Don't Blame McDonalds

 An attorney in New York City slapped a court-appointed shrink with a defamation lawsuit for telling the judge deciding a custody battle with his estranged wife that he was an unfit parent — for refusing to take his four year old son to McDonalds for dinner. (Of course, if New York's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, had his way parents taking their kids to McDonalds would be unfit parents.) 

"You'd think it was sexual molestation," the lawyer, told the New York Post Thursday.  "I am just floored by it."

The exasperated lawyer says in his lawsuit that a Manhattan psychiatrist (apparently treating his four year old son) filed a report saying he was “wholly incapable of taking care of his son” and should be denied his weekend visitation because he refused to give in to his son’s demands that they go to McDonalds.

The father, an experienced  corporate attorney turned consultant with degrees from NYU and Oxford University with who knows how many high-powered courtroom and boardroom battles under his belt, had planned to take his 4-year-old son to their usual restaurant for his weekly Tuesday night visitation last week (Obviously dad's choice did not have a Play Land).

But the boy threw a temper tantrum and demanded McDonald’s. So he gave his son an ultimatum: dinner anywhere other than McDonald’s — or no dinner at all.

“The child, stubborn as a mule, chose the ‘no dinner’ option,” the disgruntled dad says in the suit.

“It was just a standoff and I’m kicking myself mightily,”  ( I would be too—a standoff with someone at least three feet shorter and 150 lbs. lighter is fairly embarrassing.)

“I wish I had taken him to McDonalds, but you get nervous about rewarding bad behavior (probably something he is an expert witness on).  I was concerned.  I think it was a 1950s equivalent of sending your child to bed without dinner. That’s maybe the worst thing you can say about it,” he said.

Adding insult to injury, he said: “My wife immediately took him to McDonalds.”

So, where did our lawyer turned parent go wrong?  I am afraid his problems began long before his decision to finally man up to his four year old and tell him no.  But that is a story for another day in court.

Personally, I think he should have given his son a spanking rather than an ultimatum but that’s just me.  I don’t tend to find much value in negotiating with pre-schoolers when it comes to who’s the boss.  Call my parenting style—“pre-1950s”—but there’s something to be said about kids who behave, are respectful to and actually obey their parents the first time.  Call it “old-fashioned, unsophisticated, outlandish, biblical, or in some places—illegal but I think a dad or mom who stands their ground and lovingly applies “the board of education” to “the seat of learning” and thus earns the respect, obedience, and loving submission of their children is a far more fit parent than he who makes a lot of noise arguing with and then caving into a four year old who learned before he was 18 months old that the world revolved around him.

Can Christians Serve In The Armed Forces?

When soldiers came to John the Baptist and asked, “What shall we do?”—meaning, “How shall we respond to your call to repent?”—John answered, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14).

From this we learn that repentance from sin did not demand that these soldiers had to stop being soldiers.  We also learn that it is not inconsistent to be a soldier, an airman, a marine, a sailor, or even a police officer and follow Jesus Christ at the same time.  Bearing arms in the service of one’s country is not anti-Christian according to the Bible.  In fact, according to Romans 13:1-4, those who bear arms, whether in the role of law enforcement or a member of the armed forces, are ordained by God to do so. 

The Bible actually contains a great deal  of information about serving in the military.  While many of the Bible’s references to military service are analogies these analogies are picturing the Christian life.  It would seem very unlikely that God would use analogies for Christians to emulate that are inconsistent with being a Christian.  The use of these military analogies especially by the Apostle Paul reveal that being a soldier is highly respected throughout the Scriptures.

The tensions between being a follower of Jesus as a soldier are essentially the same as the tensions of being a follower of Jesus in any other authority structure of society that God ordains for the stability of government which, by-the-way, God also ordained (Gen. 9; Rom. 13).  The Christian men and women who serve their country with character, dignity, and honor can rest assured that the civic duty they perform is condoned and respected by our sovereign God. Those who honorably serve in the military deserve our respect and gratitude.

It goes without saying that among the many believers who have served in the armed forces undoubtedly there have been some who have had to make agonizing decisions.  May they and those who judge such decisions all turn to the cross of Christ for the final resolution of what we have all done.

I for one am thankful God has called and continues to call believers to serve His purpose in our armed forces.  I am thankful for these men and women and the thousands of veterans before them who chose to pursue such a difficult path and embraced the risk of not only being killed but of also having to kill.  John the Baptist knew full well what soldiers may be called upon to do yet He simply told them to be fair, honest, and content with their wages.   Let us place no other burden than what the Scriptures do upon those who serve.  And let us take the opportunity this Veteran’s Day to thank one.

"Living Letters" 2 Corinthians 3:1-4 Message #17

Did you know that writing letters of recommendation can be hazardous to your bank account because if you tell the truth about some people and their bad work habits you could get sued.  So, with that in mind, Robert Thornton, a professor at Lehigh University, has a collection of "virtually litigation-proof" phrases called the Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations, or LIAR for short.

Here are some examples:

1.   To describe an inept person you could word it like this: "I enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.

2.   For the chronically absent worker:  "A man like him is hard to find."

3.   For an employee with no ambition:  "You would indeed be fortunate to get this person to work for you."

4.   For a dishonest employee:  "He's an unbelievable worker."

5.   To describe an unproductive candidate: "I can assure you that no one would be better for the job."

6.   For an ex-employee you would never wish upon anyone you could write: "I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment."

