Well, apparently my blog driver is messed up tonight and I don't have any editing tools.
So, here is the URL for "I Vote Values." You will have to copy it and paste it into your address bar in order to access the site.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
http://www.ivotevalues.org/
Friday, August 27, 2004
Back!
Well, I am back in town after being gone for about one week with my secular job. I'll get back to regular posting again on Monday.
In the meantime, here is a link to the website "I Vote Values," which you can use to help you in your election decisions this year.
Just click here to access the site.
Well, I am back in town after being gone for about one week with my secular job. I'll get back to regular posting again on Monday.
In the meantime, here is a link to the website "I Vote Values," which you can use to help you in your election decisions this year.
Just click here to access the site.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
In Defense of Marriage
In spite of what you heard from the media, the effort to modify laws and the constitution to define and protect the Christian definition of marriage is still alive and well. Here is the current state of affairs at the national level:
Last week, the U.S. Senate voted, in a 48-50 procedural vote, to kill the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 233-194 in favor of the Marriage Protection Act (MPA) which would take away from activist federal judges the power to declare the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. According to American Family Association legislation action reports, the DOMA says "that no state has to accept another state's marriage laws which legalize homosexual marriage." DOMA was passed in 1996 and signed into law by President Clinton.
In September, the House will vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment. If this amendment passes, then the FMA would go back to the Senate for another look.
Why is it important to support efforts to legally define marriage in accordance with the Christian view (one man and one woman)? As Focus on the Family cites it, "Marriage is a sacred, legal and social union ordained by God to be a life-long, sexually exclusive relationship between one man and one woman." The ideal situation, then, is for marriage to be between one man and one woman. Studies have shown that married couples are happier and healthier than unmarried couples or those cohabiting. According to James Q. Wilson, "People who are married...have higher incomes and enjoy greater emotional support." They live longer than unmarried couples, not only in the United States but abroad.
Studies have shown that children raised in these types of homes tend to be better adjusted and have fewer problems than children raised in other homes. As a Child Trends research brief summed up: "Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage. Children in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in stepfamilies or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poor outcomes. . . . There is thus value for children in promoting strong, stable marriages between biological parents."
Our society has been established around the concept of a family consisting of one man and one woman united in holy matrimony. Other attempts at redefining the family, either through polygamous or same-sex unions, have shown detrimental effects on children and societal values. No culture in the world has ever tried to redefine marriage in such a sweeping scale as we are attempting now. It seems obvious that the redefining of marriage in this way will lead to a decline in moral and societal values in our culture. We need to support efforts to maintain marriage as God originally intended it.
In spite of what you heard from the media, the effort to modify laws and the constitution to define and protect the Christian definition of marriage is still alive and well. Here is the current state of affairs at the national level:
Last week, the U.S. Senate voted, in a 48-50 procedural vote, to kill the Federal Marriage Amendment.
Last Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 233-194 in favor of the Marriage Protection Act (MPA) which would take away from activist federal judges the power to declare the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. According to American Family Association legislation action reports, the DOMA says "that no state has to accept another state's marriage laws which legalize homosexual marriage." DOMA was passed in 1996 and signed into law by President Clinton.
In September, the House will vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment. If this amendment passes, then the FMA would go back to the Senate for another look.
Why is it important to support efforts to legally define marriage in accordance with the Christian view (one man and one woman)? As Focus on the Family cites it, "Marriage is a sacred, legal and social union ordained by God to be a life-long, sexually exclusive relationship between one man and one woman." The ideal situation, then, is for marriage to be between one man and one woman. Studies have shown that married couples are happier and healthier than unmarried couples or those cohabiting. According to James Q. Wilson, "People who are married...have higher incomes and enjoy greater emotional support." They live longer than unmarried couples, not only in the United States but abroad.
Studies have shown that children raised in these types of homes tend to be better adjusted and have fewer problems than children raised in other homes. As a Child Trends research brief summed up: "Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children, and the family structure that helps children the most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage. Children in single-parent families, children born to unmarried mothers, and children in stepfamilies or cohabiting relationships face higher risks of poor outcomes. . . . There is thus value for children in promoting strong, stable marriages between biological parents."
Our society has been established around the concept of a family consisting of one man and one woman united in holy matrimony. Other attempts at redefining the family, either through polygamous or same-sex unions, have shown detrimental effects on children and societal values. No culture in the world has ever tried to redefine marriage in such a sweeping scale as we are attempting now. It seems obvious that the redefining of marriage in this way will lead to a decline in moral and societal values in our culture. We need to support efforts to maintain marriage as God originally intended it.
Monday, August 16, 2004
WHAT GOOD IS THE BIBLE?
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC
15 August 2004
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 4:1-11
-- Witch's Invitation
-- several years ago, Christian singer Carman received an invitation in his male from a male witch -- a warlock -- named Isaac Horowitz -- Isaac had heard about Carman and his witness for Christ -- so he wanted to meet Carman
-- Carman went over to his house -- his house was filled with occultic symbols -- pentagrams -- horoscopes -- Ouija boards -- crystal balls -- Isaac invited Carman to sit down and then handed him a large book filled with newspaper clippins -- Isaac said, "you see all those newspaper clippings -- I did all of that with my powers"
-- he said, "I healed this woman -- and I cured this man -- I cursed this man with AIDS -- on and on -- page after page he went -- finally, he said, "do you realize that with my dark powers I can make you rich or even curse someone to death? -- then, Isaac leaned back in his chair, smirked at Carman, and said, "Now, what can your God do to compete with this?"
-- Carman said he sat there stunned for a few minutes -- he said he kind of felt like Moses did when he turned his rod into a serpent and the three Egyptian magicians did the same thing -- he said "it's as if you're sitting there in that stunned moment while your faith gets violated and all you feel is weak, powerless, and lame"
-- but then, something dwelled up within him and he remembered the word of God from 1 John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world"
-- and he stood up and thrust that book back into Isaac's arms and said, "I will not compare God's miracles to Satans -- the issues are not whose kingdom this is because that is settled -- the issue is what is the condition of your soul versus mine -- and the Bible tells me that because I believe in Jesus, that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life -- where is yours written?"
-- and with that, Carman left -- knowing that God had once again defeated Satan and his servants
Power of God's Word
-- this little story about Carman and his encounter with Isaac proves one great point -- our God is an awesome God -- and there is power in His word -- and, through Christ, we have access to this power -- this book is God's written revelation to us -- and because it is the word of God -- it is powerful -- the Bible says that "the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
-- Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that the Bible is to be the Christian's sword -- but very few of us actually take our sword out and use it at all -- 90% of all homes in America have a Bible, but less than 40% of us read our Bibles except at church -- so, this morning, we are going to look at the subject, "What good is the Bible?"
-- Basic Protestant Belief/Wesleyan Quadrilateral
-- we are continuing in our series on the basic Christian doctrines -- so far, we've looked at salvation by faith through grace -- original sin -- justification -- and sanctification -- this morning we are going to look at the primacy of Scripture
-- this was the main break between the Protestants and the Catholic Church -- the Catholic church holds that the Bible and Papal Authority are equal -- Protestants hold that the Bible is supreme and that scripture should be the final word
-- now, this is one place where the Methodists have a little different belief than other denominations -- while we still affirm that the Bible is the principle authority for the church, Wesley taught that we need three other things in order to fully understand the principles of the Bible -- reason -- tradition -- and experience
-- Wesleyan Quadrilateral -- not a football play -- it's recognition that in order to understand the Bible, we need to read it and use reason to try to understand it -- then, we need to look at tradition to see how this has been played out in history by the church community -- and finally, we look at the experience of this truth in our life
-- that's all well and good, but what good is the Bible in my life? -- what does it matter if I read the Bible or study the Bible or memorize passages from the Bible? -- let's look at a passage now in Luke 4 that answers that question
-- Scripture Lesson -- Luke 4:1-11
-- context -- Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan River -- God has just spoken audibly and announced to all those present that Jesus was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased -- and now, after that spiritual high, we are given this passage
-- vs. 1-2
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. "
-- first thing to see here -- this is a pattern -- any time you have a spiritual high, it will usually be followed by a spiritual low -- anytime you do something for God or you start on a new spiritual discipline, Satan steps in -- he doesn't mind Christians, so long as they don't do anything -- but once they do -- once they start to deny themselves, pick up their crosses and follow Jesus, Satan gets perturbed and steps in, trying to tempt us into sin
-- spend time worrying about Osama Bin Laden and terrorism in our country -- we need to be just as concerned with spiritual terrorism
-- difference between temptation and sin -- temptation is not sin -- decision point -- a choice -- as Yogi Berra says, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it" -- temptation is a fork in the road and you have to choose at that point whether to give in to temptation and sin or to resist temptation and follow God -- Rick Warren, "temptation is an opportunity to do good"
-- vs. 3-11
"The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.' " The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.' " The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' "
-- in this passage we see three times where Satan tried to tempt Jesus -- the first temptation was the lust of the flesh -- the desire to fulfill the needs of the body in a wrong way -- the second temptation was the lust of the eyes -- the desire to obtain what we see before us -- the third temptation was the pride of life -- the desire to elevate ourselves above God
-- Satan tempts us with whatever he thinks will take us down -- for some of us, it is the lust of the flesh -- for others, the lust of the eyes -- for others, pride -- whatever it is, be sure that if Jesus was not immune from temptation you will not be
-- what do you do when Satan comes around to you and starts whispering his lies in your ears? -- what do you say to him? -- some of us just try to ignore him, but that doesn't work -- Satan is persistent and he will keep on and on and on until you finally give in -- some of us try to argue with him -- to confront him with our knowledge -- but that won't work -- Satan has been tempting humans for thousands of years, and he knows all our arguments better than us
-- so, what should we do? -- we should follow Christ's example -- in every situation, when Satan tempted Him, what did Jesus do? -- He recited scripture back to Satan -- all He did was speak God's word in power to turn back that particular temptation
-- have you ever wondered about that? -- why did Jesus do that? -- He was God -- all He had to do was speak and Satan could have been destroyed then once and for all and we wouldn't have to be putting up with him right now -- or, Jesus could have called down legions of angels to come and fight Satan on His behalf -- but He didn't do any of that -- He simply quoted Scripture -- Why?
