What, and how, we think is important; very important. What we believe in, and what we believe about important topics and issues profoundly shapes who we are. But there is more to it than what and how we think. It is absolutely true that an individual cannot be a Christian if they do not believe in Jesus Christ, in other words, they believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, and that he lived, died, and was raised to new life in order to set us free from sin (enslavement to, and debt because of). {See John 3:16 as an example of this explained in one sentence} Belief is not the end of the road. Belief has to be accompanied by repentance {a turning away from sinful behavior} and has to lead to righteous living {by the power of the Holy Spirit} in order for belief to be effective. In order for it to be real. A belief in Jesus which does not change the trajectory of a person's life, in ways both small and great, is meaningless. Herein lies the problem. Consider the two passages of Scripture below which together illustrate the absolute necessity of "fruit" (ethical behavior) and give nine prime examples of what it looks like:
Matthew 7:16-20 New International Version (NIV)
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Galatians 5:22-24 New International Version (NIV)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
To say, "I am a Christian" is not enough. To have a particular political viewpoint is not enough (and often misleading). To know the key words one should say in order to "sound like a Christian" is not enough. To attend a church at Christmas and Easter, or even more often, is not enough. To own a Bible, or even read it, is not enough. To give money to Christian charities, or the Church itself, is not enough. A person could have all of those things, and outwardly look the part, but without love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; they would have nothing. {See 1 Corinthians 11} Don't get me wrong, someone who goes to church, reads a Bible, and gives money to Christian charities is better off than someone who doesn't; but only if those factors eventually lead to the radical change of mind and heart that gives evidence to the presence of the Holy Spirit and results in the outflow from that person's life of the fruit of the Spirit. If a person remains "associated with" Christianity, but never moves forward, they will actually be worse off on the Day of Judgment for having known better without acting. {See Hebrews 6:7-8}
The Church in America, in particular, has a self-identification problem. We've allowed cultural distinctions and political viewpoints to more strongly define our view of what Christianity is than righteous living. We've minimized the immorality that doesn't bother us, pride, lust, and greed in particular, and allowed ourselves to accept the delusion that anyone who looks the part and is on "our side" in the Culture War is Christian enough. The Word of God says otherwise. We will be known by God by our fruit, judged as genuine believers in Jesus, or not, by it.
Those who mimic the look of being a Christian, without the heart-motivated acts of righteousness to go with it, are either self-deluded or charlatans, either a danger to themselves or to the church as a whole. As long as we accept those who are "like us" as being good enough because we view Christianity as cultural/political feud to be won, rather than a call to self-sacrificially serve the Kingdom of God that must be obeyed, we will continue to warp Christianity into something which is was never intended to be, with disastrous consequences.
This blog serves as an outreach for Pastor Randy Powell of the First Baptist Church of Franklin, PA. Feel free to ask questions or send me an e-mail at pastorpowell@hotmail.com
Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Sermon Video: Our mandate to be intrafaith but not interfaith - 1 Corinthians 10:18-22
While trying to help the community of the church at Corinth, a small minority among the people of Corinth, Paul warns them about "participating" with the pagan idol worship of their neighbors. While Paul concedes that idols "are nothing" in reality, he still warns them that to worship anything/anyone other than God himself is to become "participants with demons". What are we to make of this perspective?
As Christians, we believe in the Gospel proclamation that Salvation is found in/through Jesus Christ, and no other source. As such, we cannot pray/worship with those who follow other religions, as these are not valid paths to God. It is not a question of respect or dignity, for Christians ought to treat everyone with kindness, but a question of Truth. It is perfectly acceptable (and encouraged) for Christians to dialogue with those of other faiths, to work together on things like disaster relief and public health initiatives, and to insist upon their equal right to live and worship freely, but the line has to be drawn between working and living peaceably together, which is good, and worshiping together, which is not acceptable. Why not? Because, as Paul says, "Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy?" God refuses to share the devotion of his people. If we, as Christians, attempt to divert our required devotion from God to other things, (whether they be other religions or materialistic pursuits) we will, as Israel of old learned, anger God.
To watch this video, click on the link below:
As Christians, we believe in the Gospel proclamation that Salvation is found in/through Jesus Christ, and no other source. As such, we cannot pray/worship with those who follow other religions, as these are not valid paths to God. It is not a question of respect or dignity, for Christians ought to treat everyone with kindness, but a question of Truth. It is perfectly acceptable (and encouraged) for Christians to dialogue with those of other faiths, to work together on things like disaster relief and public health initiatives, and to insist upon their equal right to live and worship freely, but the line has to be drawn between working and living peaceably together, which is good, and worshiping together, which is not acceptable. Why not? Because, as Paul says, "Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy?" God refuses to share the devotion of his people. If we, as Christians, attempt to divert our required devotion from God to other things, (whether they be other religions or materialistic pursuits) we will, as Israel of old learned, anger God.