7.   For the former employee whom you just cannot honestly recommend:  "All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this candidate or recommend him too highly."

8.   And finally for the worker who doesn’t like to cooperate with others, one might write: “He works independently and never thinks twice about assisting fellow employees.”

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that many of us have been asked to write letters of recommendation—even for people we really felt didn’t feel confident in recommending.  But did you know that the Bible tells us that we as believers in Christ are His letters of recommendation to everyone with whom we rub shoulders with.

That’s right—if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ—that is you are trusting Him alone for your salvation from the wrath of God for your sins—then you are a living letter who God wants to use to introduce and recommend His Son the Lord Jesus Christ through.  We who have been made spiritually alive through the Gospel of Jesus Christ are the “living letters” of Christ whom God is transforming to the character of Christ so as to use to introduce and recommend Christ to those in our circle of influence.

That is the point the Apostle Paul is making in our Bible passage for this morning—2 Corinthians 3:1-4.  Let’s read it.

God loves to use metaphors, illustrations, and stories to communicate spiritual truths.  And that is what the Spirit of God is doing here in likening believers to letters.  In the last chapter, He likened us to the aroma of perfume which attracts people to Christ.  That is what perfume or cologne does—it attracts people with its scent.  It makes people sit up and take notice.

But interestingly enough, in the ancient world, the world in which Paul is writing, perfume was in the form of a thick ointment and the only way to get it out of its container, usually made of pottery, was to break the container.

And the point Paul is making is that the aroma of Christ in us and the power of Christ in us is oftentimes best experienced by others when we are broken and spilled out by the tough circumstances of our lives. 

And it is in these kinds of situations that the people around us—seeing that our responses as believers are different than their responses as unbelievers to similar situations—begin to ask us about the hope that is within us.

But, if our responses to difficult people and difficult situations are the same as the world’s responses and if unbelievers see us demanding our rights, fighting for the world’s goods, arguing over who is in the right, clawing to obtain, manipulating the facts, and giving ourselves, our energies, our time, and our resources to obtain what the world says is so important—why would they ever have reason to ask us about the hope that is within us?  

And so in the end of chapter 2, Paul tells us that we believers are like perfume or cologne in the world which is spreading the aroma of Christ wherever we go so that people notice something different and attractive about us—something that they do not have—namely a relationship and a friendship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And here in chapter 3, the Holy Spirit of God communicates through the Apostle Paul that we who are believers are also like letters, in which we, like a letter, communicate—and in this case communicate the excellencies of Christ and of specifically of knowing Christ in a personal living relationship.

And here is how the chapter breaks down.

In verses 1-2, Paul makes the point that the believers whom he ministered to in Corinth were the authentication of his ministry.

If you wanted to see what kind of pastor he was—he says look at the people I have ministered to—they are my “letters of recommendation”, if you will.

But then Paul takes this thought and amplifies it in verse 3 to say that this is true of us in relation to Christ as well.

We who are in a relationship with Christ are His letters of recommendation to a world that does not know Him or really anything about Him.

So, Paul uses the metaphor of living letters to describe us and he makes the point that just as someone can see what Paul was like by “reading” or “studying” the people he ministered to and taught—people can see what Christ is like by “reading and watching and studying” us who believe.

In verse 3, Paul also makes the very important point that what is written or imprinted or engraved upon us as Christ’s living letters is Christ’s character—so that we are a letter not only from Christ but “of Christ”.

That is, as we live out our Faith in Christ, we are in effect, communicating Who Christ is and What Christ is like to the people we have contact with.

Paul also makes the point that this imprinting of Christ’s character and likeness in our lives in part and really to a very large degree is the result of his and Timothy’s ministry in their lives.

The NASV says in verse 3:  “you are a letter of Christ cared for by us . . . “

The English words “cared for” are translating the Greek word diakoneo which means to serve or to minister to.  It’s the word we get “deacon” from which means a servant.

I think the NIV renders it best when it records Paul as saying, “You show that you are a letter from Christ, ‘the result of our ministry’. . .”

In other words, the believers in Corinth did not come to Christ for salvation and then grow in Christ to spiritual maturity and Christlikeness so as to manifest Christ in and through their lives apart from the ministry of others in their lives.

This is an important truth for believers to grasp. 

Christlikeness—that is becoming more and more like Jesus in our character, our thinking, our actions, our reactions, and in every area of our lives demands that we be involved with and living life with other believers.

We all know that to achieve maximum spiritual growth as believers we need to be in the Word of God, under the preaching and teaching of the Word of God and involved in such spiritual disciplines as prayer, Scripture memorization, ect.

But did you also know that you and I will not grow very deep in Christ without each other and apart from each other’s ministry in our lives?

Lone wolf Christianity is not Biblical Christianity!

Biblical Christianity is best experienced, applied, and demonstrated in community with other believers.

In fact, to truly get to know God we must get to know each other in relationships that go deeper than the weather.

By yourself, you see God and you experience God from a very limited and restricted perspective—“yours”.

But when you are relating to and interacting with other believers in a community of believers and living life with these believers you are able to see and experience God in a multiplicity of ways that all contribute to your understanding of God and your becoming like Him in Christ Jesus that is not possible all by yourself.

God is too multi-faceted and multi-dimensional for any one of us to truly see and experience all by ourselves.  We, as finite creatures, simply do not have the capacity to take all of God in—not all by ourselves.

But, when you take a group of believers who are all seeing and experiencing God through the various circumstances of their lives and these believers are living out this expression of God that they are experiencing—it helps all of us see and experience God in ways we never could all by ourselves.

