What Is the Purpose of Life?

Posted by David on November 26, 2000 under Sermons

Some questions always have the potential of starting a challenging, thought provoking discussion. Always have that potential? Yes, always. How can any question always have the potential of producing a challenging, thought provoking discussion?

First, the question is relevant to every person’s life. Any person who asks the question must answer the question. A person can choose to ignore the question, but no one can say the question does not concern his or her life

Second, everybody has an answer to the question. Everyone has a viewpoint, and their viewpoint is the foundation of their answer. That viewpoint might be specific, or it might be general, but every person has one.

Third, each person considers his or her answer to be important. He or she holds his or her viewpoint for a reason. That reason is personally important.

“Can you give us an example of that kind of question?” I am glad you asked! I surely can. My example: what is the purpose of life? You might want to qualify your answer, but I guarantee you that you have an opinion, a viewpoint, an answer. I would be surprised if one older teenager or one adult present could honestly say, “I have never thought about that question.” If you thought about it, you have an opinion.

1. I want you to consider three New Testament situations and ask yourself what all three had in common.
   1. The first situation involved Mary, Jesus’ mother, when she learned about her conception (Luke 1:29-38).
      1. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, Galilee to inform an engaged virgin named Mary that she would conceive a child while a virgin, before she married.
         1. Gabriel greeted her: “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
         2. That greeting deeply disturbed Mary; she did not understand it.
         3. Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”
            1. “You will conceive a son and name him Jesus when he is born.”
            2. “This son will be a great person; he will be called the son of the Most High; and God will place him on David’s throne where he will rule over Jacob’s descendants forever in an endless kingdom.”
            3. Mary answered, “I don’t see how that is possible. I am a virgin.”
            4. Gabriel answered, “It is possible because the Holy Spirit and God will cause it to happen, and the son born will be called God’s Son.”
            5. As an evidence, Gabriel informed Mary that Elizabeth, an older relative, was pregnant (for the first time). He said, “Nothing will be impossible for God.”
      2. Mary’s response: “I am God’s servant. Be it done to me according to your word.”
      3. What an incredible response! “I am God’s servant. If God wants me to be an unmarried, pregnant virgin and have a special son, let it happen to me.”

   2. The second situation involved the son Elizabeth conceived (Luke 1:8-25).
      1. This time Gabriel appeared to the elderly priest, Zachariah.
         1. He was offering incense in the temple when an Gabriel appeared.
         2. Fear gripped Zachariah when he saw Gabriel.
         3. Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid; your petition to God has been heard, and your wife will have a son whom you are to name John.”
         4. “You and many others will rejoice when he is born.”
         5. “He will be an unusual child; before birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit; he will never drink an alcoholic drink; and he will cause many people in Israel to return to God.”
         6. “He will prepare Israel to receive someone special.”
      2. Zachariah said, “My wife and I are old. How do I know this will happen?”
         1. Gabriel responded, “God send me to bring you this good news.”
         2. “Since you do not trust this news, you will not speak until John is born.”
      3. John was born and became an unusual preacher.
         1. He lived in the wilderness; he wore crude clothes; and he ate crude food; he never used alcohol; he never cut his hair–we would see nothing physically appealing about John.
         2. But he perhaps was the most powerful, convicting preacher Israel ever knew.
         3. Thousands came to the wilderness to hear him; thousands repented; and thousands were baptized.
         4. Jesus once said that no one ever physically born was greater than John (Matthew 11:11).
      4. In today’s terminology, John was weird and lived a very basic, difficult life.

   3. The third situation had to do with the Christian Paul.
      1. Prior to his conversion to Jesus Christ, Paul was a violent, dedicated enemy of Christians.
      2. He organized the persecution and arrest of Christians.
      3. He did everything in his power to destroy the church.
      4. As he was on his way to another country (Syria) to arrest Jewish Christians in Damascus and return them as prisoners to Jerusalem, he met the resurrected Jesus Christ (Acts 9).
         1. Years later Paul explained what happened that day when he discovered Jesus really was the Christ.
         2. This is what he remembered Jesus saying to him:
            (Acts 26:16-18) “But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
         3. From that moment Paul’s life was never the same: the persecutor of Christians became the persecuted Christian.
         4. He endured incredible suffering for Jesus and for Christians.

   4. What do those three situations have in common?
      1. All three incidents provide a powerful answer to our question, “What is the purpose of life?”
         1. Why was a virgin willing to be pregnant when she knew how people would react to her pregnancy?
         2. Why was a preacher willing to live a strange life in the wilderness when God gave him an enormously important people mission?
         3. Why was the persecutor of Christians willing to become a persecuted Christian?
      2. The answer is to be found in their common understanding of life’s purpose.

2. So I ask you, what is the purpose of life?
   1. There are many, many different answers to that question, but you have one of them.
      1. Some say life has no purpose: you live and die, and that is all there is to life.
      2. Some say life’s purpose is to survive: whatever you need to do in your situation to survive, do it.
      3. Some say life’s purpose is centered in “me:” my happiness, my pleasure, my success, my desires, my future.
      4. Some say the purpose of life is your family: whatever you need to do for the good of your family, do it.
      5. Some say the purpose of life is seen in your heirs: the purpose of everything you do is found in what you pass on to your family when you die.

   2. Genesis informs us that human life began perfectly connected to God.
      1. At some point, evil [through deception] was invited into human existence, and, at that moment, Satan disconnected people from God.
      2. Not only did evil break our prefect connection will God, but it also totally perverted our world.
         1. Our relationship with God was perverted.
         2. Our human relationships were perverted.
         3. Our marriage relationships were perverted.
         4. The home was perverted.
         5. Sex was perverted.
      3. In that perversion:
         1. Innocence become fear.
         2. Love became injustice.
         3. Purity became guilt.
         4. Trust became cynical doubt.
         5. Openness became deceit.
      4. Do you want to see the perversion?
         1. When God presented Eve to Adam for the first time, Adam said, (Genesis 2:23) “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Awe, appreciation, gratitude, acceptance! Adam knew Eve was a unique gift from God!
         2. Do you remember the first statement Adam made about Eve after they both surrendered to the deception of evil?
            (Genesis 3:12) The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” The woman, blame, rejection, disclaimer! What a change in perspective!

   3. From the moment evil became a part of the human condition forward, God has had a single objective in people: reconciliation; reconnect people to God.
      1. Mary understood the purpose of life was to serve the purpose of God.
      2. John understood the purpose of life was to serve the purpose of God.
      3. Paul understood the purpose of life was to serve the purpose of God.
      4. They each understood that God’s purposes are bigger than the convenience and the physical existence of the person.
         1. They understood a reality was at stake that was much bigger than they were.
         2. If God could use them to advance His eternal purpose in reconciling people to Himself, may God be glorified in the use of their lives.

   4. What would I give my children?
      1. If I give my children a great education but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      2. If I give my children a wonderful standard of living but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      3. If I give my children a bright future on earth but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      4. If I give my children wealth but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      5. If I give my children great opportunity for success but do not open their eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I give them nothing.
      6. No matter what I do, if I fail to open my eyes to God’s eternal purposes, I am nothing.
      7. God’s eternal purposes are enormous when compared to anything in physical existence, and that will be beyond dispute the moment you and I die.

[Prayer: God, help us escape the deceit of this physical existence. Help us understand that Your eternal purposes are bigger than physical life. Help us understand that the greatest thing that could ever happen to us or for us is eternal reconciliation with You.]

I am afraid that we are too much like Lot when God sent angels to help Lot escape the certain destruction of Sodom. The influences of Sodom destroyed Lot’s wife and daughters. They perhaps destroyed Lot also. Nothing in Sodom that was good for Lot. But he thought Sodom was good for him. Lot did not want to leave. Because Lot refused to see the dangers, he lost everything.

Outside God’s purposes, we are the victims of evil and its deceit. Evil tells us the physical is all that matters. We like the physical. We like the indulgence of now. The eternal is an unimportant hypothetical. The physical is real. We are tempted to take our chances with the physical. We don’t see the dangers. And, like Lot, if we live for the physical, we will lose everything.

If you serve God’s purposes, God’s purposes must be bigger than you are, more important than you are. God’s purposes moved Mary to accept pregnancy as a virgin. God’s purposes moved John to live a very strange lifestyle. God’s purposes moved Paul to rejoice in persecution.

What do God’s purposes move you to do? In you, what do God’s purposes have to do with your real purpose in life?

“It’s the Heart” (part 1)

Posted by David on November 19, 2000 under Sermons

Tonight we head into the most peculiar, difficult time of the year for a preacher. From the week before Thanksgiving until the week after New Year nothing is normal in a congregation’s work. First, we have no idea about who will be here for the next six or seven weeks. Second, in this period there is little continuity. As hopefully is evident to you, I prefer for continuity to occupy a significant role in my preaching. I prefer for lessons to build on each other. This may be more obvious on Sunday evenings.

