Forgive Us Our Christmases…
Matthew 11: 1 – 19.
I. Introduction.
When I started my doctoral work at Truett Seminary (in Waco, Texas), I was pastor of a church in Mississippi. The doctor of ministry degree is a professional degree designed for pastors who are currently serving in a local church setting. The degree requirements included four doctoral seminars, an extensive reading list of over 50 books and a written project (my project was 265 pages long). I had a “field supervisor” in Mississippi who met with me regularly to guide me and keep me on task. But I only had to be on campus in Waco four times for 14 days at a time.
As you can imagine, it might be expensive to live away from home for 14 days. Some guys stayed in cheap hotels. Others discovered that Baylor would lease apartments for short terms. But, I had a friend. My friend Steve—who was in my doctoral class—has grandparents in Waco. So, we had a free place to stay.
Steve’s grandfather’s name is Tootie. His name is actually Walter, but everyone knows him as Tootie. And as you can imagine, Tootie is quite a character. Lots of jokes and joking…Even a few theories about life.
One of Tooties’ jokes is to suggest the title of our sermon today. Tootie suggests that we should change the words of the Lord’s Prayer to say, “Forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us.”
Think about that. Do we need to ask forgiveness for the way we celebrate Christmas? It’s all according to how you “celebrate” Christmas.
I try to tell this story every Advent. Another one of my preacher friends once called me and recited all that he had done for the previous week: worship, meetings, parties, fellowships, etc, etc, etc… He called to say, “Next year, I am not going to ‘celebrate’ Christmas. Next year, I am going to ‘observe’ Christmas.”
What is the difference between “celebrating” Christmas and “observing” Christmas? Celebrating requires a lot of energy. Observing is a passive activity. Rather than hustling and bustling around, we would allow God to do his work, while we sat in observation of what God is doing around us.
Now, there is a lot about Christmas worth celebrating. The angels announced the birth of Jesus with joy and singing. The shepherds ran and jumped and told everyone they could find about this joyous event. The Wise Men brought expensive gifts. But there was something even bigger than a big Christmas party. God himself finally broke into our world and our history to reveal himself. God took an extraordinary step to demonstrate his love for us.
On one hand, we have something to celebrate. On the other hand, if we spend all our time partying and celebrating, we are going to miss something. We might fail to “observe” the extraordinary love of God revealed in his Only Begotten Son.
If all we do is celebrate, we ought to pray, “Forgive us our Christmases…”
The story of the first Christmas, is the story of God’s directing his attention on us. Of all the things God could have focused his attention toward, God chose us. Rather than being all consumed with the grand order of the universe—the planets, the stars, the solar system, the changing climate on earth, or the melting polar ice caps—God fixed his attention on the human beings who inhabit this planet. God turned his attention toward you and me. Where is our attention this morning?
Some of us are, in this very moment, trying to complete our Christmas shopping lists. Others are just now beginning to fret about the gifts we have not even begun to think about. Fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers are arranging schedules to host the entire family, while balancing the time children spend with their in-laws. We are thinking about Santa Claus, Christmas trees, candy and stockings. All the while ignoring the fact that God focused his full attention on us.
Forgive us our Christmases, indeed. Forgive us, Lord, because we are less concerned about you than you are concerned about us.
Our Scripture today tells us about the true nature of Jesus Christ and why he originally came to this earth. While it does not tell us about angels and shepherds, it does describe the work and purpose Christ had and continues to have today.
Read Matthew 11: 1 – 19.
Matthew re-introduces us to an important man by the name of John. Sometimes, the Bible simply uses the name John. Other times, it uses a brief description to distinguish this John from other John’s in the Bible. This is one of just a few biblical references to John the Baptist.
The Gospel of Luke gives us a little family history of John the Baptist. Luke tells us that John and Jesus were cousins. In fact, when the angel Gabriel told Mary that even though she was a virgin she would give birth to the promised Messiah, Luke tells us that Mary first went to her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was John’s mother and was expecting John at the time of Mary’s birth. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb recognized the significance of this meeting and leapt in his mother’s womb.
The next time we see John, he is preaching about the coming Kingdom of God. John told the people of Israel that God had finally had enough of their rebellion. The Kingdom was coming. The Kingdom would come when God’s Promised Messiah entered into our space and time. The Messiah would usher in a time of judgment. And the only way to avoid judgment was to repent and be baptized. John said, “I baptize you with water, but the One following me will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire.” In other words, if you want to escape the fire of God’s judgment, get in the water.
Then Jesus came to John to be baptized. Once again, John recognized something special about Jesus. The first time, he leapt in his mother’s womb. This time, John refused to baptize Jesus, saying that Jesus is the One who should baptize John. Jesus insisted, and immediately the Spirit of God descended and a voice from heaven announced that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is an interesting thing about John the Baptist which I had never given much thought to before this week. In Matthew 4: 12 and 17, we read, “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee…From that time on Jesus began to preach…”
This tells us a little history and gives us a timeline which is important for our Scripture today. John announced that Jesus was the coming Messiah. John thought that Jesus would usher in the Kingdom of God by bringing down God’s judgment against Israel’s rebellion. BUT, John never witnessed the ministry of Jesus first hand. John never saw any of Jesus’ miracles. John never heard any of Jesus’ sermons. He couldn’t, because John was in prison! The only thing John knew about Jesus’ ministry and preaching was what had been reported to him in prison.
According to Matthew 11, John had a group of followers, or disciples. Disciple is the Greek word for a “student” or a “follower.” We believe that these men—and all disciples were men in the ancient world—studied John’s interpretations of the Hebrew Bible and patterned their lives after John’s life. They studied like John. They preached like John. They might even have dressed like John and eaten the same foods John ate. One thing is certain, they told John everything Jesus did.
II. Expectations.
Matthew 8 and 9 tell the stories about many of the people Jesus healed as a part of his ministry. He healed an unclean leper. He healed the servant of a Gentile soldier. Jesus calmed a storm. He cast out demons. He restored a paralyzed man. He raised a dead girl to life. He touched an unclean woman. Jesus even gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. In short, Jesus performed miracles that only God could perform.
But there was no judgment. On one hand, John might have felt a little embarrassed that he had predicted Jesus would bring the fire of judgment, and now Jesus is doing the exact opposite. Instead of judging sinners, Jesus is calling tax collectors to be his followers. On the other hand, John might feel a little disappointed. He was looking for a different kind of Messiah. John wanted a judgmental Jesus, not a compassionate Christ.
This is what lay behind the question John’s disciples brought to Jesus: “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?” Jesus was not meeting John’s expectations. But there is only One Jesus. And, when it comes to Jesus, what you see is what you get.
In fact, that is the way Jesus answered their question. He could have very easily answered, “Yes. I am the Promised Messiah.” But he didn’t. Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you have heard and seen. The blind receive sight. The lame walk. …”
John was looking for a Messiah who would bring the “Bad News” of judgment. But Jesus did not come to bring Bad News. Jesus came to bring Good News. And the Good News is that sick people can be healed and sinners can be turned toward God.
III. Incarnation.
Jesus came to bring us the Good News of healing and restored life. But there is a part of Good News that we cannot miss. The miracles Jesus performed were not possible for ordinary people. Jesus did things that only God could do! That is because Jesus is God. He is not God-like. Jesus is God.
God loved us so much that God became a man and dwelt among us. Jesus is God in the flesh—the Incarnation. He brings God closer to us, and he brings us closer to God. God turned his attention toward us and expects us to turn our attention toward God.
This is what John missed. John was expecting God to turn his attention to earth. But, John expected God to look at us with wrath and anger. Jesus shows us that God looked at us through eyes of love. In the person of Jesus, the Good News is that God loves us and wants us in a relationship with himself.
IV. Hear and See.
Notice Jesus’ words to John’s disciples: “Go back and report to John what you HEAR and SEE.” This indicates a progression of the Good News—both in Jesus’ ministry as well as in our lives.
We first HEAR the Good News. Then, we experience it first hand and SEE what Jesus can do in our lives.
It also describes the progression from John the Baptist to Jesus. John came preaching. Jesus came preaching and doing.
And John never got to see for himself all the things Jesus did to demonstrate God’s Good News.
We might feel a bit tempted at this point to criticize John for not understanding the Good News Jesus preached and performed. Or we might shake our heads, because John held different expectations for Jesus. However, Jesus never criticized John. In fact, it was just the opposite. Jesus gave John the greatest compliment we can even imagine. Jesus said that John fulfilled a God given mission to be like Elijah, who was to come before the Messiah. John announced the coming of the Messiah. John was the one who prepared the way.
Exactly how did John “prepare the way” for Jesus? Did he “smooth out” the road so that Jesus’ life and ministry would be easier? Of course not. Jesus did not have an easy life or ministry. He was despised and rejected, even crucified by the political and religious leaders.
John prepared the way by preparing the people to hear and see the Good News. He told the story. John announced that the Kingdom of God was coming. John called for people to repent and believe.
This is what we are supposed to do when God turns his attention toward us.
V. Conclusion.
There is only one thing missing in this story. There is no happy ending. We would like to think that John’s disciples returned to the prison. They told John about the Good News and the lives that had been changed. Then, we want to think John said something like, “Ah. I knew Jesus was the One.” But there’s nothing like that. There is not even a sad ending. There is just no ending. We are left to wonder.
We wonder…What did John do? And we wonder…What would I do?
And what will we do? It is Christmas. God turned his attention on us. God has become a human being. God shows his love to us and calls for us to respond with our love for him. If we are too busy celebrating the things of Christmas, we might just miss what God is doing around us.
If we miss what God is doing…Then, Lord, forgive us our Christmas…
Monday, December 17, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Second Sunday of Advent: Christmas Inside Out
Christmas Inside Out
Romans 15: 1 – 13.
I. Introduction.
A couple of weeks ago, I told a story about Paul “Bear” Bryant in a Sunday morning sermon. You may remember the story. It was about the athletic trainer who accompanied Bear Bryant from Kentucky to Texas A & M to the University of Alabama. The trainer’s name was Charles “Smokey” Harper.
Bear Bryant didn’t have a coaching position for Smokey on the Alabama staff, but gave him an “at large” assignment to travel all over the state of Alabama as an ambassador for the new coach. Smokey went into coffee shops and roadside diners to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee with Alabama fans. Over coffee and cigarettes, Smokey told the people of Alabama that Bear Bryant was the best football coach in America, and by the time Alabama won their first national championship the fans believed Smokey’s story.
Today, we have the same job as Smokey Harper. We want our church to grow and make an impact on our community. And, the only way we are going to see that happen is to get outside these walls and tell the men and women of Lufkin, Texas that we have the very best church in a 50 mile radius. I truly believe that about our church. Do you believe this? Do you tell your friends and neighbors? Do you ever sit down with people and brag about your church? If you don’t, then they will never know why you go to church here.
When I told that story, I made reference to the ESPN TV movie—The Junction Boys—inspired by Bear Bryant’s early days at Texas A & M. I later learned that the author who wrote The Junction Boys (Jim Dent) has a new book that was published in 2007—Twelve Mighty Orphans.
In the late 1800’s the Texas Freemasons established an orphanage on the outskirts of Fort Worth. In 1926, the Mason Home established their first football team by hiring Rusty Russell as their first football coach. Many people thought Russell was committing career suicide by leaving the position of head football coach of the successful Temple Tigers to move to a school which, at the time, did not even own a football.
Throughout Russell’s tenure as the football coach at the Mason Home, he led the Mighty Mites to 127 wins, two Texas Interscholastic League state championship games and one co-championship in 1932. These were remarkable feats since the Mason Home had less than 200 high school students and played nearly every game as underdogs to schools with enrollments around 1000 students. In fact, the orphans were only able to field a team of twelve players and sometimes played against teams with rosters of over fifty players.
Of course, there are a various theories about why the Mason Home always did so well on the football field. Some accused the Home of running a program more like a college program than a high school program, with players living together in dormitories, eating all their meals together in the dining hall and living as a football team 24 / 7. Some might even attribute it to the fact that these orphans had developed a “street toughness” unlike their opponents which had come from more traditional home environments. However, I think it was something else.
I noticed in the book that every orphaned child entered the Mason Home not wanting to live there. For the first several weeks no one called the new kids by name. They were simply addressed as “New Kid.” Then, after several weeks the “New Kid” was given a nick name as a sign of acceptance. And that is when something magical happened. While no child outside of the orphanage ever wanted to know what life was life like inside the orphanage, the orphans didn’t want to live outside the orphanage. Inside the orphanage, life was comfortable and predictable. Outside the orphanage, life seemed dangerous and uncertain. The twelve orphans did not just play football. They were fighting for their identity as orphans. They were proud of their life inside the orphanage, and they did not want to become like the kids on the outside.
I see a parallel in this story to our story as Christians. We have an identity as Christians—on the inside—that is different from the world outside. We are proud of who we are—children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, Christians. We don’t want to become like people on the outside. Inside the church, we have security. Outside the church, we see a dangerous life that is uncertain at best.
On one hand, this is what God wants for us. God wants the church to be different from the world—a place of safety and security in a dangerous and uncertain world. On the other hand, this view of the church can be misrepresented into something God never intended. Yes, the church is supposed to be different from the world. Yes, we are supposed to find safety and security inside the church. But NO, we are not supposed to retreat from the world, satisfied in what we have, while the world around us goes to Hell. The purpose for the church is to break outside the walls of security and bring others into the same kind of life we have in our salvation through Jesus Christ.
Christmas is a beautiful picture of our purpose to turn the church “Inside Out” in an effort to bring the world to faith in Jesus as Lord.
Read Romans 15: 1 – 13.
This does not quite sound like a Christmas story. There is no mention of angelic messengers or a miraculous virgin birth. There are no shepherds or wise men. However, the purpose of Christmas is apparent.
II. Inside the Church.
Just a few chapters before this, Paul described the church as the Body of Christ. Our human bodies are made up of many different parts. Each part has its own purpose and function within the system. When all parts are functioning as they were created to function, the body can be healthy and effective. But, when just one body part is unhealthy, the entire body suffers from pain, disease and cannot be as effective. There is an intimate relationship between all the parts of our human bodies—when one part suffers, the entire body suffers. There is a division of labor among the parts of our bodies—the eyes depend on the feet to perform their duties and the feet depend on the eyes. In the same way, there should be the same kind of interconnectedness and interdependence among us as members of the Body of Christ.
This is more than just a description of an ideal world. This ought to be the reality we experience. The problem lies in the fact that most churches only experience this periodically. We face several threats to our unity on a daily basis.
In Romans 15, Paul described three threats to unity faced by the church at Rome—and, I believe, threats faced by the church at Lufkin.
A. Sin…(Verse 1)
This is the point Paul made in verse one. As long as we live here on earth, we will be plagued by our own sinful nature. This is true both inside the church and outside the church. Christians are not immune to the temptations of the world. In fact, I would argue that sin is perhaps an even greater struggle for us than for others.