So, if we want to be the kinds of living letters that really do introduce and recommend Jesus to our circle of family and friends it requires that Christ be imprinting Himself upon our lives as we faithfully give ourselves to not only the faithful teaching of the Word of God but also the fellowship of believers.

Paul, then goes on to say that we as believers in Christ are living letters of Christ “. . . written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Notice that Paul likens the Holy Spirit of God to the ink that is used in writing real letters.

He says, that Christ’s character is being inscribed into and upon our hearts by God using the Holy Spirit just like we would use ink.

In other words, as we interact with God through His Word and as we interact with each other as a community of believers who are living out His Word—the Holy Spirit is being applied to our lives so as to create within us the very character of Christ so that we are becoming Christlike.

Now in Paul’s day, when a letter was written using ink, the ink was absorbed into either the papyrus or the leather upon which it was written.

It was absorbed because the material that the letter was written on was soft and porous and thus able to absorb the ink.

And because the ink was absorbed it was permanent.  It could not be erased or removed.

Oh, it could be smudged or smeared or maybe even scraped so as to diminish its clarity—but it could not ever be removed.

And that is one reason why Paul likens the Holy Spirit to ink. 

You see, once you were brought to Christ and became a believer in Christ, God used the Holy Spirit to inscribe upon you His Name and Christ’s character—which will continue throughout your life.

Now, you may have those times in your life where you have smudged the ink so to speak—or where you have smeared it—or even scraped it by pursuing sin—but the fact is—just like the ink on the old letters in Paul’s day—the Holy Spirit cannot be removed.

He is the permanent divine ink if you will that your new heart has and is absorbing so as to be confirmed as belonging to Christ.

Of course, if through our sin and our rebellion we smear or smudge the impression of and the inscription of Christ upon our hearts and lives—it will tarnish and diminish our testimony for the Lord which will end up costing us both earthly and heavenly joy.

But, the inscription is never destroyed nor removed because the ink of the Spirit of God is permanent.

Which, is why Paul exclaims in verse 4, that “such confidence we have through Christ toward God.”

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ—that is you are trusting Jesus Christ alone for your salvation from the wrath of God for your sin and you therefore have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ—

You can be completely confident that God is working in your life to imprint the very character of Christ upon your new heart—having removed your old spiritually dead and callous heart.

Paul tells us that the character of Jesus can only be inscribed by the Holy Spirit of God upon hearts of flesh.

At the end of verse 3, Paul says that the character of Christ is not written on tablets of stone but on kardia sarkinos—which is Greek for “hearts of flesh”.

You see, before salvation our hearts were like stone when it came to spiritual things.

Before God initiated His work in our lives, our hearts were spiritually dead, unresponsive to God, hostile to God, as hard as rocks, and totally separated from God.

That is what the Bible teaches. 

But then, at just the right time and in just the right circumstances God gave you, if you are a believer in Christ, a new heart—a heart of flesh so to speak so that you would desire Christ and be able to respond to Christ in a positive way.

This is how God describes the process in Ezekiel 11:19-20.

And I will give them a new heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart, so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 36:26-17 renders it this way:

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.  And I will put my Spirit in you . . .

Jeremiah 31:33-34 puts it this way:

“. . . I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. . . . And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

You see, this is what happened when you were saved.  God gave you a new heart so as to be able to see Him, desire Him, and respond to Him.

And it is upon this new heart that He is at work right now inscribing the character of Jesus so as to conform you to His image.

And this inscription is so permanent that on that day when you depart this earth—Whom you belong too and Whose image is inscribed upon your heart will be perfectly and abundantly clear so as to be the proof that you are indeed His own.

Such confidence we, who have come to Christ as our Lord and our Savior, have.  (v. 4)

We are God’s Living Letters who are being written by God Himself using the Holy Spirit to imprint upon our believing hearts the very character of Christ which is becoming ours in ever increasing degrees.

And like any letter—we have been signed, sealed, and delivered to someone to communicate a message—in our case—the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But, as with any letter—if it is to be read by anyone it needs to get out of the envelope—right?!

So, whereas, we are all living letters of introduction and recommendation for Christ—we need to get out of the envelopes of our Christian homes, our Christian family members, our Christian friends, our church, and our Christian circles so as to be read by people who have yet to have Jesus introduced and recommended to them by us.

Let’s Pray!

The Power of Evangelism is The Gospel 2 Corinthians 2:16-17 Message #16

Scientists tell us that the oceans of the world contain more than 340 quintillion gallons of water—The Bible tells us in Isaiah 40:12 that God holds them "in the hollow of his hand".  They also tell us that the earth weighs 6 sextillion metric tons—The Bible tells us in Isaiah 40:15 that to God, “it is but "dust on the scales".  In addition to this scientists inform us that the known universe stretches more than 30 billion light years (200 sextillion miles)—The Bible tells us in Isaiah 40:12 that God measures it by the width of his hand.

Finally, scientists claim there are at least 100 billion galaxies and each galaxy is made up of about 100 billion stars. To such mind-boggling math the Bible tells us in Isaiah 40:26 that God calls each star "by name".  