For the remainder of November and much of December, on Sunday evenings I would like for David, the Old Testament King of Israel, to be the basis of that continuity. The central question that will serve as continuity’s foundation is this: “Why did God have such a special appreciation for David?”

1. That question is not as easily answered as you might think.
   1. I suspect the typical answer of most Bible students is rather simple: “God deeply appreciated David because he was a man after God’s own heart.”
      1. That is a good answer if we understand it.
      2. If we understand the answer, we can answer another question: “Why was David a man after God’s own heart?”

   2. From our Christian perspective in our American society, David is a truly strange person to be called a man after God’s own heart.
      1. He was a young shepherd when he was anointed to be Israel’s next king.
         1. That means he spent most of his time alone in the wilderness area with animals.
         2. That means he was not surrounded by people developing people skills, and good kings needed people skills.
         3. He probably was the family shepherd because he was the youngest son in the family–it was not a prized responsibility.
      2. He did not live among the scholars.
         1. He was not called because he was what you and I would consider an Old Testament scholar.
         2. He was not the student of some notable Bible scholar.
         3. He was just a plain, ordinary, little brother shepherd.
      3. Many of us would find his actions distasteful.
         1. When he killed Goliath, the first thing he did was take Goliath’s sword and cut Goliath’s head off (1 Samuel 17:50, 51).
         2. He carried Goliath’s head with him from the battlefield back to the city of Jerusalem as a trophy (1 Samuel 17:54).
         3. He paid the bride price for his first marriage with body parts from two hundred Philistine men that he and his soldiers killed (1 Samuel 18:27).
         4. He had several wives (1 Samuel 18:27; 25:40-43).
         5. One of his sons temporarily drove him from his throne and tried to kill him (2 Samuel 14 and 15).
         6. The ungodly antics of his adult children, which included rape and murder, would have made a great television daytime drama.
         7. He had a man killed in the attempt to cover an act of adultery with the man’s wife (2 Samuel 11).
         8. On at least one occasion he allowed personal pride to control his decision (2 Samuel 24).
      4. How could a man who did such things and had such a family be a man after God’s own heart?
         1. Maybe that designation is a mistake.
         2. Maybe David was a man after God’s own heart as a young man, but not as a king.
         3. Maybe we have glamorized David’s faith and closed our eyes to David’s mistakes.

2. We do not make a mistake when we call David a man after God’s own heart.
   1. For the modern Christian, probably the book of Acts popularized the understanding that David was a man after God’s own heart.
      1. Acts 13:22 After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
         1. Paul was speaking to an audience in Antioch of Pisidia on his first missionary journey.
         2. He was recalling some of the high points of Israel’s history.
         3. He noted that God removed Saul from being king and placed David as king because David was a man after God’s own heart, a man who would do God’s will.
         4. Paul went on to say that Jesus Christ was a descendant of David.
      2. When Stephen preached his sermon in the Jewish court, he laid the foundation for the point of his sermon by using Israel’s history.
         1. Acts 7:46 David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.
            1. Stephen referred to David as a person who “found favor in God’s sight.”
            2. God permitted David to plan for the construction of the temple because of his special relationship with God.
      3. While the book of Acts popularized David being the man after God’s own heart for the modern Christian, that was the common understanding and perception of godly Jews who lived after David.
         1. Paul reflected an accepted understanding among the Jews who lived outside of Palestine.
         2. Stephen reflected an accepted understanding among the Jews who lived in Jerusalem.

   2. From the beginning of God’s special relationship with David, the emphasis was on the fact that David’s heart belonged to God.
      1. When King Saul became such a grave disappointment to God, God took the rule of Israel from the lineage of Saul’s descendants. His sons would not inherit his throne.
         1. 1 Samuel 13:14 “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
      2. When Samuel was sent to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be the next king of Israel, as he looked at Jesse’s sons, God reminded Samuel that God looks at the heart.
         1. 1 Samuel 16:6,7 When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
      3. David’s heart relationship with God became the high standard for the kings of Judah.
         1. 1 Kings 8:17,18 Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.
            1. King Solomon made this statement about his father, King David.
            2. It was in David’s heart to build the temple.
            3. Because it was in David’s heart, God was honored by David’s heart desire.
         2. 1 Kings 9:1-5 Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and all that Solomon desired to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'”
            1. Solomon’s future as Israel’s successful king depended on living before God in “integrity of heart and uprightness” as did his father David.
            2. If Solomon did that, his sons would rule Israel.
         3. 1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
            1. Solomon failed as King in his old age.
            2. His wives turned his heart away from God to idols.
            3. His heart was not wholly devoted to God as was David’s heart.
         4. 1 Kings 15:1-5 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah. He reigned three years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David. But for David’s sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to raise up his son after him and to establish Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
            1. Abijam failed as Judah’s king because his heart was not wholly devoted to God as was David’s.
            2. David did what was right in God’s sight his whole life except in the incident of Uriah.
            3. David’s obedience came from his heart.
         5. For the kings of Judah, the standard for devotion to God and obedience was David’s heart.

3. What was it about David that made his relationship with God a special heart relationship?
   1. That is the question that we will examine the next few weeks.
   2. I want to begin with a lesson that I hope is obvious in what we examined tonight.
      1. Being a person after God’s own heart does not depend on perfection.
      2. David was not a perfect man.
      3. No person is perfect before God.
      4. Obviously, imperfect people can be people who have a special heart relationship with God.
      5. Two things will be true of anyone who has that special heart relationship with God.
         1. They are wholly committed to God’s will as a person.
         2. Their heart is revealed through their commitment and their obedience.
            1. A person can obey God without giving God his or her heart.
            2. But no person can give his or her heart to God and refuse to obey God.

Tonight the issue is not, “Are we perfect.” No one is, and no one can be. The issue is, “Does your heart belong to God?” Is that your desire? Is that your choice? If God was on a mission to select a man or woman after his own heart for a special use, would God select you because of your heart?

Our Dream Society

Posted by David on under Sermons

I want to begin by reading from a New Testament translation called The Message, a modern English translation. My purpose is simple: I want you to hear Paul’s thoughts in familiar words. The reading begins in Colossians 2:6. [Certainly, you may read from your translation. But I encourage you to listen and to read from the screen.]

“My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you’ve been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You’re deeply rooted in him. You’re well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you’ve been taught. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.

“Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spiritual beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.”

1. Can you picture your concept of the ideal society?
   1. Describe the ideal society that you would like for your family.
      1. There would be no divorce, no broken homes, no single parent homes, no hostile marriage relationships.
      2. Husbands would genuinely love and respect their wives, and wives would genuinely love and respect their husbands.
         1. Men and woman would come from loving homes and understand how husbands and wives should treat each other.
         2. Men and woman would possess good relationship skills and learn to build relationships of trust.
         3. Men and women would know how to be open and honest in their marriages; their relationships would use good communication.
      3. No alienated children, abused children, rejected children, lonely children, or unloved children would exist.
      4. Every child would know that he or she was loved, wanted, appreciated, and valued for who he or she was.
         1. Parents would be friends as well as parents.
         2. Every child would know that both Mom and Dad were there for them, and that Mom and Dad would love them even when they made mistakes.
      5. People in general would know how to love, how to be compassionate, how to show mercy, and how to be understanding.
         1. No hate, violence, or dangers created by society would exist.
         2. Because crime and injustice did not exist, no one would be afraid.
      6. You would not have to worry about protecting your property.
         1. You could be a good neighbor without hesitation.
         2. You could help a stranger without being nervous.
         3. No one would take advantage of anyone.
         4. Everyone honored honesty, integrity, and character.
         5. You could trust what you heard and never be hurt.

   2. We could continue, but is that enough to describe your dream society?
      1. While we understand such societies will never exist (and never have), I think all of us would agree that would be a dream society.
      2. Would you like to live in such a society?
         1. I would!
         2. Wherever that place existed, that would be a great place to live, to work, to be married, and to raise children.