-- He did it because it was an example for us -- just like His baptism -- Jesus didn't have to be baptized, but He did it to show us the way -- and in this case, He is showing us how to fight temptation -- how to fight the lies of Satan -- He knew we couldn't defeat Satan by our words and that we couldn't call down legions of angels, so He showed us how to get rid of temptation when it comes our way -- we are to call on the power of the Word of God
-- that is why we need to read and study and memorize God's word -- so we'll be ready to fight Satan's temptations when they come our way -- how are you going to use your sword if you don't know where it is or if it is dull from a lack of use?
-- story of Isuzu truck with hose loose -- couldn't use it for about three months -- the power was there all the time -- it was only a loose connection that kept us from putting the power to work
-- what is the loose connection in your life that is keeping you from putting the power of Scripture to use? -- it doesn't matter if 90% of the homes in America have Bibles in them if no one reads them -- the only way to get the power is to read and study and memorize the Bible
-- importance of memorization -- quick recall of Bible verses to use to confront Satan and temptation
-- you memorize what you want to -- phone numbers -- addresses -- people's names -- baseball statistics -- football statistics -- I'm tired of people telling me that they can't memorize the Bible -- you memorize what you want to -- preaching without notes
-- shortly beore WWII, a Bible distributor visited a small village in Poland and gave a Bible to a villager, who was converted by reading it -- he passed the Bible onto others -- the cycle of conversions and sharing continued until 200 people had become believers through that one Bible -- the Bible distributor came back to preach a worship service -- and rather than ask for testimonies -- he suggested that several in the audience recite verses of Scripture -- one man stood and said, "perhaps we have misunderstood -- did you mean verses or chaptes? -- these villagers had not memorized a few select verses of the Bible but whole chapters and books -- since they only had one Bible, it was the only way they could keep the Bible close to them
Closing
-- John 1:1-5
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
-- Jesus is the Word -- Jesus is the physical representation of God's Word and the Bible is the written representation of God's word -- when God speaks, He speaks with Power -- when God speaks, the world is created -- when God speaks, life is renewed -- when God speaks, darkness flees -- and when you speak God's word in Jesus' name, the same thing will happen -- darkness and temptation will leave you just as Satan left Jesus after he failed in tempting Him
-- want to close with this quote:
"This book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers -- its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true and its decisions are immutable
-- read it to be wise -- believe it to be safe -- practice it to be holy -- it contains light to direct you -- food to support you and comfort to cheer you -- it is the traveler's map -- the pilgrim's staff -- the pilot's compass -- the soldier's sword and the Christian's Character
-- here paradise is restored, hevaen opened, and the gates of hell disclosed -- Christ is its grand subject, our good its design -- and the glory of God its end
-- it should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet -- read it slowly, frequently , and prayerfully
-- it is a mine of wealth -- a paradise of glory -- and a river of pleasure -- follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary -- to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ -- yes, to glory itself, for eternity"
-- Let us pray
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC
15 August 2004
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Luke 4:1-11
-- Witch's Invitation
-- several years ago, Christian singer Carman received an invitation in his male from a male witch -- a warlock -- named Isaac Horowitz -- Isaac had heard about Carman and his witness for Christ -- so he wanted to meet Carman
-- Carman went over to his house -- his house was filled with occultic symbols -- pentagrams -- horoscopes -- Ouija boards -- crystal balls -- Isaac invited Carman to sit down and then handed him a large book filled with newspaper clippins -- Isaac said, "you see all those newspaper clippings -- I did all of that with my powers"
-- he said, "I healed this woman -- and I cured this man -- I cursed this man with AIDS -- on and on -- page after page he went -- finally, he said, "do you realize that with my dark powers I can make you rich or even curse someone to death? -- then, Isaac leaned back in his chair, smirked at Carman, and said, "Now, what can your God do to compete with this?"
-- Carman said he sat there stunned for a few minutes -- he said he kind of felt like Moses did when he turned his rod into a serpent and the three Egyptian magicians did the same thing -- he said "it's as if you're sitting there in that stunned moment while your faith gets violated and all you feel is weak, powerless, and lame"
-- but then, something dwelled up within him and he remembered the word of God from 1 John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world"
-- and he stood up and thrust that book back into Isaac's arms and said, "I will not compare God's miracles to Satans -- the issues are not whose kingdom this is because that is settled -- the issue is what is the condition of your soul versus mine -- and the Bible tells me that because I believe in Jesus, that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life -- where is yours written?"
-- and with that, Carman left -- knowing that God had once again defeated Satan and his servants
Power of God's Word
-- this little story about Carman and his encounter with Isaac proves one great point -- our God is an awesome God -- and there is power in His word -- and, through Christ, we have access to this power -- this book is God's written revelation to us -- and because it is the word of God -- it is powerful -- the Bible says that "the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
-- Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that the Bible is to be the Christian's sword -- but very few of us actually take our sword out and use it at all -- 90% of all homes in America have a Bible, but less than 40% of us read our Bibles except at church -- so, this morning, we are going to look at the subject, "What good is the Bible?"
-- Basic Protestant Belief/Wesleyan Quadrilateral
-- we are continuing in our series on the basic Christian doctrines -- so far, we've looked at salvation by faith through grace -- original sin -- justification -- and sanctification -- this morning we are going to look at the primacy of Scripture
-- this was the main break between the Protestants and the Catholic Church -- the Catholic church holds that the Bible and Papal Authority are equal -- Protestants hold that the Bible is supreme and that scripture should be the final word
-- now, this is one place where the Methodists have a little different belief than other denominations -- while we still affirm that the Bible is the principle authority for the church, Wesley taught that we need three other things in order to fully understand the principles of the Bible -- reason -- tradition -- and experience
-- Wesleyan Quadrilateral -- not a football play -- it's recognition that in order to understand the Bible, we need to read it and use reason to try to understand it -- then, we need to look at tradition to see how this has been played out in history by the church community -- and finally, we look at the experience of this truth in our life
-- that's all well and good, but what good is the Bible in my life? -- what does it matter if I read the Bible or study the Bible or memorize passages from the Bible? -- let's look at a passage now in Luke 4 that answers that question
-- Scripture Lesson -- Luke 4:1-11
-- context -- Jesus has just been baptized by John in the Jordan River -- God has just spoken audibly and announced to all those present that Jesus was His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased -- and now, after that spiritual high, we are given this passage
-- vs. 1-2
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. "
-- first thing to see here -- this is a pattern -- any time you have a spiritual high, it will usually be followed by a spiritual low -- anytime you do something for God or you start on a new spiritual discipline, Satan steps in -- he doesn't mind Christians, so long as they don't do anything -- but once they do -- once they start to deny themselves, pick up their crosses and follow Jesus, Satan gets perturbed and steps in, trying to tempt us into sin
-- spend time worrying about Osama Bin Laden and terrorism in our country -- we need to be just as concerned with spiritual terrorism
-- difference between temptation and sin -- temptation is not sin -- decision point -- a choice -- as Yogi Berra says, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it" -- temptation is a fork in the road and you have to choose at that point whether to give in to temptation and sin or to resist temptation and follow God -- Rick Warren, "temptation is an opportunity to do good"
-- vs. 3-11
"The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone.' " The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered, "It is written: `Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.' " The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "`He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' "
-- in this passage we see three times where Satan tried to tempt Jesus -- the first temptation was the lust of the flesh -- the desire to fulfill the needs of the body in a wrong way -- the second temptation was the lust of the eyes -- the desire to obtain what we see before us -- the third temptation was the pride of life -- the desire to elevate ourselves above God
-- Satan tempts us with whatever he thinks will take us down -- for some of us, it is the lust of the flesh -- for others, the lust of the eyes -- for others, pride -- whatever it is, be sure that if Jesus was not immune from temptation you will not be
-- what do you do when Satan comes around to you and starts whispering his lies in your ears? -- what do you say to him? -- some of us just try to ignore him, but that doesn't work -- Satan is persistent and he will keep on and on and on until you finally give in -- some of us try to argue with him -- to confront him with our knowledge -- but that won't work -- Satan has been tempting humans for thousands of years, and he knows all our arguments better than us
-- so, what should we do? -- we should follow Christ's example -- in every situation, when Satan tempted Him, what did Jesus do? -- He recited scripture back to Satan -- all He did was speak God's word in power to turn back that particular temptation
-- have you ever wondered about that? -- why did Jesus do that? -- He was God -- all He had to do was speak and Satan could have been destroyed then once and for all and we wouldn't have to be putting up with him right now -- or, Jesus could have called down legions of angels to come and fight Satan on His behalf -- but He didn't do any of that -- He simply quoted Scripture -- Why?
-- He did it because it was an example for us -- just like His baptism -- Jesus didn't have to be baptized, but He did it to show us the way -- and in this case, He is showing us how to fight temptation -- how to fight the lies of Satan -- He knew we couldn't defeat Satan by our words and that we couldn't call down legions of angels, so He showed us how to get rid of temptation when it comes our way -- we are to call on the power of the Word of God
-- that is why we need to read and study and memorize God's word -- so we'll be ready to fight Satan's temptations when they come our way -- how are you going to use your sword if you don't know where it is or if it is dull from a lack of use?
