Sunday sermon review - In the Name of Jesus

Yesterday’s sermon was from Colossians 3:17 and completed that series on putting on the Character of Christ. The thought of doing EVERYTHING in the name of Jesus is initially quite intimidating. Everything? I don’t think I can do even a few things in his name.

And then that’s when it hit me.

The whole point of God’s command to do EVERYTHING in the name of Jesus is to show us that in ourselves we can’t do ANYTHING in the name of Jesus. The call to do everything in the name of JESUS is to remind us that HE was righteous and we are not.

The only way I can do anything that is worthy of God is because of the obedient life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. His death on the cross paid for my sins but it also secured the righteousness of Christ for me when I placed my faith in Him.

Now God expects me to live a holy life. But it is not my holiness… it is Christ’s. The command to do everything in the name of Jesus is simply a reminder that it is not my righteousness that gained my access to God, it is Christ’s righteousness that brought me to God. Therefore, I need to display his righteousness in my life for his glory. The light that I shine into the world (Matthew 5:14-16) calling sinners to repent and turn to Christ is not MY light. It is the Light who came into the world to expose our sins for what they are and to redeem lost sinners into his family.

Then it makes sense that EVERYTHING I do should bear the Name, the name of LORD Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. It is his character that should shine through my actions. He should get the glory.

Not it doesn’t feel so burdensome. The call to do EVERYTHING in the name of Jesus is really a call to FAITH, to trust and depend on Christ for everything… even the glorification of his own Name.

Take heart, Dear Christian! If God in his rich and lavish grace has saved you from his own wrath, then He has given you his greatest treasure… his own Son. And Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. No, He will abide with us even when we are faithless. And He has given us the grace to do everything in his Name, for He has given us Himself.

Look to Jesus today! Rest in his grace and strength and let the Light sine forth from your light for your good and his glory!

Is your theology real?

I have been reading several books as I prepare for my next sermon series this fall. I came across this quote that is really challenging me:

Our responses to the circumstances and crises of everyday life make our theology real.

- Ted and Margy Tripp, Instructing a Child’s Heart

His point was that we parents need to instruct our children using the teachable moments that everyday life provides. And our theology becomes “real” when we actually live out what we say we believe.

When your son pours his milk all over your book, do you respond with grace and forgiveness?

When your spouse is short with you, do you respond with kindness and gentleness?

When someone at church starts to gossip, do you call them to repent and speak only that which edifies the hearer?

Man, this is convicting!

I pray we will all have a “real” theology that is truly God-honoring and Christlike. Please pray for me to display Christ to my family and my church. I will pray for you as well...

Sunday sermon review - Christ-centered Worship

What is acceptable worship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? That was the I tried to answer in yesterday’s sermon. Of course, there are many different answers based on the context, and yesterday I focused on corporate singing since that was the context of our text:

Colossians 3:16

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

This verse gives us three very clear principles for corporate worship singing.

1. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” means that our worship singing is to Christ-centered and saturated with the Bible. We are “Christians.” We are followers of Christ. This means that we are to worship and exalt Christ. Of course we worship all three persons of the Godhead, but even God the Father said that Jesus is the Name that is exalted above every name, so we will worship Christ preeminently (Philippians 2:9-11).

Therefore, when we sing, we should sing about God, especially, God the Son. We only have a short amount of time together each week when we gather for worship. I do not want to waste it by singing about me or even heaven (apart from Christ).

I don’t want to sing songs that make a vague reference to God either. If a song about god could be sung faithfully by a Muslim or a Mormon, then I don’t want to sing it in worship on Sunday. You may know what you mean when you sing that song in your car, but if the words are not explicitly magnifying Christ as LORD, then I don’t want them.

There are plenty of Christian songs to sing that explicitly exalt Jesus as God. Let’s sing those when we gather in worship.

2. “singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” means that we should have variety in worship. I had five points yesterday about having variety in style, emotions (each in response to a different characteristic of God), instrumentation, physical expression, and even in the age of our songs (we need old and new songs).

I grow weary of the “worship wars” that threaten to divide churches over music preferences. I think the Bible is actually quite plain that there is a proper “style” in worship. I can’t define it very easily, but it involves a wide variety of instruments, songs, and emotions that span the generations of Christ’s church. We are to use EVERYTHING at our disposal to magnify Christ.