2. Now I want to ask the hard question: if all those conditions existed, would those situations make it a Christian society?
   1. No.
      1. It takes more than successful marriages to make a society Christian.
      2. It takes more than stable homes and good parent-child relationships to make a society Christian.
      3. It takes more than people knowing how to treat each other with respect, compassion, and mercy to make a society Christian.
      4. It takes more than destroying hate, violence, prejudice, crime, and fear to make a society Christian.
      5. It takes more than good neighbors and kindness to strangers to make a society Christian.
      6. If you doubt what I am saying, let me illustrate its truth.
         1. From the 1940s to the 60s in this society people knew nothing about the dangers of tobacco.
         2. Nothing was known about the links between tobacco use and cancer, heart trouble, or emphysema.
         3. Commonly, when people gathered, there was a cloud of tobacco smoke.
            1. If you went to a high school basketball game, the cloud of tobacco smoke filled the gym–so heavily it burned nonsmokers’ lungs.
            2. In restaurants, nonsmoking sections did not exist, and the cloud of tobacco smoke could hang heavy.
            3. No smoking facilities and no smoking zones did not exist.
            4. One of the difficult experiences of airplane travel was enduring the tobacco smoke.
         4. People smoked on television, people smoked in the movies, people smoked everywhere.
         5. Cigarette ads were everywhere, and tobacco companies had broad sponsorships. [Do you older folks remember, “Call for Philip Morris” and the Lucky Strike ads?
         6. If the people living then heard about today’s restrictions on tobacco use, no one would have believed it.
         7. What did Jesus Christ have to do with the change? Nothing.
            1. I am well aware of the stance the church took against smoking.
            2. I am also well aware that the men used the break between Bible classes and worship to go smoke.
            3. The enormous opposition against tobacco products in our society has nothing to do with faith in Jesus Christ; it is based on health concerns.
      7. The great sexual revolution in America began in the 1960s.
         1. That complex evolutionary process included opposition to the Vietnam war, rejection of religion, and the rejection of past marriage customs.
         2. It accelerated at an incredible pace.
         3. Moral warnings and cautions were not a serious issue in society at large.
         4. Then AIDS exploded on the scene of homosexuality and promiscuous sexual activity.
            1. And things changed when the AIDS crisis exploded on the American scene from 1979 to 1981.
            2. Did sexual morality have anything to do with putting the brakes on? No
            3. Did faith in Christ have anything to do with putting the brakes on? No.
            4. The fear of a disease that ended in almost certain death put the brakes on for a while, and reshaped sexual behavior.
            5. It has nothing to do with faith in Christ, but with physical health concerns.
         5. You doubt it? What do you think would happen if a proven vaccine protecting against AIDS was released within the next twelve months?

3. I want to share a thought with you for you to consider. I do not ask you to agree with me; I just ask you to think.
   The thought: the church is more concerned about its desire to control society than it is about building faith in Jesus Christ.
   1. Christians are very concerned about social issues and laws.
      1. We want to control the behavior of people in society who are not Christians.
         1. We believe Christian behavior is good for society.
         2. So we want to control society “for its own good.”
         3. Our desire is basically selfish–we want our children to grow up in a good social climate.
            1. Is that wrong? No.
            2. My point is not that it is wrong to want a good moral environment.
            3. My point is that our desires often have little to do with faith in Christ or God’s eternal purposes.
      2. Will proper faith in Christ have a positive impact on society? Absolutely!
         1. Will it influence people to be more compassionate, kind, merciful, and forgiving? Absolutely!
         2. Will it improve marriages? Absolutely!
         3. Will it stabilize homes? Absolutely!
         4. Will it improve situations and conditions for children? Absolutely!
         5. Will it improve the way people treat people? Absolutely!

   2. However, there is an enormous difference between placing our faith in Christ to pursue God’s eternal purposes and seeking to control society to accomplish our own purposes.
      1. When we create the impression that God does not care why people do the “right thing,” we misrepresent God and trash Jesus Christ.
      2. When we reduce the Christian life to nothing more than doing the “right thing,” we misrepresent God and trash Jesus Christ.
      3. God did not send Jesus because He thought Jesus would provide the “right touch” of completion; He sent Jesus because the Christ is essential.
         1. We dare not think it is possible to produce the results of Christian existence without faith in Jesus Christ.
         2. It is impossible to produce godly existence without faith in Christ.

[Prayer: God help us see and understand what we must know and understand in Jesus Christ.]

How much of your life is the result of your faith in Christ? Whose purposes does your life target–yours or God’s?

Deuteronomy in the New Testament

Posted by David on November 5, 2000 under Sermons

A thinking, reflecting member recently asked me a perceptive question. “What did people in the early church study when they assembled? We study the Bible in our classes and worship. What did they study?”

Early Christians frequently studied the scriptures we call the Old Testament scriptures. For Jewish Christians, this always was God’s word. Israelites respected and learned from this living word of God, this divine authority, this holy scripture for hundreds of years. For Christians who were not born Jews but attended Jewish synagogues prior to conversion to Christ, the Old Testament was the living word of God, the divine authority, and the holy scripture. They were taught the value and authority of God’s word by learning the value and authority of those scriptures. For Christians who were not born Jews and never attended the Jewish synagogue, they needed to learn God’s concept of holiness, righteousness, and godliness. These scriptures were used to teach them these concepts.

In addition to Old Testament scripture, they heard, read, or studied the writings of early Christian apostles and missionaries. Some of these writings became what we call the New Testament. But before they could hear and study these writings, they had to be written and shared. That took time. By our standards, it took a lot of time.

1. Let me ask you to think about some things.
   1. Consider 2 Timothy 3:14,15.
      You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
      1. This was Paul’s personal instruction to Timothy, the young preacher and missionary that Paul guided, taught, and mentored.
      2. Timothy was to continue following the things that he was taught.
      3. His godly mother and grandmother taught him these things from his childhood (2 Timothy 1:5).
      4. Paul wanted him to remember and follow the lessons of the “sacred writings.”
         1. His understanding of these “sacred writings” gave him wisdom that would lead him to salvation.
         2. Wisdom produced by the “sacred writings” produced faith in Jesus Christ.
      5. What were the “sacred writings?” We call them the Old Testament scriptures.

   2. Consider Romans 4:19-25.
      Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God hd promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
      1. Paul is reminding Christians in Rome of Abraham’s faith in God’s promises.
         1. God promised Abraham a son, an heir, and years passed without that son being born.
         2. In Genesis 15 a discouraged Abraham asked God to allow Eliezer, his servant, be the promised heir.
         3. God said no; He would keep His promise; the son would be born to him.
         4. Genesis 15:6 states Abraham believed the Lord, and God “reckoned” (credited, regarded, considered) Abraham to be a righteous person.
      2. Carefully note Paul’s point.
         1. Paul said this occurred for their benefit as well as for Abraham’s benefit.
         2. If Christians place their confidence in the God who resurrected Jesus in the same way that Abraham placed his confidence in God, God will regard us to be righteous just as He regarded Abraham righteous.
         3. God had written what happened to Abraham for the benefit of Christians.

   3. Consider Romans 15:4.
      For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
      1. The Old Testament scriptures were written for Christians’ instruction.
      2. Those scriptures exist to give the Christian hope.
      3. Those scriptures challenge us to persevere and be encouraged.

2. Those understandings serve as a background for this truth: the book of Deuteronomy served an important role in the lives of early Christians.
   1. Deuteronomy played an important role in Jesus’ life and teachings.
      1. One of the critical moments in Jesus’ life occurred when Jesus faced Satan in the early wilderness temptations (Matthew 4:1-11).
         1. Jesus rejected the temptation found in turning stones into bread by both understanding and quoting Deuteronomy 8:3.
         2. Jesus rejected the temptation to jump from the temple area by both understanding and quoting Deuteronomy 6:16.
         3. Jesus rejected the temptation to worship Satan by both understanding and quoting Deuteronomy 6:13 (or 10:20).
         4. An understanding of those scriptures will just as surely help us fight those kinds of temptation just as they helped Jesus fight those temptations.
      2. Jesus often used statements found in Deuteronomy in his teachings.
         1. An excellent illustration is Jesus’ use of Deuteronomy 6:4 to declare that the greatest commandment God ever gave was to love God with all the heart, mind, and soul (Matthew 22:37).
         2. Jesus stressed an eternal truth: the only proper foundation for obeying God is loving God.
         3. I assume we agree that for the Christian there still is no greater commandment than loving God with all the heart, mind, and soul.

   2. Perhaps this is your reaction: we should expect to hear Jesus use Deuteronomy in his teachings since Jesus was a godly Israelite who lived before the Christian age.
      1. If that assumption is correct, we would not expect the see New Testament writers using Deuteronomy for scriptural authority after Jesus’ resurrection.
         1. If the reasoning is that Jesus used Deuteronomy because he taught prior to the Christian age,
         2. Then the reasoning would follow that you would not find the writers of the epistles citing Deuteronomy’s concepts as divine authority.
         3. May I state clearly that I do not agree with that reasoning.
         4. For me, to dismiss any emphasis in the teachings of our own Lord and Savior with that kind of reasoning is a rejection of the word of the divine Son of God.
         5. I do not believe the eternal God abandons His word and its concepts.
      2. Allow me to read scriptures from Deuteronomy and then read scriptures from New Testament epistles.