-- story of Isuzu truck with hose loose -- couldn't use it for about three months -- the power was there all the time -- it was only a loose connection that kept us from putting the power to work
-- what is the loose connection in your life that is keeping you from putting the power of Scripture to use? -- it doesn't matter if 90% of the homes in America have Bibles in them if no one reads them -- the only way to get the power is to read and study and memorize the Bible
-- importance of memorization -- quick recall of Bible verses to use to confront Satan and temptation
-- you memorize what you want to -- phone numbers -- addresses -- people's names -- baseball statistics -- football statistics -- I'm tired of people telling me that they can't memorize the Bible -- you memorize what you want to -- preaching without notes
-- shortly beore WWII, a Bible distributor visited a small village in Poland and gave a Bible to a villager, who was converted by reading it -- he passed the Bible onto others -- the cycle of conversions and sharing continued until 200 people had become believers through that one Bible -- the Bible distributor came back to preach a worship service -- and rather than ask for testimonies -- he suggested that several in the audience recite verses of Scripture -- one man stood and said, "perhaps we have misunderstood -- did you mean verses or chaptes? -- these villagers had not memorized a few select verses of the Bible but whole chapters and books -- since they only had one Bible, it was the only way they could keep the Bible close to them
Closing
-- John 1:1-5
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
-- Jesus is the Word -- Jesus is the physical representation of God's Word and the Bible is the written representation of God's word -- when God speaks, He speaks with Power -- when God speaks, the world is created -- when God speaks, life is renewed -- when God speaks, darkness flees -- and when you speak God's word in Jesus' name, the same thing will happen -- darkness and temptation will leave you just as Satan left Jesus after he failed in tempting Him
-- want to close with this quote:
"This book is the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers -- its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding; its histories are true and its decisions are immutable
-- read it to be wise -- believe it to be safe -- practice it to be holy -- it contains light to direct you -- food to support you and comfort to cheer you -- it is the traveler's map -- the pilgrim's staff -- the pilot's compass -- the soldier's sword and the Christian's Character
-- here paradise is restored, hevaen opened, and the gates of hell disclosed -- Christ is its grand subject, our good its design -- and the glory of God its end
-- it should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet -- read it slowly, frequently , and prayerfully
-- it is a mine of wealth -- a paradise of glory -- and a river of pleasure -- follow its precepts and it will lead you to Calvary -- to the empty tomb, to a resurrected life in Christ -- yes, to glory itself, for eternity"
-- Let us pray
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Charge News and Events
1. Men's Invitational for Christ -- CANCELLED -- because of the double punch of Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley and uncertainity as to when/where they would come in, we decided it would be best to cancel our trip to Tallahassee for this event.
2. Wright's Chapel Men's Group Fund Raiser -- We will be having a spaghetti dinner fund raiser on 18 September from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Dinners cost $5, and we are asking all to pre-purchase tickets to help us plan the amount of spaghetti to cook. You can pick the dinners up at the church on that day, or we will deliver large orders.
3. Sermon topic for Sunday, 15 August -- We will be continuing our series on the basics of Christianity with a look at the importance of the Bible. The sermon title is, "What good is the Bible?" and the main sermon text is Luke 4:1-11.
4. CHARGE CONFERENCE! Charge conference is set for 12 September, and we are in the process of filling out the required annual reports. Please help us to get these reports completed as soon as possible in order to prepare for this meeting. One big change this year that I am wholeheartedly supporting is that each church has to prepare an "Action Plan" for 2005, based on items such as membership in 2004 compared to 2003, baptisms in 2004 compared to 2003, etc. These baseline benchmarks will give us a glimpse of where we are at, where God is wanting to take us, and will help us put into our "Action Plan" the steps God wants us to take to get to His goals. Please be thinking and praying about Charge Conference and the Action Plan for 2005.
5. Naylor UMC Homecoming and Revival -- Homecoming at Naylor is 19 September at 11:00 am, followed by a covered dish dinner on the grounds. Revival is the next three nights (Monday through Wednesday) at 7:00 pm each night. The speaker is to be determined. Please plan on coming out and supporting Naylor during these events.
6. Wright's Chapel Fifth Sunday Revival -- The next Fifth Sunday Revival is 29 August at 11:30 am. Rev. David Scott, the VSU Wesley Director, will be the speaker. There will be a covered dish dinner following the service.
PLEASE PASS THE WORD ON ALL OF THESE EVENTS!
1. Men's Invitational for Christ -- CANCELLED -- because of the double punch of Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley and uncertainity as to when/where they would come in, we decided it would be best to cancel our trip to Tallahassee for this event.
2. Wright's Chapel Men's Group Fund Raiser -- We will be having a spaghetti dinner fund raiser on 18 September from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Dinners cost $5, and we are asking all to pre-purchase tickets to help us plan the amount of spaghetti to cook. You can pick the dinners up at the church on that day, or we will deliver large orders.
3. Sermon topic for Sunday, 15 August -- We will be continuing our series on the basics of Christianity with a look at the importance of the Bible. The sermon title is, "What good is the Bible?" and the main sermon text is Luke 4:1-11.
4. CHARGE CONFERENCE! Charge conference is set for 12 September, and we are in the process of filling out the required annual reports. Please help us to get these reports completed as soon as possible in order to prepare for this meeting. One big change this year that I am wholeheartedly supporting is that each church has to prepare an "Action Plan" for 2005, based on items such as membership in 2004 compared to 2003, baptisms in 2004 compared to 2003, etc. These baseline benchmarks will give us a glimpse of where we are at, where God is wanting to take us, and will help us put into our "Action Plan" the steps God wants us to take to get to His goals. Please be thinking and praying about Charge Conference and the Action Plan for 2005.
5. Naylor UMC Homecoming and Revival -- Homecoming at Naylor is 19 September at 11:00 am, followed by a covered dish dinner on the grounds. Revival is the next three nights (Monday through Wednesday) at 7:00 pm each night. The speaker is to be determined. Please plan on coming out and supporting Naylor during these events.
6. Wright's Chapel Fifth Sunday Revival -- The next Fifth Sunday Revival is 29 August at 11:30 am. Rev. David Scott, the VSU Wesley Director, will be the speaker. There will be a covered dish dinner following the service.
PLEASE PASS THE WORD ON ALL OF THESE EVENTS!
7 Prayers that God always answers, "YES!"
[From Promise Keepers]
1. Lord, give me strength!
God hears and delivers (Psalm 34:17)
2. Lord, help me love my neighbor!
God will replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19)
3. Lord, teach me Your ways!
God will guide those who seek Him (Psalm 25:3-5)
4. Lord, please forgive me!
Your sins are forgiven for His name (1 John 2:12)
5. Lord, help me resist temptation!
God always provides a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13)
6. Lord, reveal Yourself to me!
Seek God and you will find Him (Matthew 7:7)
7. Lord, help me love You more!
God teaches us love by His example (1 John 4:19)
[From Promise Keepers]
1. Lord, give me strength!
God hears and delivers (Psalm 34:17)
2. Lord, help me love my neighbor!
God will replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19)
3. Lord, teach me Your ways!
God will guide those who seek Him (Psalm 25:3-5)
4. Lord, please forgive me!
Your sins are forgiven for His name (1 John 2:12)
5. Lord, help me resist temptation!
God always provides a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13)
6. Lord, reveal Yourself to me!
Seek God and you will find Him (Matthew 7:7)
7. Lord, help me love You more!
God teaches us love by His example (1 John 4:19)
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Justification of Sin vs. Justification of the Sinner
Dietrich Bonhoeffer used this phrase in his book, "The Cost of Discipleship." I struggled for some time to understand what he meant in this phrase as he compared cheap grace to costly grace. What he means is that cheap grace only covers the sin. It is only concerned with the sin. It does not concern itself with the very being of the person, the sin nature that is buried deep inside of us resulting from original sin. Cheap grace says "we are all sinners -- we will always sin -- there is nothing that can be done about it -- but God has forgiven our sins. So, don't worry about changing your life and repenting of your sins because there is nothing you can do to change. Keep sinning and keep trusting in God to forgive your sins through the blood of Jesus."
Costly grace, on the other hand, concerns itself not so much with individual sin (although it does take care of that), but with the sin nature of the person. Costly grace justifies the sinner. It removes the sin nature. When Christ died on the cross, He did not die to gain victory over sin. He died to gain victory over the sinful nature in humans. Costly grace says, "You no longer have to live the way you did before. The sinful nature has been defeated by the blood of Jesus. Yes, you will continue to sin, but as you grow and as you trust in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to change your very nature, you will sin less and less. The goal is to change you from the inside out -- not merely to white-wash the outside."
Everyone Did What Was Right In Their Own Eyes...
As I reflected this week over the sad news that has been reported over the past several months, I was totally blown away by the latest report (see report below as posted on World Magazine Blog).
"Brutal slayings over X-Box
Troy Victorino, 27, and three 18-year-olds beat to death six people last week over a dispute involving clothes and video games. One of the victims, who is believed to be Erin Belanger, had visited her grandparents' vacant winter home in Florida to go swimming, but instead found Victorino and his friends using it as a party spot. Belanger had them kicked out, but they left behind an X-Box and clothes. Victorino threatened that ''they were going to come back there and beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping."
All four suspects armed with aluminum baseball bats returned days later and murdered six people in the house. The father of one suspect said that his son ''was a good kid, he just got with the wrong crowd.'' This "good kid" contributed to beatings so gruesome that dental records were useless when identifying Erin Belanger's body. Sheriff Ben Johnson said, “This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my career.""
What is going on in our country? People being killed over a video game and clothes. Husbands killing their wives because they are pregnant. Husbands killing their wives because they found out they were lying. Activist judges redefining definitions of marriage and changing our culture with no checks or balances. Attempts to denigrate the flag and the pledge and the church. Cheap life. Cheap grace. No morals.
In the book of Judges, we read that the people in that day, "did what seemed right in their own eyes." I think we are living in a day similar to that now. So much for the concept by the liberals that man is inherently good and that if we just create community we will all get along and we will eliminate war and crime and strife. The Bible says that man is inherently evil and that every desire of his heart is evil. Look around you. What do your eyes tell you?
Regardless of the political rhetoric being spouted now by politicians, we cannot fix our world or our country through our efforts alone. We do not have the capacity within us to create utopia, no matter our desire. The sinful desires of our hearts will stop us from succeeding in trying to create heaven on earth.