The Universe undeniably displays the power of God.  But did you know that outside of heaven, the power of God in its highest density is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ as expressed in God’s Word?  Note I did not say that the gospel reveals the power of God—I said the gospel is the power of God. That’s right—that is what the Scriptures teach in 1 Corinthians 1:18 and Romans 1:16.  Nothing else in the Bible is ever described as the power of God—except for Jesus Christ Himself in 1 Corinthians 1:24. Thus, when we read that the gospel is the power of God, what we should understand that to mean is that whereas God’s power is seen in miracles, miraculous sign gifts, and in every other work God does—it resides in the Gospel. So whereas, the size of our universe and the infinite number of stars in the universe evidences God’s power (Romans 1:20) it is not in the creation that God’s power resides—rather it is in the Gospel.

Now consider for just a moment that it would take you, flying in a jet airliner at 500 mph a little longer than 900 years to get to the dwarf planet Pluto at the edge of our solar system and you get some sense of the immensity of just our own planetary system. Now consider that if you wanted to take a trip to visit the nearest star to earth you would be booking a trip aboard that 500 mph jet that would take you six million years to get there. Now let’s really get into hyper drive and plan a trip outside our own galaxy to the Andromeda Galaxy, which is right next door to our own Milky Way Galaxy.  To make this trip in our jet traveling at 500 mph it would take us 4.2 trillion years. But that’s not even very far compared to the fat that if we were to try and travel to the most distant galaxy in the universe or at least the most known distant galaxy in the universe known as z8_GND_5296 which was  photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope we would have to travel 13.1 billion light years just to get there. At 500 mph it would take us 20 quadrillion years. But as great as all this is—the universe, as big as it is, is but a manifestation  of God’s power whereas the gospel is the power of God.

And this was the reason why Paul felt so obligated to preach the gospel rather than do anything else. This is why he was so eager to preach the gospel to those in Rome than anything else. And this is why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel according to Romans 1:16. He knew that the omnipotence of God was best seen in the gospel than anywhere else. And since the gospel is imbedded in and communicated through the Word of God—we can say that the power of God is in the Word of God.

Now go back to Romans 1:16 and we see that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes no matter who they are. And it is important to understand that in 2 Corinthians 4:6 likens the power necessary to save a sinner from his or her sins to the divine power it took to create the universe.

Now, it is difficult for us to imagine that the salvation of a person requires the same kind of divine power than it took to create the universe, but that is simply because we don’t have a high enough view of God’s holy character and a correct understanding of our own sinfulness. You see, when we begin to attempt to fathom the absolute unimaginable and incomprehensible holiness of God and how unbelievably great is our crime against God—then and only then might we be able to get just a glimpse or just a sliver of understanding into how much it took to turn God’s wrath and anger and eternal punishment for our sins away from us. The reason we don’t see the gospel as being as powerful as it is—is because we really don’t understand how incredibly, dreadfully, and contemptibly wicked and evil just one of our sins is in the sight of God—let alone a lifetime of sins.

It is only when we begin to grasp our sinfulness and just how hideously offensive our wickedness is to God and how utterly powerless we are to do anything about it in light of His infinite holiness that must punish any and every evil inclination, thought, motivation, desire, and deed that we are able to even begin to see the power of the gospel to keep us out of hell for even one split second let alone for all of eternity.

It is only as we contemplate the “blistering holiness of our God, Who is described in the Scriptures as a consuming fire that we will ever be able to comprehend the infinite power of the gospel of this God—Who, as His Son, Jesus, was dying on Calvary, turned His face away in rejection from Him as He bore our sin—so that He could turn His face toward us, forgive us, and accept us for all of eternity.

Listen, the power to save sinners and keep sinners saved is the greatest exercised power in existence simply because this power satisfied and continues to satisfy the holiness and the righteous demands of infinitely Holy God against us and our sins for all of eternity.

And it is, according to Romans 1:16, a power that knows no limits or conditions other than what God places upon it. The only limit and condition God places upon His Gospel is that of believing in Jesus Christ—trusting Him to save you from the due penalty of your sins—embracing Him and Him alone as your Lord and Savior! In other words, the Gospel is effective to save anyone and everyone who believes.

There is absolutely no one who is so bad, so down and out, so decrepid, so horrible, or so indecent that the power of God cannot save them if they will only believe. There is no one who has lived such a wicked life or committed such horrific sins that God’s power cannot save if they will only believe. The power of God to save sinners who will believe in Christ is greater than the power God utilized to create the universe and it is greater than the power God is utilizing right now to sustain the universe—it is the greatest power on earth and thus, is certainly greater than all our sin and shame. There is absolutely no one whose sin cannot be forgiven and whose life cannot be changed by God if only they will believe.

But, let me also say this the power of the gospel saves sinners who know and admit they are sinners without hope unless God has mercy upon them. In other words, there is no power to save when the sinner thinks he is either not as bad as the Bible says or God is not as Holy. But for those who do not diminish their sin—the gospel has the power to save.

And thus, the reason why Paul states so emphatically that he is not ashamed of the gospel. I mean how can you be ashamed of the gospel when the gospel is the power of God. None of us are ashamed of God’s creation—yet all the creation does is reveal the power of God—the gospel is the power of God.

But, furthermore, knowing the power of God resides in the Gospel as communicated in the Word of God—why do we try to evangelize and share the Gospel with others without using the Word of God?

And this is Paul’s argument in 2 Corinthians 2:16-17 where he makes the point that whereas not a single one of us is adequate to be used by God to bring people to salvation—His Word is—when it is communicated for what it really is—the authoritative, powerful, sufficient, Holy Spirit-inspired and Holy Spirit-empowered Word of God.