   3. Examples of Deuteronomy’s statements and concepts found in New Testament epistles.
      1. Deuteronomy 4:6 So keep and do them [the commands], for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
         1. 2 Timothy 3:15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
      2. Deuteronomy 4:9 Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.
         1. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
      3. Deuteronomy 4:16,17 so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky
         1. Romans 1:18,23 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . . and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
      4. Deuteronomy 4:20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.
         1. Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
         2. 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
         3. Deuteronomy 7:6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
      5. Deuteronomy 5:33 You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.
         1. Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.
      6. Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
         1. Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
      7. Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
         1. 1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
         2. Ephesians 4:6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

3. At times we get so caught up in the worship differences, the differences in forms of purity, and in ceremonial differences that we fail to see fundamental parallels.
   1. Many things never change in God’s people of faith who follow Him in any age.
      1. The basic qualities of godly character never change–God’s people always trust Him.
      2. The basic qualities of godly integrity never change–God’s people always are honest and trustworthy.
      3. The basic qualities of reverencing God never change–God’s people always humble themselves before Him.
      4. The basic quality of treating people properly never changes–God’s people always treat other people like they want to be treated.

   2. The eternal God has not changed, and He has not changed His will.
      1. He always wants the same kind of godly character and integrity in His people.
      2. What changed was the way people can come to God and belong to Him.
         1. Jesus Christ is the perfect means of coming to and belonging to God.
         2. Jesus does for us perfectly what all the Jewish ceremonies and rituals did imperfectly for Old Testament Israel.
      3. God has not changed.
      4. His eternal, living word has not changed.
      5. What changed is the way we can come to and relate to God.
         1. That changed because it no longer depended on imperfect human deeds.
         2. That changed because it now depends on the perfect Savior.

When you study from the Old Testament, study to learn and study to understand. It can strengthen your bond with Jesus Christ. It will make you wise as it brings you to salvation.

Behavior Modification or Conversion?

Posted by David on under Sermons

If you had a child, or a husband, or a wife, or a father, or a mother who was addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography, or anything else that devastated life, which of these two things would you choose? Would you choose behavioral modification to immediately bring the person’s conduct under control? Or, would you choose for the person to change internally in ways that weakened or destroyed the addiction?

The stress of the immediate situation can be so great, so destructive, so devastating that we grasp for change. We desperately can hunger for the “quick fix” of behavioral modification. If we do that, we face a real problem. Behavioral modification does not address the internal demons that cause and sustain the addiction. If those demons are not addressed, the “quick fix” has a short life. As long as those demons are alive and well, the demons constantly threaten to break their chains and again consume your child, husband, wife, mom, or dad.

A lasting solution either severely damages or kills the demons that cause the addiction. But to damage or kill the demons, the person must address the problems that surrendered to the demons. When a real, lasting solution occurs, the person changes who he or she is.

1. Perhaps the most devastating transition in Christianity came when behavioral modification was swapped for conversion.
   1. How do Christians swap behavioral modification for conversion?
      1. Behavioral modification is the foundation of “you must not do that!” preaching and “that is wrong!” teaching.
         1. I certainly do not suggest that we refuse to oppose evil or accept evil acts.
         2. I do suggest when we attempt to control human behavior without answering the question “why,” without helping a person understand God’s love, without helping a person understand Jesus Christ, we are not trying to convert the person.
      2. Conversion is a response of a man or woman who is willing to change his or her person.
         1. It is based on the conviction that Jesus has the power to change us.
         2. It is based on the realization of our need for forgiveness.
         3. It is based on our desire to be forgiven.
         4. It is based on our willingness to use God’s power to redirect life.
         5. The converted person understands what God did in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
         6. The converted person wants to be a different person who is alive in Christ.

2. The most extensively documented conversion in the New Testament is the conversion of the Paul who arrested and imprisoned Christians to the Paul who served Jesus Christ.
   1. Paul’s conversion is one of the few events that is repeated several times in the New Testament.
      1. The book of Acts records the conversion events in Acts 9.
      2. Paul presented his account of his conversion in Acts 22:6-21 and 26:9-18.
      3. A number of times in the letters he wrote [which are preserved as books of the New Testament], Paul referred to the profound result of his conversion.
         1. Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
         2. 1 Timothy 1:12-16 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.
         3. Ephesians 4:20-24 But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
         4. Colossians 3:9-11 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him–a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

   2. Paul powerfully illustrates the distinction between behavioral modification and conversion.
      1. Consider Paul prior to conversion to Jesus Christ:
         1. He took charge of the robes of Stephen’s executioners and was in complete agreement with the execution (Acts 7:58; 8:1).
         2. He directed a house-to-house search for Christians in the city of Jerusalem, dragged them out of their homes, and imprisoned them (Acts 8:3).
         3. He did many things hostile to Jesus’ name, and he physically abused Jewish Christians found in synagogues in an attempt to make them blaspheme (Acts 26:9-11).
      2. Consider Paul immediately after conversion:
         1. Do you think that he would have held the clothes of those who executed a Christian? No.
         2. Do you think that he would have led a house-to-house search to arrest Christians? No.
         3. Do you think he would have been hostile to the name of Jesus? No.
         4. Do you think he would have physically abused Jewish Christians in synagogues? No.
         5. Do you think that he would arrest Christians in the Damascus synagogue and bring them to Jerusalem as prisoners? No.
      3. This is the critical, important question: why would the converted Paul not do such things?
         1. If your answer is behavioral modification, you need to understand Paul’s message.
            1. The “why” was not “God will get me if I do those things.”
            2. The “why” was not “I will go to hell if I do those things.”
            3. That is behavior modification.
         2. In Paul’s letters he frequently dealt with the “why” of his change.
            1. This was the “why”: “I am not the same man.”
            2. “When I understood who Jesus Christ was, it totally changed me as a person on the inside.”
      4. One primary objective in many of Paul’s letters was to help Christians realize when a Christian understood Jesus Christ, it changed him or her on the inside.
         1. Understanding Jesus Christ changes the person.
         2. Does that change the person’s behavior? Absolutely!
         3. Why? Because he or she is not the same person. Outside actions change because the inside person changed.
      5. That is what happened to Paul.
         1. Conversion changed him inside.
         2. That is what becoming a new creature is all about: a new person comes into existence inside.
         3. Conversion is about much more than changing what I do; it is about changing who I am.
      6. Paul’s message was not “change religions.”
         1. “Jews, change religions.”
         2. “Idol worshippers, change religions.”
      7. Paul’s message was “know Jesus Christ and let him change who you are.”

3. Let me clearly illustrate the difference in a very understandable way.
   1. Suppose you had one of these opportunities.
      1. I understand what I am saying is impossible, but pretend for a moment it is possible.
      2. You are guaranteed that God will never know.
      3. You are guaranteed not one single person will ever know what you did.
      4. You are guaranteed no consequences will occur.

   2. These are the opportunities:
      1. You can take $1,000,000 that does not belong to you, and no one would every know.
      2. You can spend four of the most romantic days you can imagine in a private place of your dreams with the best looking man or woman you can imagine (who is not a husband or wife).
      3. You can spend four days in total privacy and wonderful surroundings drinking the alcohol of your choice and taking the drugs of your choice.
      4. Would you do one of those things?
         1. If you would choose to do something evil if guaranteed you would never get caught or pay consequences, you do not understand conversion.
         2. If you would refuse to do something evil because that is not who you are in your love for God, you understand conversion.

   3. The foundation of Paul’s approach to people was not the basis of the need to change religions to escape eternal consequences; Paul asked people to change who they were because they understood Jesus Christ and the God who sent him.
      1. Paul knew that change.
      2. Paul understood that blessing.
      3. He knew and understood because that is precisely what happened to him.

4. That is the essence of mission work anywhere in the world: Fort Smith, America, Southeast Asia, Africa, or eastern Europe.
   1. The message is not:
      1. If you are in dire poverty and horrible social conditions, become a Christian and all that will change.
      2. If you are in a communistic society and environment, become a Christian and all that will change.
      3. If you live in an area of severe unrest and disease, become a Christian and you will be physically protected.
      4. If you live in an area of starvation, become a Christian and you will never be hungry again.

   2. The message is:
      1. Jesus Christ can change the person you are on the inside.
      2. Your external realities will not determine who you are; God will determine who you are.
      3. And when God determines who you are, you live in hope, peace, and eternal love.

[Prayer: God, create in our hearts the hunger for conversion. Help us use Your power and Your Son to let You change who we are.]

The goal in the West-Ark congregation, the goal in Fort Smith, the goal all over the world is the same: let every person understand he or she has a choice about who he or she is. The love of God and forgiveness of Jesus Christ gives every person that choice.