The only way we are going to see change in America and in this world is through the blood of Jesus. The only way we are going to see change in our hearts is through the blood of Jesus. And, until the politicians recognize and apply this and bring our country back to its original Christian moorings, nothing will change. If we really want to see change in America, we need to heed the words of God in 2 Chr. 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, and seek my face, then will I hear from heaven and forgive them their sins and heal their land."
How can you make a change? Follow God's words and start with your own life and your own household. And vote for candidates who hold strong Christian convictions and who will lead this country back to God. It's the only way we will ever survive.
As I reflected this week over the sad news that has been reported over the past several months, I was totally blown away by the latest report (see report below as posted on World Magazine Blog).
"Brutal slayings over X-Box
Troy Victorino, 27, and three 18-year-olds beat to death six people last week over a dispute involving clothes and video games. One of the victims, who is believed to be Erin Belanger, had visited her grandparents' vacant winter home in Florida to go swimming, but instead found Victorino and his friends using it as a party spot. Belanger had them kicked out, but they left behind an X-Box and clothes. Victorino threatened that ''they were going to come back there and beat her with a baseball bat when she was sleeping."
All four suspects armed with aluminum baseball bats returned days later and murdered six people in the house. The father of one suspect said that his son ''was a good kid, he just got with the wrong crowd.'' This "good kid" contributed to beatings so gruesome that dental records were useless when identifying Erin Belanger's body. Sheriff Ben Johnson said, “This is the worst thing I've ever seen in my career.""
What is going on in our country? People being killed over a video game and clothes. Husbands killing their wives because they are pregnant. Husbands killing their wives because they found out they were lying. Activist judges redefining definitions of marriage and changing our culture with no checks or balances. Attempts to denigrate the flag and the pledge and the church. Cheap life. Cheap grace. No morals.
In the book of Judges, we read that the people in that day, "did what seemed right in their own eyes." I think we are living in a day similar to that now. So much for the concept by the liberals that man is inherently good and that if we just create community we will all get along and we will eliminate war and crime and strife. The Bible says that man is inherently evil and that every desire of his heart is evil. Look around you. What do your eyes tell you?
Regardless of the political rhetoric being spouted now by politicians, we cannot fix our world or our country through our efforts alone. We do not have the capacity within us to create utopia, no matter our desire. The sinful desires of our hearts will stop us from succeeding in trying to create heaven on earth.
The only way we are going to see change in America and in this world is through the blood of Jesus. The only way we are going to see change in our hearts is through the blood of Jesus. And, until the politicians recognize and apply this and bring our country back to its original Christian moorings, nothing will change. If we really want to see change in America, we need to heed the words of God in 2 Chr. 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, and seek my face, then will I hear from heaven and forgive them their sins and heal their land."
How can you make a change? Follow God's words and start with your own life and your own household. And vote for candidates who hold strong Christian convictions and who will lead this country back to God. It's the only way we will ever survive.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC -- 8 August 2004
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC -- 8 August 2004
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 16:24-27 [read vs. 24-27]
24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27. For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
-- have you ever had a "now what?" moment? -- do you know what I'm talking about? -- it's those times in your life when you look around and realize you don't have a clue what you are going to do next and you ask yourself, "now what?"
-- I have those moments all the time -- several years ago, I was hunting near my house up in north Georgia -- I had one of those two part deer stands -- you sat on the top part and you put your feet on the bottom part -- the way it worked was, you would stand up and put the seat up as high as you could stand -- then, you'd pull the base up to the seat and start over again -- so, over time, you were climbing up the tree
-- well, this stand had a belt that connected the top and the bottom parts and everytime I tried to move, it would make a noise -- I thought to myself, "that's stupid -- who came up with this idea -- the whole point of hunting is to be as quiet as possible" -- so I reached down and unhooked the belt and let it fall to the ground
-- now, I was up in the tree about 20-25 feet and I decided it was time to go -- so I went to turn around in my seat to put my feet in the straps on the base when I learned what the belt was for -- it was to keep the two pieces of the tree stand together -- I knocked the base loose from the tree -- it slid down 25 feet all the way to the bottom of the tree -- so, there I am, sitting on a narrow little piece of board 25 feet up in the air with no way to get down -- and I remember thinking to myself, "now what?"
-- I have those moments all the time -- several years ago, I was hunting near my house up in north Georgia -- I had one of those two part deer stands -- you sat on the top part and you put your feet on the bottom part -- the way it worked was, you would stand up and put the seat up as high as you could stand -- then, you'd pull the base up to the seat and start over again -- so, over time, you were climbing up the tree
-- well, this stand had a belt that connected the top and the bottom parts and everytime I tried to move, it would make a noise -- I thought to myself, "that's stupid -- who came up with this idea -- the whole point of hunting is to be as quiet as possible" -- so I reached down and unhooked the belt and let it fall to the ground
-- now, I was up in the tree about 20-25 feet and I decided it was time to go -- so I went to turn around in my seat to put my feet in the straps on the base when I learned what the belt was for -- it was to keep the two pieces of the tree stand together -- I knocked the base loose from the tree -- it slid down 25 feet all the way to the bottom of the tree -- so, there I am, sitting on a narrow little piece of board 25 feet up in the air with no way to get down -- and I remember thinking to myself, "now what?"
-- everybody has those moments -- you see them mostly during major life changes -- I see it a lot in weddings -- I go to counsel the couple before the wedding and they aren't listening to a word I say -- they're sitting there, gazing into each other's eyes -- when they walked in they kind of floated into the room -- they're "in love" -- but then, when the ceremony's about to start and the bride comes walking down, I see that look on their faces -- or at least the groom's face -- it's one of those "now what?" moments -- and I know what he's thinking -- "we're getting married -- now what am I supposed to do?"
-- "now what?" moments are a part of life -- they're a part of growing up and maturing -- and they're good for us -- we all need those "now what" moments in order to help us figure out just where we're going in life
-- the same holds true in our spiritual lives as well -- when Christians get saved -- when they get justified -- when they accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and their sins are forgiven and forgotten by God -- they are supposed to have one of those "now what" moments -- they are supposed to rise from the altar or get out of the baptismal pool -- and they're supposed to look their new life right in the eye and say, "now what -- now what am I supposed to do?"
II. Scripture Lesson
-- Jesus gives us the answer to that question in this passage
-- He has just told His disciples that He had to go up to Jerusalem and that He would be crucified and killed, but that on the third day He would rise from the dead -- in other words, He has shared with His disciples His mission on earth -- to pay the cost of our sins with His body and His blood -- to justify us in the eyes of God
-- and now He tells them what their next step should be -- what they should do after they are justified -- in verse 24 He says, "if anyone would come after me" -- the next step after justification is coming after Jesus -- following Jesus -- being His disciple -- following Jesus means becoming like Him in all our ways -- -- it means letting the Holy Spirit work through you and in you to change you -- to transform you from the inside out -- into the person God has called you to be -- we call this process sanctification or discipleship
-- Eph 1:4 says that God chose us to be holy and blameless in His eyes -- 1 Pet 1:16 says, "be holy because I am holy" -- in answer to the question, "now what?" God tells us to follow Jesus and to become holy like Him
-- Jesus never wanted us to be satisfied with just being saved -- He wanted us to be sanctified -- He wanted us to be His disciples and to follow Him
-- let's say you were in a burning building and Jesus is a fireman -- He comes in and pulls you out of the fire, through a window, onto a fire escape -- there you are -- standing on fire escape -- saved from fire -- Jesus goes down to the ground -- but we just stand there, happy with being saved -- but that's not what He wants us to do -- He wants us to follow Him, get suited up, and go with Him into the burning building to save some more souls
-- Jesus has called all of us to be His disciples -- He has called us to do more than come to church and do Bible studies -- He has called us to follow Him with our whole life -- but very few of us actually do it -- look at our churches today and see how many committed Christians there are -- look at the effect the church is having on the culture -- you can see that we don't have many folks following Jesus as He commanded
-- why? -- why won't we follow Jesus? -- I can give you one good reason -- it's because there is a cost to following Christ and very few people are willing to pay that price -- Jesus tells us here in this passage what the cost of following Him is -- look back at verse 24 [read vs. 24] -- He says that we are to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses and then follow Him
-- the cost of following Him is to deny ourselves -- to lose our very life -- to put our wants and our desires and our goals and our dreams behind us and to follow Him and be obedient to His word
III. Cheap Grace
-- talking about being committed to Jesus -- we have a lot of people living a double standard in our churches -- claim to be Christians, but they are failing to follow Christ -- they may be saved but they are not living the life of grace and obedience that God has called us to
--there's a difference between just getting by and giving it all -- there's a difference between being committed and just making a contribution
--there's a difference between just getting by and giving it all -- there's a difference between being committed and just making a contribution
-- one day a pig and a chicken were walking down the street -- they passed by a restaurant -- there was a sign in the window that said, "eggs and bacon wanted" -- the chicked looked at the pig and said, "we should go in and help" -- the pig said "I don't think so" -- the chicken said, "why not?" -- the pig said, "because for you it's a contribution -- for me it's a committment"
-- we have a lot of chicken Christians in our pews and on our membership rolls -- they're saved -- they have been justified -- but they are not committed to Christ -- this has always been the case -- people have always been attracted to the rewards of Christianity -- they have always liked the idea of salvation -- but they are just not willing to pay the price that Christ demands for holiness
-- flip over to Luke 14:25
25. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
26. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
27. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
29. For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30. saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31. "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32. If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
33. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
26. "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
27. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
29. For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30. saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31. "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32. If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
33. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