To watch this video, click on the link below:
Sunday, June 16, 2019
Sermon Video: Participating in the body and blood of Christ - 1 Corinthians 10:14-17
In his encouragement to the people of the church of Corinth that they should "flee from idolatry", the Apostle Paul appeals to the unity of the Church caused by the participation of its people in the body and blood of Christ. But what does this "participation" mean, and what does it accomplish? Through the past two thousand years of Church history, the interpretation of Jesus' words, "this is my blood", "this is my body", has broadened from the literal belief of the Catholic Church (transubstantiation) requiring a ordained priesthood to bring it about (sacredotalism), to the tweaking of this concept by the Lutherans (consubstantiation without sacredotalism), to the spiritual emphasis and rejection of the physical transformation of the Reformed, and finally the symbolic commemoration of the Baptists. With such a continuum of belief/practice regarding communion (and baptism), is there hope for unity in a world where portions of the Church have been willing to kill and/or die regarding these differences? Paul ends his mention of communion (in its anti-idolatry context) with a reminder that "there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf." There can be only one Body of Christ, the divisions of Church History (and current reality) cannot alter that reality.
To watch the video, click on the link below:
To watch the video, click on the link below:
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Why Authorial Intent still matters: Utilizing Jesus' command, "Lazarus, come out!" as an LGBTQ metaphor
Examples of the misinterpretation and misapplication of Scripture are legion. They abound in both the ancient and and modern Church, and are committed by both those from conservative (traditionalist) and liberal (progressive) perspectives. Some of these errors are fairly benign and others are highly injurious to the health of the Church.
In news stories relating to the Vatican's recent publication of, "Male And Female He Created Them", the most commonly cited critic of the Catholic Church's defense of traditional/biblical definitions of human anthropology (gender, marriage, sexuality, etc.) is New Ways Ministry, a group that advocates for LGBTQ Catholics. While examining their website (something I often do when pondering stories in the news, i.e. go to the source), I discovered a section entitled, Journeys: A Scriptural Reflection series for LGBT People and Allies. Curious, I read through the reflection questions written for the respective Scriptural passages. One such in particular caught my eye: The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11. This passage is a well known episode in John's Gospel, one that for centuries has highlighted both Jesus's humanity, in weeping at the grief of death affecting himself and his friends, and Jesus' divinity, as he overcomes the power of death with a word. This passage is an amazing precursor to Jesus' own impending victory over sin and death, as well as a further affirmation of the legitimacy of his claim to be the Son of God. The potential applications of such a passage highlighting both Jesus' compassion and his unique authority/power are many and reasonably diverse, but is there not a limit to how far afield from the original context and purpose a passage of Scripture ought to be taken?
I am well aware than in many modern literary circles that authorial intent is no longer considered to hold much, if any, value {See: Reader-Response Theory}. The intentions of the author have been replaced with the experiences of the audience. "What is the author trying to say?" has been swapped out for, "What does it mean to me?" Setting that issue aside as it relates to literature in general, we cannot treat Scripture in the same way, as if we are the most important factor in its interpretation/application, for an extremely simple and important reason: It is God's Word. Behind the examination of human authorial intent, and real and important questions surrounding the Biblical authors, lies the fundamental doctrine of inspiration. It has been an accepted and celebrated doctrine of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, that the sacred texts upon which our religions are founded are more than the writings of mere men. And while it is true that Islam views the Qur'an as eternal and not the product of Muhammad, and that both Judaism and Christianity affirm the role of real human beings whose viewpoints, experiences, and syntax were utilized by God who spoke through them, all three religions depend upon the article of faith that the Word of God was the end result. {Recognizing, of course, that while all three can be correct about the divine origin of the Hebrew Scriptures, only one can be correct about the New Testament or the Qur'an}.
Given this emphasis on the human/divine nature of the Scriptures, it is neither respectful to its author, nor helpful to those who would use it as a guide of faith, to treat the Bible as something which can be bent and twisted to fit whichever notion the reader would like it to say. I know full well that this happens all the time, and am under no illusion that conservatives/traditionalists do this any less than liberals/progressives, but since the criticism of the message from the Vatican concerning the original intent of Scripture regarding human anthropology has been both loud and vehement, the illustration from New Ways Ministry's utilization of the story of Lazarus is a fitting point of comparison.