The Unequal Partnership

Posted by David on October 29, 2000 under Sermons

Life’s most valued blessings are based on a sense of partnership. A great friendship is an incredible blessing. Great friendships are built on a sense of partnership. A successful marriage is one of the most powerful gifts of human existence. Successful marriages are built on a sense of partnership. A love-filled home is one of this world’s precious opportunities. Loving homes are built on a sense of partnership. Being part of a successful business is a source of, personal fulfillment. Successful businesses are built through a sense of partnership.

Many view successful partnerships with great skepticism. Commonly, that skepticism rises from personal experience. “Yea, sure! I tried that, and it did not work for me! Your partnership is not real! I see what they contribute to the partnership. But I cannot see what you contribute to the partnership.”

In America, we are hard pressed to think of a significant, common blessing that does not involve some form of partnership. Perhaps for that reason Americans tend to view salvation as a partnership with God.

Let’s consider salvation on the assumption that it is a partnership. Let’s assume that salvation is a partnership with God that gives us eternal life.

1. What does God supply the partnership?
   1. First, God supplies what I call the inexhaustibles.
      1. God supplies inexhaustible mercy.
         1. Our need for mercy can never exhaust God’s ability to provide mercy.
         2. When I repent, my sins are destroyed by God’s mercy.
         3. When I repent, none of my sins are bigger than God’s mercy.
         4. Paul, writing to Ephesian Christians who were converted from an idolatrous lifestyle, said (Ephesians 2:4-6), But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
      2. God supplies inexhaustible grace.
         1. God does not provide any of us mercy because we deserve mercy.
         2. To provide mercy to people who deserve mercy is a contradiction.
         3. Mercy by its nature is given to the undeserving.
         4. God does not provide us mercy because we are good or are worth saving.
         5. God provides us mercy because He is good.
         6. Grace makes it possible for the good God to accept and love evil people.
         7. Paul, writing to those same Ephesian Christians said (Ephesians 2:8), For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God
      3. God supplies inexhaustible forgiveness.
         1. When we place our confidence in Christ’s death and resurrection, when we want to redirect our lives away from evil, God separates us from our sin when we are baptized into Christ.
         2. God’s forgiveness does not end when we are baptized into Christ.
         3. God’s forgiveness begins when we are baptized into Christ.
         4. For us to walk each day with God, God must forgive us every day.
         5. John, writing to Christians, said (1 John 1:9), If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

   2. A person outside God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness asks, “How is that possible? How can God provide Christians with inexhaustible mercy, grace, and forgiveness?”
      1. It is possible because God gave us a Savior.
         1. It is impossible to understand our Savior unless we understand what a savior is.
            1. A savior rescues a person from a situation or circumstances that are impossible to escape.
            2. A savior rescues us when we cannot rescue ourselves.
         2. We desperately needed a Savior to rescue us from evil because we cannot rescue ourselves from evil.
      2. What did God do when He gave us a Savior?
         1. God took all our evil and all our guilt and placed them on our Savior.
         2. 2 Corinthians 5:20,21 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
            1. This was written to Christians who (1) did not realize that they needed God’s Savior and (2) did not rely on that Savior.
            2. “God gave you the Savior to make reconciliation possible.”
            3. “Accept the reconciliation.”
            4. “God desperately wanted you to be reconciled to Him.
            5. God wanted you to have reconciliation so much that God made Jesus sin to make it possible for you to be made righteous.”
            6. “But you cannot become God’s righteousness if you do not accept God’s reconciliation.”
         3. Someone suggests, “Paul was talking symbolically, not actually–God did not actually make Jesus sin so we could be saved.”
            1. Peter understood what God did to be actual, not symbolic.
            2. 1 Peter 2:24 He (Jesus) Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
         4. Because Jesus paid for our evil with his death and sinless blood, God through Jesus gives the people who enter Christ inexhaustible mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
            1. When God does that, He creates a real relationship with the forgiven person.
            2. When God does that, He creates a real relationship between all those who live in the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
            3. It is our responsibility to maintain and mature in our relationship with God and to maintain and mature in our relationship with each other.

2. When we let Jesus rescue us and reconcile us to God, what do we give to the partnership?
   1. We give God our sins, so that God can forgive and reconcile us.
      1. It was our own evil that separated us from God.
      2. It is because we are evil that we need to be reconciled.

   2. We give God our trust by placing confidence in the Savior God gave us.
      1. We take God at His word.
      2. We place our confidence in God’s promises knowing that God will not break His promise–we trust God!

   3. We give God our love because we appreciate our Savior, our forgiveness, and our reconciliation.
      1. We love God because we understand what God did for us.
      2. We love God because we appreciate our forgiveness, and we understand how desperately we needed to be forgiven.
      3. We love God because we understand that we are reconciled to God only through His mercy and grace.

   4. What do we give the partnership? Sins, trust, and love.
      1. Does that sound like much of a partnership to you?
      2. So, what do you think it does to God when we arrogantly act like God needs us and has to depend on us?
      3. So, what do you think it does to God when we deny how much we need God?
      4. So, what do you think it does to God when we act like God appointed us to be judges who reject and discourage other people?

3. In the last several decades, too many Christians contributed to a terrible problem.
   1. This terrible problem offends our God, the God who gave us a Savior, the God who gives inexhaustible mercy, grace, and forgiveness.
      1. What terrible problem? We asked God to stand on the outside.
      2. How did we ask God to go outside? We act like the power and the wisdom to “get things done” are found in us.
         1. We act like salvation is about us, not about God.
         2. We act like the church is about us, not about God.
         3. We act like worship is about us, not about God.
         4. We act like spiritual things serve our agenda, not God’s purposes.
      3. This seems to be a common attitude among many Christians: “God, we understand what You want better than You do. You do not have a clue about how to accomplish Your purposes in today’s world. So if You will just step outside and stay out of the way, we will take care of the situation.”

   2. Our concept of partnership with God is all about us.
      1. The partnership depends on us.
      2. We say we place our faith in God, but we really believe in ourselves.
      3. We say we trust God, but we really trust ourselves.
      4. We say we are concerned about God’s values, but we are really concerned about our values.
      5. Why?
         1. Because our confidence is in our answers, methods, and approaches.
         2. Because we really do not think God’s values are that important.
         3. Because we are convinced God’s way will not work.
         4. Because we have not learned God’s definition of success.

   3. So we rarely ask God to come inside and work through us to accomplish His purposes.
      1. When we pray, we often do one of two things.
         1. We use a formula that touches “all the right bases.”
         2. Or, we give God our “laundry list” that asks God to take care of situations we do not like.
      2. We do not beg for guidance or ask for the courage to surrender.
      3. We do not confess our ignorance and ask for wisdom.
      4. It is His church, His Son, His forgiveness, His mercy, His grace, His purposes, His will, His judgment, and His eternity.
         1. But we do not give Him the lead and ask Him to teach us how to follow.
         2. We do all the talking, all the planning, all the figuring, and assume God will say, Amen.
         3. God is just supposed to listen and do what we tell Him to do.

4. Would you say these people had a partnership with God: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Mary, Jesus, Peter, and Paul?
   1. When Noah was bobbling around in the ark, God was in control.
   2. When Abraham was a nomad in a strange land, God was in control.
   3. When Moses led Israel through the wilderness, God was in control.
   4. When David fled from his own son, God was in control.
   5. When Daniel was a captive in Babylon, God was in control.
   6. When Mary was unmarried and pregnant, God was in control.
   7. When Jesus died, God was in control.
   8. When Peter preached to Cornelius, God was in control.
   9. When Paul was executed for preaching Jesus Christ, God was in control.
   10. I have no idea of what is happening your world, but God is in control.
   11. May we as His people give Him control.

[Prayer: Father, teach us to follow. Give us the courage and strength to trust. Help us invite You inside and give You the lead.]

What can we do to destroy the evil idea that God quit after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? What can we do to destroy the wicked conviction that today “it is all up to us”?

Romans 8:32-34 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

Love Me!

Posted by David on October 15, 2000 under Sermons

Does anyone see what you have spiritually, and want it? Gary Brown just shared with us about missions Sunday and West-Ark’s commitment to and involvement in missions. Basically, missions is a matter of sharing what we have spiritually with other people and creating in them the desire to want it.

Why would anyone want what we have spiritually? What would touch them so profoundly that they would be willing to redirect their lives to have it? If they watch our lives on a daily basis, what would impress them about our spirituality? Our sense of duty? Our fear of hell? Our obligations? Our habits? Our routine?

One attitude is a positive attitude wherever it exists. One bond is an incredible bond wherever it exists. When this attitude, this bond, this emotion is honest, when it is genuine, people want it. People not only want it, people hunger for it. People hunger for it because it is constructive and filled with blessings.