On one hand, we do have God’s forgiveness for our sins. On the other hand, we have God’s conviction through his Holy Spirit in our lives. When a Christian sins, more times than not, he or she knows that what they are doing is actually sin. We usually don’t need our sins pointed out to us by other people. That is one of the roles and functions of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we face temptation, the Holy Spirit helps us to discern right from wrong. Then, even though we know it is wrong, we go ahead and give in to the temptation at hand. After the fact, the Holy Spirit continues to convict us of our failure in order to bring us to confession and repentance.
How should we deal with sin inside the church? One very popular opinion is that we should constantly be on the “look out” for church members who sin. Then, once we have found a guilty person, we should cast that person out of the church. After all, if we welcome sinners into our fellowship, the world will judge us based on that one sinner.
If you hold to that opinion about sin inside the church, I am going to disappoint you. As I look around the room, I see several hundred men and women, teenagers and children present. If we “kicked out” all the sinners this week, I dare say the room would be empty. Of course, there has to be someone here thinking that they would not have been kicked out this week. If you are thinking that right now, I hope you are willing and prepared to preach on Sunday, because I don’t think we would be able to find a deacon or a minister who passed your “sinless test.”
No, the proper way to deal with sin is to follow the example of Jesus. In another part of the New Testament—Philippians 2—Paul wrote to us about how Jesus “condescended” to be with us. Jesus held the very same nature as God, but he took on the nature of a human being to demonstrate God’s love for us. Jesus was all powerful, but he became a man with limited power and abilities. Jesus was strong, but he became weak. In the same way, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings and failures and sins of our weaker brothers and sisters. We ought to embrace sinners inside the church and outside the church with the forgiveness that God showed us in Jesus Christ. I might also add at this point that there is coming a day when the roles will be reversed. You might be the strong Christian today, helping a weaker brother or sister. But, one day you will be the sinner in need of a stronger brother or sister.
Paul’s encouragement to us: Don’t let sin destroy the unity of the church!
B. Self-Centered Members…(Verse 2)
It would be absurd for a part of our human bodies to begin to think it was the most important part of the body. We might imagine an eye trying to tell a foot that the eye held a more important position. Of course, the foot could reply that the eye can only see things when the foot transports the body into new environments. The heart could challenge the skin that the heart is a vital organ. And the skin could reply that the heart could not survive if it were exposed to the harsh outside world. In the same way, choir members and the preacher would not be as effective if there were not people willing to take care of our babies in the nursery on Sunday mornings.
Once again, Paul presents Jesus as the remedy to this internal problem in the church. We should imitate the love and forgiveness of Jesus when we deal with sin in the church. We should also imitate Jesus as we deal with self-centeredness in the church.
It’s interesting that Paul makes his point here by quoting from the Old Testament. Specifically, he quotes from Psalm 69: 9—“The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” Paul interprets this as a reference to the Jewish Messiah. This Jewish Messiah did not come with the glory due him. No, Jesus came as a Messiah who was rejected and despised by all humans.
I would have chosen a different illustration to place here. I would have chosen the story in John 13 about how Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet before the Last Supper. I would have quoted from Mark 10: 45, where Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The very nature of Jesus Christ was to serve others. When faced with the temptation to call down 10,000 angels to rescue him from his crucifixion, Jesus chose to be a servant to you and me by giving his life as a ransom for our eternal salvation.
Again, Paul encouraged us: Don’t let self-centeredness destroy your unity!
C. Persecution…(Verses 4 – 5)
In the first century, Christianity was not accepted in Rome. Christians were accused of being unpatriotic, because they would not pledge their allegiance to the Caesar. Christians were accused of being atheists, because they did not acknowledge the Roman gods. Christians were accused of committing incest, because they recognized each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians were accused of being cannibals, because they ate the flesh and drank the blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.
Christians were killed, imprisoned and beaten for their faith in Jesus. As a result, many were becoming discouraged, and some gave up.
Paul encouraged: Don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged! Our hope is in the Lord. This reminds us of our theme from last week: Jesus is coming back. The wicked will be punished, and the righteous will be vindicated. Don’t give up. And don’t let persecutions destroy your unity!
III. Outside the Church.
Once again, Paul turned his attention to the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Any time you read the word “Scripture” in the New Testament, it is a reference to the Jewish Scriptures that we now recognize as the Old Testament.
Here Paul did a very interesting thing. He quoted from every section of the Old Testament…Not every book, but every section. Jewish people generally recognize three divisions within the Old Testament: Torah, Prophets and the Writings. The Torah includes the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets includes the books which were attributed to the words of a prophet, or a spokesman for God. The Writings includes the poetry and wisdom literature.
Verse 9 is a quote from David found in both 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18…
Verse 10 is a quote from Deuteronomy 32…
Verse 11 is a quote from Psalm 117…
Verse 12 is a quote from Isaiah 11.
Do you notice anything these verses from the Old Testament have in common? All of these quotes describe God’s plan to show Grace, Mercy and Salvation to the Gentiles. God never intended that Israel and the Jews would be the only ones saved. God has always had a plan to extend salvation to every nation and every people of the earth. Israel just rejected God’s plan and preferred to think of herself as God’s only people. Israel was God’s chosen people, but Israel was never God’s only people.
IV. Conclusion: Inside Out.
This is where our Scripture intersects with the story of Christmas. When God first revealed himself to Abraham, it was for the purpose of beginning with Abraham’s descendents and extending salvation to all people. Israel rejected God’s purpose, because they never turned God’s revelation inside out. They just kept it inside.
God sent his Son Jesus for the same purpose. Jesus was born into Jewish heritage, but Jesus finally turned God’s purpose inside out.
Now, we face a choice. Christmas is a wonderful time of year inside the church. But that is not enough. We must turn Christmas inside out, so that all the world can experience God’s purpose for sending his Son.
Romans 15: 1 – 13.
I. Introduction.
A couple of weeks ago, I told a story about Paul “Bear” Bryant in a Sunday morning sermon. You may remember the story. It was about the athletic trainer who accompanied Bear Bryant from Kentucky to Texas A & M to the University of Alabama. The trainer’s name was Charles “Smokey” Harper.
Bear Bryant didn’t have a coaching position for Smokey on the Alabama staff, but gave him an “at large” assignment to travel all over the state of Alabama as an ambassador for the new coach. Smokey went into coffee shops and roadside diners to smoke cigarettes and drink coffee with Alabama fans. Over coffee and cigarettes, Smokey told the people of Alabama that Bear Bryant was the best football coach in America, and by the time Alabama won their first national championship the fans believed Smokey’s story.
Today, we have the same job as Smokey Harper. We want our church to grow and make an impact on our community. And, the only way we are going to see that happen is to get outside these walls and tell the men and women of Lufkin, Texas that we have the very best church in a 50 mile radius. I truly believe that about our church. Do you believe this? Do you tell your friends and neighbors? Do you ever sit down with people and brag about your church? If you don’t, then they will never know why you go to church here.
When I told that story, I made reference to the ESPN TV movie—The Junction Boys—inspired by Bear Bryant’s early days at Texas A & M. I later learned that the author who wrote The Junction Boys (Jim Dent) has a new book that was published in 2007—Twelve Mighty Orphans.
In the late 1800’s the Texas Freemasons established an orphanage on the outskirts of Fort Worth. In 1926, the Mason Home established their first football team by hiring Rusty Russell as their first football coach. Many people thought Russell was committing career suicide by leaving the position of head football coach of the successful Temple Tigers to move to a school which, at the time, did not even own a football.
Throughout Russell’s tenure as the football coach at the Mason Home, he led the Mighty Mites to 127 wins, two Texas Interscholastic League state championship games and one co-championship in 1932. These were remarkable feats since the Mason Home had less than 200 high school students and played nearly every game as underdogs to schools with enrollments around 1000 students. In fact, the orphans were only able to field a team of twelve players and sometimes played against teams with rosters of over fifty players.
Of course, there are a various theories about why the Mason Home always did so well on the football field. Some accused the Home of running a program more like a college program than a high school program, with players living together in dormitories, eating all their meals together in the dining hall and living as a football team 24 / 7. Some might even attribute it to the fact that these orphans had developed a “street toughness” unlike their opponents which had come from more traditional home environments. However, I think it was something else.
I noticed in the book that every orphaned child entered the Mason Home not wanting to live there. For the first several weeks no one called the new kids by name. They were simply addressed as “New Kid.” Then, after several weeks the “New Kid” was given a nick name as a sign of acceptance. And that is when something magical happened. While no child outside of the orphanage ever wanted to know what life was life like inside the orphanage, the orphans didn’t want to live outside the orphanage. Inside the orphanage, life was comfortable and predictable. Outside the orphanage, life seemed dangerous and uncertain. The twelve orphans did not just play football. They were fighting for their identity as orphans. They were proud of their life inside the orphanage, and they did not want to become like the kids on the outside.
I see a parallel in this story to our story as Christians. We have an identity as Christians—on the inside—that is different from the world outside. We are proud of who we are—children of God, followers of Jesus Christ, Christians. We don’t want to become like people on the outside. Inside the church, we have security. Outside the church, we see a dangerous life that is uncertain at best.
On one hand, this is what God wants for us. God wants the church to be different from the world—a place of safety and security in a dangerous and uncertain world. On the other hand, this view of the church can be misrepresented into something God never intended. Yes, the church is supposed to be different from the world. Yes, we are supposed to find safety and security inside the church. But NO, we are not supposed to retreat from the world, satisfied in what we have, while the world around us goes to Hell. The purpose for the church is to break outside the walls of security and bring others into the same kind of life we have in our salvation through Jesus Christ.
Christmas is a beautiful picture of our purpose to turn the church “Inside Out” in an effort to bring the world to faith in Jesus as Lord.
Read Romans 15: 1 – 13.
This does not quite sound like a Christmas story. There is no mention of angelic messengers or a miraculous virgin birth. There are no shepherds or wise men. However, the purpose of Christmas is apparent.
II. Inside the Church.
Just a few chapters before this, Paul described the church as the Body of Christ. Our human bodies are made up of many different parts. Each part has its own purpose and function within the system. When all parts are functioning as they were created to function, the body can be healthy and effective. But, when just one body part is unhealthy, the entire body suffers from pain, disease and cannot be as effective. There is an intimate relationship between all the parts of our human bodies—when one part suffers, the entire body suffers. There is a division of labor among the parts of our bodies—the eyes depend on the feet to perform their duties and the feet depend on the eyes. In the same way, there should be the same kind of interconnectedness and interdependence among us as members of the Body of Christ.
This is more than just a description of an ideal world. This ought to be the reality we experience. The problem lies in the fact that most churches only experience this periodically. We face several threats to our unity on a daily basis.
In Romans 15, Paul described three threats to unity faced by the church at Rome—and, I believe, threats faced by the church at Lufkin.
A. Sin…(Verse 1)
This is the point Paul made in verse one. As long as we live here on earth, we will be plagued by our own sinful nature. This is true both inside the church and outside the church. Christians are not immune to the temptations of the world. In fact, I would argue that sin is perhaps an even greater struggle for us than for others.
On one hand, we do have God’s forgiveness for our sins. On the other hand, we have God’s conviction through his Holy Spirit in our lives. When a Christian sins, more times than not, he or she knows that what they are doing is actually sin. We usually don’t need our sins pointed out to us by other people. That is one of the roles and functions of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we face temptation, the Holy Spirit helps us to discern right from wrong. Then, even though we know it is wrong, we go ahead and give in to the temptation at hand. After the fact, the Holy Spirit continues to convict us of our failure in order to bring us to confession and repentance.
How should we deal with sin inside the church? One very popular opinion is that we should constantly be on the “look out” for church members who sin. Then, once we have found a guilty person, we should cast that person out of the church. After all, if we welcome sinners into our fellowship, the world will judge us based on that one sinner.
If you hold to that opinion about sin inside the church, I am going to disappoint you. As I look around the room, I see several hundred men and women, teenagers and children present. If we “kicked out” all the sinners this week, I dare say the room would be empty. Of course, there has to be someone here thinking that they would not have been kicked out this week. If you are thinking that right now, I hope you are willing and prepared to preach on Sunday, because I don’t think we would be able to find a deacon or a minister who passed your “sinless test.”
No, the proper way to deal with sin is to follow the example of Jesus. In another part of the New Testament—Philippians 2—Paul wrote to us about how Jesus “condescended” to be with us. Jesus held the very same nature as God, but he took on the nature of a human being to demonstrate God’s love for us. Jesus was all powerful, but he became a man with limited power and abilities. Jesus was strong, but he became weak. In the same way, we who are strong ought to bear with the failings and failures and sins of our weaker brothers and sisters. We ought to embrace sinners inside the church and outside the church with the forgiveness that God showed us in Jesus Christ. I might also add at this point that there is coming a day when the roles will be reversed. You might be the strong Christian today, helping a weaker brother or sister. But, one day you will be the sinner in need of a stronger brother or sister.
Paul’s encouragement to us: Don’t let sin destroy the unity of the church!
B. Self-Centered Members…(Verse 2)
It would be absurd for a part of our human bodies to begin to think it was the most important part of the body. We might imagine an eye trying to tell a foot that the eye held a more important position. Of course, the foot could reply that the eye can only see things when the foot transports the body into new environments. The heart could challenge the skin that the heart is a vital organ. And the skin could reply that the heart could not survive if it were exposed to the harsh outside world. In the same way, choir members and the preacher would not be as effective if there were not people willing to take care of our babies in the nursery on Sunday mornings.
Once again, Paul presents Jesus as the remedy to this internal problem in the church. We should imitate the love and forgiveness of Jesus when we deal with sin in the church. We should also imitate Jesus as we deal with self-centeredness in the church.
It’s interesting that Paul makes his point here by quoting from the Old Testament. Specifically, he quotes from Psalm 69: 9—“The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” Paul interprets this as a reference to the Jewish Messiah. This Jewish Messiah did not come with the glory due him. No, Jesus came as a Messiah who was rejected and despised by all humans.
I would have chosen a different illustration to place here. I would have chosen the story in John 13 about how Jesus served his disciples by washing their feet before the Last Supper. I would have quoted from Mark 10: 45, where Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The very nature of Jesus Christ was to serve others. When faced with the temptation to call down 10,000 angels to rescue him from his crucifixion, Jesus chose to be a servant to you and me by giving his life as a ransom for our eternal salvation.
Again, Paul encouraged us: Don’t let self-centeredness destroy your unity!
C. Persecution…(Verses 4 – 5)
In the first century, Christianity was not accepted in Rome. Christians were accused of being unpatriotic, because they would not pledge their allegiance to the Caesar. Christians were accused of being atheists, because they did not acknowledge the Roman gods. Christians were accused of committing incest, because they recognized each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians were accused of being cannibals, because they ate the flesh and drank the blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.
