshipped an idol. Virtually everyone converted to Christ had worshipped by eating a meal.

Christians in Corinth lived in an idolatrous city. Many of those Christians worshipped idols prior to conversion. Becoming a Christian did not eliminate the influences of pagan practices in a convert’s every day life. City politics and idol worship were so intertwined it was impossible to separate them. Religion and state were very much joined together. Government simply did not function without the direct involvement of the gods. It was impossible to separate business and idol worship. Every business guild had a patron god or goddess. To assure that business went well, guild members honored that god or goddess. Guilds had much in common with today’s labor unions in some places. If you were not a member of the guild, you could not do business.

For first century Christians, the world of the Roman empire was in extreme contrast to the world of the American Christian. We can live in isolation. They could not. We can restrict our meaningful involvement and activities to association with other Christians. They could not. Their lives were affected by idolatrous practices every single day they lived.

1. How should Christians live when they are surrounded by idolatrous influences?
   1. That was a huge question they had to answer–it simply could not be ignored.
      1. Different Christians had different answers for that question.
         1. Some had the attitude, “That is reality. Christ freed us, so we are free to live the way we choose doing as we wish.”
         2. Some had the attitude, “There are some things Christians can do and some things Christians cannot do.” Just as today, their opinions and past experiences often determined what could and could not be done.
         3. Some had the attitude, “You cannot do anything that has the appearance of honoring a false god.”
      2. Just like today, Christians had some serious arguments among themselves about what could and could not be done.
         1. Those arguments affected their fellowship.
         2. Those arguments affected their respect for each other.

   2. Few questions brought disagreements into conflict as quickly as did worship meals.
      1. Because all of them ate worship meals prior to becoming Christians, that practice raised enormous questions.
         1. When does a meal become an act of worship?
         2. If you eat meat that you know has been sacrificed to an idol, does eating the meat automatically make the meal a worship meal?
         3. If you do not know that the meat you eat was sacrificed to an idol, is it still a worship meal in spite of your ignorance?
         4. Should Christians be vegetarians just to be safe?
      2. There seemed to be two central issues:
         1. What makes a meal a worship meal?
         2. Does eating meat from an animal sacrificed to an idol honor that idol?
      3. To understand the difficulty of these questions, you must remember some facts.
         1. Fact one: everyone had the past experience of worshipping by eating sacrificial meat; from past experience, they understood such worship.
         2. Fact two: this was a common understanding from past experience: the act of eating the meat from a sacrifice honored the god (God) to whom the sacrifice was offered.

2. Allow me to call your attention to two paragraphs found in a letter Paul wrote to Christians at Corinth. The two paragraphs are joined. The first paragraph is 1 Corinthians 10:14-22.
   1. “You must understand that idolatry is spiritually destructive.”
      1. “A Christian must run from idolatry.”
         1. “Idolatry represents everything you seek to escape by being a Christian.”
         2. “Idolatry involves a false god and an ungodly lifestyle.”
      2. “You are wise enough to comprehend this, so listen to understand.”
         1. “When a Jew eats part of his sacrifice, it is worship offered to honor God.”
         2. “When an idol worshipper eats part of his sacrifice, it is worship to honor a god.”

   2. “Does that mean an idol is a real god? No!”
      1. “Sacrifices made to idols are sacrifices made to demons.”
      2. “A Christian cannot worship God and worship a demon.”
      3. “To knowingly attempt to do so insults God.”
      4. “You cannot take communion with Christians and make sacrifices to idols with people who are not Christians.”

   3. Some Christians did not agree with Paul’s instructions, and Paul knew it.
      1. In the city of Corinth people were free to live as they pleased.
      2. Additionally, Christians argued Christ did two things.
         1. He freed the Christian.
         2. His sanctification eliminated do’s and don’ts.
      3. Paul said freedom and sanctification were not the only legitimate concerns when considering a meat that came from a sacrifice to an idol.
         1. “Christ did set the Christian free.”
         2. “Christ did sanctify every food.”
         3. “God is the source of all food.”
         4. “But you must not forget that you are servants; when you do things that are spiritually destructive to other people, you are not serving God.”