Even if a church collectively and happily decides that they want one narrow “style” of worship in their church which results in peace among the members… that is wrong. It is selfish. That church is saying, “We are going to worship God this way and no other.” They are not interested in worshiping God the way He deserves to be worshiped. They just want to worship Him the way they feel comfortable.

Now if a church throws personal preference out the window and asks the question humbly, “God, what is acceptable worship? How do we worship you rightly?” I guarantee you they will not arrive at merely one “style.” How do I know this? Simple.

The church is made up of multiple generations of believers. That does not automatically mean that we have to pick different songs to make each group happy. That is a very man-centered view of worship. But it does mean that God has acted in each generation, and different songs will have been written to honor him in those generations. Those songs will naturally be different styles because we are a creative people like our God, and we are constantly coming up with new and different ways to express worship in music. So, if we want to be faithful to praising Him for ALL the works of God, even throughout history, then we will include some of these older songs (which have different “styles”) in our worship.

At the same time we will recognize that God still works in the Church today. And as new, Chirst-centered songs are written and proliferated throughout the churches, we will want to sing those too because we want to celebrate the new works of God and the creativity expressed in magnifying Him.

3. “with thankfulness in your hearts to God” means that we must worship with the right heart. Very simply put, our words that we sing must be a reflection of the the affection for God in our hearts.

Jesus’ harshest critiques were always directed to the Pharisees. And one of the criticisms leveled against them involved the disparity in their hearts and actions…

Mark 7:6

And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

"'This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me”

We must make sure that we do not come to “worship” on Sundays and sing songs that we do not mean. Jesus says this is the evidence of a hypocrite: singing “praise” to God while your heart is not in it.

It is of utmost importance that we mean what we sing.

So, what do you do if you find your heart cold and sullen when it is time to sing of our joy in the LORD? There are three possible responses, and only one is acceptable for the Christian.

A. Just don’t sing. This would at least be honest. “I don’t feel like it, so I am not going to sing it.” The obvious problem with this response is that we are commanded to sing and worship Him. So, this is honest but still disobedient.

B. Just sing along anyway. This is the response of the hypocrite. God is not honored by this response. This is what people do who are just going through the motions usually just to please themselves or put up a good appearance at church.

C. Sing repentantly praying for God to change your heart. This is the response of the true worshiper. We will all have days when we do not feel like worshiping, when we do not feel like obeying God. It is not right to disobey just because we do not feel like obeying. Nor is it right to “obey” with a heart that does not want to obey. So, what we do is obey repentantly. Sing the words asking God to help you mean them. Repent of your cold heart. Look to Christ to find your satisfaction for your heart’s desires.

God is in the business of changing stone, cold hearts to hearts of living, vibrant flesh. So call to Him and plead on his mercy. Then you will have something to sing about.

Just for fun

Wordle.net is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. It is kind of hard to explain. It makes more sense when you see one.

Click here to see a Wordle of my blog.

Remember the words that are used most frequently are the largest.

I must confess that I was glad that “God” was the largest word! I would have been embarrassed if it was “I.” Although I was sad to see that “grace” was not more prominent… something to work on I suppose!

Doctrine of the Day: Original Sin

The other day I asked my son, Asher, “Where will you go when you die?” He said, “Nashville.” It is hard to know what to make of that answer. Does he know that we don’t live in Nashville anymore? Does he think Nashville is Heaven or Hell? Does he even know what it means to die? He’s only 2.5 years old, so I will cut him some slack.

This made me think of a bigger question though, “What happens to infants when they die?”

This is a difficult question with huge implications for our everyday lives. My immediate response is “All infants go to heaven when they die.” Even after much reflection and serious thought, my answer is the same. I believe in a God who is gracious and merciful. I believe that in his great grace and mercy there is room for infants who die to spend eternity with Him.

But as I said, this is difficult question for two reasons.

One, the Bible does not give a clear, direct answer to this question. Two, there is the issue of original sin.

The Bible makes it clear that there is one Way to God the Father: through Jesus Christ the Son (John 14:6). That Way is the way of faith and repentance. We believe on Christ in order to be saved. This is how God’s grace in salvation is manifested in us.