So in verse 16—Paul asks a rhetorical question having to do with all of us who as Christians have the responsibility and the privilege of living out and sharing the Gospel with others who do not yet know Christ. He asks—“Who is sufficient for these things?” In other words, Who is up to the task of being God’s instrument in confronting people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ so as to see them turn to Christ for salvation from their sins? Who has the innate ability to do this?  Who has the necessary giftedness to be used in this way?  Who is a natural at this? And the answer is—“no one”. NO ONE among us has the ability to turn the heart of an unsaved person to Christ. There are no natural evangelists among us who have an innate talent to convert sinners to Christ. That is simply not how salvation works. None of us are adequate for the task!  None of us are more adequate than the other.

That’s the point Paul is making here in verse 16—the adequacy to see unbelievers turn from their sins to Christ for salvation is not in us—it is outside of us—It is in the Word of God. But more specifically, it is in the correct, sincere, and God-dependent sharing of the Gospel as found in and articulated in the Word of God—the Bible- that our adequacy to be used as God’s instruments in bringing people to Himself comes.

That is what Paul is saying when he asks this rhetorical question as the end of verse 16 and then answers it in verse 17. And in verse 17, Paul gives us the criteria or the requirements, if you will, regarding what it takes to be used by God as a powerful instrument in sharing His Gospel so as to mightily impact people so that they have to make a choice either for or against Christ.

Here they are:

1)   You have to use God’s Word.  The assumption in verse 17 is that you are using the Word of God to share the Gospel with others.

In other words, you need to be getting your information from the Bible.

Better yet, you need to be using the Bible and either reading people the verses having to do with salvation or quoting these verses to them.

The power of God unto salvation is in the Gospel as recorded for us in the Word of God.  That’s what Romans 1:16 means.

The gift of faith which is necessary if any person is to believe on Christ comes through the Word of God.  That is what Romans 10:17 says—“And Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.”

Learn the Gospel.  Grow in your Scriptural understanding of it.  Know the Bible verses that apply to it.  Memorize them and then share them. 

They have the power that you do not have to convict people of their sin and bring them to Christ!

2)  Believe the Bible and trust it to do its work in a person’s life without compromising it. 

God promises that His Word will not return void.”  In other words, it will not fail to do the job God has planned for it to accomplish whether that is salvation or confirmation in damnation.

We need to get over the compulsion that we often have to soften the Gospel to make it more palatable to unbelievers.

That is what Paul means when he says—we are not peddlers of the Word of God.

The peddlers of the Word of God are those who feel that they need to make it more attractive to unbelievers if they are to accept it.

They are the false teachers—who either add to or subtract from the requirements of the Gospel.

They are the “health, wealth, and prosperity preachers” who twist the Gospel in order to relieve ignorant believers of their wealth and prosperity.

They are us—when we choose not to say anything about Christ or quickly change the subject for fear of what others will think of us if they find out we believe in Him.

And it is us—when we soft pedal any part of the Gospel because we think unbelievers won’t be able to accept it.   

Keep in mind that no one—absolutely no one—comes to Christ because Christ is easy to swallow.

They come to Christ because God, using the power of the Gospel, opens their eyes to see Christ, desire Christ, and come to Christ for salvation.

Again as Romans 10:17 puts it: “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ”—the Gospel.

Just believe the Word, live it, and share it—that’s all God asks you to do—He’ll do the saving!

3)    Speak with simple sincerity.   Don’t complicate the Gospel—don’t over simplify it either.  Be real.  Mean what you say?  And do not promise what God does not promise—such as if you come to Christ you will not have any more problems.

4)   Speak as from God.  That is, take not only your commission from God, but your words and your authority from God as well.

Speak his words and not your own.  Speak in his authority and not your own. Draw your strength and guidance from his power and wisdom, not your own?

5)   Speak as one who is in Christ.  That is, realize that because you are in Christ and thus completely accepted by God—it does not matter what people think about you.  It should not matter whether they accept you.  Your identity and your assurance and your confidence and your hope and your courage from your union with Christ?

6)   Speak as in the presence of God.  That is, reckon him to be your judge and no man.  Care more about his assessment of your words than who you are talking to or want to talk to.  And do not be deterred by human criticism.  Remember the fear of man is a snare.  If you fear God you need not fear anyone else!

And remember there are no perfect Gospel presentations or evangelists in God’s service. There are only imperfect Believers sharing their own imperfect stories using the perfect Word of God whom God uses.

And as we seek to be His people—people who are actively sharing our faith—the Gospel of Jesus Christ—we need to realize that God overcomes our inadequacy when we will believe, trust, and correctly and sincerely use His Word in sharing the Gospel with others.

THE GREAT DIVIDE

There is a huge chasm existing in the lives and families of many today who claim the title Christian, those being, people who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and are trusting in Him and His work on the cross to save them from their sins.  This canyon is found between their profession and their practice.  It is flanked by what the Bible teaches and understandingly applying what the Bible teaches to every area of their lives and families in every arena they venture into which obviously will include work, education, recreation, consumption (as in eating, drinking, buying, the using of resources), apparel or decoration, if you will, and of course church life.

 

For many in the church today their understanding of how their faith in Christ is to relate to each and every area of their lives is terribly deficient and in many cases non-existent.  They see their faith as being merely another category of life rather than life itself.  They see Jesus as being relevant to Bible study, behavior, and prayer but not to mathematics, sports, what they wear (or don’t wear), how they eat, making a buck, retirement, and Craig’s List.  It is as though they cannot see how their faith in Christ connects to the totality of their lives.  They, like small immature children told to connect the dots so as to find the picture in a coloring book, struggle because they are so intently focused on the individual dots—they can’t see how they connect and obviously miss the big picture.