3. I call to your attention the second paragraph: 1 Corinthians 10:23-33.
   1. “When you buy meat from the meat market, buy the meat but do not ask questions.”
      1. The common supplier of meat for the meat market in most cities (outside of Palestine) were the temples dedicated to idols.
         1. Some Christians asked at the meat market, “Where did you get this meat?”
         2. They were shopping for meat for a meal.
         3. They were not preparing for a worship meal.
      2. Problem number one: meat sold at the city’s meat market.
         1. “Eat anything that is sold in the meat market.”
         2. “God is the creator.”
         3. “It all came from God.”
         4. “Eat the meat and give God the honor.”
      3. Problem number two: a person who is not in Christ invites you to a meal.
         1. First, when he obtains meat for his meal he will not ask where the meat came from–to him, it never matters.
         2. Whatever he serves, eat it.
         3. Do not ask questions; do not insult his hospitality.
      4. Problem number three: the host volunteers to you that the meat he is serving comes from a sacrifice offered to an idol.
         1. I do not understand this to be a confrontational statement but a sensitivity statement.
            1. The host knows the Christian holds different beliefs.
            2. The host does not want the Christian to unknowing eat something he would otherwise not eat.
            3. I regard the host’s information to be shared in kindness.
         2. Do not eat the meal.
            1. For his sake, do not eat the meal.
            2. For his conscience sake, do not eat the meal.
         3. Why? Why should a man’s conscience (who is not a Christian) determine what I eat?
            1. If I know God is the creator, why not eat?
            2. If I give thanks to God for the meat which He created, why not eat?
         4. Because if you eat, in that man’s conscience God will not be glorified.
            1. Christians do nothing that does not give God glory.
            2. Christians are God’s servants.
            3. Others honor God because of their actions and attitudes.
         5. If you eat, the host will lose respect for your God and you will lose influence for your God.
            1. “I will do nothing among Christians or among those who do not believe in Christ to make them think less of God.”
            2. “My objective never changes: cause more people to accept the salvation God presents in Christ.”

With far too many Christians, there are two huge spiritual questions. Question one: by what authority? Question two: is it right? This is the thinking: “If I can show that I have God’s authority for what I do, and if I can show that what I do is right, it is okay. What people think who are not Christians is irrelevant. What people who are Christians think is irrelevant. I can prove it is authorized and right, so its okay.”

Paul said those two questions are not the only relevant spiritual concerns. This same Paul answered both of those questions. He said that the meat came from the God who created it (1 Corinthians 10:26), so there is authority. He told the preacher Timothy (1 Timothy 4:3,4) to teach people they cannot eat meat is teaching the doctrines of demons. Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received by gratitude. That satisfies the “right” question.

But Paul told the Christians at Corinth more is involved. “We are God’s servants. There are two things I will never do as Christian. One, I will never knowingly be spiritually destructive to another Christian. Two, I will never knowingly cause a person who is not a Christian to think less of my God.”

As a Christian, are you a servant? Do you live with those objectives in mind?

“God, Why Did You Let That Happen?”

Posted by David on under Sermons

An eight year-old boy loved taking risks. He especially got a thrill when he could combine climbing and risk-taking. More than once his father caught him in the act. Each time his father warned him of what could happen and the painful consequences that could result.

But the boy was eight years old. When you are eight years old, nothing really bad can happen. Anything can be fixed! So he continued to climb, and he increased risks. Oh, he was careful. Very careful! Very careful to see that his dad did not catch him.

One day he made his most daring climb, a climb higher than he had never attempted. He successfully made the climb, and his confidence soared. So…he took the greatest risk he had taken. Just when he was certain that he had accomplished his greatest stunt with no consequences, he slipped. In an instant that passed so fast that his mind could not grasp it, he was on the ground in great pain.

At first he could not catch his breath. The fall knocked his breath out of him. When he finally caught his breath, the pain began to scream. Both arms were broken. One was so severely broken that a bone pierced the skin. He landed so awkwardly that he also sprained both ankles. He lay in agony unable to move.

Later after surgery, he opened his eyes and saw his dad leaning over him. In a voice barely louder than a whisper, he said to his dad, “This is your fault! How could you let this happen to me?”