Christians were killed, imprisoned and beaten for their faith in Jesus. As a result, many were becoming discouraged, and some gave up.
Paul encouraged: Don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged! Our hope is in the Lord. This reminds us of our theme from last week: Jesus is coming back. The wicked will be punished, and the righteous will be vindicated. Don’t give up. And don’t let persecutions destroy your unity!
III. Outside the Church.
Once again, Paul turned his attention to the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Any time you read the word “Scripture” in the New Testament, it is a reference to the Jewish Scriptures that we now recognize as the Old Testament.
Here Paul did a very interesting thing. He quoted from every section of the Old Testament…Not every book, but every section. Jewish people generally recognize three divisions within the Old Testament: Torah, Prophets and the Writings. The Torah includes the first five books of the Bible. The Prophets includes the books which were attributed to the words of a prophet, or a spokesman for God. The Writings includes the poetry and wisdom literature.
Verse 9 is a quote from David found in both 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18…
Verse 10 is a quote from Deuteronomy 32…
Verse 11 is a quote from Psalm 117…
Verse 12 is a quote from Isaiah 11.
Do you notice anything these verses from the Old Testament have in common? All of these quotes describe God’s plan to show Grace, Mercy and Salvation to the Gentiles. God never intended that Israel and the Jews would be the only ones saved. God has always had a plan to extend salvation to every nation and every people of the earth. Israel just rejected God’s plan and preferred to think of herself as God’s only people. Israel was God’s chosen people, but Israel was never God’s only people.
IV. Conclusion: Inside Out.
This is where our Scripture intersects with the story of Christmas. When God first revealed himself to Abraham, it was for the purpose of beginning with Abraham’s descendents and extending salvation to all people. Israel rejected God’s purpose, because they never turned God’s revelation inside out. They just kept it inside.
God sent his Son Jesus for the same purpose. Jesus was born into Jewish heritage, but Jesus finally turned God’s purpose inside out.
Now, we face a choice. Christmas is a wonderful time of year inside the church. But that is not enough. We must turn Christmas inside out, so that all the world can experience God’s purpose for sending his Son.
Monday, December 03, 2007
First Sunday of Advent: Jesus Is Coming in Time
Jesus Is Coming in Time
Romans 13: 8 – 14
I. Introduction.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of the year in which we prepare ourselves for the “Coming of Christ.” In fact, that is what the word “Advent” means: “Coming.”
I did not grow up in a church that recognized Advent, so when I first encountered a Baptist church observing the season of Advent, I thought they were doing something that wasn’t really Baptist. And you may be wondering the same thing. Of course, Lufkin’s First Baptist has observed Advent for many years, but most of us did not grow up at Lufkin’s First Baptist. So, for those of you wondering if Advent is Baptist or not, I have an answer. No. Advent is not Baptist. Advent is Christian.
Two times during the course of a calendar year, we pause to celebrate the highest and holiest Christian holidays. I know most of you think I am going to say Easter and Mother’s Day. No. Easter and Mother’s Day are our highest attended days of the year. Our highest holy days are Easter and Christmas. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. When we celebrate these two significant events in the life of Jesus, we unite with Christians of all denominations from every people of the world. We are not just Baptists, we are Baptist Christians; and we unite with all Christians to worship the same Lord Jesus Christ.
By observing the first Sunday of Advent, we are beginning our Christmas worship 23 days before Christmas. This means we are extending our Christmas worship to something more than just one worship service. It also means we are creating a sense of anticipation, perhaps even giving ourselves an opportunity to prepare ourselves. We anticipate and we prepare for the “Coming” of Jesus.
There are two ways we can think of the “Coming” of Jesus. On one hand, we will light candles in anticipation and prepare our hearts for December 25. On the other hand, the hope of our faith is based on Jesus’ promise that he will one day return to this earth. So, I want to direct your thoughts this Advent season to both the First Coming of Jesus when he was born in a Bethlehem stable and the Second Coming of Jesus when he will return to bring judgment to the world and vindication to the righteous.
It was two millennia ago—in the fullness of time—that God fulfilled his promise to Israel by sending his Only Begotten Son as the Promised Messiah. God had originally called Abraham and established Abraham’s descendants as God’s own people. Then God sent Moses to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt; to lead them through the desert; and to establish God’s Law and covenant with these people. God’s people continually rebelled against God’s Law and covenant, so God sent the prophets to call God’s people to repentance and faithfulness. When the time was right—hundreds of years after the prophets fell silent—the God broke into the space and time of our world in a new way. God became flesh and dwelt among us so we could see God and know God like never before.
The birth of Jesus was the beginning of a new time. It was the beginning of the end. Today, we live in expectation of Jesus’ Second Coming. His first Coming was simple. He was born of a virgin. He had no place to call home. No one really suspected that this simple baby was the Son of God. But when Jesus returns, he will return as the righteous judge. It has not yet happened, but it will. This is another promise God has made. And we have a Bible filled with God’s promises, each of which was fulfilled exactly as promised.
Read Romans 13: 8 – 14.
This Scripture appears in a context in which Paul describes how Christians are supposed to live in the world as we wait for the Second Coming of Jesus. He writes about our relationship with the government, our relationships within the church and our relationships with non-Christians. In a nutshell, Paul told us to obey the law and pay our taxes. Then, he turns his attention to the daily relationships of life.
II. Love One Another (v. 8).
Paul starts out with some practical advice. Well, it’s practical advice to you and me. But in the ancient world, this was not so much advice as it was a common assumption. We live in a world of easy credit and high balance credit cards. In the 21st Century, there are people who make millions of dollars hosting radio programs to give out advice like this. In the ancient world, people did not carry a debt load like we are accustomed to. In fact, most people lived like our grandparents. If they didn’t have the money, they didn’t buy it. They didn’t borrow money for houses, transportation, Christmas presents. They just knew how to live without. So, Paul states the obvious: “Do not owe anyone anything.” Then, Paul introduces an acceptable debt for all Christians: the continuing debt to love one another.
There is something unusual about this debt of love. First, this is a continuing debt, which will never be paid off. As long as we live, we will always owe love to others. Secondly, this is a debt we owe, not to the people around us, but to God. God loved us and sent his Only Son who died for our sins. This is a continuous debt we can never pay off. God does not expect us to pay him back: He expects us to love each other.
III. Love Fulfills the Law (vv. 9 – 10).
Two times in this passage, Paul mentions love. The first time, he said we should “Love one another.” The second time, he quotes from Leviticus 19 and from the teaching of Jesus by saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is a very subtle difference between these two commands to love other people. The first reference is to “Love one another.” This is a refrain which we find in the teachings of Jesus, the Apostle John and here in the writings of Paul. I would make an argument here to say that this is a command for Christians to love other Christians. In other words, church people are supposed to get along.
The second reference is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a teaching that comes directly from the Old Testament book of Leviticus (19: 18). Most of the Jewish people interpreted this to mean they should love other Jews. However, Jesus gives us a fresh, new interpretation of “Love your neighbor” by telling us the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, Jesus presented a Samaritan man as the hero—the one who demonstrated love for his neighbor. Therefore, I believe this is a reference to love people who are outsiders and do not look like us. People who are like the Samaritans—different from us in race and religion.
When we love the people who look like us and dress like us and smell like us, we are no different from the people of the world. BUT…When we love people who are different…When we love every person God has placed on this earth, we separate ourselves from the world and demonstrate that we are God’s people. We are God’s people who fulfill God’s original purpose for his people Israel. But let me ask a question. If loving each other inside the church and loving people outside the church is the way we fulfill God’s purpose, then what does it mean when Christians do not love other Christians?
Since Paul is making such a big deal about loving other people, perhaps we should ask what it means to love others. Well, if you are reading verse 10, you don’t have to wonder. Paul says that we love others when we choose not to do harm to them.
This may sound like a strange definition of love, but it is one that has been around for many years. In fact, it sounds a lot like what we refer to as the “Silver Rule.” I know you have heard of the “Golden Rule,” but have you heard of the “Silver Rule?” We believe it originated in the teachings of a Jewish Rabbi, named Hillel. Hillel was noted for teaching his disciples: “Whatever you hate, do not do that to others.”
Of course, this leaves open the possibility that it is OK for us to do nothing and feel good about not doing harmful things to others. I believe Jesus would have been aware of such a teaching about withholding evil from others and chose to set a higher standard for his followers.
Therefore, Jesus gave us an entirely positive definition of loving others by teaching us: “Do to others as you want them to do to you.”
This is love. Withholding evil and doing good to others.
IV. The Hour Has Come (vv. 11 – 12).
Here Paul begins to express his urgency in commanding us to love each other and to love the world. We should love; because the time is right…We are running out of time to do the right things.
In the New International Version I read, there is a word missing in verse 11. It may seem like a small word, but I think it changes the way we interpret this. The word is “already.” Paul did not write, “The hour has come.” Instead, Paul wrote, “The hour has ALREADY come.”
The difference is like when the alarm clock goes off in the morning. On a regular morning, the alarm goes off, and we wake up—The hour has come. But then there are some mornings when we are not quite ready to wake up when the alarm goes off. We turn the alarm off and think we can sleep for just another five minutes. Then, 30 minutes later we wake up in a panic—The hour has ALREADY come.
This is the kind of desperation Paul is communicating. Every day we live is one day closer to the Second Coming of Jesus.
Again, if you want to play with my image of the alarm clock, we can think in terms of the dawn—night is coming to an end, daylight is beginning to break. Yet, this daylight is different from the daylight of dawn. It is different, first, because it is symbolic. It is different, second, because this daylight is not recognized to everyone.
If you want to think in terms of what Jesus taught us, we can think about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was the primary theme in the teachings and preaching of Jesus. After his baptism, Jesus began telling his followers that the Kingdom of God was at hand. When you and I place our faith in Jesus, we enter into his Kingdom by allowing Jesus to become the King of our lives. Yet, we continue to live in a world that does not acknowledge Jesus as King. Therefore, we live as citizens of two different worlds. We are ultimately citizens of God’s Kingdom, but we are forced to live in a world filled with evil, death and pain.
This is the image of light and darkness. When Jesus came into our space and time, dawn was beginning to break. Everyone who places faith in Jesus as Lord and King lives in the light that Jesus brings. However, we are surrounded by a world of darkness. Yet, this will not always be the case. When Jesus comes to our space and time in his future Coming, the light will break forth throughout all the earth. There will be no more darkness, only light—for the dawn will have come.
The church should be like that one house in the neighborhood that has Christmas lights everywhere. You know the house I’m talking about. Everyone in the neighborhood has modest decorations and a few lights on the house. But there is always one house that is so bright that the Houston airport has to divert air traffic away from it to keep pilots from trying to land in their front yard.
V. Clothe Yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 14).
There are two ways we can interpret this verse. The first way—and this is what I thought it was at the beginning of the week—is to interpret this as a baptism formula. The new convert would wear an old set of clothes to be baptized in. Then, after baptism he or she would change clothes and put on a brand new set of clothes. This was a visible representation of the spiritual change in the person’s life—Taking off the old way of life and putting on a new life with Christ.
The second interpretation is to return to Paul’s charge that it is time to wake up. What do you normally do when you wake up in the morning? I eat breakfast, I shave, and I get dressed for the day.
The hour has come. We have slept too long. It is time to wake up and get dressed. But what am I going to wear?
VI. Conclusion.
I remember when I was a child, we always went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. We always dressed up on Sunday mornings. But as soon as I got home, I started changing clothes. I wanted to put on my “play clothes.” It’s hard to have fun while wearing your Sunday clothes.
Different clothes serve different purposes. We have work clothes, dress clothes, school uniforms, etc… No one would try to work in the yard while wearing their dress clothes! There are just some things you can’t do while wearing your best clothes.
When Paul commands us to “clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,” he is making the same point. As long as you are clothed in Jesus, there are some things you just cannot do. But there is one thing we can do—Love.
Romans 13: 8 – 14
I. Introduction.
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the season of the year in which we prepare ourselves for the “Coming of Christ.” In fact, that is what the word “Advent” means: “Coming.”
I did not grow up in a church that recognized Advent, so when I first encountered a Baptist church observing the season of Advent, I thought they were doing something that wasn’t really Baptist. And you may be wondering the same thing. Of course, Lufkin’s First Baptist has observed Advent for many years, but most of us did not grow up at Lufkin’s First Baptist. So, for those of you wondering if Advent is Baptist or not, I have an answer. No. Advent is not Baptist. Advent is Christian.
Two times during the course of a calendar year, we pause to celebrate the highest and holiest Christian holidays. I know most of you think I am going to say Easter and Mother’s Day. No. Easter and Mother’s Day are our highest attended days of the year. Our highest holy days are Easter and Christmas. Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. When we celebrate these two significant events in the life of Jesus, we unite with Christians of all denominations from every people of the world. We are not just Baptists, we are Baptist Christians; and we unite with all Christians to worship the same Lord Jesus Christ.
By observing the first Sunday of Advent, we are beginning our Christmas worship 23 days before Christmas. This means we are extending our Christmas worship to something more than just one worship service. It also means we are creating a sense of anticipation, perhaps even giving ourselves an opportunity to prepare ourselves. We anticipate and we prepare for the “Coming” of Jesus.
There are two ways we can think of the “Coming” of Jesus. On one hand, we will light candles in anticipation and prepare our hearts for December 25. On the other hand, the hope of our faith is based on Jesus’ promise that he will one day return to this earth. So, I want to direct your thoughts this Advent season to both the First Coming of Jesus when he was born in a Bethlehem stable and the Second Coming of Jesus when he will return to bring judgment to the world and vindication to the righteous.
It was two millennia ago—in the fullness of time—that God fulfilled his promise to Israel by sending his Only Begotten Son as the Promised Messiah. God had originally called Abraham and established Abraham’s descendants as God’s own people. Then God sent Moses to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt; to lead them through the desert; and to establish God’s Law and covenant with these people. God’s people continually rebelled against God’s Law and covenant, so God sent the prophets to call God’s people to repentance and faithfulness. When the time was right—hundreds of years after the prophets fell silent—the God broke into the space and time of our world in a new way. God became flesh and dwelt among us so we could see God and know God like never before.
The birth of Jesus was the beginning of a new time. It was the beginning of the end. Today, we live in expectation of Jesus’ Second Coming. His first Coming was simple. He was born of a virgin. He had no place to call home. No one really suspected that this simple baby was the Son of God. But when Jesus returns, he will return as the righteous judge. It has not yet happened, but it will. This is another promise God has made. And we have a Bible filled with God’s promises, each of which was fulfilled exactly as promised.
Read Romans 13: 8 – 14.
This Scripture appears in a context in which Paul describes how Christians are supposed to live in the world as we wait for the Second Coming of Jesus. He writes about our relationship with the government, our relationships within the church and our relationships with non-Christians. In a nutshell, Paul told us to obey the law and pay our taxes. Then, he turns his attention to the daily relationships of life.