So if Jesus is the only way to the Father, and if that way requires faith, what about infants who die without the ability or opportunity to express that faith? The Bible does not say much. There are passages that mention God knows us before we were conceived in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5) and examples of his Spirit upon babies in the womb (Luke 1:15), but none that say definitively that when those infant lives end they are immediately swept up into heaven.

Now the prevailing thought is that these babies have not yet sinned and therefore they are innocent in God’s eyes. That means He will automatically welcome them into eternity with Him.

The problem with that thinking is that we are born as sinners. This is the doctrine of original sin. We are born in sin (Psalm 51:5). We are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Because of Adam we are born guilty of his first sin (Romans 5:12-21). The very fact that infants do die is evidence of this effect of sin on their lives. Adam’s sin and the penalty of death is inherited in all his descendants. This gives us what we call the sin nature. This means that every person WILL sin as soon as he understands right from wrong. There is not a single person who can make it through life without sinning. Such is Adam’s curse.

Original sin is a big problem. This means that even infants are not innocent. No, they have not consciously committed any sin, but they are Adam’s offspring and have inherited his guilt. The question we then need to ask is “On what basis can God allow them into heaven?”

I have heard and read different responses to this question, and none of them are completely satisfactory to me. John MacArthur has written a book on this topic that many find helpful, Safe in the Arms of God. He has also delivered a couple of sermons that are very detailed (http://www.gty.org/AudioPlayer/Sermons/80-242). John Piper has a more succinct answer on his website (http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1622_What_happens_to_infants_who_die/).

I don’t like coming to firm conclusions without the help of solid biblical support, so it is difficult for me to say without question that all infants who die go to heaven.

However, even with the issue of original sin and the problem it poses, I still believe that the primary attribute of his being that God chooses to magnify above all others is his mercy (Romans 15:8-9). Therefore, I believe that God in his mercy, somehow in a way unknown to us, overcomes the problem of original sin in infants who die and graciously welcomes them into his presence.

What does the LORD require of you?

Yesterday I quoted a verse of the Bible without the reference and asked if anyone could identify the reference. There was no deep, underlying lesson in that. I was just curious if anyone would recognize this verse.

The verse is Deuteronomy 10:12...

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

I chose this verse to identify because if you don’t know God is speaking to Israel, then you could just as easily think He was speaking to Matthew or Peter or Paul or Timothy.

In other words, this Old Testament teaching is the same teaching we hear throughout the New Testament.

There are many people who think that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament or that people were saved differently in the OT vs. the NT. But this is not true. What God required of his people before Christ came is the same He requires of us today. God required/requires…

1. Fear the LORD = revere his holiness (1 Peter 3:15)

2. Walk in his ways = obey Him (John 14:15)

3. Love Him = well… love Him (Matthew 22:37)

4. Serve the LORD = again… serve the LORD (Romans 12:11)

5. All your heart, etc = all your heart (Mark 12:30)

God is the same yesterday, today and forever. What He required in the OT is the exact same He required in the NT.

However, some would object and say that these things listed may be the same, but what about salvation? Didn’t Jesus come and die to put an end to the sacrificial system and change the way people are saved?

Yes and no.

Jesus did put away the sacrifice of animals because He is the perfect sacrifice offered once for all for our sins (Hebrews 9:11-28). He has fulfilled all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). So, there is no need for sacrificing animals because the perfect sacrifice has come.

He did not change how people get saved, though. David, Moses, Abraham, every OT “saint” was saved the same way we are today: by faith. They were saved by belief in the promise of God. So are we. God promised Abram that he would have a great many offspring. Abram believed that, and God credited it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). He was saved by faith. It was a “forward” looking faith where ours is a “backward” looking faith. Paul makes this point in Romans 4 and Galatians 3. The works of the law do not save us. We are saved by faith in God’s Anointed One who fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law, sacrificed his blood for our transgressions, and counted us righteous based on his work not ours.

So, what does the LORD require of you? Fear Him, follow Him, love Him, and serve Him with all your being. We do this by faith in the only One who did all these things perfectly: Jesus Christ. It is his righteousness we are to display to the world.

Name that Scripture!!!

Let’s play “Name That Scripture Reference.” I give you a verse of the Bible, and you give me where it is found. I removed the name that is listed in the verse so as not to give it away. Other than that it will be straight from the Bible.

The only rule??? Do not google the text!