1. This has been an unbelievable month!
   1. If in July anyone had prophesied accurately the events of September and early October, we would have declared the person crazy.
      1. The destruction of the World Trade Center towers?
      2. Almost 6,000 casualties?
      3. The Pentagon severely damaged with casualties?
      4. Anthrax?
      5. Military action in Afghanistan?

   2. I actually have heard people ask the question, “How can God let such things happen?
      1. What does that question mean? When people ask that question, what are they saying?
         1. Some are saying there is no God.
            1. If God existed, He would not allow things like that to happen.
            2. If there was a God, and if He was all powerful, He would use His power to stop horrible happenings.
         2. Some are saying that God exists, but all this is God’s fault.
            1. God has the power to stop such horrible things.
            2. When they happen, they happen because God did not use His power.
         3. Some are saying that they are confused.
            1. They do not understand how horrible happenings and God’s power fit together.
            2. They simply do not know what to think about what happened.
      2. This is the common thought in the question: some way, some how it is God’s fault.
         1. It is the idea that God will not allow bad things to happen to good people.
         2. It is the idea that God protects Christians from bad happenings.
      3. That is a very curious idea, a very confusing conclusion.
         1. We celebrate the fact that God allowed His son to die on a cross.
         2. We admire Stephen for being the first Christian martyr.
         3. We honor Paul for enduring suffering and execution.
         4. But we conclude that today God will not allow bad things to happen to good people.

2. We find the reality of bad things happening to good people perplexing and confusing, but it is an old, old question.
   1. Before Christianity existed, Israelites asked the same question.
      1. It is the central question that stands as the heart of the book of Job.
         1. Job was the godliest man on earth.
         2. Job had horrible experiences.
         3. He did not understand how a godly person like himself could have such horrible things happen to him.
         4. His friends give him awful explanations of why he suffered.
      2. God revealed to Habbakuk the horrible consequences that Judah would experience.
         1. God warned Judah for the majority of 300 years, and Judah refused to turn their lives around.
         2. So God revealed to Habbakuk the consequences Judah would pay.
         3. Habbakuk was deeply shaken by God’s revelation.
         4. He even asked God, “Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they” (Habbakuk 1:13).
      3. Judah was extremely confident nothing bad could happen to them.
         1. They were God’s people.
         2. They had God’s temple sitting in God’s holy city.
         3. When God sent teachers like Habbakuk to tell them they needed to repent, they would cry, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” (Jeremiah 7:4)
            1. What they meant was, “Nothing bad can happen to us!”
            2. “We have God’s temple, and God would not let anything bad happen to His temple!”
            3. But the temple of the Lord was destroyed, and they were conquered by the Babylonians.

   2. In the last fifty years, we created a huge lie by believing our society should exist without consequences.
      1. We created and we live by a “no responsibility” mentality.
         1. Years ago we began to learn the factors that contribute to specific problems in human behavior, and that is good.
         2. Years ago we began to learn the many ways we are influenced as we develop, and that is good.
      2. But we took good understandings and used them for bad purposes.
         1. We should have taken those understandings and used them to become more responsible people.
         2. Instead, we allowed those understanding to deceive us. Now we believe we are not responsible for who we are or what we do.
      3. Now we live in a society that believes:
         1. No matter what happens, someone else must be blamed; it is always someone else’s fault.
         2. We should be protected from all forms of liability.
            1. We should be protected from bad food regardless of how we eat.
            2. We should be protected from medicine’s side effects.
            3. No matter how we use any product we buy, we should be protected from harm.

3. Since we live in a no consequence nation and a no consequence society, we need a no consequence God.
   1. So we declare there should be no spiritual or moral consequences to any form of human behavior.
      1. We can live in any way we please.
      2. People can be as immoral and irresponsible as they wish.
      3. The world can be as unjust as it chooses to be.
      4. Greed can rule the hearts of the majority.
      5. People world wide can hate as much as they want to hate.
      6. Selfish pleasure can drive people to use and abuse other people.