II. Love One Another (v. 8).
Paul starts out with some practical advice. Well, it’s practical advice to you and me. But in the ancient world, this was not so much advice as it was a common assumption. We live in a world of easy credit and high balance credit cards. In the 21st Century, there are people who make millions of dollars hosting radio programs to give out advice like this. In the ancient world, people did not carry a debt load like we are accustomed to. In fact, most people lived like our grandparents. If they didn’t have the money, they didn’t buy it. They didn’t borrow money for houses, transportation, Christmas presents. They just knew how to live without. So, Paul states the obvious: “Do not owe anyone anything.” Then, Paul introduces an acceptable debt for all Christians: the continuing debt to love one another.
There is something unusual about this debt of love. First, this is a continuing debt, which will never be paid off. As long as we live, we will always owe love to others. Secondly, this is a debt we owe, not to the people around us, but to God. God loved us and sent his Only Son who died for our sins. This is a continuous debt we can never pay off. God does not expect us to pay him back: He expects us to love each other.
III. Love Fulfills the Law (vv. 9 – 10).
Two times in this passage, Paul mentions love. The first time, he said we should “Love one another.” The second time, he quotes from Leviticus 19 and from the teaching of Jesus by saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is a very subtle difference between these two commands to love other people. The first reference is to “Love one another.” This is a refrain which we find in the teachings of Jesus, the Apostle John and here in the writings of Paul. I would make an argument here to say that this is a command for Christians to love other Christians. In other words, church people are supposed to get along.
The second reference is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is a teaching that comes directly from the Old Testament book of Leviticus (19: 18). Most of the Jewish people interpreted this to mean they should love other Jews. However, Jesus gives us a fresh, new interpretation of “Love your neighbor” by telling us the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, Jesus presented a Samaritan man as the hero—the one who demonstrated love for his neighbor. Therefore, I believe this is a reference to love people who are outsiders and do not look like us. People who are like the Samaritans—different from us in race and religion.
When we love the people who look like us and dress like us and smell like us, we are no different from the people of the world. BUT…When we love people who are different…When we love every person God has placed on this earth, we separate ourselves from the world and demonstrate that we are God’s people. We are God’s people who fulfill God’s original purpose for his people Israel. But let me ask a question. If loving each other inside the church and loving people outside the church is the way we fulfill God’s purpose, then what does it mean when Christians do not love other Christians?
Since Paul is making such a big deal about loving other people, perhaps we should ask what it means to love others. Well, if you are reading verse 10, you don’t have to wonder. Paul says that we love others when we choose not to do harm to them.
This may sound like a strange definition of love, but it is one that has been around for many years. In fact, it sounds a lot like what we refer to as the “Silver Rule.” I know you have heard of the “Golden Rule,” but have you heard of the “Silver Rule?” We believe it originated in the teachings of a Jewish Rabbi, named Hillel. Hillel was noted for teaching his disciples: “Whatever you hate, do not do that to others.”
Of course, this leaves open the possibility that it is OK for us to do nothing and feel good about not doing harmful things to others. I believe Jesus would have been aware of such a teaching about withholding evil from others and chose to set a higher standard for his followers.
Therefore, Jesus gave us an entirely positive definition of loving others by teaching us: “Do to others as you want them to do to you.”
This is love. Withholding evil and doing good to others.
IV. The Hour Has Come (vv. 11 – 12).
Here Paul begins to express his urgency in commanding us to love each other and to love the world. We should love; because the time is right…We are running out of time to do the right things.
In the New International Version I read, there is a word missing in verse 11. It may seem like a small word, but I think it changes the way we interpret this. The word is “already.” Paul did not write, “The hour has come.” Instead, Paul wrote, “The hour has ALREADY come.”
The difference is like when the alarm clock goes off in the morning. On a regular morning, the alarm goes off, and we wake up—The hour has come. But then there are some mornings when we are not quite ready to wake up when the alarm goes off. We turn the alarm off and think we can sleep for just another five minutes. Then, 30 minutes later we wake up in a panic—The hour has ALREADY come.
This is the kind of desperation Paul is communicating. Every day we live is one day closer to the Second Coming of Jesus.
Again, if you want to play with my image of the alarm clock, we can think in terms of the dawn—night is coming to an end, daylight is beginning to break. Yet, this daylight is different from the daylight of dawn. It is different, first, because it is symbolic. It is different, second, because this daylight is not recognized to everyone.
If you want to think in terms of what Jesus taught us, we can think about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was the primary theme in the teachings and preaching of Jesus. After his baptism, Jesus began telling his followers that the Kingdom of God was at hand. When you and I place our faith in Jesus, we enter into his Kingdom by allowing Jesus to become the King of our lives. Yet, we continue to live in a world that does not acknowledge Jesus as King. Therefore, we live as citizens of two different worlds. We are ultimately citizens of God’s Kingdom, but we are forced to live in a world filled with evil, death and pain.
This is the image of light and darkness. When Jesus came into our space and time, dawn was beginning to break. Everyone who places faith in Jesus as Lord and King lives in the light that Jesus brings. However, we are surrounded by a world of darkness. Yet, this will not always be the case. When Jesus comes to our space and time in his future Coming, the light will break forth throughout all the earth. There will be no more darkness, only light—for the dawn will have come.
The church should be like that one house in the neighborhood that has Christmas lights everywhere. You know the house I’m talking about. Everyone in the neighborhood has modest decorations and a few lights on the house. But there is always one house that is so bright that the Houston airport has to divert air traffic away from it to keep pilots from trying to land in their front yard.
V. Clothe Yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 14).
There are two ways we can interpret this verse. The first way—and this is what I thought it was at the beginning of the week—is to interpret this as a baptism formula. The new convert would wear an old set of clothes to be baptized in. Then, after baptism he or she would change clothes and put on a brand new set of clothes. This was a visible representation of the spiritual change in the person’s life—Taking off the old way of life and putting on a new life with Christ.
The second interpretation is to return to Paul’s charge that it is time to wake up. What do you normally do when you wake up in the morning? I eat breakfast, I shave, and I get dressed for the day.
The hour has come. We have slept too long. It is time to wake up and get dressed. But what am I going to wear?
VI. Conclusion.
I remember when I was a child, we always went to church on Sundays and Wednesdays. We always dressed up on Sunday mornings. But as soon as I got home, I started changing clothes. I wanted to put on my “play clothes.” It’s hard to have fun while wearing your Sunday clothes.
Different clothes serve different purposes. We have work clothes, dress clothes, school uniforms, etc… No one would try to work in the yard while wearing their dress clothes! There are just some things you can’t do while wearing your best clothes.
When Paul commands us to “clothe ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ,” he is making the same point. As long as you are clothed in Jesus, there are some things you just cannot do. But there is one thing we can do—Love.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The Church We Are Today
The Church We Are Today
Philippians 3: 1 – 4: 1
I. Introduction.
June was my one year anniversary as pastor of this great church. Many of you will remember what I did to commemorate my anniversary. I called a committee meeting! I met with the Pastor Search Committee and the Transition Team. These two committees played instrumental roles in leading our church through the interim period before I came. In this combined meeting, I did two things. First, I said to the committees, “In the name of Jesus, I release you from your responsibilities.” Second, I asked them questions to get their input and opinions on what needs to happen next in our church. They suggested we should celebrate the wonderful things going on in our church today. So, here we are.
Before I tell you the “Good News” about Lufkin’s First Baptist Church, I want to begin with a kind of apology. Wonderful things are taking place in our church, but I do NOT take credit for this. We are growing in several different ways, but it is not because of our new pastor. We are growing, because God is working. I tell people often that I am here at a really good time. A BABOON could be a successful pastor of this church right now, because our church is hungry for growth and health. Some of you know that we have not always been a healthy church. But we are healthier now than we have been in many years.
There was a turning point in the life and health of First Baptist Church. There was one moment in time when we made a strategic move to get healthy. Do you know what that was? Some people might say that it was calling me as pastor, but I disagree. Others may say it was when we called Joe Laughlin to be our intentional interim pastor, but I disagree. The best move we made to become a healthy church happened almost three years ago. It was the moment we decided to plant the Cross Timbers Cowboy Church. That was the moment we decided we were no longer going to feel sorry for ourselves. We had focused on ourselves and our internal problems long enough. We were ready to focus on missions and evangelism, and to get busy doing the things God called us to do. A church will never be healthy and will never grow if all they ever do is focus on their own problems. God’s plan for all churches in general—and First Baptist Church in particular—is to focus outside the walls of the church, not on how to get along with each other.
I want to publicly say “Thank you” to Glenden Sanders for having the vision and answering God’s call to start a new kind of church in Lufkin, Texas.
Since the day we decided we would focus on God’s mission more than ourselves, let me share with you what has happened at First Baptist Church.
In June 2006, we called a new pastor. In April of 2007, we called Clay Walker to be our new youth minister. Our minister of music search committee has tried to call a music minister, but we have not found the man we are looking for. I have worked closely with this committee as we have gone through at least 60 résumés and had face-to-face meetings with 9 music ministers. The committee even traveled to another church to see one man in action. But none of these was the right fit for our church. We think it is very important for us to call the right minister of music.
In the past year and a half, we have had 59 people join our church from other churches. AND, we have baptized 18. That is 77 new members in just 18 months! There are two things I find exciting in these numbers. First, people who study church growth tell us that in order for a church to be considered a growing church, we must grow by a factor of 10% per year and sustain that growth for 5 consecutive years. We have one year of growth. Now we need to sustain that growth. Second, it is exciting because we have new members from every age group: Adults, Senior Adults, Young Adults, Youth and Children. But the most significant growth has been in the Young Adult group.
When I moved here in June 2006, we had one Sunday School department for young married adults between the ages of 20 and 40. As new people began to visit and join our church, Aubrey had the vision to divide that department into two departments: one for 20 – 30 and one for 30 – 40. In the past year, those two departments have nearly tripled in membership and attendance.
Last December, we had a very unusual occurrence. We ended the year with a budget surplus of $130,000. I can explain the surplus in three ways…1. We did not pay a full time music minister last year, and we didn’t have a full time youth minister for the full 12 months. 2. We did not over spend our budget categories. 3. You were faithful to support the work of the church financially.
We used that budget surplus to invest in ourselves. We added to our operational reserves and paid off our church debt. Let me restate that…We are out of debt! All we have left is one small, monthly note which we will pay off at the end of 2007. When was the last time you remember being out of debt? This is significant, because just 2 years ago we purchased an Energy Management System to control our heating and air conditioning by computer. The system cost $120,000, and we paid for it in less than 2 years!
We are currently working on three building renovations. We will use some of the surplus funds to install new flooring in the nursery and preschool area; to make some changes in the youth ministry area; and to renovate the church parlor. We have already accepted bids on these projects and are now waiting for the work to begin.
But what about the 2007 budget? For the first time in recent memory, we have gone through the entire Summer without going into a deficit. Summer is usually the time when we fall behind in our contributions and spend more than we collect. But not this year. We ended the third quarter of the year (end of September 2007) with a budget surplus. We anticipate that through your continued faithfulness, we will end the year with a larger surplus than last year and make additional building repairs.
Again, let me restate that the reason why this is happening in our church has nothing to do with our new pastor. This is happening because we renewed our focus on missions. This year, we added four local ministries to our missions budget. We give 9% of our undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program of the BGCT. We give 1% to the Unity Baptist Association. And now we give 1% to be divided evenly between the Mosaic Center (Christian Women’s Job Corps), GODtel, Love INC, and the Christian Information and Service Center. In addition to this 11%, we gave financial assistance to three churches: La Casa Del Alfarero, Cross Timbers Cowboy Church and a church in Grandprairie, Alberta, Canada. Next year we will continue supporting these areas, but we will add three new missions expenses: The first African American church affiliated with the BGCT in our county (New Beginnings Baptist Church), an orphanage in Ethiopia, and the first evangelical Christian church in the Ethiopian village of Bantu.
Read Philippians 3: 12 – 14
The Christian life does not happen over night. It takes discipline. It takes will-power. It takes pain. And it takes a commitment to do the long and hard work to achieve our God-given goals. But most importantly…When we run a race, there are a lot of things that can distract us from our ultimate purpose…Sometimes even the race itself can be a distraction…But Paul tells us to push all those distractions aside and focus on the goal…To finish the race…To win the prize…To fulfill our God-given purpose in life.
In verse 12, Paul tells us that he has not yet arrived at perfection…There was a time when he thought he was perfect, but now he realizes that God does not call us to be perfect…God calls us to be MATURE…
Then Paul explains to us what he believes is the single most important characteristic of a Mature Christian… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus…We know this is Paul’s idea of Christian maturity based on what he said in the very next verse…All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you…
Mature Christians run the race God has given us with our heads facing forward…With our eyes on the finish line…Not looking back on what has happened in our past…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…Exactly what are we supposed to forget?
Read Philippians 3: 1 – 4: 1
Many believe that Paul’s words here were in response to false teachers in church. More than likely these false teachers were of a group that we refer to as the Judaizers…This name is a little misleading, because these false teachers were not Jews. They were Gentile converts who got so excited and so zealous about the laws of the Old Testament that they started teaching the weaker church members that there were two things necessary for salvation…Jesus + the Law…Jesus + Perfection.
So, Paul challenged their view of salvation and Righteousness by comparing himself to their view of Perfection. Paul was saying to the Philippians, “If anyone has a reason to boast about what their religious life, it is me.”
Paul first boasted about his Jewish Heritage…
Circumcised on 8th day – according to law, this is the proper day…not like Gentile converts who were circumcised as adults…This indicates that Paul’s parents were meticulous in keeping law…
Of nation of Israel – Paul holds all rights & privileges afforded to God’s chosen people by virtue of his birth…Paul was not a Jew by conversion, but by birth…
Of tribe of Benjamin – small but prestigious tribe…younger of two sons by Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel…tribe brought Israel’s 1st king, Paul’s namesake…Holy city Jerusalem in boundaries of Benjamin…Benjamin remained loyal to YHWH after divided kingdom…
Hebrew of Hebrews – two different interpretations…Either Hebrew born to Hebrew parents, indicating that Paul was from a pure bloodline…Or…Paul was a Jew who actually spoke Hebrew language…
Now Paul changes his list to things he has actually accomplished for himself. These are not received from his parents…
Pharisee – small religious party of Paul & Jesus’ day…There were very strict requirements for a man to become a Pharisee…had to strictly adhere to Mosaic Law of OT…also had to keep the oral law, traditions handed down by the Scribes & Pharisees… And on top of all this, we also know from Acts 23 that Paul was disciple of Gamaliel, who was perhaps the most famous Jewish Rabbi…
Persecutor of the church – Paul’s love for the Law & his religion led him to try to annihilate the early Xn church…
Blameless concerning the Law – not only had Paul given life to study of Law, he had also fulfilled it in a human sense…Just like the Rich Young Ruler, Paul felt confident he kept the Law
Paul thought himself to be the model Jew, he was more than satisfied with his religious life. He was proud that he could be so Perfect…So Pious…So Spiritual…So Religious…After all, Paul thought he had upheld God’s external legal requirements… Perfection…That is, Paul thought he was Perfect until something changed…Paul eventually encountered the risen Christ while he was on his way to persecute the church in Damascus…
When Paul came face to face with Jesus, he realized that his life was not Perfect. Paul did not measure up to Jesus. This is when Paul finally realized that when compared to Christ Jesus, his self-righteousness fell desperately short of the true life God wanted him to live.