What is this attitude, this bond, this emotion? Love. Many will never respect our sense of duty toward God. Many will never be touched by anyone’s fear of hell. Our sense of obligation, our habits, or our routine will never impress many. But if our love for God directs and guides our lives, builds our relationships, determines our values, and shapes our commitments, people will notice. Love will attract their attention when nothing else can.

1. God always wanted people to obey Him because they love Him.
   1. We destroy something precious when we challenge people to follow God and serve Christ without loving God.
      1. Spiritually, obedience and love were never intended to be separated.
         1. If we are God’s people, we love God.
         2. God loves us, and He wants our love.
         3. We obey Him because we love Him.
         4. Love must express itself.
         5. So the person who loves God wants to obey God.

   2. Sometimes we think our discovery of love in the God-human relationship is something new, something only Christians understand.
      1. Jesus demonstrated the depths of God’s love, but Jesus did not reveal the existence of God’s love.
      2. The cross and the resurrection demonstrated the power of God’s love, but they did no reveal the fact of God’s love.
      3. God always has loved, and God always has wanted people to love Him.

2. Please note that we created the impression that God can be satisfied with a form of obedience that “goes through the right motions.”
   1. In the attempt to stress the importance of obedience, we destroyed the foundation of obedience.
      1. What wood was Noah to use for lumber in building the ark?
         1. “Gopher wood (Genesis 6:14).”
         2. Why? “Because God said so.”
      2. Why was Nadab and Abihu burned to death when they brought their incense burners before God (Leviticus 10:1,2)?
         1. They did not use the fire God told them to use.
         2. Why did they die? “Because they did not do what God told them to do.”
      3. Think about the primary examples of obedience we stressed in past years.
         1. What did we stress? That you must do exactly what God said do.
         2. What was important? Doing exactly what God said do.
         3. How often did we stress the fact that obedience must be based on love?

   2. God clearly declared to Israel the importance of loving Him.
      1. Deuteronomy 6:5,6 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
      2. Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
      3. Deuteronomy 10:16 So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
      4. Deuteronomy 11:13,14 It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.
      5. Deuteronomy 11:18 You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

   3. “Israel, love me.”
      1. “I destroyed your slavery; love me.”
      2. “I made you a nation; love me.”
      3. “I took care of your physical needs in the wilderness; love me.”
      4. “I will give you your own country; love me.”

   4. Many of the destructive problems existing among Christians today have their roots in our failure to love God.
      1. Our families suffer in crises because we do not love God.
      2. We treat people poorly because we do not love God.
      3. We fail to nurture each other in God’s mercy and grace because we do not love God.

No one ever succeeded in being God’s people without loving God. No one can succeed in being your husband without loving you. No one can succeed in being your wife without loving you. No one can succeed in being your family without loving you. No one can build a successful friendship with you without loving you. In all interpersonal relationships, love is essential for success.

Every successful interpersonal relationship must be founded on the respect, appreciation, and honor that only love can produce. That includes relationship with God.

Jesus: Our Struggles and His Peace

Posted by David on under Sermons

A part of my weekly routine is walking three miles on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I start about 6:10 a.m. This time of the year those walks are almost over before daylight.

I prefer to walk outside. “Why?” I like the feeling of actually going somewhere. I like the fresh air. I love to be outside. And it is a great time to ponder the “deep issues of life” and to ask “the mysterious questions of human existence.” For example, Tuesday morning I was about a third of the way into my walk when I smelled the distinctive, overpowering odor of a skunk. Immediately, I asked one of those mysterious questions about life. My question: “How can skunks stand to live with each other?”

1. Basically, we have two reactions to physical existence.
   1. Reaction one: “Life is good!”
      1. Advertisers love to use this reaction.
         1. Advertisers tell us that life should be good.
         2. Then they tell us that life will be good if we just buy their product (this car; this toothpaste; this “fun thing to do”).
      2. In other words, if I cannot say, “Life is good!” it is my fault because Ido not have the right things.

   2. Reaction two: “Life stinks.”
      1. Movie makers and television producers love to use this reaction.
         1. An common theme in too many movies is, “Life stinks!”
         2. A common theme in daytime dramas, talk shows, and television series is, “Life stinks!”
      2. We are told that if we honestly look at the ugly facts all around us, “Life stinks.”
         1. Angry people are angry because life stinks.
         2. Depressed people are depressed because life stinks.
         3. Enraged people are filled with rage because life sinks.
         4. Life is not fair; life is not just; life is not kind; life stinks.

2. Consider some statements Jesus made that are so familiar that many of you can think of them without thinking about them.
   1. Scripture # 1:
      Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
      1. Is that statement familiar to you?
      2. Have you ever used it?

   2. Scripture # 2:
      John 10:10 “… I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
      1. Is that statement familiar to you?
      2. Have you ever used it?

   3. Question: what do those statements imply to you?
      1. Do they imply that anyone who comes to Jesus will receive and experience the “life that is good”?
      2. Do they imply that anyone who comes to Jesus will never experience pain, frustration, struggle, or hardship again?

3. Consider three situations that occurred in Jesus’ ministry.
   1. The first situation is found in Luke 7:36-50.
      1. A Pharisee invited Jesus to come have a meal at his house.
      2. The Pharisee also invited the community’s religious elite to come.
      3. While they were eating, a woman known by the community to be a sexually immoral woman (likely a prostitute) walked in uninvited.
      4. She went straight to Jesus, washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, anointed them with perfume, and repeatedly kissed them.
      5. As this happened, the Pharisee (Simon) thought to himself, “If this man was a prophet he would know what kind of woman this is who is touching him.”
      6. Jesus said, “Simon, let me talk to you,” and Simon said, “Talk.”
      7. Jesus said two men owned debts to the same man, one owed a huge debt and one owed a small debt.
         1. Neither man could repay his debt.
         2. So the man forgave both debts.
         3. Jesus asked, “Which debtor loved the man the most?’
         4. Simon gave the obvious answer: “The debtor who owed the most.”
         5. Jesus said he was right, and compared the debtor who owed the most to the woman, and the debtor who owed the least to the Pharisee.
      8. Jesus then told the woman, “Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
         1. What does that mean?
         2. “You mean what does ‘your sins have been forgiven’ mean?” No.
         3. “You mean what does ‘your faith has saved you’ mean?” No.
         4. I am asking what does, “Go in peace,” mean?
      9. What kind of peace would this woman have the first time one of her former lovers came to see her?
         1. “I know what your are.”
         2. “The whole city knows what you are.”
         3. “You know what you are.”
         4. “What do you mean ‘never again’?”
         5. Peace?
      10. Did the fact that Jesus forgave her and told her to go in peace mean:
          1. Every man and every wife in the community forgot what she used to do?
          2. She could go back to worship and no one lift an eyebrow?
          3. The Jewish religious community would welcome her with open arms praising her because she decided to redirect her life?
          4. Her life would suddenly be easy?
          5. Suddenly life would be simple, temptation would end, and everyone would be incredibly encouraging and helpful?
      11. Those who know much about real life in the real world among real people would say, “No, it did not mean those things.”
          1. Then what did “go in peace” mean?
          2. If “life stinks” did not suddenly become “life is good,” what did he mean?

   2. The second situation is found in Luke 8:43-48.
      1. A woman had hemorrhaged for twelve years.
         1. No one was able to heal her physical condition.
         2. She believed touching the fringes on the bottom of Jesus’ robe would stop the hemorrhage.
            1. Numbers 15:38,39 commanded the Israelite men to wear fringes or tassels on the hem of their clothes as a reminder of God’s commandments.
            2. Every generation of men were to wear these fringes.
            3. Jesus wore those fringes.
         3. I do not know how the woman did what she did.
            1. I do not know how a woman could fight through all that crowd of men and get close enough to Jesus to touch him, but she did.
            2. I do not know how she maneuvered to touch the bottom of his clothing without getting stomped, but she did.
            3. Immediately, when she touched the fringes, she was healed.
      2. With the multitude pushing and shoving, with countless people trying to touch Jesus as he passed, Jesus knew when someone with faith touched him.
         1. When she knew that Jesus knew something happened, she was terrified.
            1. First, as a woman in a man’s world, she had no right to do what she did.
            2. Second, the fact that she had a hemorrhage made her unclean (Leviticus 15:25-30), and anyone who touched her was made unclean just by touching her–she was not even supposed to be in the crowd.
            3. No wonder she was terrified!
         2. You can imagine what she expect to happen when, trembling, she fell down in front of Jesus?
            1. She explained what she did and why.
            2. Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
      3. What did that mean? Go in peace?
         1. Do you think that the whole multitude applauded, or do you think some said, “Who does this woman think she is touching Jesus? What if she had made Jesus unclean?”
         2. Do you think instantly everybody and everything made life good?