The fact is, our faith in Christ affects every one of the dots in our lives so as to not only connect them to each other but to connect them to Christ so as to create the Big Picture also known as a Biblical world view or philosophy of life that is indeed Christian or Christ-centered and therefore spiritually functional.  The apostle Paul makes it very clear that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3).  This essentially means that any kind of learning process, regardless of where that education is supposedly taking place, apart from Christ is at best incomplete, disjointed, full of gaps, inferior and at worst—demonic.  It is demonic in the sense that Satan’s intent from Genesis 3 has always been to separate man from the relevance of God to his life so as to distort and eventually destroy the Big Picture of Life.

 

This means that living a life apart from seeing and applying the relevance of your Christianity to every area of your life will result in an inferior and spiritually dysfunctional life.  Family life lived and practiced apart from seeing the relevance of Christ to every aspect of family life all the way from the T.V. to soccer practice to what the purpose of the family meal is all about to living separate lives within the same household will all result in a spiritually dysfunctional family which produces spiritually dysfunctional children who become adults who, while perhaps claiming the title Christian, see no or very little relevance between it and the lives they are living and desire to live.

Until Bible-believing Christians start becoming Bible-applying Christians who see the relevance of their faith to and in every area of life and thus, cease compartmentalizing their lives between the secular and the spiritual any positive and spiritually constructive Christian relevance we might have in this world and in our own families is fairly trivial.  We must do away with the “Great Divide” between what we know and how we live, between the church and ball field, between manna and math, and between making a living and making a life.  We must sack this unbiblical thinking that sees faith in Christ as just another aspect of life when it is clear from Scripture that Christ is our life—which is all-inclusive of every fragment of our lives (Colossians 3:4; Galatians 2:20). 

Until our faith in Christ oozes through and out of the church into where we live out the vast majority of every hour of every day, the Christian and the Church alike have no essential beneficial bearing or positive influence for Christ anywhere.  Faith without works is indeed dead because an unapplied faith in any area of the believer’s life is a dead faith in that arena of life.  And the influence of a dead faith is much the same as a dead body left to decay—it stinks! 

If You Want To make Disciples--You Need To Open Your Mouth" 2 Corinthians 2:14b-16 Message #15

Have you ever wanted to be like Jesus?

I sure hope so because becoming like Jesus is God’s goal for all of us who we are believers.

The Apostle Peter wanted to be like Jesus—so much so that one day when he and the other disciples were out on a fishing boat in the middle of the Sea of Galillee they saw Jesus walking toward them on top of the water.  At first, all of the disciples thought Jesus was a ghost and were terrified but Jesus identified Himself and told them to not be afraid.  Then all of a sudden, Peter gets this brilliant idea that if the Lord is walking on the water—maybe he could be like Jesus and walk on the water too and so he calls out to Jesus to see.  And what was Jesus’ reply?  “Come”  So Peter got out of the boat and lo and behold walked on the water just like Jesus.

Oh, he didn’t stay up long because seeing the storm, he panicked, took his eyes off the Lord and began to sink requiring the Lord to save him.  But, for a few seconds—who knows—maybe even a minute or so--he did walk on the water just like Jesus and experienced and enjoyed the thrill of a lifetime.  And the fact is, I think it thrilled Jesus as much as Peter because God is always excited when we want to be like Him.

But in order for Peter to have that soul thrilling experience in his life of walking on the water, experiencing the miraculous, seeing Himself doing what Jesus was doing—He had to forsake the safety and the security of the boat—take a risk—and get out of the boat.  He had to leave what was comfty, safe, secure, stable, conventional, and actually take a risk  if he was to experience the exhileration of trusting Jesus for the impossible.  If he wanted to walk on water—he had to get out of the boat.  It is no different for us today.

Do you want to be like Jesus?  Sure you do!

Do you want to make a difference in this world like Jesus did?  Of course you do!

Do you have a desire to see God do something really big in your life?  I hope so.

Do you want to experience the power of God in your life?  Absolutely!

Well—you’re going to have to get out of your boat.

You’re going to have to be willing to take some risks, lose the safety net, go out on a limb, sacrifice some of your comforts, give up some of your conveniences, and quit settling for the status quo.  In other words—you’re going to have to break out of the prison all these things have created to keep your soul from truly following and experiencing Jesus to the exhilarating adrenaline-charged degree that you could.  You’re going to have to get out of the boat if you want that for your life.

And the fact is, our church is going to have to get out of the boat too!  More than that—our church—we the members and attenders of this church—we who have made some kind of commitment to this church are in dire need of getting out of the boat and risking everything to be like Jesus so we can walk on the water and experience Him in a way we never will otherwise.

For our joy we need to get out the boat.

For the sake of our children who are wondering if there is anything out there to live for that is more exciting than cars, houses, new clothes, sports, being liked—we need to get out of the boat.

For the eternal joy of unbelievers in Vermont who do not yet know Christ because they have not yet been personally confronted with the Gospel—we need to get out of the Boat.

And for God’s glory we need to get out of the boat.

Sir Frances Drake, the great English Naval explorer who circumvented the globe from 1577 to 1580 must have known something about this to be to write this prayer:

"Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars."

In other words, Lord, get us out of our boat!