In fact, Paul realized that his own righteousness was nothing more than an attempt at self-reliance…An attempt to EARN salvation from God rather than to receive it as a gift of grace. He no longer viewed these external qualifications as “gains,” but as “losses.”
In this passage, Paul used two words to describe all of his religious achievements before he met Christ…
“Loss”… In other words, none of these things promoted him or helped him, they dragged him down, moved him away from God.
“Rubbish”…This is one of those places where the Bible has cleaned up the Greek a little so that we can read it in church…This is the Greek word skubala, which literally means…Well, it means “manure.” Paul said, all of those religious things, those good things, those righteous things that I have been so proud of for most of my life…Well, now that I know Jesus I realize that self-righteousness is worth as much to me as manure…This is “unspeakable filth”…something that no one would ever think about keeping or bragging about or in any way place value on…
So, Paul is basically saying here…I have a lot of good and religious stuff in my past that I have always been very proud of. But no matter how good I was, and no matter how proud I might be…I will forget about my past and Press On toward God’s future…
But guess what? Paul isn’t exactly proud of everything he has done in his past…This is the same Apostle Paul who told us in 1 Timothy 1: 15… Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst…
Paul had a lot of things in his past that he could truly be proud of: Circumcised on the 8th day; of the people of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; Hebrew of Hebrews; Pharisee; blameless…But Paul also had a lot of things in his past that he was ashamed of…
The day that Paul encountered the Resurrected Christ for the very first time…The day that Paul’s life was radically transformed once and for all…Where was he going? He was on his way to persecute Christians. Paul was guilty of instilling such fear in Christian men and women that they were too afraid to preach the Good News about Jesus. In other words, Paul is guilty of preventing some people from getting Saved…Paul was also guilty of murder…In Acts 7, we read that Paul was a part of the Jewish mob that stoned Stephen to his death…Even if Paul never threw a stone at Stephen that day, he was guilty as an accomplice to murder…
I think we can all relate to what Paul is telling us here…I have a lot of things in my past that I am proud of…But I also have a lot of things in my past that I am ashamed of…So, forgetting what is behind and striving toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus…
Paul’s Goal…So, exactly what is our goal as growing and maturing Christians? In Philippians 3, Paul tells us that he has three goals…
First…In verse 12, Paul says that he will press on to “Take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me”…In other words, Paul wants to forget about the past so that he can live out his God-given calling and mission in life…
Second…In verse 21, Paul says that he is striving toward that day when Christ will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”…In other words, Paul wants to forget about his past so that he can live with heaven on his mind…
Third…In Philippians 4: 1, Paul described the Christians at Philippi as his “joy and crown”…In other words, Paul wants to forget about his past so that he can invest his own life and ministry into the lives of other growing and maturing Christians…
II. Conclusion.
A true story about Coach Paul Bear Bryant, the legendary football coach from the University of Alabama. Before Bear Bryant coached at Alabama he coached at Texas A&M. When he left Texas A&M to go to Alabama, he asked his entire coaching staff to go with him. They all agreed, with one exception.
The althletic trainer on the Texas A&M staff was a man named Smokey Harper. No one really knew his name (it was Charlie), they just called him Smokey because he was never without a cigarette in his mouth. He would light the next cigarette from the end of the one in his mouth. Smokey was 64 years old, one year away from retirement, and decided that he would rather retire than try to make the transition to Alabama.
Once Smokey retired, he became bored with just sitting at home every day with nothing to do. So, what did he do? He called Bear Bryant and asked for his old job back. The bad news was that Bear Bryant did not have the budget to hire another coach. Smokey responded, “That’s OK. I can still draw my retirement as long as I do not make more than $200 a month.” Bear Bryant offered Smokey a job in Alabama.
When Smokey arrived in Tuscaloosa, Bear Bryant called him into his office and began to describe his new job. He said, “Smokey, I want to give you the most important job on this entire coaching staff. You will not travel with the team on away games. You will never stand on the sidelines. You will never have any contact with the players. All you will do is what you love to do. I want you to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes every day.
“I want you to go out and find as many coffee shops as possible in the state of Alabama. I want you to go to those shops every morning and sit down with the people of Alabama. I want you to drink coffee with them. I want you to become friends with them. I want you to tell them, ‘Coach Bear Bryant is the best football coach that I have ever seen.’
“Tell the people of Alabama what a good person I am, what a good coach I am and how I am going to make Alabama the best football program in the nation.”
When Bear Bryant won the national championship, he introduced Smokey as the reason for the success of the Alabama football program.
Here is my dream for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. I dream we will be like Smokey Harper. If you don’t smoke, don’t start…But you can be the same kind of witness. I want you to walk out those doors today to the coffee shops, schools, work places to find everyone you can possibly find to tell them, “I have the best church. Every week I experience the Presence of God in worship. I have the best SS class—My teacher teaches the Bible and we all love each other. We have the best music ministry in Angelina County. We have the best Youth Ministry in Angelina County. We have the best Children’s Ministry in Angelina County.”
If you are praying that the lost will be saved, someone must be a witness. If you are praying that FBC will grow, someone must be a witness. And what kind of witness are we being when we gripe and complain about our church or the Ministry areas of our church. Tell the story of the church we are today...It is good news.
Philippians 3: 1 – 4: 1
I. Introduction.
June was my one year anniversary as pastor of this great church. Many of you will remember what I did to commemorate my anniversary. I called a committee meeting! I met with the Pastor Search Committee and the Transition Team. These two committees played instrumental roles in leading our church through the interim period before I came. In this combined meeting, I did two things. First, I said to the committees, “In the name of Jesus, I release you from your responsibilities.” Second, I asked them questions to get their input and opinions on what needs to happen next in our church. They suggested we should celebrate the wonderful things going on in our church today. So, here we are.
Before I tell you the “Good News” about Lufkin’s First Baptist Church, I want to begin with a kind of apology. Wonderful things are taking place in our church, but I do NOT take credit for this. We are growing in several different ways, but it is not because of our new pastor. We are growing, because God is working. I tell people often that I am here at a really good time. A BABOON could be a successful pastor of this church right now, because our church is hungry for growth and health. Some of you know that we have not always been a healthy church. But we are healthier now than we have been in many years.
There was a turning point in the life and health of First Baptist Church. There was one moment in time when we made a strategic move to get healthy. Do you know what that was? Some people might say that it was calling me as pastor, but I disagree. Others may say it was when we called Joe Laughlin to be our intentional interim pastor, but I disagree. The best move we made to become a healthy church happened almost three years ago. It was the moment we decided to plant the Cross Timbers Cowboy Church. That was the moment we decided we were no longer going to feel sorry for ourselves. We had focused on ourselves and our internal problems long enough. We were ready to focus on missions and evangelism, and to get busy doing the things God called us to do. A church will never be healthy and will never grow if all they ever do is focus on their own problems. God’s plan for all churches in general—and First Baptist Church in particular—is to focus outside the walls of the church, not on how to get along with each other.
I want to publicly say “Thank you” to Glenden Sanders for having the vision and answering God’s call to start a new kind of church in Lufkin, Texas.
Since the day we decided we would focus on God’s mission more than ourselves, let me share with you what has happened at First Baptist Church.
In June 2006, we called a new pastor. In April of 2007, we called Clay Walker to be our new youth minister. Our minister of music search committee has tried to call a music minister, but we have not found the man we are looking for. I have worked closely with this committee as we have gone through at least 60 résumés and had face-to-face meetings with 9 music ministers. The committee even traveled to another church to see one man in action. But none of these was the right fit for our church. We think it is very important for us to call the right minister of music.
In the past year and a half, we have had 59 people join our church from other churches. AND, we have baptized 18. That is 77 new members in just 18 months! There are two things I find exciting in these numbers. First, people who study church growth tell us that in order for a church to be considered a growing church, we must grow by a factor of 10% per year and sustain that growth for 5 consecutive years. We have one year of growth. Now we need to sustain that growth. Second, it is exciting because we have new members from every age group: Adults, Senior Adults, Young Adults, Youth and Children. But the most significant growth has been in the Young Adult group.
When I moved here in June 2006, we had one Sunday School department for young married adults between the ages of 20 and 40. As new people began to visit and join our church, Aubrey had the vision to divide that department into two departments: one for 20 – 30 and one for 30 – 40. In the past year, those two departments have nearly tripled in membership and attendance.
Last December, we had a very unusual occurrence. We ended the year with a budget surplus of $130,000. I can explain the surplus in three ways…1. We did not pay a full time music minister last year, and we didn’t have a full time youth minister for the full 12 months. 2. We did not over spend our budget categories. 3. You were faithful to support the work of the church financially.
We used that budget surplus to invest in ourselves. We added to our operational reserves and paid off our church debt. Let me restate that…We are out of debt! All we have left is one small, monthly note which we will pay off at the end of 2007. When was the last time you remember being out of debt? This is significant, because just 2 years ago we purchased an Energy Management System to control our heating and air conditioning by computer. The system cost $120,000, and we paid for it in less than 2 years!
We are currently working on three building renovations. We will use some of the surplus funds to install new flooring in the nursery and preschool area; to make some changes in the youth ministry area; and to renovate the church parlor. We have already accepted bids on these projects and are now waiting for the work to begin.
But what about the 2007 budget? For the first time in recent memory, we have gone through the entire Summer without going into a deficit. Summer is usually the time when we fall behind in our contributions and spend more than we collect. But not this year. We ended the third quarter of the year (end of September 2007) with a budget surplus. We anticipate that through your continued faithfulness, we will end the year with a larger surplus than last year and make additional building repairs.
Again, let me restate that the reason why this is happening in our church has nothing to do with our new pastor. This is happening because we renewed our focus on missions. This year, we added four local ministries to our missions budget. We give 9% of our undesignated receipts to the Cooperative Program of the BGCT. We give 1% to the Unity Baptist Association. And now we give 1% to be divided evenly between the Mosaic Center (Christian Women’s Job Corps), GODtel, Love INC, and the Christian Information and Service Center. In addition to this 11%, we gave financial assistance to three churches: La Casa Del Alfarero, Cross Timbers Cowboy Church and a church in Grandprairie, Alberta, Canada. Next year we will continue supporting these areas, but we will add three new missions expenses: The first African American church affiliated with the BGCT in our county (New Beginnings Baptist Church), an orphanage in Ethiopia, and the first evangelical Christian church in the Ethiopian village of Bantu.
Read Philippians 3: 12 – 14
The Christian life does not happen over night. It takes discipline. It takes will-power. It takes pain. And it takes a commitment to do the long and hard work to achieve our God-given goals. But most importantly…When we run a race, there are a lot of things that can distract us from our ultimate purpose…Sometimes even the race itself can be a distraction…But Paul tells us to push all those distractions aside and focus on the goal…To finish the race…To win the prize…To fulfill our God-given purpose in life.
In verse 12, Paul tells us that he has not yet arrived at perfection…There was a time when he thought he was perfect, but now he realizes that God does not call us to be perfect…God calls us to be MATURE…
Then Paul explains to us what he believes is the single most important characteristic of a Mature Christian… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus…We know this is Paul’s idea of Christian maturity based on what he said in the very next verse…All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you…
Mature Christians run the race God has given us with our heads facing forward…With our eyes on the finish line…Not looking back on what has happened in our past…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…Exactly what are we supposed to forget?
Read Philippians 3: 1 – 4: 1
Many believe that Paul’s words here were in response to false teachers in church. More than likely these false teachers were of a group that we refer to as the Judaizers…This name is a little misleading, because these false teachers were not Jews. They were Gentile converts who got so excited and so zealous about the laws of the Old Testament that they started teaching the weaker church members that there were two things necessary for salvation…Jesus + the Law…Jesus + Perfection.
So, Paul challenged their view of salvation and Righteousness by comparing himself to their view of Perfection. Paul was saying to the Philippians, “If anyone has a reason to boast about what their religious life, it is me.”
Paul first boasted about his Jewish Heritage…
Circumcised on 8th day – according to law, this is the proper day…not like Gentile converts who were circumcised as adults…This indicates that Paul’s parents were meticulous in keeping law…
Of nation of Israel – Paul holds all rights & privileges afforded to God’s chosen people by virtue of his birth…Paul was not a Jew by conversion, but by birth…
Of tribe of Benjamin – small but prestigious tribe…younger of two sons by Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel…tribe brought Israel’s 1st king, Paul’s namesake…Holy city Jerusalem in boundaries of Benjamin…Benjamin remained loyal to YHWH after divided kingdom…
Hebrew of Hebrews – two different interpretations…Either Hebrew born to Hebrew parents, indicating that Paul was from a pure bloodline…Or…Paul was a Jew who actually spoke Hebrew language…
Now Paul changes his list to things he has actually accomplished for himself. These are not received from his parents…
Pharisee – small religious party of Paul & Jesus’ day…There were very strict requirements for a man to become a Pharisee…had to strictly adhere to Mosaic Law of OT…also had to keep the oral law, traditions handed down by the Scribes & Pharisees… And on top of all this, we also know from Acts 23 that Paul was disciple of Gamaliel, who was perhaps the most famous Jewish Rabbi…
Persecutor of the church – Paul’s love for the Law & his religion led him to try to annihilate the early Xn church…
Blameless concerning the Law – not only had Paul given life to study of Law, he had also fulfilled it in a human sense…Just like the Rich Young Ruler, Paul felt confident he kept the Law
Paul thought himself to be the model Jew, he was more than satisfied with his religious life. He was proud that he could be so Perfect…So Pious…So Spiritual…So Religious…After all, Paul thought he had upheld God’s external legal requirements… Perfection…That is, Paul thought he was Perfect until something changed…Paul eventually encountered the risen Christ while he was on his way to persecute the church in Damascus…
When Paul came face to face with Jesus, he realized that his life was not Perfect. Paul did not measure up to Jesus. This is when Paul finally realized that when compared to Christ Jesus, his self-righteousness fell desperately short of the true life God wanted him to live.
In fact, Paul realized that his own righteousness was nothing more than an attempt at self-reliance…An attempt to EARN salvation from God rather than to receive it as a gift of grace. He no longer viewed these external qualifications as “gains,” but as “losses.”