   3. The third situation occurred the last night of Jesus’ earthly life while he was with the twelve apostles in John 13-16.
      1. In hours he would be betrayed, arrested, denied, tried, and convicted.
      2. In less than twenty-four hours he would be dead.
      3. In twenty-four hours their leader would be in the tomb.
      4. Jesus made two statements to the twelve who followed and served him, men who thought that Jesus would become Israel’s king in a matter of days.
         John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
         John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
      5. I am leaving you with peace? In me you have peace?
      6. Do you remember what happened to these men for preaching about Jesus after the resurrection? Peace?

4. Does belonging to Jesus end injustice, unfairness, wrong treatment, and turn a person’s life into the physically good life?
   1. No, and it never has.
      1. Jesus died on a cross, eleven of the twelve apostles were killed, Stephen was killed, persecution of Christians was common, and having faith in Jesus often resulted in hardship and struggle.
      2. Faith in Jesus did not solve the physical problems of the early Christians.

   2. Then what was the peace?
      1. The peace of knowing God’s forgiveness.
      2. The peace of having your guilt destroyed.
      3. The peace of living in the mercy and grace of God every day of your life.
      4. The peace of being loved by Jesus and God.
      5. The peace of knowing the injustice and unfairness of this world cannot exist in eternity.
      6. When our faith is firmly fixed in Jesus, because he forgives us, we can go through life in peace. Our peace exists because he overcame the world.

[Prayer: God, help us understand that the peace Jesus gives is something far superior to having our physical desires granted. Help us stop looking for our peace in the things of this world. Help us find peace in our relationship with You. Help us find peace in Your mercy and Jesus’ forgiveness.]

Tuesday morning, shortly after I smelled the skunk, in the dim light of a streetlight I saw something shining on the sidewalk. In that light it looked like a big, heavy, silver, ring. I walked past it, but coming back I thought, I ought to check that out. I stopped, reached down, picked it up. As soon as I touched it I knew it was not what it appeared to be. It was just a worthless aluminum bottle cap.

As we live in this world, things tell us that they are of great worth. But when we pick them up, we discover they are not what they appear to be.

The peace Jesus gives us is not found in things or in physical circumstances. His peace is found in God’s mercy and Jesus’ forgiveness.

Deuteronomy: What Did Israel Need That We Need?

Posted by David on October 8, 2000 under Sermons

Here we are as a nation facing a major election. The presidential candidates tell us this election is a major decision at a critical moment in this nation’s history. (I have observed that every four years presidential candidates declare it is a critical time of decision in our nation.) We are informed that this is a “cross roads” election that will determine the direction of our nation in a new century.

Locally, we face some interesting decisions. We face another initiative to legalize gambling in Arkansas. Gambling zones have been established prior to the decision. Regina’s House of Dolls taught our city a hard, expensive lesson: the importance of establishing zones before a decision. We citizens of Arkansas will decide if the state will or will not legalize gambling.

So what does this nation and this state need?

1. Some say, “We need to return to the moral values that built this nation!”
   1. It is seriously suggested that we as a people need to return to the great morality that once characterized the American people.
      1. My question: when and where was that?
         1. Was that when towns killed women who were accused of being witches? our first president had children by a slave? our early cities used children virtually as slave laborers? the person who controlled bootlegging and “speak easies” became wealthy? the age of saloons, brothels, and violence? the time of Bell Starr (who used to visit Fort Smith)? the time of Pretty Boy Floyd who grew up and is buried not far from Fort Smith?
         2. Was that when plantations functioned by using slave labor? the Native Americans’ land was confiscated and reservations were established? the Cherokee was forced to walk the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma? the Garrison Avenue area had sixty-six saloons and seven houses of prostitution (about 1900)?

   2. When was that age?
      1. My own conclusion: the age of great American morality is a myth we created by remembering what we want to recall and forgetting the ugly.
      2. In every age, religious people find reasons to think their generation is the worst of ages–conditions and situations were always better in the past.
      3. If you really examine beneath the facade, get below surface appearances, the ideal age of great godliness and morality never has existed.
      4. There certainly were ages when “keeping up appearances” were more important, but it was appearances, not substance.

2. Some say, “This nation needs to return to faith in God!”
   1. What do we mean by return to faith in God?
      1. Was there an age of great faith when the whole nation was religious?
      2. Is it just a matter of talking about God? or passing and enforcing laws that are in agreement with Christian standards? or having religious meetings? or controlling what happens in a community?
      3. Do we define spiritual success as causing everyone to agree that the God of the Bible exists?

   2. I am confident that the circumstances and situation of my childhood community and the circumstances and situation of many of the older adults’ childhood community are not that different.
      1. In my childhood community, many people who were not openly religious expected their kids to live by the rules of Christian morality.
         1. They did not attend a church of any kind.
         2. In fact, many people in the community were not active in any church.
         3. They did not oppose Christianity; they did not oppose churches; but they were not religiously involved.
      2. There also were religious people who were involved.
      3. And there also were ungodly people who had little respect for religion.
      4. Is that the way it was in your childhood community?
      5. Would we conclude we achieved spiritual success as a nation or a city if we reproduced the conditions of our childhood? My question is not, “Would you like that better?” My question is, “Would that be spiritual success?”

3. What is your understanding of the obedience God expected from Israel?
   1. “God declared the law and said, ‘Do it!'”
   2. “Israel was expected to do it just like God said to do it.”
   3. “If they did what God said to do exactly like God said to do it, they were okay.”
   4. “If they did not do exactly what God said to do, God destroyed them.”
   5. So your understanding of obedience for Israel was basically “do what you are told to do”?

4. Take your Bibles, turn to Deuteronomy, and read with me.
   1. Deuteronomy 4:9
      1. Context: Moses urged them to remember the great things, the unique things that God did for them.
      2. “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.”
      3. Keep your heart in your memories of God.

   2. Deuteronomy 4:29
      1. Context: Moses said that future generations would turn to idolatry, and the result would be that God would be angry and scatter them.
      2. “But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.”
      3. What happened in their hearts was the key to the repentance that would cause God to return.

   3. Deuteronomy 4:39
      1. Context: Moses stressed a basic understanding Israel must never forget.
      2. “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”
      3. Their commitment to God had to come from their hearts.

   4. Deuteronomy 5:28,29
      1. Context: The nation of Israel heard God speak the ten commandments from Mount Sinai.
         1. They sent a delegation of leaders to Moses who said, “We heard God speak in a human voice and did not die.”
         2. “But the experience terrified us.”
         3. “From now on let God speak to you only, and we will listen to and obey everything you tell us.”
      2. “The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me (reverence me) and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!”
      3. To God, their words were pleasing, but God understood they had a heart problem; God wanted a heart response, not just a word response.

   5. Deuteronomy 6:4-6
      1. Context: Moses stressed Israel’s basic responsibility to God (the commandment that Jesus said was the most important commandment God ever gave).
      2. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.”
      3. Obedience must began with the heart belonging to God.

   6. Deuteronomy 8:2
      1. Context: Moses explained God’s purpose for Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years.
      2. “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”
      3. God wanted something far beyond control; God wanted obedience to be a response from the heart.

   7. Deuteronomy 26:16
      1. Context: Moses admonished Israel to obey God’s instructions.
      2. “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”
      3. It was not enough to do them; they needed to obey with all their heart and soul.

   8. That is not all the scriptures in Deuteronomy that emphasize that obedience must come from the heart.
      1. There are too many to read in one lesson.
      2. Others include 8:5; 8:11-14; 28:45-47; 30:1-3; and 30:6.

5. Let me ask you to think with me.
   1. Do you give God control of your life, or do you give God your heart?
      1. In your relationship with God, is that one question or two questions?
         1. Is the matter of God controlling your behavior one issue?
         2. Is the matter of God having your heart a separate issue?
         3. Or, is it the same issue: God is in charge of your behavior because your heart belongs to God?
      2. Is the primary issue in obedience the issue of control, or the issue of heart?

   2. God always has expected people’s obedience to come from the heart.
      1. God always has expected heart based obedience.
         1. That is what God expected in the Old Testament.
         2. That is what God expects of Christians.
      2. The people who truly obey God are the people who love God.
      3. It is as necessary to belong to God inwardly as it is to do what God says.
      4. Do these words sound familiar to you? “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8,9).

6. What do our nation, our society, our state, our city need?
   1. My understanding: the greatest need in America is the need for men and women who love God with all their hearts.
      1. Heartless obedience to God will not bless our society.
      2. Heartless obedience to God will not redirect our families.
      3. Heartless obedience to God will not rescue our children.
      4. Heartless obedience to God will not save us.