When Jesus spoke to Lazarus {whether in Aramaic or Greek we cannot be certain, John records it in Koine Greek}, telling him to "come out" (deuro exo), it is a certainty far beyond a reasonable doubt that neither the Apostle John nor his original audience had any inkling that Lazarus "coming out" of the tomb had anything to do, whatsoever, even metaphorically, with anyone revealing a hidden secret to their friends and family; let alone that this phrase would have a meaning in English (a language more than 1,000 years from existing at that point) to generations 2,000 years later about non-traditional sexuality. Jesus was not speaking about what we hide from other people, John was not writing in any way about sexuality, and making this passage a metaphor for that issue is a massive disservice to the intent of both Jesus, who spoke the words, and John who recorded them.
As New Ways Ministry writes,
In the raising of Lazarus, the Gospel of John exemplifies the decisive power of Jesus over humanity’s last and most dictating enemy – death.
For the LGBTQ community, this resurrection story may well come to symbolize God’s promise of life to those excluded, marginalized or emotionally imprisoned. “Lazarus, come out!” commands Jesus in a loud voice, and to the people around, Jesus further directs, “Unbind him, and let him go!”
People can, and will, utilize Scripture for their own purposes, but to say that the story of Lazarus, "may well come to symbolize" a vindication of "coming out of the closet", is stretching the Gospel of John far beyond the breaking point. If the story of Lazarus can "come to symbolize" this, it can symbolize anything. If Scripture can stand for anything, it stands for nothing.
If the LGBTQ community wants to debate the proper translation into English of the Greek phrase, malakoi oute arsenokoitai used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9 (and the similar wording in 1 Timothy 1:10), that's a debate that (at least in theory) respects the Word of God. If they want to make the argument from silence that Jesus didn't specifically call out non-traditional sexual expressions when he very much emphasized the permanent nature of marriage while he rejected divorce (Matthew 19:3-12, Mark 10:2-12), that's another approach that at least treats what is written as key to the conversation. And if they want to argue that the Mosaic Law's prohibitions against unions other than marital male-female are akin to the Mosaic Law's Sabbath and Kosher rules and thus no longer valid in the Church Age, while I will disagree and offer a New Testament based counter-argument, I can at least respect the effort to work within the framework of the Scriptures.
If the Bible can mean anything, even opposite things, based upon its audience, then it loses its value as a bedrock upon which to build individual relationships with God, church communities, and society as a whole. We cannot afford to jettison the guardrails of authorial intent (along with original audience understanding when that can be determined), no matter which individual or group would like to do so, no matter what motive lies behind the effort, and no matter whether we agree with the causes attempting to make the Scriptures their own, or oppose them.
In news stories relating to the Vatican's recent publication of, "Male And Female He Created Them", the most commonly cited critic of the Catholic Church's defense of traditional/biblical definitions of human anthropology (gender, marriage, sexuality, etc.) is New Ways Ministry, a group that advocates for LGBTQ Catholics. While examining their website (something I often do when pondering stories in the news, i.e. go to the source), I discovered a section entitled, Journeys: A Scriptural Reflection series for LGBT People and Allies. Curious, I read through the reflection questions written for the respective Scriptural passages. One such in particular caught my eye: The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11. This passage is a well known episode in John's Gospel, one that for centuries has highlighted both Jesus's humanity, in weeping at the grief of death affecting himself and his friends, and Jesus' divinity, as he overcomes the power of death with a word. This passage is an amazing precursor to Jesus' own impending victory over sin and death, as well as a further affirmation of the legitimacy of his claim to be the Son of God. The potential applications of such a passage highlighting both Jesus' compassion and his unique authority/power are many and reasonably diverse, but is there not a limit to how far afield from the original context and purpose a passage of Scripture ought to be taken?
I am well aware than in many modern literary circles that authorial intent is no longer considered to hold much, if any, value {See: Reader-Response Theory}. The intentions of the author have been replaced with the experiences of the audience. "What is the author trying to say?" has been swapped out for, "What does it mean to me?" Setting that issue aside as it relates to literature in general, we cannot treat Scripture in the same way, as if we are the most important factor in its interpretation/application, for an extremely simple and important reason: It is God's Word. Behind the examination of human authorial intent, and real and important questions surrounding the Biblical authors, lies the fundamental doctrine of inspiration. It has been an accepted and celebrated doctrine of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, that the sacred texts upon which our religions are founded are more than the writings of mere men. And while it is true that Islam views the Qur'an as eternal and not the product of Muhammad, and that both Judaism and Christianity affirm the role of real human beings whose viewpoints, experiences, and syntax were utilized by God who spoke through them, all three religions depend upon the article of faith that the Word of God was the end result. {Recognizing, of course, that while all three can be correct about the divine origin of the Hebrew Scriptures, only one can be correct about the New Testament or the Qur'an}.