In this passage, Paul used two words to describe all of his religious achievements before he met Christ…
“Loss”… In other words, none of these things promoted him or helped him, they dragged him down, moved him away from God.
“Rubbish”…This is one of those places where the Bible has cleaned up the Greek a little so that we can read it in church…This is the Greek word skubala, which literally means…Well, it means “manure.” Paul said, all of those religious things, those good things, those righteous things that I have been so proud of for most of my life…Well, now that I know Jesus I realize that self-righteousness is worth as much to me as manure…This is “unspeakable filth”…something that no one would ever think about keeping or bragging about or in any way place value on…
So, Paul is basically saying here…I have a lot of good and religious stuff in my past that I have always been very proud of. But no matter how good I was, and no matter how proud I might be…I will forget about my past and Press On toward God’s future…
But guess what? Paul isn’t exactly proud of everything he has done in his past…This is the same Apostle Paul who told us in 1 Timothy 1: 15… Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst…
Paul had a lot of things in his past that he could truly be proud of: Circumcised on the 8th day; of the people of Israel; of the tribe of Benjamin; Hebrew of Hebrews; Pharisee; blameless…But Paul also had a lot of things in his past that he was ashamed of…
The day that Paul encountered the Resurrected Christ for the very first time…The day that Paul’s life was radically transformed once and for all…Where was he going? He was on his way to persecute Christians. Paul was guilty of instilling such fear in Christian men and women that they were too afraid to preach the Good News about Jesus. In other words, Paul is guilty of preventing some people from getting Saved…Paul was also guilty of murder…In Acts 7, we read that Paul was a part of the Jewish mob that stoned Stephen to his death…Even if Paul never threw a stone at Stephen that day, he was guilty as an accomplice to murder…
I think we can all relate to what Paul is telling us here…I have a lot of things in my past that I am proud of…But I also have a lot of things in my past that I am ashamed of…So, forgetting what is behind and striving toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus…
Paul’s Goal…So, exactly what is our goal as growing and maturing Christians? In Philippians 3, Paul tells us that he has three goals…
First…In verse 12, Paul says that he will press on to “Take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me”…In other words, Paul wants to forget about the past so that he can live out his God-given calling and mission in life…
Second…In verse 21, Paul says that he is striving toward that day when Christ will “transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”…In other words, Paul wants to forget about his past so that he can live with heaven on his mind…
Third…In Philippians 4: 1, Paul described the Christians at Philippi as his “joy and crown”…In other words, Paul wants to forget about his past so that he can invest his own life and ministry into the lives of other growing and maturing Christians…
II. Conclusion.
A true story about Coach Paul Bear Bryant, the legendary football coach from the University of Alabama. Before Bear Bryant coached at Alabama he coached at Texas A&M. When he left Texas A&M to go to Alabama, he asked his entire coaching staff to go with him. They all agreed, with one exception.
The althletic trainer on the Texas A&M staff was a man named Smokey Harper. No one really knew his name (it was Charlie), they just called him Smokey because he was never without a cigarette in his mouth. He would light the next cigarette from the end of the one in his mouth. Smokey was 64 years old, one year away from retirement, and decided that he would rather retire than try to make the transition to Alabama.
Once Smokey retired, he became bored with just sitting at home every day with nothing to do. So, what did he do? He called Bear Bryant and asked for his old job back. The bad news was that Bear Bryant did not have the budget to hire another coach. Smokey responded, “That’s OK. I can still draw my retirement as long as I do not make more than $200 a month.” Bear Bryant offered Smokey a job in Alabama.
When Smokey arrived in Tuscaloosa, Bear Bryant called him into his office and began to describe his new job. He said, “Smokey, I want to give you the most important job on this entire coaching staff. You will not travel with the team on away games. You will never stand on the sidelines. You will never have any contact with the players. All you will do is what you love to do. I want you to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes every day.
“I want you to go out and find as many coffee shops as possible in the state of Alabama. I want you to go to those shops every morning and sit down with the people of Alabama. I want you to drink coffee with them. I want you to become friends with them. I want you to tell them, ‘Coach Bear Bryant is the best football coach that I have ever seen.’
“Tell the people of Alabama what a good person I am, what a good coach I am and how I am going to make Alabama the best football program in the nation.”
When Bear Bryant won the national championship, he introduced Smokey as the reason for the success of the Alabama football program.
Here is my dream for Lufkin’s First Baptist Church. I dream we will be like Smokey Harper. If you don’t smoke, don’t start…But you can be the same kind of witness. I want you to walk out those doors today to the coffee shops, schools, work places to find everyone you can possibly find to tell them, “I have the best church. Every week I experience the Presence of God in worship. I have the best SS class—My teacher teaches the Bible and we all love each other. We have the best music ministry in Angelina County. We have the best Youth Ministry in Angelina County. We have the best Children’s Ministry in Angelina County.”
If you are praying that the lost will be saved, someone must be a witness. If you are praying that FBC will grow, someone must be a witness. And what kind of witness are we being when we gripe and complain about our church or the Ministry areas of our church. Tell the story of the church we are today...It is good news.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Reflections on the BGCT Annual Meeting in Amarillo
It has taken me a week to sit down to write my reflections on my experience of the BGCT Annual Meeting in Amarillo.
One noteworthy experience of this annual meeting was the historic election. In a previous post, I indicated that I supported (and cast my vote for) Joy Fenner as BGCT president. I still support Joy and do not have second thoughts about voting for her. While I recognize the historic significance of electing a woman to serve as president of our convention, I also recognize Joy as a person worthy of holding this position. Her background as a missionary and her leadership experience with Texas WMU have prepared her for this position as much as any pastor or denominational leader. I believe Joy is perhaps the best “historic” president we have had in recent years and will serve well.
I have great respect for David Lowrie. I first met David in April 1996, when he and I shared responsibilities officiating at my father-in-law’s funeral. However, I have even more respect for David now than ever before. I truly believe David has a Kingdom perspective for his church and for the future of Baptist witness in Texas.
After a week of reflection, I am less concerned about the close vote in the presidential election—only 60 votes separated the two candidates. I have heard some refer to this close vote as “the end of the BGCT” and as a sign that we are “hopelessly divided.” I would agree with this interpretation if there were two organized, political parties vying for control of the convention. Yet, this is not the case. David Lowrie did not run on a political platform and has pledged his support for the new president. I believe him.
Perhaps a political campaign would have brought more people to Amarillo. As it was, there were only 1740 votes cast in this election. In my opinion, the low number of registered messengers is a more telling sign than the 60 votes that separated the two candidates. I am trying to choose between two possible interpretations for the relatively low attendance in Amarillo.
First, it could be a sign that the generation which cared about denominational politics is dying out. I am 36 years old and was one of the youngest people in attendance. I am pastor of a church that ranks in the top 150 churches in Cooperative Program giving through the BGCT. Most of the younger people attending the BGCT meeting fall into the same category: they were pastors and spouses of historically supportive churches. The days of busing a full slate of messengers to the convention to vote for a political may be over. If so, Baptists in Texas will be better for it. The low number of messengers could be a positive sign of a hopeful future.
Second, this could be a sign that the BGCT is becoming less relevant. The BGCT Annual Meeting is definitely not relevant to the lay people of our church who are under the age of 50. I fear this is symptomatic of the decline of the entire denominational enterprise. Which leads me to ask a question: How long should we keep a denomination on life support?
I remember using an illustration in a sermon when I was pastor in Mississippi. I asked a rhetorical question about propping up dead and dying church programs. I said something like, “If your horse dies while you are riding it, will you stay on the horse?” A six-year old girl in the back of the congregation answered loudly, “NO!” I answered her, “That’s right. When the horse dies, you get off.”
If our beloved denomination is no longer relevant to our churches, then we have to get off the horse. I do NOT mean we should withhold funding. I just think it is time to evaluate our relevance. If we are no longer relevant, then we must invent / re-invent something that is relevant. We need something that no longer resembles the denominational structures of the 19th Century, no matter how effective those structures might have been in the past two centuries.
I realize these are just questions. I do not have the answers. I believe Texas Baptists now have an opportunity to create something uniquely Baptist and distinctively Christian which has never existed before now. Perhaps the “Study Committee” authorized by the messengers in the Annual Meeting can begin this type of dreaming. But whatever happens…Please don’t call it a restructuring.
One noteworthy experience of this annual meeting was the historic election. In a previous post, I indicated that I supported (and cast my vote for) Joy Fenner as BGCT president. I still support Joy and do not have second thoughts about voting for her. While I recognize the historic significance of electing a woman to serve as president of our convention, I also recognize Joy as a person worthy of holding this position. Her background as a missionary and her leadership experience with Texas WMU have prepared her for this position as much as any pastor or denominational leader. I believe Joy is perhaps the best “historic” president we have had in recent years and will serve well.
I have great respect for David Lowrie. I first met David in April 1996, when he and I shared responsibilities officiating at my father-in-law’s funeral. However, I have even more respect for David now than ever before. I truly believe David has a Kingdom perspective for his church and for the future of Baptist witness in Texas.
After a week of reflection, I am less concerned about the close vote in the presidential election—only 60 votes separated the two candidates. I have heard some refer to this close vote as “the end of the BGCT” and as a sign that we are “hopelessly divided.” I would agree with this interpretation if there were two organized, political parties vying for control of the convention. Yet, this is not the case. David Lowrie did not run on a political platform and has pledged his support for the new president. I believe him.
Perhaps a political campaign would have brought more people to Amarillo. As it was, there were only 1740 votes cast in this election. In my opinion, the low number of registered messengers is a more telling sign than the 60 votes that separated the two candidates. I am trying to choose between two possible interpretations for the relatively low attendance in Amarillo.
First, it could be a sign that the generation which cared about denominational politics is dying out. I am 36 years old and was one of the youngest people in attendance. I am pastor of a church that ranks in the top 150 churches in Cooperative Program giving through the BGCT. Most of the younger people attending the BGCT meeting fall into the same category: they were pastors and spouses of historically supportive churches. The days of busing a full slate of messengers to the convention to vote for a political may be over. If so, Baptists in Texas will be better for it. The low number of messengers could be a positive sign of a hopeful future.
Second, this could be a sign that the BGCT is becoming less relevant. The BGCT Annual Meeting is definitely not relevant to the lay people of our church who are under the age of 50. I fear this is symptomatic of the decline of the entire denominational enterprise. Which leads me to ask a question: How long should we keep a denomination on life support?
I remember using an illustration in a sermon when I was pastor in Mississippi. I asked a rhetorical question about propping up dead and dying church programs. I said something like, “If your horse dies while you are riding it, will you stay on the horse?” A six-year old girl in the back of the congregation answered loudly, “NO!” I answered her, “That’s right. When the horse dies, you get off.”
If our beloved denomination is no longer relevant to our churches, then we have to get off the horse. I do NOT mean we should withhold funding. I just think it is time to evaluate our relevance. If we are no longer relevant, then we must invent / re-invent something that is relevant. We need something that no longer resembles the denominational structures of the 19th Century, no matter how effective those structures might have been in the past two centuries.
I realize these are just questions. I do not have the answers. I believe Texas Baptists now have an opportunity to create something uniquely Baptist and distinctively Christian which has never existed before now. Perhaps the “Study Committee” authorized by the messengers in the Annual Meeting can begin this type of dreaming. But whatever happens…Please don’t call it a restructuring.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
A Parable about the BGCT
Some years, the BGCT Annual Meeting is the only time Shauna (my wife) and I have an overnight date, out of town, without children. It is something we look forward to, even when the location is beautiful, downtown Amarillo.
We flew from Houston to Amarillo on Sunday afternoon. Our return flight was Tuesday afternoon.
As we were boarding the Continental Express Jet at 4:25 Tuesday afternoon, we stood in line with a small group of young adults approximately 25 years old and younger. The young woman in front of us in line was separated from the rest of her group. She seemed excited about flying to Houston and told us that she was traveling with a group to attend a conference in Houston. I asked her what type of conference they were attending. She said it was a “new hire” conference for a major petroleum company. I asked her, “Is this your first real job?” She excitedly answered, “Yes, it is.”
To continue the conversation, I asked her where she lived. When she told me she was living and working in Amarillo, I told her that we were actually leaving a conference which had met in Amarillo. She asked, “What kind of conference would meet in Amarillo?” The man behind us in line joked, “It must have been a conference on wind!” I answered, “It was the Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.”
Hilarity ensued…
Let those who have ears, hear.
We flew from Houston to Amarillo on Sunday afternoon. Our return flight was Tuesday afternoon.
As we were boarding the Continental Express Jet at 4:25 Tuesday afternoon, we stood in line with a small group of young adults approximately 25 years old and younger. The young woman in front of us in line was separated from the rest of her group. She seemed excited about flying to Houston and told us that she was traveling with a group to attend a conference in Houston. I asked her what type of conference they were attending. She said it was a “new hire” conference for a major petroleum company. I asked her, “Is this your first real job?” She excitedly answered, “Yes, it is.”
To continue the conversation, I asked her where she lived. When she told me she was living and working in Amarillo, I told her that we were actually leaving a conference which had met in Amarillo. She asked, “What kind of conference would meet in Amarillo?” The man behind us in line joked, “It must have been a conference on wind!” I answered, “It was the Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.”
Hilarity ensued…
Let those who have ears, hear.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Future of the BGCT, and I Endorse Joy Fenner for President
The following is a modified version of a "talk" I gave in a gathering of BGCT pastors at the Baptist Building in Dallas. The purpose of the meeting was for pastors from the churches contributing the most money to the BGCT Cooperative Program to share dreams and ideas about the future of the BGCT with the executive director, Baptist Building staff, executive director search committee and elected convention officers. Since I am a pastor, I wrote and delivered the following sermon with all the aforementioned in attendance.
**************************************************************
A Vision for the Future of Texas Baptists: A Pastor’s Perspective
Andy Pittman, Pastor of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church
In the presidential campaign of 1980, California governor Ronald Reagan debated President Jimmy Carter in a televised Presidential debate. Governor Reagan asked President Cater a memorable question: “Are you better off today than you were before 1979?”[*]
I suggest that we ask the same question to Texas Baptists: “Are we better off today than we were before 1979?”
In 1979, I was eight years old and an active member of Sunday School and R.A.’s at the West Jackson Street Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. Despite my young age in 1979, I still have vivid memories that every Wednesday night in R.A.’s I heard about Bold Mission Thrust. I can remember my Sunday School teachers talking about Bold Mission Thrust and my pastor preaching sermons about Bold Mission Thrust. Bold Mission Thrust was the title of the Southern Baptist plan to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every man and woman on the face of the earth by the year 2000.
I have no doubt that in 1979, there was no Christian organization better equipped than the Southern Baptist Convention to accomplish Bold Mission Thrust. However, I have not seen the same kind of passion for evangelism in any Baptist organization since 1979.