-- large crowds were following Him -- every where Jesus went, people wanted to follow Jesus -- they liked the miracles -- they liked seeing people get healed -- they liked getting a full meal out of only 5 loaves and 2 small fish -- they like the teaching -- they liked seeing Him confront the Pharisees and the religious right -- they were happy following Him, provided He just didn't ask them to do anything
-- look back at verse 25 again [read vs. 25-33] -- Jesus knew what was in their hearts -- He knew that they were not living the life He had called them to -- so He turned and shocked them with His proclamation -- "if you don't carry your cross and follow me, you can't be my disciple" -- there is a cost to being a disciple of Christ -- there is a cost to being a committed Christian
-- this large crowd was unwilling to pay the cost, and they left -- you see, they were living on cheap grace -- these were the folks who were "luke-warm" -- neither hot nor cold -- saved, but not willing to be on fire for Christ -- not willing to become holy as He was holy
-- we have a lot of folks in our churches today who are living on this luke-warm cheap grace -- cheap grace is the grace that doesn't require a commitment on our part
-- cheap grace is grace without responsibility -- grace without discipleship -- grace without sacrifice
-- "cheap grace is ultimately belief without obedience -- hearing without doing -- intellectual assent without commitment -- cheap grace says you don't have to be concerned about purity, holiness, obedience or following Christ
-- cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance; baptism without
church discipline and communion without confession
-- people living on cheap grace focus on the things of God rather than on God Himself -- as Paul says in 2 Tim 3:5 -- these people have a form of Godliness but deny its power
-- grace may be free, but it's not cheap -- grace is costly -- any time a cross is involved, there will be a cost -- the grace that came with the cross cost Jesus His life -- and if you are going to live in obedience to Him and follow Him, then you will have to pay a cost yourself
-- Jesus calls for us to deny ourselves -- to give Him our very lives -- and to take up our crosses and to follow Him -- we can't follow Him if we don't first offer ourselves up to Him as a living sacrifice
-- costly grace means becoming a follower of Christ -- and that doesn't just happen like magic -- sanctification is not automatic -- it takes work and desire
-- college football season is just weeks away -- there is a difference between being a spectator and being a player -- if you are going to play, then you have to get ready -- you have to sacrifice in order to succeed -- you have to work out and get in shape and practice
-- costly grace is like becoming a star player -- cheap grace is being content with sitting in the stands and watching others do the work
-- Christ didn't die for us to sit on the sidelines -- He died for us to get in the game -- Christ commands us to follow Him -- He commands us to become like Him -- we are obligated to follow Him -- no matter the cost
-- Hudson Taylor was a great man of God who understand what it meant to respond to God's call to follow Christ -- He was called by God to abandon his dreams and his desires and to go to China as a missionary
-- there was a great cost for him to go -- His father had already died -- He had to leave his widowed mother to go -- and he knew that the odds of him returning to England would be extremely low
-- during those days, when missionaries left home then, they didn't pack their clothes in a suitcase or trunk -- they had a coffin made for them and packed their clothes in it -- most missionaries in those days died on the mission field -- going to China might mean dying for Christ -- it would surely mean that he would never see his mother again
-- leaving home and family on a dangerous mission was a very costly step for Hudson Taylor to take -- but history reveals that God rewarded the faithfulness of His servant by reaching thousands in inland China with the gospel of Christ -- God promises that He will always reward obedience -- maybe not in this life -- but certainly in the next
-- there was a great cost for him to go -- His father had already died -- He had to leave his widowed mother to go -- and he knew that the odds of him returning to England would be extremely low
-- during those days, when missionaries left home then, they didn't pack their clothes in a suitcase or trunk -- they had a coffin made for them and packed their clothes in it -- most missionaries in those days died on the mission field -- going to China might mean dying for Christ -- it would surely mean that he would never see his mother again
-- leaving home and family on a dangerous mission was a very costly step for Hudson Taylor to take -- but history reveals that God rewarded the faithfulness of His servant by reaching thousands in inland China with the gospel of Christ -- God promises that He will always reward obedience -- maybe not in this life -- but certainly in the next
-- in the passage we read in Matthew 16, Jesus said "The Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."
-- we are not all called to be missionaries -- we are not all called to pastors or teachers -- but we are all called to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Christ
-- getting saved is not enough -- we have to take the next step -- we have to follow Him and be obedient to Him in order to become like Him
-- getting saved is not enough -- we have to take the next step -- we have to follow Him and be obedient to Him in order to become like Him
V. Closing
-- Nathan Schaeffer -- "at the close of life, the question will not be, "how much have you gotten? But how much have you given? -- not how much have you won, but how much have you done? -- not how much have you saved but how much have you sacrificed -- it will be how much you loved and served -- not how much were you honored?
-- are you loving and serving God today or are you living on cheap grace? -- if you are content with just sitting in the pews while others follow Christ, then you are living on cheap grace -- without discipleship, you turn costly grace into cheap grace
-- the Bible tells us not to just be hearers of the Word but to be doers of the Word
-- C.T. Studd said, "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice is too great for me to give for Him" -- Jesus is looking for men and women who are willing to sacrifice themselves for Him -- men and women not willing to settle -- men and women who are willing to stand up and pay the cost and follow Him -- men and women who consider a reward in Heaven as worth more than a cost here on earth
-- in answer to the question, "now what," Jesus says, "deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me" -- you have heard the words of Jesus -- now what are you going to do?
-- let us pray
Thursday, August 05, 2004
United Methodist clergywoman to face trial
Aug. 2, 2004
By Linda Bloom
United Methodist News Service
A United Methodist clergywoman in Philadelphia faces a church trial as the result of an investigating committee decision.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth (Beth) Stroud, 34, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown since 1999, talked about being a lesbian in an April 27, 2003, sermon to her congregation. She also said she and her partner “have lived in a covenant relationship for two and a half years.”
Church law forbids “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as clergy to churches.
An investigating committee from the denomination’s Eastern Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference met July 23 to review evidence on a complaint brought against Stroud. “The committee on investigation voted that reasonable grounds exist for a church trial as provided in the United Methodist Book of Discipline,” according to a statement from the annual conference.
The committee’s vote was 5-3.
Stroud told United Methodist News Service that the committee chairman “called me personally to share the results and was very pastoral and very caring.”
A trial date will be set after Bishop Peter Weaver, who leads the denomination’s Philadelphia area, has selected a retired bishop to preside over the trial.
.
According to an annual conference statement, Weaver filed the complaint and “acting in accordance with church law, oversaw a yearlong process of supervisory review with Rev. Stroud. When that process did not resolve the complaint, Bishop Weaver, continuing to follow church law, referred the matter to the committee on investigation.”
Stroud said she met with the bishop before she preached her revealing sermon “and was very open with him about what I felt called to do.
“I love the United Methodist Church,” she said, noting she had been baptized and confirmed in the denomination and had grown up in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. “I’m also called to tell the truth about who I am.”
Stroud added that she expects to proceed with prayer and thoughtfulness while maintaining her active ministry with children and youth at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, which is in the northwest section of Philadelphia. “I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing,” she said.
The Rev. Fred Day, the church’s senior pastor, has worked with Stroud for the past three years and said the 1,000-member congregation is firmly behind her.
“It is an opportunity for us to be faithful to what we believe in,” he told United Methodist News Service, noting that the church has been a reconciling congregation for more than a decade. “We could not be more supportive and more behind Beth in this.”
First United Methodist Church also has set up a legal defense fund for Stroud.
“People know Beth as a highly competent minister,” Day said, adding that, both inside and outside the church, many are “deeply appreciative for her ministry.”
Last March, the Rev. Karen Dammann, a United Methodist clergywoman from Seattle, was found by a Pacific Northwest Annual Conference trial court to be not guilty of the charge of engaging in “practices incompatible with Christian teaching” even though it found that she openly admitted to being a practicing homosexual.
In early May, during the United Methodist General Conference in Pittsburgh, the denomination’s top court ruled that it did not have the authority to review the findings of the Dammann trial court. But the Judicial Council did reaffirm that a bishop may not appoint a pastor who has been found by a trial court to be a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”
The Judicial Council also confirmed that the practice of homosexuality is a “chargeable offense” for United Methodist clergy
Aug. 2, 2004
By Linda Bloom
United Methodist News Service
A United Methodist clergywoman in Philadelphia faces a church trial as the result of an investigating committee decision.
The Rev. Irene Elizabeth (Beth) Stroud, 34, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown since 1999, talked about being a lesbian in an April 27, 2003, sermon to her congregation. She also said she and her partner “have lived in a covenant relationship for two and a half years.”
Church law forbids “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as clergy to churches.
An investigating committee from the denomination’s Eastern Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference met July 23 to review evidence on a complaint brought against Stroud. “The committee on investigation voted that reasonable grounds exist for a church trial as provided in the United Methodist Book of Discipline,” according to a statement from the annual conference.
The committee’s vote was 5-3.
Stroud told United Methodist News Service that the committee chairman “called me personally to share the results and was very pastoral and very caring.”
A trial date will be set after Bishop Peter Weaver, who leads the denomination’s Philadelphia area, has selected a retired bishop to preside over the trial.
.
According to an annual conference statement, Weaver filed the complaint and “acting in accordance with church law, oversaw a yearlong process of supervisory review with Rev. Stroud. When that process did not resolve the complaint, Bishop Weaver, continuing to follow church law, referred the matter to the committee on investigation.”
Stroud said she met with the bishop before she preached her revealing sermon “and was very open with him about what I felt called to do.
“I love the United Methodist Church,” she said, noting she had been baptized and confirmed in the denomination and had grown up in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference. “I’m also called to tell the truth about who I am.”
Stroud added that she expects to proceed with prayer and thoughtfulness while maintaining her active ministry with children and youth at First United Methodist Church of Germantown, which is in the northwest section of Philadelphia. “I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing,” she said.
The Rev. Fred Day, the church’s senior pastor, has worked with Stroud for the past three years and said the 1,000-member congregation is firmly behind her.
“It is an opportunity for us to be faithful to what we believe in,” he told United Methodist News Service, noting that the church has been a reconciling congregation for more than a decade. “We could not be more supportive and more behind Beth in this.”
First United Methodist Church also has set up a legal defense fund for Stroud.
“People know Beth as a highly competent minister,” Day said, adding that, both inside and outside the church, many are “deeply appreciative for her ministry.”