   2. From the moment they left the slavery of Egypt, heartless obedience would not work in Israel.
      1. It will not work in the church.
      2. It will not work in our families.
      3. It will not work in our personal lives.
      4. The greatest single restoration need in Christianity is the need to restore the obedience of love–we obey God because we love God.

With all that God did to prove His love and compassion, Israel had every reason to love God from the heart. With all that God did to prove His love and compassion, Christians have every reason to love God from the heart.

Israel quickly forgot what God did for them. Do you remember what God did and does for you?

God’s Will: Control or Conversion?

Posted by David on under Sermons

The American people as a nation have great confidence in the benefits of good government. Most of us realize our democratic form of government produces incredible benefits. No other form of government in any other large nation gives its people the benefits we enjoy. No one else has our kind of freedom. No one else has our guaranteed human rights. No other large nation values the individual as do we. The openness and opportunity that exists in our society is unthinkable in many other nations.

Religiously, a powerful truth exists that most people never see. They not only do not see it, but they may never realize that truth exists. The truth: what works best in a society is commonly superimposed on the church. The longer the church exists in a society, the more the church reflects the structure of that society. That is not hard to understand. What society does well must be good. When Christians accept it as good in society, they believe it will be good in the church.

1. That is not something new; it happened in the earliest days of the church.
   1. Allow me to show you two New Testament examples (there are more than two examples).
      1. Among the early Jerusalem Christians were baptized Pharisees.
         1. They believed with all their being that the church should baptize only the people who first accepted Judaism (the Jewish religion).
         2. They believed with all their hearts God’s will was obeyed by keeping strict, controlling regulations.
         3. When people who had not accepted the Jewish religion were baptized, Pharisees who were Christians declared, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to direct them to observe the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5).
         4. The church should adopt the Pharisees’ approach; that was good.
      2. Among Christians baptized in Corinth were people who had lived an idolatrous, sensual lifestyle.
         1. They declared Christians should not be condemned for satisfying their sexual desires in any way they chose (1 Corinthians 6:12-20).
         2. This was their basic argument: “When you are hungry you eat to satisfy your natural appetite. The hunger for sexual satisfaction is no different.”
         3. The church should adopt sensual idolatry’s approach to life. That was good.

   2. The American religious movement that resulted in the existence of the American Church of Christ began about 1800.
      1. That movement began with a double emphasis (a) on the freedom to follow only the Bible and (b) on the importance of unity.
      2. In time the emphasis shifted in a significant segment of that movement.
         1. The emphasis shifted to church structure.
         2. In that emphasis concerns focused on correct theology and correct forms.
      3. When more time passed, the emphasis shifted again in a significant part of the movement.
         1. This time the emphasis focused on worship.
         2. But the focus was on the forms in worship rather than an understanding of what worship is.
         3. The essential thing was to worship in the right way.

   3. To me, something is obvious (it may not be obvious to you, and it is certainly okay if you disagree with me.)
      1. We did what some Christians in the early church did: we superimposed our American experiences on the church.
      2. “Whatever are you talking about?”
         1. The “right” form of government produced incredible blessings in our nation.
         2. The “right” way of doing things would produce incredible blessings in the church.
      3. During the majority of my life, the congregations I worked among in the Southeastern United States focused on “correct forms.”
         1. The “right form” of organization for the congregation.
         2. The “right form” of organization for the leadership.
         3. The “right form” of organization for the church’s work.
         4. The “right form” of organization for worship.

   4. In a basic way, this influenced our view of God, Christ, and the church.
      1. “God is an authoritarian.”
         1. “We call Him Father, but He is really a mysterious authoritarian.”
         2. “When he says jump you just ask, ‘How high?'”
         3. God’s concern is proper government, not relationship.
      2. “Jesus is Lord.”
         1. We define the concept of Lord in the terms of an authoritarian.
         2. “What Jesus became after his resurrection is completely different from what Jesus was before he died.”
         3. “As a man, he was compassionate; as Lord he is authoritarian.”
         4. “We call him the good shepherd, but he is actually the Lord who exercises all authority.”
         5. Jesus Christ’s concern is proper government, not relationship.
      3. “The church is an authoritarian institution.”
         1. “The church is about the control of spiritual government.”
         2. “We call the church the family of God, but the church is actually about control, not about relationship with God or His people.”
         3. “The church is Christ’s body.”
         4. “The church was designed by God.”
         5. “God and Christ are authoritarians.”
         6. “So the church is an authoritarian institution.”

   5. “Big deal, David! What difference does that make?”
      1. It makes a basic difference.
         1. It powerfully influences what you regard to be spiritual.
         2. It is a significant factor in our children leaving the church.
         3. It is a significant factor in the darkness and emptiness too many Christians struggle against inside themselves.
      2. “Why? I do not understand.”
         1. It distorts our view of God, Christ, and the church.
         2. It creates an inadequate biblical view of God, Christ, and the church.
         3. It tempts us as Christians to place our confidence in rules and forms instead of God’s love and Jesus’ compassion.
      3. This is not a new problem; it is almost 2000 years old.
         Ephesians 4:17-24 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
         1. There are many wonderful things in this scripture that deserve our attention, but I want you to see one obvious fact.
         2. How were many Christians in this congregation living and behaving?
            1. They were living and behaving just like the people who did not believe in God.
            2. Paul’s basic point was this: “when you understand what God did for you in Jesus Christ, you will not live like people who do not know God.”
            3. “That is not what you were taught about Jesus Christ.”
            4. “Let God recreate you in Jesus Christ.”

2. Every week I know and understand that the needs in this congregation are much bigger than I am.
   1. Every week I see three major needs that never end.
      1. I see the constant need to emphasize the truth of God’s grace and mercy.
      2. I see the constant need to emphasize the fact that Christ’s forgiveness is not a license to do evil.
      3. I see the constant need to emphasize the fact that faith in rules and forms cannot save you, but faith in Jesus Christ will save you.
      4. And it is impossible for me to address those three needs in thirty minutes on any Sunday morning.

   2. I will do something this morning I never remember doing in thirty eight years of full time work as a preacher, and I likely will never do it again.
      1. On any given week my work is quite interesting.
         1. Last Sunday a family who recently placed membership made it a point to thank me for my lessons.
         2. Several times this week I worked with people to help them understand how to use God’s help as they fought major battles in their lives.
         3. Monday night I received an e-mail from Michael Cole sharing how many people read the lessons on our web site.
         4. Tuesday I received an anonymous letter.
      2. I have never before publicly discussed an anonymous letter.
         1. I will this morning for three reasons: I genuinely believe the person loves me; I am confident the person prays for me; I know the person is hurting.
         2. “I will try to be gentle. I aim to be kind. But I do have a point to make. I need to be fed from the word! I don’t know how you select the topics you do, but from my seat, I go away unfulfilled, uninspired and upset…”
      3. “That must have upset you!”
         1. No, it did not upset me; I felt a deep sense of sadness for the person.
         2. I do not know who this person is, but I do know this person is a friend.
         3. The note talked about how much the person loves me and prays for me, and I believe that is the truth.
         4. It made me sad to know that someone thought that he or she could not talk to me.
         5. I never want to be the kind of person someone fears; I want to be a person who is approachable because I care.

   3. One of the things I really value in this congregation is its diversity.
      1. Some of you live in a really tough world every day of your life.
      2. Some of you live in a very opportune world every day of your life.
      3. Some of you have very limited opportunity.
      4. Some of you have incredible opportunity.
      5. No matter what happens in our personal worlds, I want us to be God’s family.
         1. I want us to help people find God, depend on Jesus, and be filled with God’s Spirit.
         2. I want people to come to Christ because they know they matter to God, and they matter to God’s family.

[Prayer: Father, we thank you for the life and forgiveness that you provide us in Jesus. Thank you for your mercy and grace. Thank you for the privilege of being Your family. Help us place our confidence in You and Your Son without fear. Help us open our hearts and minds so You can sustain us.]

Please let me make a confession. There is nothing I can say in thirty minutes on Sunday morning to meet every need present. So let me ask you to do these things.

1. Understand that you can never exhaust God’s grace, and you never exhaust God’s grace by using it. But also understand that you must never abuse God’s grace. You abuse it if you frivolously take it for granted.

2. Understand that you can never exhaust Jesus Christ’s forgiveness, and you never exhaust Jesus’ forgiveness by repenting and accepting it. But also understand that you must never abuse Jesus’ forgiveness. You abuse it if you frivolously take it for granted.

3. This is my plea. Do more than declare that Jesus is Lord. Let Jesus direct your life, but also let him be your good shepherd. Understand what it means to let Jesus be Christ in your life. Allow Jesus to do for you what he wanted to do when he died.