But this requires vision!  For Peter, it was the vision to be doing what Jesus was doing—to be like His Savior—His Hero—if you will.  It was that kind of vision that motivated him to get out of the boat and try the impossible.  And it is the same for you and I.  Unless we have a vision that is stronger than our creature comforts, more desirable than our convenience, more exhilarating than our hobbies, our sports, our homes, our comforts, and our small earthly ambitions—we will never experience the Lord in any kind of extraordinary, soul-expanding, mind-blowing, and life-transforming way.  Because if we don’t have a vision of Christ and His supremacy, His glory, His majesty, His splendor, His magnificence, His grandeur, His Absolute Incontestable Sovereign Power, and His Willingness to provide salvation from hellish existence on this life and hell itself in the afterlife—we will never get out of the boat!

As Andrew Murray, a great missionary of the past, wrote concerning the apparent lack of enthusiasm for ministry, evangelism, and missions in many churches:

“As we seek to find out why, with such millions of Christians, the real army of God that is fighting the hosts of darkness is so small, the only answer is—lack of heart.  The enthusiasm of the kingdom is missing.  And that is because there is so little enthusiasm for the King.”

You see, Jesus just isn't our hero.  He just can't compete with our sports, our big screens, our comforts, our crispy creams, our pursuit of the American Dream because He isn't our hero.  And that's why our churches and our western brand of Christianity is so weak, so anemic, so cowardly, so unwilling to risk, so enamored with the world, and so utterly irrelevant.  

John Stott, the great English preacher of the last century made the point this way:

“The highest of motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission . . . nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing . . . but rather zeal—burning and passionate zeal—for the glory of Jesus Christ. . . . Only one imperialism is Christian . . . and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of His empire.” 

That is the only vision that counts—the only kind of vision that will take half-hearted, cowardly, weak-kneed Christians and turn them into burning, passionate, bold, risk-taking, Gospel-sharing followers of Jesus Christ. 

And in the end, when this age is over, and with all of the countless millions of the redeemed, we see Christ in the midst of inapproachable brilliant and glorious light seated on His Throne and we fall on our faces before Him Who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords—we will be full of incomprehensible joy and full of glory and there will not be a risk taken or a sacrifice made that will not have been worth it all a thousand times over.

So what is it that God wants to embolden us to do with this kind of vision of His Son or to put it another way—what is it that He wants to reward us for?

In a nutshell—God wants to manifest to everyone with whom we have contact wherever we are what it is like to know, experience, live life with, and enjoy Jesus Christ so as to give us the opportunity to share with them the Gospel.

That’s it—in a nut shell.

And you’ll find it in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.  Let’s read it!

According to Paul, wherever we are, no matter how we got there is where God wants to use us.  In other words, the most important place you and I can be in terms of our usefulness to God in terms of manifesting the essence and the character of Christ to unbelievers is where we are right now regardless of how we got here.  And Paul is not necessarily just referring to our location as in the physical place where we are right now.  He also has in mind our situation, our circumstances, our family, our kids, our friends, our job, our school, our church, our football team, our neighborhood, our doctor’s office, our grocery store, our favorite coffee shop or restaurant—basically wherever we are living life.

Wherever you are is the place and the situation God is wanting to manifest His Son so that those you are intentionally and unintentionally building relationships can experience the Person, Character, and Essence of Christ through you.  Listen, if you are a believer and you live in this community then God wants to use you to make His Son known to those you rub shoulders with everyday of your lives.

That is what Paul means when he says that God is always leading us in triumph in Christ so that we are manifesting the aroma of Christ—the essence of Christ, the fragrance of Christ in every place we find ourselves in.  And the fact is, Paul also wants us to understand that we need to be intentionally establishing relationships with the people we are rubbing shoulders with in every place we find ourselves for the purpose of intentionally living Christ out before them so that God can manifest the beauty, the majesty, the power, the love, the joy, and the hope of Christ’s character to them so that we can intentionally share the Gospel with them so that God can be glorified in either saving or not saving them.  That is what Paul is saying in verses 15-16.

Our lives as believers should have an impact on people wherever we are!

People should not ever be left wondering after we have spent some time with them who we are and Who we belong to as Christians. There should not be any doubt in their minds.  Furthermore, they should not simply be left with the impression that you are a nice person but rather that you are a nice person because of Jesus Christ.

Paul’s concern is not that we just be viewed by the world as really great, loving, generous, kind, neighbors and co-workers.  No—his concern is that everyone that we rub shoulders with experiences Christ in our actions and hears about Him in our words so that they either see Him as their Savior and live or find Him repugnant and are damned.

That’s what verses 15 and 16 are saying!

And if we aren’t doing this—if we aren’t intentionally living out our Faith in Christ so as to intentionally share Christ with the people God has already brought into our lives—God is not amused.  Listen to what He directs Paul to say in 1 Corinthians 15:34  “. . . for some have no knowledge of God—I speak this to your shame.”  

This is why I hang out for several hours a week in places like MacDonalds, Mrs. Murphy’s, Bagel Works, the Spiral Café, and Bob’s Diner.  That’s why I intentionally met and now have coffee with one of the guys who attend AA here.  I want to intentionally hang out where people are so as to intentionally build relationships so as to have God manifest the character of Christ to them so that I can intentionally share the Gospel with them.