Whatever happened to our passion for evangelism? It does not seem to be a priority of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Fundamentalist leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have been more concerned with building walls to identify cooperating churches and to exclude others. The Moderate leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Texas have been more concerned with maintaining control of the convention and the Texas Baptist institutions.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to define clearly the identity of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Texas Baptists Committed. The BGCT needs to renew the commitment to evangelism which was lost in the Baptist Battles of the twentieth century. The BGCT is very good at describing and maintaining the historic Baptist traditions that were lost in the Fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, it is time for the BGCT to champion the Kingdom of God through evangelism and world wide mission. Our current concern for describing Baptist traditions and maintaining Baptist institutions is a myopic vision for our future, at best. At worst, it is symptomatic of the decline and eventual death of our denominational structure.
Therefore, I propose a future Texas Baptist identity which must include the following:
1. A vision for the future that is more Christ focused than the anti-Fundamentalist identity we now have. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT leadership is not Fundamentalist. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT will not be a Fundamentalist convention five years from now. However, the terms Fundamentalist and Moderate have more to do with being Baptist than they do with being Christian. I do not believe the future of the BGCT should be tied to the direction of any national Baptist organization. If we are truly living in a “post denominational age,” then we need to define our future identity in terms of the Kingdom of God and not a denominational structure. Our future does not depend on our relationship with either the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Our future depends on our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. A vision for the future that takes seriously the call to evangelize the lost population of Texas and the world beyond Texas. Evangelism has been the greatest casualty of the battles within the Southern Baptist Convention. The new leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have spent nearly thirty years defining their boundaries. The Moderates who were excluded from the Southern Baptist Convention have failed to engage in authentic evangelism. We have been very successful in social ministry, but we must tell Texas and the world about Jesus. If our future depends on our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ, then our future also depends on our obedience to his command to “make disciples of all nations.” We cannot be content with maintaining the Baptist distinctives among the Baptist Christians in Texas. We must develop a passion for reaching the non-Christians of Texas and the world in order to lead them to saving faith in Jesus.
3. A vision for the future that sends missionaries and missions money from Texas to all nations. If the future of the BGCT does not depend on our relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, then we must discover ways to engage Texas churches in worldwide missions. This plan should include men and women from Texas churches responding to God’s call to full time missions work as well as church support through short term mission work. The role of the career missionary is changing from the arrogant and “colonial” approach that seems to suggest American Christians have all the answers into a servant role of equipping indigenous Christians to reach their own people. However, the BGCT must become involved in the sending process. This does not mean that Texas needs our own missions sending agency. It could be accomplished through formal or informal networks of Texas churches cooperating to engage in missions. If this is the role or the intended function of Worldconnex, then this needs to be promoted in ways that Texas churches can participate. As it is now, most of our pastors and churches do not understand what role Worldconnex is intended to fulfill.
4. A vision for the future that identifies and trains ministers to serve in Texas churches. I moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1994 to attend Truett Seminary at Baylor University. I am a pastor in Texas today, because of my desire to be a part of the BGCT. I have tremendous confidence in both Truett Seminary and the BGCT. However, if we do not have intentional plans for the future of our state, then we will face a shortage of ministers in the near future. Even in 2007, there seems to be a shortage of trained ministers of music—or worship leaders—in our state. We need to develop strategies for our churches to identify young men and women who feel called by God to serve in our churches in the future. Without intentional strategies to direct our young men and women toward ministry, we could begin to face shortages among all ministry callings, including pastors.
5. A vision for the future that engenders trust among Texas Baptists. The church starting scandal in the Texas Valley was not the beginning of our mistrust. However, it did cause our mistrust to surface in a public forum. Pastors and churches within our convention feel isolated from the “Baptist Building,” and the restructuring has created confusion. In addition, the “single candidate” approach to elect convention officers feels like our leaders have been predetermined in a “smoke-filled room” or at the Moderate equivalent of the Café Du Monde. If we truly value the Baptist distinctives of the Priesthood of All Believers and congregational polity, then we will demonstrate that through our convention processes. I am grateful for the effort to represent ethnic and gender diversity in our recent convention officers, and I encourage the BGCT to elect Joy Fenner as our next president. However, I believe it is a good thing for David Lowrie to be nominated as a candidate for BGCT president. It is time to return leadership decisions to the grassroots of our convention.
6. A vision for the future that includes a new role for Texas Baptists Committed. Thanks to the work of Texas Baptists Committed, the BGCT has maintained our Baptist identity free from Fundamentalist control. The creation of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has provided the Texas Fundamentalists a convention home of their own and has led to the decline of Fundamentalist participation in the BGCT annual meetings. This leads me to dream about a future Texas Baptists Committed organization which is more educational and less political—yet able to rally politically to combat a future, hypothetical Fundamentalist threat. Texas Baptists Committed could educate through mentoring relationships for younger pastors; regional networks of churches; and high quality, church-friendly materials to educate future generations about Baptist history and distinctives. These educational materials could be financed through contributions made by charitable foundations, or they could be published on the internet. The educational process could be accomplished through networks of regional “teaching churches” across Texas.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to navigate a transition in generational leadership. This is the same challenge facing most of our established churches. Our churches are being led by a generation of respected, long-term leaders who are often willing to allow a new generation of leaders to step forward and lead. However, this transition in leadership is only possible if the current leaders believe the new leaders understand and appreciate the heritage and tradition of the church. The future of Texas Baptists depends on a new generation of leaders who understand Baptist distinctives and are willing to apply those distinctives to fulfill our missional calling to reach Texas and the world.
[*] Fisher Humphreys, The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All. (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing Incorporated, 2002), p. 143.
**************************************************************
A Vision for the Future of Texas Baptists: A Pastor’s Perspective
Andy Pittman, Pastor of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church
In the presidential campaign of 1980, California governor Ronald Reagan debated President Jimmy Carter in a televised Presidential debate. Governor Reagan asked President Cater a memorable question: “Are you better off today than you were before 1979?”[*]
I suggest that we ask the same question to Texas Baptists: “Are we better off today than we were before 1979?”
In 1979, I was eight years old and an active member of Sunday School and R.A.’s at the West Jackson Street Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. Despite my young age in 1979, I still have vivid memories that every Wednesday night in R.A.’s I heard about Bold Mission Thrust. I can remember my Sunday School teachers talking about Bold Mission Thrust and my pastor preaching sermons about Bold Mission Thrust. Bold Mission Thrust was the title of the Southern Baptist plan to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every man and woman on the face of the earth by the year 2000.
I have no doubt that in 1979, there was no Christian organization better equipped than the Southern Baptist Convention to accomplish Bold Mission Thrust. However, I have not seen the same kind of passion for evangelism in any Baptist organization since 1979.
Whatever happened to our passion for evangelism? It does not seem to be a priority of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Fundamentalist leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have been more concerned with building walls to identify cooperating churches and to exclude others. The Moderate leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Texas have been more concerned with maintaining control of the convention and the Texas Baptist institutions.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to define clearly the identity of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Texas Baptists Committed. The BGCT needs to renew the commitment to evangelism which was lost in the Baptist Battles of the twentieth century. The BGCT is very good at describing and maintaining the historic Baptist traditions that were lost in the Fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, it is time for the BGCT to champion the Kingdom of God through evangelism and world wide mission. Our current concern for describing Baptist traditions and maintaining Baptist institutions is a myopic vision for our future, at best. At worst, it is symptomatic of the decline and eventual death of our denominational structure.
Therefore, I propose a future Texas Baptist identity which must include the following:
1. A vision for the future that is more Christ focused than the anti-Fundamentalist identity we now have. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT leadership is not Fundamentalist. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT will not be a Fundamentalist convention five years from now. However, the terms Fundamentalist and Moderate have more to do with being Baptist than they do with being Christian. I do not believe the future of the BGCT should be tied to the direction of any national Baptist organization. If we are truly living in a “post denominational age,” then we need to define our future identity in terms of the Kingdom of God and not a denominational structure. Our future does not depend on our relationship with either the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Our future depends on our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. A vision for the future that takes seriously the call to evangelize the lost population of Texas and the world beyond Texas. Evangelism has been the greatest casualty of the battles within the Southern Baptist Convention. The new leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have spent nearly thirty years defining their boundaries. The Moderates who were excluded from the Southern Baptist Convention have failed to engage in authentic evangelism. We have been very successful in social ministry, but we must tell Texas and the world about Jesus. If our future depends on our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ, then our future also depends on our obedience to his command to “make disciples of all nations.” We cannot be content with maintaining the Baptist distinctives among the Baptist Christians in Texas. We must develop a passion for reaching the non-Christians of Texas and the world in order to lead them to saving faith in Jesus.
3. A vision for the future that sends missionaries and missions money from Texas to all nations. If the future of the BGCT does not depend on our relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, then we must discover ways to engage Texas churches in worldwide missions. This plan should include men and women from Texas churches responding to God’s call to full time missions work as well as church support through short term mission work. The role of the career missionary is changing from the arrogant and “colonial” approach that seems to suggest American Christians have all the answers into a servant role of equipping indigenous Christians to reach their own people. However, the BGCT must become involved in the sending process. This does not mean that Texas needs our own missions sending agency. It could be accomplished through formal or informal networks of Texas churches cooperating to engage in missions. If this is the role or the intended function of Worldconnex, then this needs to be promoted in ways that Texas churches can participate. As it is now, most of our pastors and churches do not understand what role Worldconnex is intended to fulfill.
4. A vision for the future that identifies and trains ministers to serve in Texas churches. I moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1994 to attend Truett Seminary at Baylor University. I am a pastor in Texas today, because of my desire to be a part of the BGCT. I have tremendous confidence in both Truett Seminary and the BGCT. However, if we do not have intentional plans for the future of our state, then we will face a shortage of ministers in the near future. Even in 2007, there seems to be a shortage of trained ministers of music—or worship leaders—in our state. We need to develop strategies for our churches to identify young men and women who feel called by God to serve in our churches in the future. Without intentional strategies to direct our young men and women toward ministry, we could begin to face shortages among all ministry callings, including pastors.
5. A vision for the future that engenders trust among Texas Baptists. The church starting scandal in the Texas Valley was not the beginning of our mistrust. However, it did cause our mistrust to surface in a public forum. Pastors and churches within our convention feel isolated from the “Baptist Building,” and the restructuring has created confusion. In addition, the “single candidate” approach to elect convention officers feels like our leaders have been predetermined in a “smoke-filled room” or at the Moderate equivalent of the Café Du Monde. If we truly value the Baptist distinctives of the Priesthood of All Believers and congregational polity, then we will demonstrate that through our convention processes. I am grateful for the effort to represent ethnic and gender diversity in our recent convention officers, and I encourage the BGCT to elect Joy Fenner as our next president. However, I believe it is a good thing for David Lowrie to be nominated as a candidate for BGCT president. It is time to return leadership decisions to the grassroots of our convention.
6. A vision for the future that includes a new role for Texas Baptists Committed. Thanks to the work of Texas Baptists Committed, the BGCT has maintained our Baptist identity free from Fundamentalist control. The creation of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has provided the Texas Fundamentalists a convention home of their own and has led to the decline of Fundamentalist participation in the BGCT annual meetings. This leads me to dream about a future Texas Baptists Committed organization which is more educational and less political—yet able to rally politically to combat a future, hypothetical Fundamentalist threat. Texas Baptists Committed could educate through mentoring relationships for younger pastors; regional networks of churches; and high quality, church-friendly materials to educate future generations about Baptist history and distinctives. These educational materials could be financed through contributions made by charitable foundations, or they could be published on the internet. The educational process could be accomplished through networks of regional “teaching churches” across Texas.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to navigate a transition in generational leadership. This is the same challenge facing most of our established churches. Our churches are being led by a generation of respected, long-term leaders who are often willing to allow a new generation of leaders to step forward and lead. However, this transition in leadership is only possible if the current leaders believe the new leaders understand and appreciate the heritage and tradition of the church. The future of Texas Baptists depends on a new generation of leaders who understand Baptist distinctives and are willing to apply those distinctives to fulfill our missional calling to reach Texas and the world.
[*] Fisher Humphreys, The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All. (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing Incorporated, 2002), p. 143.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The One Who Called You also Sent You
The One Who Called You Has also Sent You
Mark 3: 14 – 15 and Mark 6: 7 – 13
I. Introduction
Read Mark 1: 1.
This one verse captures the entire theme of the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells his reader in this one verse what the characters throughout the rest of the story have to experience and discover for themselves. Some New Testament scholars think this verse is a kind of title or introduction to the rest of the book. Like Mark is saying to his readers, “This is the one thing I want to show you if you stick with it and read my entire book.” And I think this is a good understanding.
The Gospel.
Common expression to announce that a new emperor had been selected…But Mark’s “good news” is really “good news.”
Mark is probably the first Gospel written…So, beginning with this book, there is a new genre of Christian literature…
Jesus Is the Christ.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word that means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One…The Chosen One of Israel to complete God’s plan of salvation for Israel and the world.
But Jesus redefined the meaning of Christ with the way he intentionally lived his life. The disciples expected someone to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem and to set up a Davidic kingdom with the seat of government and religion located in Jerusalem. Jesus shattered that notion by establishing Jerusalem as the place of suffering and death.
Jesus Is the Son of God.
Mark’s readers know from the very beginning that Jesus is the Son of God. The disciples have at least two opportunities to figure this out. As Jesus stepped out of the Jordan River following his baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.” When Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, a voice from a cloud said, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him.” But they didn’t understand.
There were demons who saw Jesus and started proclaiming, “I know who you are. You are the Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus quieted the demons. Why? There was no conspiracy! This is something that people have to discover for themselves. No one can convince you that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is only one human character in the Gospel of Mark who makes the connection that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you want to guess?
It was the Roman Centurion at the cross! When Jesus had taken his last breath, the Roman guard said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”
Mark makes an important point by putting these words on this man’s lips at this very moment. Just as this is a decision we can only make for ourselves…There is only one way we can figure out who Jesus really is. Humans can only recognize that Jesus is the Son of God by acknowledging his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without the cross. And no human can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God without acknowledging the cross.
Mark tells us this is Gospel…Or Good News. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Christ…The promised Messiah that all Israel had been looking for. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God…This Jesus was not like any other human being who had ever lived…Jesus is special…Jesus is the One and Only, Unique Son of God. But Mark also told us that his Gospel is only the beginning. In other words, this Gospel is something that began with Jesus in the first century, but the Gospel did not end when we are finished reading the 16 chapters of this book.
If this introductory verse tells us everything we need to know about the Gospel of Mark before we start reading, then I think it is safe to say that this book is a book about Jesus. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.” But, if we read this story about Jesus we are going to discover something unusual. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is rarely alone.