   2. BUT…God is responsible to see that nothing bad happens.
      1. No matter how we behave, God is responsible to see that there are no consequences.
      2. No matter what emotions govern our lives, God is responsible to see there are no consequences.
      3. No matter how selfish, or greedy, or unfair, or abusive, or unjust, or pleasure centered, or materialistic, or morally irresponsible we are, God is responsible to see there are no consequences.

4. I am not so stupid or arrogant as to think that I have THE answer to horrible consequences falling on good people, but I do have some thoughts I want you to consider.
   1. At some point in our existence, we must realize that evil produces consequences.
      1. The first great deceit declared by evil is this: there are no consequences.
      2. The second great deceit declared by evil is this: if by accident some consequences occur, they will be small.
      3. The third great deceit declared by evil is this: if by accident some consequences occur, it will always be someone else’s fault.
      4. All three of those declarations are lies.
      5. Evil and consequences go together.
         1. Sometimes consequences are immediate: doing evil instantly creates problems.
         2. Often consequences are unintended: “I did not mean for that to happen.”
         3. Sometimes consequences are progressive: things go from bad to worse.
         4. Sometimes consequences are long term: it is possible for involvement in evil to set in motion events that will hurt lives for generations.

   2. At some point we must realize that being free moral agents means we have responsibilities.
      1. We rejoice in the fact that God created us a persons of choice–that is what we mean by being free moral agents.
         1. Everyone of us has a right to choose.
         2. Everyone of us can choose.
         3. Everyone of us can be as evil as we choose to be or as godly as we choose to be.
      2. However, we must realize that responsibility is the price we pay for being free to choose.
         1. No matter what factors contribute to my problems, I must choose.
         2. The choices I make are my responsibility.

   3. At some point we must wake up to this fact: “God did not do that; wicked people did that.”
      1. If a drunk driver kills someone in my family, God did not make the driver drunk.
      2. If someone in my family is raped, God did not fill the rapist with hate or make him a slave to his passions.
      3. If I suffer because of someone else’s greed and injustice, God did not fill that person with greed and selfishness.
      4. Satan did, but God did not.

The cry of our nation cannot be, “God, leave us alone; let us live as we please; but do not let anything bad happen.” The cry of Christians cannot be, “‘God leave us alone; let us live as we please; but do not let anything bad happen.”

The tragedy: we do not know evil when we see it. So we invite the consequences of evil into our lives and never realize what we are doing.

Hundreds of years ago Isaiah wrote these words to people who made our same mistake for the same reasons:
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Only God can show us how to recognize good, see the light, and understand the true distinction between sweet and bitter.

Christian Community: When They Ate To Worship

Posted by David on October 7, 2001 under Sermons

I want to explain what I plan to do for the next few Sunday nights. I will use both Old Testament and New Testament scriptures to increase our understanding of a first century problem among those Christians. First, I will build some background from the Bible. Second, I will focus your attention on the New Testament’s declaration of the problem. Third, I will call your attention to God’s solution to the problem. If we understand the problem and God’s solution, that understanding should change the way Christians treat each other. That understanding should increase our patience and kindness toward each other.

Allow me to begin by focusing your attention and challenging you to think. Frequently, as individuals, all of us encounter a major spiritual problem. Spiritually and religiously, sometimes we learn information from scripture that contradicts what we were told scripture taught. Every time that happens, we face an important decision. Some times those decisions create huge personal crises.

Let me give you a specific example. Back in the 1950s it was popular to preach against smoking tobacco. Articles were written, tracts were written, and sermons were preached about the wickedness of smoking. Many arguments were made against the evils of smoking. The most common argument from scripture made was this: “If you smoke, you destroy your body. If you destroy your body, God promises that He will destroy you.” The conclusion was simple: if a person smokes, produces health problems, and dies as a result of those health problems, God will destroy that person in hell.

The proof text scripture used to “prove” this conclusion was 1 Corinthians 3:16,17. That scripture reads:
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

But using that scripture to condemn smoking tobacco creates a huge problem. This scripture is not concerned about smoking tobacco or any problem similar to smoking tobacco. This statement was written by Paul about the internal division within the congregation at Corinth. In context, the temple of God in this scripture is the congregation at Corinth. “You, the congregation at Corinth, should realize that you collectively are God’s temple.” Paul told them that allowing internal division to destroy the congregation guaranteed God’s wrath. If they allowed internal division promoted by maintaining differing loyalties to destroy the congregation, God would destroy them.