Last March, the Rev. Karen Dammann, a United Methodist clergywoman from Seattle, was found by a Pacific Northwest Annual Conference trial court to be not guilty of the charge of engaging in “practices incompatible with Christian teaching” even though it found that she openly admitted to being a practicing homosexual.
In early May, during the United Methodist General Conference in Pittsburgh, the denomination’s top court ruled that it did not have the authority to review the findings of the Dammann trial court. But the Judicial Council did reaffirm that a bishop may not appoint a pastor who has been found by a trial court to be a “self-avowed practicing homosexual.”
The Judicial Council also confirmed that the practice of homosexuality is a “chargeable offense” for United Methodist clergy
Christian Accountability
In Rebuilding Your Broken World, Gordon MacDonald suggests twenty-six questions to help develop accountability and invite feedback. If we desire to grow, we should submit our selves to a spiritual mentor and answer these questions honestly.
1. How is your relationship with God right now?
2. What have you read in the Bible in the past week?
3. What has God said to you in this reading?
4. Where do you find yourself resisting Him these days?
5. What specific things are you praying for in regard to yourself?
6. What are the specific tasks facing you right now that you consider incomplete?
7. What habits intimidate you?
8. What have you read in the secular press this week?
9. What general reading are you doing?
10. What have you done to play?
11. How are you doing with your spouse? Kids?
12. If I were to ask your spouse about your state of mind, state of spirit, state of energy level, what would the response be?
13. Are you sensing spiritual attacks from the enemy right now?
14. If Satan were to try to invalidate you as a person or as a servant of the Lord, how might he do it?
15. What is the state of your sexual perspective? Tempted? Dealing with fantasies? Entertainment?
16. Where are you financially right now? (things under control? under anxiety? in great debt?) 17. Are there any unresolved conflicts in your circle of relationships right now?
18. When was the last time you spent time with a good friend of your own gender?
19. What kind of time have you spent with anyone who is a non-Christian this month?
20. What challenges do you think you're going to face in the coming week? Month?
21. What would you say are your fears at this present time?
22. Are you sleeping well?
23. What three things are you most thankful for?
24. Do you like yourself at this point in your pilgrimage?
25. What are your greatest confusions about your relationship with God?
In Rebuilding Your Broken World, Gordon MacDonald suggests twenty-six questions to help develop accountability and invite feedback. If we desire to grow, we should submit our selves to a spiritual mentor and answer these questions honestly.
1. How is your relationship with God right now?
2. What have you read in the Bible in the past week?
3. What has God said to you in this reading?
4. Where do you find yourself resisting Him these days?
5. What specific things are you praying for in regard to yourself?
6. What are the specific tasks facing you right now that you consider incomplete?
7. What habits intimidate you?
8. What have you read in the secular press this week?
9. What general reading are you doing?
10. What have you done to play?
11. How are you doing with your spouse? Kids?
12. If I were to ask your spouse about your state of mind, state of spirit, state of energy level, what would the response be?
13. Are you sensing spiritual attacks from the enemy right now?
14. If Satan were to try to invalidate you as a person or as a servant of the Lord, how might he do it?
15. What is the state of your sexual perspective? Tempted? Dealing with fantasies? Entertainment?
16. Where are you financially right now? (things under control? under anxiety? in great debt?) 17. Are there any unresolved conflicts in your circle of relationships right now?
18. When was the last time you spent time with a good friend of your own gender?
19. What kind of time have you spent with anyone who is a non-Christian this month?
20. What challenges do you think you're going to face in the coming week? Month?
21. What would you say are your fears at this present time?
22. Are you sleeping well?
23. What three things are you most thankful for?
24. Do you like yourself at this point in your pilgrimage?
25. What are your greatest confusions about your relationship with God?
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
The Start of School
Well, it's that time again in south Georgia -- the time when schools are starting back. I know some schools in south Georgia started last week, while most start back around August 9th. This year, more than any other, I have felt an urgent need for prayer for our schools.
Have you ever given much thought over the amount of influence the schools currently have on your children? The students spend significantly more time at school, under the influence of teachers and peers, than they do at home. While this can be positive or negative, it is an area that we need to be cognizant of. Abraham Lincoln once said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation would be the philosophy of the nation in the next. In other words, the influence of the schools on your kids is having a much greater impact on the overall social structure of this country than your influence as parents.
What are our schools teaching? What are our teachers and administrators promoting? Where is our nation headed? I praise God for the schools in our area that still have a strong Christian influence, but there are many other schools that are succumbing to pressure from the state, from teacher's unions, and from other cultural institutions to focus more on pluralism in religion, sexual orientation, and political thinking.
It is for this reason that many Christians have opted to remove their children from public school and have placed them in Christian schools or teach them at home. It is for this reason that we need to pray for our schools -- for the students, for the teachers, for the administrators, and for all who work there. We need to pray that God's presence in our schools would be real and active, and that our schools would stand firm in their resistance to liberal pluralistic curriculum focusing more on cultural change than on actual educational advances. And, we need to pray that God would magnify our influence on our children, that we would be able to lead them and teach them His ways and that it would carry over into their adult lives.
Pray for our children this school year. Everytime you pass a school while driving or walking, pray for the school and for all those who will enter into it. Pray that the love of Christ would reign supreme, and pray for the protection -- both physical and spiritual -- for the kids who will be attending.
Well, it's that time again in south Georgia -- the time when schools are starting back. I know some schools in south Georgia started last week, while most start back around August 9th. This year, more than any other, I have felt an urgent need for prayer for our schools.
Have you ever given much thought over the amount of influence the schools currently have on your children? The students spend significantly more time at school, under the influence of teachers and peers, than they do at home. While this can be positive or negative, it is an area that we need to be cognizant of. Abraham Lincoln once said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation would be the philosophy of the nation in the next. In other words, the influence of the schools on your kids is having a much greater impact on the overall social structure of this country than your influence as parents.
What are our schools teaching? What are our teachers and administrators promoting? Where is our nation headed? I praise God for the schools in our area that still have a strong Christian influence, but there are many other schools that are succumbing to pressure from the state, from teacher's unions, and from other cultural institutions to focus more on pluralism in religion, sexual orientation, and political thinking.
It is for this reason that many Christians have opted to remove their children from public school and have placed them in Christian schools or teach them at home. It is for this reason that we need to pray for our schools -- for the students, for the teachers, for the administrators, and for all who work there. We need to pray that God's presence in our schools would be real and active, and that our schools would stand firm in their resistance to liberal pluralistic curriculum focusing more on cultural change than on actual educational advances. And, we need to pray that God would magnify our influence on our children, that we would be able to lead them and teach them His ways and that it would carry over into their adult lives.
Pray for our children this school year. Everytime you pass a school while driving or walking, pray for the school and for all those who will enter into it. Pray that the love of Christ would reign supreme, and pray for the protection -- both physical and spiritual -- for the kids who will be attending.
Monday, August 02, 2004
Theological Terms
[Note: This article was borrowed from Rev. Neal's website located here.]
The following is a list of some of the theological movements that are important to understand when studying Methodism ... in part because our Church's beliefs evolved to combat many of these movements. The first two listed are long-time heresies, having plagued Christianity for most of the past 2000 years. They were very strong in earlier eras, but can still be found active today.
Arianism :Arianism is characterized by a denial of the Divinity of Jesus. Most Arians believed that Jesus was a human being who was adopted by God at his Baptism. Some Arians believed that Jesus wasn't Divine, but was more than Human by being an Angel who possessed a human baby to become Jesus. Modern day versions of the first form of Arianism are liberal academic scholars and others who prefer to talk about only the human Jesus, and want to avoid questions of divinity. Modern day versions of the second form of Arianism are Jehovah Witnesses.
Gnosticism :If Arianism is the denial of the Divinity of Jesus, then Gnosticism is the exact opposite tendency -- it is the denial of the Humanity of Jesus. Gnostics didn't believe that Jesus was really human, but that His physical nature was only an illusion. They believed that the flesh was evil and that the purpose of the Christian existence was to escape the bonds of the flesh so that we can enter heaven. The way of doing this was to receive secrete, private revelations of God's knowledge, which explains the way to get out of the flesh and into heaven. Modern examples of Gnostic tendencies can be found in many protestant Churches, but are especially strong among some Pentecostal groups and among those Protestant and Catholic Christians who have a problem thinking or talking about Jesus as having a physical body, or of being capable of sin.
Pelagianism : Beyond the classic heresies of Arianism and Gnosticism, there are several other heresies that are of particular influence even in modern day Churches. One of them is Pelagianism. Pelagianism is the belief that Adam and Eve's Fall from Grace didn't bequeath to humans anything other than a bad example. According to Pelagians, humans don't HAVE to sin, and can -- if we attain the proper knowledge of God's Will -- by our own free will, DO what God wants us to do, not sin, and achieve salvation. According to Pelagians, Jesus doesn't give us anything except (1) forgiveness of sins, and (2) a good example of how to live in God's Will. For Pelagians, NO Grace is needed to BE a Christian. For Pelagians, salvation depends entirely upon the human's will to respond to Jesus' teachings.
Most Pelagians today are legalists who view Christianity as more a set of rules and regulations than a living relationship with a Risen Lord. They don't deny the resurrection, but they do deny the normative Christian understanding of the purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus. While Jesus' death does pay for our sins, we do not need anything other than right-teaching and a good example for us to be able to be "good Christians."
These three ideas -- Arianism, Gnosticism, and Pelagianism -- are theological ideas that we, as a denomination, oppose. Jesus is Fully Human, Fully Divine, and died so that we might live ... and live with the power and life of Christ within us.
[Note: This article was borrowed from Rev. Neal's website located here.]
The following is a list of some of the theological movements that are important to understand when studying Methodism ... in part because our Church's beliefs evolved to combat many of these movements. The first two listed are long-time heresies, having plagued Christianity for most of the past 2000 years. They were very strong in earlier eras, but can still be found active today.