There are only a couple of places in Mark where Jesus woke up earlier than his disciples and went to a remote place to pray. In the rest of the book, Jesus is surrounded by people. Sometimes, it is just Jesus and John the Baptist. Sometimes, it is Jesus and the twelve disciples. And sometimes, it is Jesus and the disciples with a crowd of believers and nonbelievers watching Jesus’ every move. It is a story about Jesus…But a story in which Jesus is almost never alone.
I think we can gain some insight into this by reading the story when Jesus commissioned the first twelve Apostles.
Read Mark 3: 13 – 17.
Mark 3 is very early in the story of the Good News about Jesus, but a lot has already happened.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist…
Jesus called his first five disciples…
Jesus has preached about repentance and the Kingdom of God…
Jesus has cast out demons and healed people of leprosy and pronounced the forgiveness of sins as he healed a paralyzed man…
Three Things Followers of Jesus Do.
In Mark 3, Jesus expanded his circle of followers from five to twelve. AND, Jesus gave his followers a purpose. The twelve men who followed Jesus became Apostles.
Do you know the difference between the two Greek words “Disciple” and “Apostle?”
Disciple = A student, learner, apprentice…In every use of the word “disciple” outside the New Testament, the disciple was a man or woman who was closely associated with one teacher. The disciple did everything in his or her power to learn from their teacher by imitating the teacher’s methods. Some disciples learned philosophy and therefore imitated the teachings and arguments of their master. Some disciples learned music by imitating the musical style of their master. Other disciples learned a craft—such as carpentry—and practiced building things that looked like the things their master had built. Disciple is a good word for Jesus’ followers as long as we don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us a religious system or a new way of thinking about the world. NO! Jesus wants us to imitate the way he lived his life.
Apostle = A noun form of the Greek word apostelw, which means “to send.” Typically, an apostle was an emissary who was sent by someone with greater authority to perform acts in the same authority. A modern-day example might be when President Bush sends Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice to represent the United States on matters of foreign relations. She is not there on her own authority. She has the authority of the President of the United States and whatever authority our nation might have in other parts of the world.
And that is what Jesus did in Mark 3. Jesus took twelve men who had been following him as disciples and gave them the authority to do the same kinds of work Jesus had been demonstrating for them.
So, let’s look at the three things Jesus told his Apostles they would do with Jesus’ authority…
v. 15…Sent with authority to drive out demons…Don’t let this scare you, we are not about to start a new ministry of casting out demons. This is an important characteristic of Jesus’ ministry in the world. When sin entered into creation through Adam and Eve, the world lost its original order. The proper order of creation is that it would exist and function under God’s dominion and the dominion God assigned to the first human beings, created in God’s image. By the time Jesus was born and lived his life on earth, things were out of their proper order. Sin and evil had free reign over all creation, and as a result humanity was suffering under the control of sin and evil. The same is true today. The only way things can be arranged in their proper order is through the Kingdom of God. One person at a time, we enter into God’s sovereign reign. And through our faith and God’s rule in our lives, the world will one day be redeemed.
Jesus demonstrated this same kind of work by casting demons out of people throughout the Gospel of Mark. Most notably, we remember the man who was possessed by a whole legion of demons in Mark 5.
v. 14…Sent to preach…We don’t have very many of Jesus’ sermons in the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, Mark showed Jesus in action, not in word or teaching. But this is the very first thing Jesus did after his baptism. Jesus preached the same message John the Baptist preached…Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and become a part of what God is doing in the world around you.
Our message should be the same as Jesus’ message. We should confront sin face-to-face and call men and women to enter into God’s Kingdom…To be a part of what God is doing to redeem the created order…
v. 14…Appointed to be with Jesus…This is the first thing Jesus called his Apostles to do. It is impossible to go out in the name of Jesus, unless we have first spent time with Jesus. It is wrong for us to go out into the world preaching without first being in relationship with Jesus. It is wrong for us to think we have the same kind of authority over the evil order if we have not been with Jesus.
It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus told his disciples to do! How do we know it is significant? Because, even though the disciples were first known as Apostles in Mark 3, Jesus did not SEND them out until Mark 6.
Read Mark 6: 7 – 13.
In other words, Jesus demonstrated the importance of relationship over “calling” by making the disciples wait! They had to spend time with Jesus BEFORE they could be effective Apostles.
People Who Encounter Jesus Want to Be with Jesus.
Now for some of us, it is rather difficult to wait before Jesus sends us out on a mission to the world. I know I am rather impatient, and I want to get started as soon as possible. But Jesus made the disciples wait.
There is an interesting thing in Mark that I believe speaks to our impatience. It is found in most of the healing stories in Mark. Every person that Jesus healed had an intense desire to spend more time with Jesus.
Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.
Notice that Jesus did not tell the women and disciples to “get to work.” He didn’t say, “Now ya’ll know what you need to be doing, so go do it.” NO! Jesus said, “Meet me in Galilee, the place where we spent the most time together.”
Jerusalem was the place where Jesus and the disciples were separated. Galilee was the place where they were together. So, by sending the disciples to Galilee and by promising that Jesus would go before them, Jesus was calling his followers to relationship and THEN to mission.
II. Conclusion
I recently came across a modern-day parable by Leonard Sweet that I believe states this best…Forgive me as I read this parable…
"One day after dinner, while finishing dessert, a father sent his boy out to cut the lawn. Smiling broadly, the son said, “No, Father, I just want to stay here experiencing your presence, expressing my love for you, my dear Father.”
The father frowned and said, more firmly this time, “Actually, Son, I would rather you go out and cut the lawn.” But the boy acted as if he didn’t even hear his father, and he replied, “Dad! Guess what? I just wrote a song expressing my love for you!”
The son began to sing, his eyes closed in sincerity and intense emotion, and the father left the table to go watch TV. The boy didn’t notice, but kept singing, with tears streaming down his face.
At that point the father wanted the boy to experience obedience (which may entail heat, sweat, thirst, sunburn, strained muscles, hunger, endurance and fatigue) even more than the warmth of his presence.[1]"
[1] Leonard I Sweet, Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 122.
Mark 3: 14 – 15 and Mark 6: 7 – 13
I. Introduction
Read Mark 1: 1.
This one verse captures the entire theme of the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells his reader in this one verse what the characters throughout the rest of the story have to experience and discover for themselves. Some New Testament scholars think this verse is a kind of title or introduction to the rest of the book. Like Mark is saying to his readers, “This is the one thing I want to show you if you stick with it and read my entire book.” And I think this is a good understanding.
The Gospel.
Common expression to announce that a new emperor had been selected…But Mark’s “good news” is really “good news.”
Mark is probably the first Gospel written…So, beginning with this book, there is a new genre of Christian literature…
Jesus Is the Christ.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word that means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One…The Chosen One of Israel to complete God’s plan of salvation for Israel and the world.
But Jesus redefined the meaning of Christ with the way he intentionally lived his life. The disciples expected someone to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem and to set up a Davidic kingdom with the seat of government and religion located in Jerusalem. Jesus shattered that notion by establishing Jerusalem as the place of suffering and death.
Jesus Is the Son of God.
Mark’s readers know from the very beginning that Jesus is the Son of God. The disciples have at least two opportunities to figure this out. As Jesus stepped out of the Jordan River following his baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.” When Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, a voice from a cloud said, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him.” But they didn’t understand.
There were demons who saw Jesus and started proclaiming, “I know who you are. You are the Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus quieted the demons. Why? There was no conspiracy! This is something that people have to discover for themselves. No one can convince you that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is only one human character in the Gospel of Mark who makes the connection that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you want to guess?
It was the Roman Centurion at the cross! When Jesus had taken his last breath, the Roman guard said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”
Mark makes an important point by putting these words on this man’s lips at this very moment. Just as this is a decision we can only make for ourselves…There is only one way we can figure out who Jesus really is. Humans can only recognize that Jesus is the Son of God by acknowledging his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without the cross. And no human can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God without acknowledging the cross.
Mark tells us this is Gospel…Or Good News. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Christ…The promised Messiah that all Israel had been looking for. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God…This Jesus was not like any other human being who had ever lived…Jesus is special…Jesus is the One and Only, Unique Son of God. But Mark also told us that his Gospel is only the beginning. In other words, this Gospel is something that began with Jesus in the first century, but the Gospel did not end when we are finished reading the 16 chapters of this book.
If this introductory verse tells us everything we need to know about the Gospel of Mark before we start reading, then I think it is safe to say that this book is a book about Jesus. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.” But, if we read this story about Jesus we are going to discover something unusual. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is rarely alone.
There are only a couple of places in Mark where Jesus woke up earlier than his disciples and went to a remote place to pray. In the rest of the book, Jesus is surrounded by people. Sometimes, it is just Jesus and John the Baptist. Sometimes, it is Jesus and the twelve disciples. And sometimes, it is Jesus and the disciples with a crowd of believers and nonbelievers watching Jesus’ every move. It is a story about Jesus…But a story in which Jesus is almost never alone.
I think we can gain some insight into this by reading the story when Jesus commissioned the first twelve Apostles.
Read Mark 3: 13 – 17.
Mark 3 is very early in the story of the Good News about Jesus, but a lot has already happened.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist…
Jesus called his first five disciples…
Jesus has preached about repentance and the Kingdom of God…
Jesus has cast out demons and healed people of leprosy and pronounced the forgiveness of sins as he healed a paralyzed man…
Three Things Followers of Jesus Do.
In Mark 3, Jesus expanded his circle of followers from five to twelve. AND, Jesus gave his followers a purpose. The twelve men who followed Jesus became Apostles.
Do you know the difference between the two Greek words “Disciple” and “Apostle?”
Disciple = A student, learner, apprentice…In every use of the word “disciple” outside the New Testament, the disciple was a man or woman who was closely associated with one teacher. The disciple did everything in his or her power to learn from their teacher by imitating the teacher’s methods. Some disciples learned philosophy and therefore imitated the teachings and arguments of their master. Some disciples learned music by imitating the musical style of their master. Other disciples learned a craft—such as carpentry—and practiced building things that looked like the things their master had built. Disciple is a good word for Jesus’ followers as long as we don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us a religious system or a new way of thinking about the world. NO! Jesus wants us to imitate the way he lived his life.
Apostle = A noun form of the Greek word apostelw, which means “to send.” Typically, an apostle was an emissary who was sent by someone with greater authority to perform acts in the same authority. A modern-day example might be when President Bush sends Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice to represent the United States on matters of foreign relations. She is not there on her own authority. She has the authority of the President of the United States and whatever authority our nation might have in other parts of the world.
And that is what Jesus did in Mark 3. Jesus took twelve men who had been following him as disciples and gave them the authority to do the same kinds of work Jesus had been demonstrating for them.
So, let’s look at the three things Jesus told his Apostles they would do with Jesus’ authority…
v. 15…Sent with authority to drive out demons…Don’t let this scare you, we are not about to start a new ministry of casting out demons. This is an important characteristic of Jesus’ ministry in the world. When sin entered into creation through Adam and Eve, the world lost its original order. The proper order of creation is that it would exist and function under God’s dominion and the dominion God assigned to the first human beings, created in God’s image. By the time Jesus was born and lived his life on earth, things were out of their proper order. Sin and evil had free reign over all creation, and as a result humanity was suffering under the control of sin and evil. The same is true today. The only way things can be arranged in their proper order is through the Kingdom of God. One person at a time, we enter into God’s sovereign reign. And through our faith and God’s rule in our lives, the world will one day be redeemed.
Jesus demonstrated this same kind of work by casting demons out of people throughout the Gospel of Mark. Most notably, we remember the man who was possessed by a whole legion of demons in Mark 5.
v. 14…Sent to preach…We don’t have very many of Jesus’ sermons in the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, Mark showed Jesus in action, not in word or teaching. But this is the very first thing Jesus did after his baptism. Jesus preached the same message John the Baptist preached…Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and become a part of what God is doing in the world around you.
Our message should be the same as Jesus’ message. We should confront sin face-to-face and call men and women to enter into God’s Kingdom…To be a part of what God is doing to redeem the created order…
v. 14…Appointed to be with Jesus…This is the first thing Jesus called his Apostles to do. It is impossible to go out in the name of Jesus, unless we have first spent time with Jesus. It is wrong for us to go out into the world preaching without first being in relationship with Jesus. It is wrong for us to think we have the same kind of authority over the evil order if we have not been with Jesus.
It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus told his disciples to do! How do we know it is significant? Because, even though the disciples were first known as Apostles in Mark 3, Jesus did not SEND them out until Mark 6.
Read Mark 6: 7 – 13.
In other words, Jesus demonstrated the importance of relationship over “calling” by making the disciples wait! They had to spend time with Jesus BEFORE they could be effective Apostles.
People Who Encounter Jesus Want to Be with Jesus.
Now for some of us, it is rather difficult to wait before Jesus sends us out on a mission to the world. I know I am rather impatient, and I want to get started as soon as possible. But Jesus made the disciples wait.
There is an interesting thing in Mark that I believe speaks to our impatience. It is found in most of the healing stories in Mark. Every person that Jesus healed had an intense desire to spend more time with Jesus.
Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.
Notice that Jesus did not tell the women and disciples to “get to work.” He didn’t say, “Now ya’ll know what you need to be doing, so go do it.” NO! Jesus said, “Meet me in Galilee, the place where we spent the most time together.”
Jerusalem was the place where Jesus and the disciples were separated. Galilee was the place where they were together. So, by sending the disciples to Galilee and by promising that Jesus would go before them, Jesus was calling his followers to relationship and THEN to mission.
II. Conclusion
I recently came across a modern-day parable by Leonard Sweet that I believe states this best…Forgive me as I read this parable…
"One day after dinner, while finishing dessert, a father sent his boy out to cut the lawn. Smiling broadly, the son said, “No, Father, I just want to stay here experiencing your presence, expressing my love for you, my dear Father.”
The father frowned and said, more firmly this time, “Actually, Son, I would rather you go out and cut the lawn.” But the boy acted as if he didn’t even hear his father, and he replied, “Dad! Guess what? I just wrote a song expressing my love for you!”
The son began to sing, his eyes closed in sincerity and intense emotion, and the father left the table to go watch TV. The boy didn’t notice, but kept singing, with tears streaming down his face.
At that point the father wanted the boy to experience obedience (which may entail heat, sweat, thirst, sunburn, strained muscles, hunger, endurance and fatigue) even more than the warmth of his presence.[1]"
[1] Leonard I Sweet, Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 122.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Constancy of Prayer
Constancy of Prayer
Luke 18: 1 – 8.
I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.
Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.
He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.
One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.
Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?
Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.
Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.
When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.
Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.
This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).
The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”
This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.
Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.
The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.
We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.
The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.
But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.
In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.
If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.
Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.
This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.
II. Conclusion.
Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.
One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.
Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.
Luke 18: 1 – 8.
I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.
Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.
He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.
One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.
Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?
Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.
Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.
When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.
Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.
This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).
The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”
This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.
Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.
The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.
We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.
The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.
But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.
In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.
If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.
Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.
This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.
II. Conclusion.
Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.
One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.
Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