Now, I don’t just go into these places to manifest a quiet testimony and to build friendships where I can share the love of Christ by simply being nice to them and hoping one day they will ask me about Jesus.  No, I intentionally go into these places to intentionally make friends so that God will intentionally manifest Christ to them so that I can intentionally tell them about Jesus.  In other words, evangelism is not about just making friends—it is about making friends so that I can share Christ with them because that is what real friends who know Jesus do.

It is not a question of using a friendship as an evangelistic tool to proseletize someone—NO—It is using friendship as a means or a tool of being the best friend I can possibly be by sharing with my friend the greatest news they could ever hear—which is Who Jesus is and What He did for them to make it possible for them to have a relationship with God and live a truly significant and fulfilling life now in this world and in the next.

Real friends don’t let friends slip into eternity without telling them about Jesus!  And that is the problem we struggle with—we build these friendships with our neighbors, our friends, our co-workers, our fellow-coaches, our family members, etc. and we live out the Christian Life before them but never ever tell them about Jesus.  Oh we may invite them to church—but that is not sharing the Gospel—that isn’t fulfilling the Great Commission!

Listen, unbelievers are not typically saved by coming to church—they are saved when the church, in the form of individual Christians, goes to them and shares Christ with them.  But that requires—INTENTIONALITY on our part!  It requires that we intentionally—just like Peter—get out of the boat!  Listen, through this passage of inspired Scripture God is calling you and I to take what many believers in the US and especially here in Vermont feel is the scariest step of all—that step out of your boat to share Jesus Christ with someone else.

But if you're going to make disciples--you have to open your mouth!

So you ask—how do I start?  Where do I begin?  What’s it look like?

Has God ever helped you?  Has prayer ever made life more bearable?  Have you ever found comfort in Christ?  Haven’t you experienced the forgiveness of sins and the lifting of guilt off your shoulders?  Well that’s the same thing people all around you need to experience too!

You will talk to people this week who may learn they’ve lost a job, will realize their marriage is breaking up, may recognize the early signs of Alzheimer’s in themselves or a loved one, may find out they or a loved one has cancer, have struggles with their children, struggle with guilt, aren’t finding fulfillment in life, hate their job, or just know there’s something more to live for than what they have.  And you and I have the answer and the answer is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And it’s not all that difficult to share—

Listen, God will give you the words to say to someone if you will only get out of the boat.  So—when God opens the door for you to share the Gospel—Just Do It—Just get out of the boat and do it!  And do it with simplicity, sincerely, and without unnecessary delay.  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking there is always tomorrow.  God is sovereign in the salvation of sinners but that does not mean there is not an urgency, or a concern, or a passion or an intensity involved on our part.  

In his autobiography entitled, Just as I Am, Billy Graham tells about a conversation he had with John F. Kennedy shortly after his election:

On the way back to the Kennedy house, the president-elect had his driver stop the car and turned to me.

"Do you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?" he asked.

"I most certainly do."

I then explained what the Bible said about Christ coming the first time, dying on the Cross, rising from the dead, and then promising that he would come back again. “Only then”, I said, “are we going to have permanent world peace.”

"Very interesting," he said, looking away. "We'll have to talk more about that someday." And he drove on.

Several years later, we met again, at the 1963 National Prayer Breakfast. I had the flu, Graham remembers. After I gave my short talk, and he gave his, we walked out of the hotel to his car together, as was always our custom. At the curb, he turned to me.

"Billy, could you ride back to the White House with me? I'd like to see you for a minute."

"Mr. President, I've got a fever," I protested. "Not only am I weak, but I don't want to give you this thing. Couldn't we wait and talk some other time?"

It was a cold, snowy day, and I was freezing as I stood there without my overcoat.

"Of course," he said graciously.  

But we would never meet again.  Later that year, the President was shot and killed in Dallas, Texas by an assaisin’s bullets.

His hesitation at the car door, and his request, haunt me still. What was on his mind?  Should I have gone with him?  It was an irrecoverable moment.

Well, Billy Graham didn’t wallow in that regret but he certainly learned a lesson from it.

If you are a believer in Christ—where you are on any given day—where you live, where you work, where you go to school, where you buy your groceries, where you bank, where you get your gas, where you walk, where you are living life is the most important place you can be regardless of how you got there.

And the people you run into on any given day are the most important people you could ever meet because all of them have been brought across your path by divine appointment.

And as C.S. Lewis writes, you and I have never met a mere mortal--every single person we talk to is an immortal soul that will spend eternity with Christ in Heaven or without Christ in hell separated from Him forever.

And it is in these places and to these people that God is manifesting His Son the Lord Jesus through you so that you will have an opportunity to share the Gospel with them—the Good News that God is willing to forgive any single one of them who will come to Him through Jesus Christ.

Take the opportunity—Get Out of The Boat—and Just Do It!

  

To make disciples is the calling of this church and of every church that bears the name of Jesus Christ.  But to do that we as a church have to get out of the boat.  And that will take courage—to actually talk about Jesus to people who don’t give a rip about Jesus.

It will take courage to get past the status quo and look at our church through the lens of Scripture to see if we really are the church to this community or are just playing church.

It will require courage to risk putting our money where our mouth is and get out of the boat financially to make some significant financial investments in our community for the sake of the Gospel.

It will take courage to act upon the truth that the church should exist the same way a fire does—by consuming its resources for the light and heat of those outside of it.

It will also take some courage to step out of our personal comfort zones to join hands and start working together as a church family to see our community impacted for the Gospel by people who are the church rather than people who just attend church.

  

And Christ can and will give us that kind of courage but only if we’re willing to get out of the boat and open our mouths!