Arianism :Arianism is characterized by a denial of the Divinity of Jesus. Most Arians believed that Jesus was a human being who was adopted by God at his Baptism. Some Arians believed that Jesus wasn't Divine, but was more than Human by being an Angel who possessed a human baby to become Jesus. Modern day versions of the first form of Arianism are liberal academic scholars and others who prefer to talk about only the human Jesus, and want to avoid questions of divinity. Modern day versions of the second form of Arianism are Jehovah Witnesses.
Gnosticism :If Arianism is the denial of the Divinity of Jesus, then Gnosticism is the exact opposite tendency -- it is the denial of the Humanity of Jesus. Gnostics didn't believe that Jesus was really human, but that His physical nature was only an illusion. They believed that the flesh was evil and that the purpose of the Christian existence was to escape the bonds of the flesh so that we can enter heaven. The way of doing this was to receive secrete, private revelations of God's knowledge, which explains the way to get out of the flesh and into heaven. Modern examples of Gnostic tendencies can be found in many protestant Churches, but are especially strong among some Pentecostal groups and among those Protestant and Catholic Christians who have a problem thinking or talking about Jesus as having a physical body, or of being capable of sin.
Pelagianism : Beyond the classic heresies of Arianism and Gnosticism, there are several other heresies that are of particular influence even in modern day Churches. One of them is Pelagianism. Pelagianism is the belief that Adam and Eve's Fall from Grace didn't bequeath to humans anything other than a bad example. According to Pelagians, humans don't HAVE to sin, and can -- if we attain the proper knowledge of God's Will -- by our own free will, DO what God wants us to do, not sin, and achieve salvation. According to Pelagians, Jesus doesn't give us anything except (1) forgiveness of sins, and (2) a good example of how to live in God's Will. For Pelagians, NO Grace is needed to BE a Christian. For Pelagians, salvation depends entirely upon the human's will to respond to Jesus' teachings.
Most Pelagians today are legalists who view Christianity as more a set of rules and regulations than a living relationship with a Risen Lord. They don't deny the resurrection, but they do deny the normative Christian understanding of the purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus. While Jesus' death does pay for our sins, we do not need anything other than right-teaching and a good example for us to be able to be "good Christians."
These three ideas -- Arianism, Gnosticism, and Pelagianism -- are theological ideas that we, as a denomination, oppose. Jesus is Fully Human, Fully Divine, and died so that we might live ... and live with the power and life of Christ within us.
Sunday, August 01, 2004
Justification by Faith
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC -- 1 August 2004
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Romans 3:20-26
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
-- talking with coworkers about heaven and hell -- been visited by members of cult that don't believe in Hell -- everyone goes to heaven -- loving God wouldn't send anyone to hell -- what about Hitler then? -- is he in heaven? -- "no" -- o.k., so not everyone goes to heaven -- then how does God know who to let in and who to keep out? -- when you die and stand before God and He asks you, "Why should I let you into heaven?" -- what are you going to tell Him -- "I'll just tell him that I'm a good person and tell him about all the good things I have done and then He'll let me in
-- How does a person get to heaven? -- or, in other words, how is a person declared righteous before God? -- this is one of the questions that separates out cults from true Christianity -- if you ask 100 people this question, you will probably get 100 different answers -- depending on the different religion or cult you are talking about
-- universalists -- "everyone goes" -- God would not allow anyone to be eternally separated from Himself -- for these people, there is no hell -- there is only heaven -- don't worry about salvation since all will be saved -- just live a moral life here and then enjoy eternity
-- good people -- try to get there on their own -- "I am a good person -- I live a moral life" -- "I do good things" -- works -- trying to get to heaven on their own -- make their own way
-- joke about minister trying to get into heaven -- works are like filthy rags
-- reincarnation -- don't believe in heaven -- believe in a spiritual state called nirvana where you just get taken into the matter of the universe -- of course, you have to live right and pure and moral on earth to get there, and since it takes more than one life to do this, you keep getting born again and again and again until you make it
-- so, how DO you get into heaven? -- this brings us to the doctrine of justification -- the result of Christ's life and death on the cross
-- foundational for Christianity -- doctrine of justification by faith is the center of Christianity -- it is what the cross is all about -- Martin Luther said that "if the article of justification be once lost, then all true Christian doctrine is lost" -- through Christ, God is offering righteousness -- justification -- to all those who believe -- this belief is what separates Christianity from all the other religions in the world
-- let's look at this passage from Romans in a little more detail and see what we can learn about justification and what it means for us
II. Scripture Lesson -- Rom 3:20-26
[read vs. 20] -- Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
-- this verse is telling us the reason why we need to be justified -- why we need to be made righteous in God's eyes
-- it all goes back to Adam and Eve and the fall of man in the Garden of Eden -- you all know the story of the fall -- originally, when man was created, he lived in perfect harmony with God -- there was no evil inherent in him -- every goal -- every plan -- every desire -- was to be with God and to serve God and to love God
-- but, then, Eve was tempted by the serpent and her and Adam disobeyed God -- bringing sin and death into the world -- we call this original sin
-- when Adam fell, death entered the world through him -- Rom 5:12 puts it this way, "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned"
-- because of Adam and Eve, we are now born sinful -- we are this strange mixture of good and evil -- our basic disposition is to use our gifts and abilities -- not for God or for others -- but for ourselves -- you know that -- you parents really know that -- we are born sinful
-- you can see it in our kids -- you don't have to teach a kid to cheat when they play -- you don't have to teach a kid to be selfish and not share their toys -- you don't have to teach a kid to want everything they see -- they come by it naturally -- it is part of their nature -- it is a reflection of the original sin in their lives
-- that's why this passage tells us in verse 23, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -- all have sinned because Adam sinned -- we are born sinful and live sinful lives -- that is why human governments and human social systems can never succeed in bringing about peace and harmony
-- someone once said, "when we're doing what comes naturally, we're not loving our neighbors as ourselves" -- and the bad part is, we can't make ourselves righteous by more education or by creating a better environment or by an act of our wills -- we can't become righteous by following a list of rules and regulations -- and we can't become righteous by doing good works or good things or living moral lives -- this verse tells us it won't work
-- but that hasn't stopped people from trying -- the Pharisees thought they would get to heaven by following God's commands to the letter -- so they came up with hundreds of other laws to follow to keep from disobeying God, thinking that they were working their way to heaven
-- we do the same thing, don't we? -- a lot of us put our faith in going to church, serving on committees, teaching Sunday School or Vacation Bible School or Bible Study, or other activities that we think will earn us favor in God's eyes
-- but this verse makes is clear that we can't work our way to heaven -- once we have broken one of God's commandments -- once we have sinned against Him in one little way, then we are guilty and condemned to death -- and there is nothing we can do -- no work that we can do -- that will get us to heaven -- "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law"
-- that leaves us with our questions still unanswered, "How does a person get into heaven?" and "How is a person made righteous in God's eyes?"
-- let's see how God answers that question -- look at verse 21 [read vs. 21-26]
-- finally, we see the answer to our question -- because we are sinful from birth -- because there is nothing we can do to work our way to heaven -- because we were left facing the penalty for sin -- an eternity in hell, separated from God -- God gave us His righteousness so that the penalty for our sins would be paid once and for all
-- how can this be God's righteousness? -- because it came through Jesus -- Jesus was God, but yet He was fully man -- Jesus lived a life free from sin -- and in doing so, was declared righteous by God -- and, since He was the first man who had ever been righteous, He went to the cross on our behalf -- He gave up His life -- He poured out His blood -- to atone for our sinfulness -- to take away the curse of original sin
-- Romans 4:25 says, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" -- when Christ, the only sinless man, died on the cross, He took upon Himself the sins of the world -- He took upon Him your sin and my sin and the sin of everyone -- He freed us from bondage to sin and made possible for us reconciliation with God -- the restoration of the original relationship with God the Father
-- this is the grace of God -- God giving us something we don't deserve -- God offering us righteousness and justification in His eyes
-- this opportunity for righteousness is for all those who believe in Jesus -- who put their faith in His atoning death on the cross
-- this means more than just knowing that Jesus was God and that He died on the cross for our sins and rose the third day -- this means believing it in your heart -- this means that you put your whole faith -- your whole trust -- on the fact that what Jesus did on the cross has taken care of your sins, once and for all -- this means that you no longer trust in your own abilities or your own good works to get you to heaven, but that you trust only in Him
-- as Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.
-- we are saved solely through the grace of God -- God's grace in making a way for us when no way existed -- and then we have to believe in faith that what God promised through Jesus is going to come to pass
-- it is the moment that you believe this truth and accept it in your heart that you are saved -- that you are made righteous -- that you are justified
-- the word "justification" is a word we don't use much anymore -- it is actually a legal term -- it is the opposite of condemned -- it means being found "not guilty"
-- when you are justified in God's eyes, that means that He looks at you and doesn't see any sin -- none at all -- there is no memory of it -- when you are justified through faith in Jesus Christ, God looks at you and only sees the blood poured out on the cross
-- the Bible says that your sins will be as far as the east is from the west -- Corrie Ten Boom always used to say that when God justified us, He put our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and put a "no fishing" sign on the shore
-- being justified is not the same as being pardoned -- when you are pardoned for a crime, the past is not changed -- you are still guilty of your crime -- the state knows that you did it -- but the state is just not holding you accountable for it
-- when you are justified, the past record of your sins are totally cleared -- there is no record or memory of wrong by God -- justification is "just as if I never sinned"
-- let me give you an illustration -- movie "Back to the Future" -- Michael J. Fox gets sent back in time to the point when his mother and father should have met -- but, because of him being in the picture, they never meet and go to the big dance and fall in love -- and, as a result, he can never be born and will cease to exist unless he can fix history and get them together
-- justification is sort of like that -- it's like God goes back in time and takes away all the sins that we have committed, so that they never existed
-- justification is more than being forgiven for your sins -- it is having your permanent record erased -- when you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your sins are forgiven and erased by God
-- we call this "justifying" or "saving" grace -- and it is the one thing that separates Christianity from all the other religions on earth
III. Closing
-- we are the only religion that does not rely on ourselves to get to heaven -- all of the other religions and cults rely on their own good works to get them to heaven, in one way or the other
-- the Bible is clear that the only way to salvation -- the only way to be justified in God's eyes, is by grace through faith -- not a result of anything that we have done on our own -- not by works -- not by living a good life -- not by following all the commandments -- only by trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior
-- I am going to close now, and as I do, I am going to ask you to think about what you believe in regards to your sin and the payment for your sin
-- do you believe that you have to add something to what Jesus did on the cross in order to be saved? -- or do you believe that Jesus' death on the cross was all that you needed?