Here it is…

“And now, _________, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Any guesses??? I will give the answer with some of my thoughts tomorrow.

Sunday sermon review - Are you ready?

This past weekend was Breaking Free for our youth ministry. Breaking Free is like a DiscipleNow weekend where the students were divided into their age groups, sent into host homes for the weekend, studied God’s word in small groups and gathered a few times for worship. The weekend culminated with our youth pastor, Steve Hunt, delivering the sermon on Sunday morning.

I have not had the opportunity yet to hear all the reports from the weekend, but the few I have heard already seem to be good. I was very thankful to hear Steve preach yesterday. That means I have the Sunday off : ) and gives me more time to mingle and meet other people. That means that today I am reviewing Steve’s sermon! Don’t worry, Steve, I won’t be passing out grades, just recapping the content.

The theme this weekend was on the return of Christ. The challenge was: Are you ready? The two questions that immediately pop into my head are: What does it mean to be ready? What does it matter to be ready?

1. What does it mean to be ready?

Christ is going to return to a world that will be deep in sin and rebellion like at the time of Noah (Matthew 24:36-44). People will go on eating and drinking, totally oblivious and uncaring about God and his ways. When Jesus returns, He will be coming for judgment. When He returns, this world will pass away and a new Heaven and a new Earth will come down. There will be no hope for those rebels when Christ returns. The time for mercy will end. God's patience with the rebellious will run out. Christ will come and settle accounts for eternity.

To be ready for his return means that we must be right with God. There is only ONE way to be right with God: we must repent of our sins, submit to Christ as LORD and believe in Him as our Savior. When we do this, when we respond to the gospel call, God will forgive our sins in Christ, He will cleanse us in Christ, and He will give us the righteousness of Christ. Then we will be right with Him.

There is no other way to be right with God. We have all sinned and fallen short of his glory. We deserve the wrath and judgment Christ will bring on that terrible day. If we put our hope in our own works, we will spend eternity separated from God in Hell. There will be many on that day who cry out to God calling his attention to their good works (helping the poor, coming to church, reading their Bibles, praying), but He will not save them because He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). Our only hope is in Christ alone.

2. What does it matter to be ready?

You may be wondering, “If I received ALL of Jesus’ righteousness at salvation, what does it matter if I am living right when He returns? Am I not already right with God?” These are good questions. Yes, when you are saved, you are completely forgiven and completely right with God… However, the Bible tells us that the way to know that we have been truly converted is if we endure to the end.

Matthew 24:9-13

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

In a world where the love of many grows cold toward God, it is the Christian who endures in the faithfulness of Christ to the end that is saved. This means that we are not saved by our own righteousness or good works, but that by faith in Christ we daily and consistently rest in Him and work in his strength his righteousness until He returns. We love, evangelize, forgive, worship, and serve until our last breath. That glorifies God. That is why were created.

So, even if you have already placed your faith in Christ and have been saved, you must continue to live in Christ’s righteousness until the end for that is what the children of God do: they obey because of their changed heart.

Be ready. Be converted to Christ. Be consistent in living in Christ until the end.

Book Report - Unpacking Forgiveness

First of all let me confess that I have failed to keep up with my book reports. I don’t have any excuses. I want to be faithful to what I said I would do.

I have been reading though, and I want to offer my thoughts on a book I finished several weeks ago. I have already mentioned in a couple of weeks ago and used a definition I found in the book in one of my sermons. But I wanted to explain a little more why I loved this book and why you should read it.

The book is Unpacking Forgiveness by Chris Brauns. I could go on for a 1000 words about why this book is so helpful and life-changing. Instead, I want to give you a succinct and hopefully compelling summary.

Here is the book in a nutshell: biblical forgiveness matters and few of us know what it is or how to do it. I think the most challenging part of his book is teaching that forgiveness is conditional upon repentance. I know when I heard that, I paused and considered ditching it because it didn’t sound right.

Brauns lovingly reminded me though that true Christian living is not based on my ideas or feelings of right and wrong, but solely on God’s word. As he laid out the biblical teaching on forgiveness, all my objections fell… hard. Forgiveness is about extending God’s grace to those who have hurt/offended/sinned against us. But forgiveness is only one part of God’s grace. Forgiveness has a very narrow and specific purpose: reconciliation.