I do not smoke. I do not think smoking advances God’s purposes in my life. I am not advocating smoking. My point is simple: this scripture has nothing to do with smoking tobacco. It concerns internal division in a congregation. It is not about an individual Christian’s physical body. In this scripture, the temple is the congregation at Corinth, not a human body. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul does call the individual Christian’s body God’s temple, but not in 1 Corinthians 3:16,17. We cannot “rightly divide the word of truth” and force 1 Corinthians 3:16,17 to say something Paul did not say.

When I understand that, I have a choice to make. (1) I can maintain my ignorance and defend my ignorance by strongly affirming my ignorance is the truth. (2) I can use my ignorance to draw conclusions from uninformed speculation. Example: “Smoking involves no moral issues!” (3) I can acknowledge my ignorance and resolve to become better informed. (4) I can dedicate myself to better understanding God’s will and purposes regardless of where He leads me.

We can talk all we wish about being Christ’s church and being dedicated to God’s will. But this is the truth of the matter: it is demanding and difficult to open our minds and hearts to valid, in context information from scripture when that information contradicts what we were taught and we accepted. That is demanding and hard for every single one of us. All of us have a desire to force scripture to support what we believe. No one wants scripture to radically change our understandings.

1. This evening, I want you to see and understand one fact from scripture. I want you to develop a single awareness.
   1. Though this fact is obvious in scripture, it is likely you read right past it.
      1. Bible students, you read over it, by it, and through it a thousand times and likely never pay any attention to it.
      2. There is a reason few pay any attention to it: this fact seems so strange to us, it seems so foreign to us, we simply do not think about it.
      3. Yet, as strange as it seems to us, it was not at all strange to people in Old Testament Israel or Old Testament idolatry, and it was not at all strange to people in New Testament Israel or New Testament idolatry.

   2. When I say “worship,” what do you automatically think?
      1. The word “worship” does not bring the same understandings and images to all of us.
         1. Some hear the word “worship” and immediately think of “correct forms.”
            1. Worship occurs if the forms are correct.
            2. Not matter what is in a person’s heart, if the forms are not correct there is no worship.
         2. Some hear the word “worship” and immediately think of what we commonly call the five acts of worship: singing, praying, preaching, communion, and giving.
            1. Worship is a matter of procedure.
            2. If the correct things are done, worship occurs.
         3. Some hear the word “worship” and immediately think of the glorification of God.
            1. If the right forms are observed but there is no deliberate, conscious glorification of God, worship does not occur.
            2. If the right procedures occur but there is not deliberate, conscious glorification of God, worship does not occur.
         4. Those are not the only three things that Christians immediately think about when they hear the word “worship,” but those are three very common things.

   3. No matter what we specifically think when we hear “worship,” we all regard singing, praying, and communion [when each comes from our understanding and hearts] as expressions of worship.
      1. I think I can be reasonably certain that none of us think of eating a meal as an expression of worship.
         1. That is so foreign to our experience or our practices or our approved expressions of worship, that eating a meal as an act of worship never enters our minds.
         2. It is so foreign to our thinking and our experiences that we would say that anyone who considers eating a meal an act of worship misses the whole point of worship.
      2. Yet, scripture confirms, without doubt, that the most significant occasions of worship in Israel [and in any form of sacrificial worship] involved eating a meal.
         1. That was true in Israel in the Old and New Testaments.
         2. That was true in most forms of idolatry in the Old and New Testaments.
         3. The vast majority of people who became Christians in the New Testament were converted from religions that ate meals as expressions of worship on some of the most significant occasions of worship.
         4. Christians in the New Testament knew the experience of worship by eating a meal.

2. By now some of you are saying to yourselves, “David is nuts! Why is he talking about this? Where in the world is he going?”
   1. It is okay for you to think I am nuts; all I ask you to do is to think with me.
      1. What you may consider crazy right now may prove to be very important.
      2. I just ask you to follow me until I can show you from scripture the importance.