-- what about your sins? -- have them been forgiven and forgotten by God -- have you accepted and trusted Jesus as your Savior?
-- if not, then I would invite you to respond to His word right now -- all you have to do is confess to Him that you are a sinner and that you know that there is no way to Heaven except through Him and then ask Him to save you
-- maybe you are saved, but you've been relying on your own good works to help you along the way -- if so, then you have a need to ask God's forgiveness for that
-- whatever your need is this morning, I would invite you to respond to God -- either at your seat or by coming to the altar
-- the only one who can do anything here is Him, and He invites you to come
-- let us pray
Preached at Naylor and Wright's Chapel UMC -- 1 August 2004
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Romans 3:20-26
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
-- talking with coworkers about heaven and hell -- been visited by members of cult that don't believe in Hell -- everyone goes to heaven -- loving God wouldn't send anyone to hell -- what about Hitler then? -- is he in heaven? -- "no" -- o.k., so not everyone goes to heaven -- then how does God know who to let in and who to keep out? -- when you die and stand before God and He asks you, "Why should I let you into heaven?" -- what are you going to tell Him -- "I'll just tell him that I'm a good person and tell him about all the good things I have done and then He'll let me in
-- How does a person get to heaven? -- or, in other words, how is a person declared righteous before God? -- this is one of the questions that separates out cults from true Christianity -- if you ask 100 people this question, you will probably get 100 different answers -- depending on the different religion or cult you are talking about
-- universalists -- "everyone goes" -- God would not allow anyone to be eternally separated from Himself -- for these people, there is no hell -- there is only heaven -- don't worry about salvation since all will be saved -- just live a moral life here and then enjoy eternity
-- good people -- try to get there on their own -- "I am a good person -- I live a moral life" -- "I do good things" -- works -- trying to get to heaven on their own -- make their own way
-- joke about minister trying to get into heaven -- works are like filthy rags
-- reincarnation -- don't believe in heaven -- believe in a spiritual state called nirvana where you just get taken into the matter of the universe -- of course, you have to live right and pure and moral on earth to get there, and since it takes more than one life to do this, you keep getting born again and again and again until you make it
-- so, how DO you get into heaven? -- this brings us to the doctrine of justification -- the result of Christ's life and death on the cross
-- foundational for Christianity -- doctrine of justification by faith is the center of Christianity -- it is what the cross is all about -- Martin Luther said that "if the article of justification be once lost, then all true Christian doctrine is lost" -- through Christ, God is offering righteousness -- justification -- to all those who believe -- this belief is what separates Christianity from all the other religions in the world
-- let's look at this passage from Romans in a little more detail and see what we can learn about justification and what it means for us
II. Scripture Lesson -- Rom 3:20-26
[read vs. 20] -- Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
-- this verse is telling us the reason why we need to be justified -- why we need to be made righteous in God's eyes
-- it all goes back to Adam and Eve and the fall of man in the Garden of Eden -- you all know the story of the fall -- originally, when man was created, he lived in perfect harmony with God -- there was no evil inherent in him -- every goal -- every plan -- every desire -- was to be with God and to serve God and to love God
-- but, then, Eve was tempted by the serpent and her and Adam disobeyed God -- bringing sin and death into the world -- we call this original sin
-- when Adam fell, death entered the world through him -- Rom 5:12 puts it this way, "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned"
-- because of Adam and Eve, we are now born sinful -- we are this strange mixture of good and evil -- our basic disposition is to use our gifts and abilities -- not for God or for others -- but for ourselves -- you know that -- you parents really know that -- we are born sinful
-- you can see it in our kids -- you don't have to teach a kid to cheat when they play -- you don't have to teach a kid to be selfish and not share their toys -- you don't have to teach a kid to want everything they see -- they come by it naturally -- it is part of their nature -- it is a reflection of the original sin in their lives
-- that's why this passage tells us in verse 23, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" -- all have sinned because Adam sinned -- we are born sinful and live sinful lives -- that is why human governments and human social systems can never succeed in bringing about peace and harmony
-- someone once said, "when we're doing what comes naturally, we're not loving our neighbors as ourselves" -- and the bad part is, we can't make ourselves righteous by more education or by creating a better environment or by an act of our wills -- we can't become righteous by following a list of rules and regulations -- and we can't become righteous by doing good works or good things or living moral lives -- this verse tells us it won't work
-- but that hasn't stopped people from trying -- the Pharisees thought they would get to heaven by following God's commands to the letter -- so they came up with hundreds of other laws to follow to keep from disobeying God, thinking that they were working their way to heaven
-- we do the same thing, don't we? -- a lot of us put our faith in going to church, serving on committees, teaching Sunday School or Vacation Bible School or Bible Study, or other activities that we think will earn us favor in God's eyes
-- but this verse makes is clear that we can't work our way to heaven -- once we have broken one of God's commandments -- once we have sinned against Him in one little way, then we are guilty and condemned to death -- and there is nothing we can do -- no work that we can do -- that will get us to heaven -- "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law"
-- that leaves us with our questions still unanswered, "How does a person get into heaven?" and "How is a person made righteous in God's eyes?"
-- let's see how God answers that question -- look at verse 21 [read vs. 21-26]
-- finally, we see the answer to our question -- because we are sinful from birth -- because there is nothing we can do to work our way to heaven -- because we were left facing the penalty for sin -- an eternity in hell, separated from God -- God gave us His righteousness so that the penalty for our sins would be paid once and for all
-- how can this be God's righteousness? -- because it came through Jesus -- Jesus was God, but yet He was fully man -- Jesus lived a life free from sin -- and in doing so, was declared righteous by God -- and, since He was the first man who had ever been righteous, He went to the cross on our behalf -- He gave up His life -- He poured out His blood -- to atone for our sinfulness -- to take away the curse of original sin
-- Romans 4:25 says, "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" -- when Christ, the only sinless man, died on the cross, He took upon Himself the sins of the world -- He took upon Him your sin and my sin and the sin of everyone -- He freed us from bondage to sin and made possible for us reconciliation with God -- the restoration of the original relationship with God the Father
-- this is the grace of God -- God giving us something we don't deserve -- God offering us righteousness and justification in His eyes
-- this opportunity for righteousness is for all those who believe in Jesus -- who put their faith in His atoning death on the cross
-- this means more than just knowing that Jesus was God and that He died on the cross for our sins and rose the third day -- this means believing it in your heart -- this means that you put your whole faith -- your whole trust -- on the fact that what Jesus did on the cross has taken care of your sins, once and for all -- this means that you no longer trust in your own abilities or your own good works to get you to heaven, but that you trust only in Him
-- as Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.
-- we are saved solely through the grace of God -- God's grace in making a way for us when no way existed -- and then we have to believe in faith that what God promised through Jesus is going to come to pass
-- it is the moment that you believe this truth and accept it in your heart that you are saved -- that you are made righteous -- that you are justified
-- the word "justification" is a word we don't use much anymore -- it is actually a legal term -- it is the opposite of condemned -- it means being found "not guilty"
-- when you are justified in God's eyes, that means that He looks at you and doesn't see any sin -- none at all -- there is no memory of it -- when you are justified through faith in Jesus Christ, God looks at you and only sees the blood poured out on the cross
-- the Bible says that your sins will be as far as the east is from the west -- Corrie Ten Boom always used to say that when God justified us, He put our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and put a "no fishing" sign on the shore
-- being justified is not the same as being pardoned -- when you are pardoned for a crime, the past is not changed -- you are still guilty of your crime -- the state knows that you did it -- but the state is just not holding you accountable for it
-- when you are justified, the past record of your sins are totally cleared -- there is no record or memory of wrong by God -- justification is "just as if I never sinned"
-- let me give you an illustration -- movie "Back to the Future" -- Michael J. Fox gets sent back in time to the point when his mother and father should have met -- but, because of him being in the picture, they never meet and go to the big dance and fall in love -- and, as a result, he can never be born and will cease to exist unless he can fix history and get them together
-- justification is sort of like that -- it's like God goes back in time and takes away all the sins that we have committed, so that they never existed
-- justification is more than being forgiven for your sins -- it is having your permanent record erased -- when you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your sins are forgiven and erased by God
-- we call this "justifying" or "saving" grace -- and it is the one thing that separates Christianity from all the other religions on earth
III. Closing
-- we are the only religion that does not rely on ourselves to get to heaven -- all of the other religions and cults rely on their own good works to get them to heaven, in one way or the other
-- the Bible is clear that the only way to salvation -- the only way to be justified in God's eyes, is by grace through faith -- not a result of anything that we have done on our own -- not by works -- not by living a good life -- not by following all the commandments -- only by trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior
-- I am going to close now, and as I do, I am going to ask you to think about what you believe in regards to your sin and the payment for your sin
-- do you believe that you have to add something to what Jesus did on the cross in order to be saved? -- or do you believe that Jesus' death on the cross was all that you needed?
-- what about your sins? -- have them been forgiven and forgotten by God -- have you accepted and trusted Jesus as your Savior?
-- if not, then I would invite you to respond to His word right now -- all you have to do is confess to Him that you are a sinner and that you know that there is no way to Heaven except through Him and then ask Him to save you
-- maybe you are saved, but you've been relying on your own good works to help you along the way -- if so, then you have a need to ask God's forgiveness for that
-- whatever your need is this morning, I would invite you to respond to God -- either at your seat or by coming to the altar
-- the only one who can do anything here is Him, and He invites you to come
-- let us pray
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