Given this emphasis on the human/divine nature of the Scriptures, it is neither respectful to its author, nor helpful to those who would use it as a guide of faith, to treat the Bible as something which can be bent and twisted to fit whichever notion the reader would like it to say. I know full well that this happens all the time, and am under no illusion that conservatives/traditionalists do this any less than liberals/progressives, but since the criticism of the message from the Vatican concerning the original intent of Scripture regarding human anthropology has been both loud and vehement, the illustration from New Ways Ministry's utilization of the story of Lazarus is a fitting point of comparison.
When Jesus spoke to Lazarus {whether in Aramaic or Greek we cannot be certain, John records it in Koine Greek}, telling him to "come out" (deuro exo), it is a certainty far beyond a reasonable doubt that neither the Apostle John nor his original audience had any inkling that Lazarus "coming out" of the tomb had anything to do, whatsoever, even metaphorically, with anyone revealing a hidden secret to their friends and family; let alone that this phrase would have a meaning in English (a language more than 1,000 years from existing at that point) to generations 2,000 years later about non-traditional sexuality. Jesus was not speaking about what we hide from other people, John was not writing in any way about sexuality, and making this passage a metaphor for that issue is a massive disservice to the intent of both Jesus, who spoke the words, and John who recorded them.
As New Ways Ministry writes,
In the raising of Lazarus, the Gospel of John exemplifies the decisive power of Jesus over humanity’s last and most dictating enemy – death.
For the LGBTQ community, this resurrection story may well come to symbolize God’s promise of life to those excluded, marginalized or emotionally imprisoned. “Lazarus, come out!” commands Jesus in a loud voice, and to the people around, Jesus further directs, “Unbind him, and let him go!”
People can, and will, utilize Scripture for their own purposes, but to say that the story of Lazarus, "may well come to symbolize" a vindication of "coming out of the closet", is stretching the Gospel of John far beyond the breaking point. If the story of Lazarus can "come to symbolize" this, it can symbolize anything. If Scripture can stand for anything, it stands for nothing.
If the LGBTQ community wants to debate the proper translation into English of the Greek phrase, malakoi oute arsenokoitai used by Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:9 (and the similar wording in 1 Timothy 1:10), that's a debate that (at least in theory) respects the Word of God. If they want to make the argument from silence that Jesus didn't specifically call out non-traditional sexual expressions when he very much emphasized the permanent nature of marriage while he rejected divorce (Matthew 19:3-12, Mark 10:2-12), that's another approach that at least treats what is written as key to the conversation. And if they want to argue that the Mosaic Law's prohibitions against unions other than marital male-female are akin to the Mosaic Law's Sabbath and Kosher rules and thus no longer valid in the Church Age, while I will disagree and offer a New Testament based counter-argument, I can at least respect the effort to work within the framework of the Scriptures.
If the Bible can mean anything, even opposite things, based upon its audience, then it loses its value as a bedrock upon which to build individual relationships with God, church communities, and society as a whole. We cannot afford to jettison the guardrails of authorial intent (along with original audience understanding when that can be determined), no matter which individual or group would like to do so, no matter what motive lies behind the effort, and no matter whether we agree with the causes attempting to make the Scriptures their own, or oppose them.
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Sermon Video: Standing Firm Against Temptation - 1 Corinthians 10:12-13
"God will never give us more than we can handle" Really? Whether or not this popular phrase is valid depends upon how one defines the terms, but it certainly isn't true, as some contend, that God's people are immune to being broken down by life's turmoils. Rather than a promise of victory over life's circumstances, what the Apostle Paul offers instead in 1 Corinthians is practical wisdom regarding the nature of temptation. The goal of our lives, as followers of Jesus Christ, is not happiness or success, but rather righteous living in service to the Kingdom of God. With that in mind, Paul assures us that we can stand firm against temptation for two crucial reasons: (1) The temptations we face are the same as those faced by everyone else. We are not unique as individuals, nor are our situations unique with respect to temptation. Others have faced these same temptations to sin, with the same strengths and weaknesses that we have, and others have been able to resist. (2) When faced with temptation, we are assured that there is always a morally upright way out of our dilemma. Choosing sin is never required, and while we may not like the moral path, and it may cost us (financially, social standing, etc.), but it is always available because God has promised this to us. These two truths give us a far deeper truth than, "God will never give us more than we can handle", for it assures us that, "God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear."
To watch the video, click on the link below:
To watch the video, click on the link below:
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