   2. Let me begin by asking you something many of you know and understand.
      1. In Israel what was Passover?
         1. It was, and to the orthodox Jew still is, the most important religious day in the history of the nation of Israel.
         2. It commemorates the day when God released the Israelite people from their slavery in Egypt.
         3. The very first time the nation of Israel observed this special day was the night they left Egypt.
      2. By God’s instruction, what did they do? (Exodus 12)
         1. Every family killed a lamb; small families combined and killed a lamb.
            1. The lamb was to be the best lamb they owned.
            2. The lamb’s blood was smeared on the outside of the door frame.
            3. The lamb was roasted over the fire without dressing the lamb.
         2. With the roasted lamb as the center of a meal, they were to prepare a meal, eat it as they were fully dressed and be prepared to leave.
            1. That night they were to eat the roasted lamb with bitter vegetables and bread that had no yeast in it.
            2. The only way the lamb was to be cooked was by roasting.
            3. What they did not eat at that meal they were to destroy by burning.
      3. Listen to Exodus 12:14
         Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.
         1. Passover was the most important day and act of worship in Israel.
         2. Passover still is the most important day and act of worship among orthodox Jews.
         3. And how do you observe the occasion of Passover? How do you honor and glorify God on this most important occasion of worship of the year?
         4. One of the things you did, and many still do: you ate a meal.
         5. By eating the meal you glorified God for what He did in delivering Israel, and you recommit yourself to dependence on God.

3. Most of us are not at all familiar with sacrificial worship that included sacrificing an animal.
   1. That kind of worship is foreign to our culture and foreign to our personal experience.
      1. We are far more likely to associate animal sacrifice with witchcraft than with worshipping God.
      2. Many of us have little idea of what all was involved in worshipping God through animal sacrifice.

   2. Not in all animal sacrifices, but in some animal sacrifices, the person who provided the animal to the priests for sacrifice ate part of the meat.
      1. What occurred when the animal was killed? Worship.
      2. What occurred when the man who offered the sacrifice ate the meat as a meal with his family? Worship.
      3. Consider a specific example found in 1 Samuel 1:1-5.
         1. Each year Elkanah took his family which included two wives to Shiloh for sacrificial worship. [Shiloh was the location of the tabernacle at this time.]
         2. After he offered his sacrifice, he gave portions of the meat to his family for the sacrificial meal.
         3. To Hannah, the wife who had no children, he gave a double portion of the meat from the sacrifice.
         4. At Shiloh immediately after the killing of the animal, the families who came for sacrificial worship prepared and ate a meal.
      4. Consider a second example found in 1 Samuel 2:12-17.
         1. Sacrificing a animal as an act of worship in Israel required the priests who offered the sacrifices to perform specific procedures.
         2. After the sacrifice was offered, and after those who brought animals were cooking the meat for their sacrificial meal, this was the custom: the priests walked among the people who were cooking their meat by boiling it, thrust a three pronged fork in the cooking vessel, and whatever stayed on the fork belonged to the priests.
         3. The priest, Eli, has some sons who assisted him, and they were worthless, evil men.
            1. They told those who offered a sacrifice, “We want you to give us meat before you boil it. We want roasted meat, not boiled meat. We want our meat before Eli performs his procedures.”
            2. “If you do not give us what we ask for, we will take it by force.”
         4. Notice a part of the worship involved a meal.

   3. Eating a meal as an act of worship was common among those who offered sacrificial worship, both in Israel and among idol worshippers.
      1. That was common in the Old Testament world, and it was common in the New Testament world.
      2. Most Christians tend to think that people have always worshipped in ways that were very similar to our acts of worship.
         1. Not so.
         2. In fact, to the Christians of the New Testament, worshipping without offering an animal sacrifice on special days was strange.
         3. Worshipping when there was no sacrificial meal to eat on special holy occasions was strange.
         4. Eating a meal as an act of worship was a practice hundreds of years old, and prior to becoming Christians, most of them had that experience.

The one fact I want you to remember is this: there was a time when worship included eating a meal.

If we are Christians, we have a sacrifice. Jesus Christ is our sacrifice. He was offered one time for everyone (Hebrews 10:10).