God does not forgive our sins and leave us unreconciled with Him. Forgiveness and reconciliation go together like regeneration and faith. One logically precedes the other but in essence they happen simultaneously. You can’t have one without the other.

So, I learned that I did not understand biblical forgiveness. Now, I see that in order for reconciliation to happen (eliminating alienation and restoring a relationship to a right standing), the offender must be repentant. Repentance means that the offender recognizes his offense and turns from it. This is what Jesus requires of us, and we forgive as He forgave.

Whew! Heady stuff. But the church needs to hear this desperately. We offend each other all the time and if we do not have a biblical understanding of forgiveness then we will not be united and more importantly we will not display forgiveness to the nations.

I highly recommend this for every believer. It will point you to Christ’s grace in the word and will answer many practical questions on forgiveness as well.

Doctrine of the Day: The Five "Solas"

Not many of us today know much about the Reformation that started in 1517. Around 2000 I think, one of the major news magazines identified the protestant Reformation is the most significant event of the past millennia.

Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli Philip Melanchthon, John Knox, William Tyndale, and the list goes on. These men fought for the gospel. The Catholic church had strayed deep into unbiblical teachings (and it is still there today). They understood that theology and doctrine, what we believe about the Bible is of utmost importance.

The “five solas” is a term used to designate five great foundational rallying cries of the Protestant reformation. They are as follows:

Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone

Sola Gratia - Grace Alone

Sola Fide - Faith Alone

Solus Christus - Christ Alone

Soli Deo Gloria - To God Alone Be Glory

These “five solas” were developed in response to specific perversions of the truth that were taught by the corrupt Roman Catholic Church.

1. The Roman Church taught that the foundation for faith and practice was a combination of the scriptures, sacred tradition, and the teachings of the magisterium and the pope; but the Reformers said, “No, our foundation is sola scriptura”.

2. The Catholic Church taught that we are saved through a combination of God's grace, the merits that we accumulate through penance and good works, and the superfluity of merits that the saints before us accumulated; the reformers responded, “Salvation is a free, undeserved gift from God… sola gratia”.

3. The Catholic Church taught that we are justified by faith and the works that we produce, which the righteousness that God infuses in us through faith brings about. The reformers responded, “No, we are justified by faith alone, which lays hold of the alien righteousness of Christ that God freely credits to the account of those who believe… sola fide”.

4. The Catholic Church taught that we are saved by the merits of Christ and the saints, and that we approach God through Christ, the saints, and Mary, who all pray and intercede for us. The Reformers responded, “No, we are saved by the merits of Christ Alone, and we come to God through Christ Alone… solus christus”.

5. The Catholic Church adhered to what Martin Luther called the “theology of glory” (in opposition to the “theology of the cross”), in which the glory for a sinner's salvation could be attributed partly to Christ, partly to Mary and the saints, and partly to the sinner himself. The reformers responded, “No, the only true gospel is that which gives all glory to God alone, as is taught in the scriptures… soli deo gloria”

We can see a shift in faithfulness in the Church today that is very similar to the one that sparked that great reform. There are many who have forgotten what the gospel is and how important it is that we fight for it.

I am not suggesting we need another Reformation, but there is another Latin phrase that should be a part of our worldview: semper reformanda… “always reforming.”

I am suggesting that we must always keep a close watch on our doctrine and our teaching (1 Timothy 4:16) to make sure it accords with the faith delivered once for all to the saints (Jude 3).

The LORD fashions your heart

Psalm 33:13-15

13The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
14from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.

God is watching you… How does that make you feel? There is nothing hidden from his eyes. He sees everything you think you can hide from all the people closest to you.

We feel great shame and conviction over sin that is found out by men, yet the knowledge that God watches us and knows our every thought and act does not produce a sufficient shame to motivate us to holiness instead of sin.

What hidden sins do you have? The answer… NONE. All your sins are known by God. The truth of this psalm should compel us to confess quickly and contritely. We should repent of those sins and be motivated to live the holy lives God has ordained for us.

This is not a deep thought today. It is maddening in its simplicity: God is watching. However, the implications for our lives are significant. We should live in the knowledge that God is aware of everything we think, say and do. Therefore, let’s be holy.

I leave you with a question: What does it mean that God fashions our hearts? Does that mean that He gives us our passions and desires?

Sunday sermon review - Put on Love

God is love…