Week Of: March 7, 2010
Title: Our Direction and Means of Love
Series: Systematic Theology – Part 20
Scripture: Romans 5:5
1. In getting anything done in life it seems to me that we need two things: energy and direction. Think just a moment with me—there are a lot of people out there who just don’t know what in life that they want to do. They have no real direction or purpose in life. And even if they had a general idea of what they want to do they would not how to go about it.
2. But knowing what you want to do in life is sometimes not enough. There are a lot of people who have a good idea what they want, but they can’t get energized enough to get started. It is like putting an address into your GPS in your car, getting in starting it up and getting nowhere because you don’t have any gas. You know what you want, or at least you have a vague idea of what you want, but you don’t have the energy to get moving to get there.
3. To which the more cynical of us would respond that person is just lazy. Yet I think the Bible supports what I am saying by what we have in the Holy Trinity. Let me talk to you again about the Holy Trinity.
4. Let’s assume you’re new to Christianity and you don’t know anything about what we call the Trinity. I would start by saying that as strange as it sounds Christians worship one God, but that one God expresses itself in three different persons called God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, in which we believe are all the same but somehow all different, and all equal and at the same time all are worthy of our worship. We worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—but we worship one God.
5. As their eyes got increasingly bigger I would say look don’t freak out, don’t get anxious or don’t get overly confused because as Christians we have a hard time explaining it and understanding it. It is a great mystery.
6. They might say I understand that it is a mystery but “how are the three different, if they are all the same. And why are there three, instead of one?” I would shake my head and say smarter people than I have tried to explain it, but I’ll give it my best shot.
7. According to the Bible God by definition is both the Alpha and Omega; He is both the beginning and the end, so He exists outside our perception of time and space. That is what we mean by eternal!
8. The way we tell the difference between the three is essentially this: The first is to say “One is the Father, the One is the Son, and the Other is the Holy Spirit.” Sounds really simple doesn’t it? J
9. The second way we tell the difference is what classical theologians called “the mode of origination.” How they came into being? We say that the Son was begotten by the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
10. Thirdly, we also say that the Son or the Word, who was begotten eternally by the Father before time ever began, was born of the Virgin Mary and conceived of the Holy Spirit dwelling among us.
11. In addition, God the Father is the source of everything in the Trinity to which everything in the Trinity owes its existence to and to which Jesus the Son prays and seeks guidance from. And of course that which the Holy Spirit proceeds from.
12. The Father also shares and gives everything to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit except that of being the Father.
13. The Holy Spirit itself is eternal personification of the love of both the Father and Son and proceeds from them. And as Paul says in Romans 5:5 “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” The Father is love, the Son is love, but the Holy Spirit is love itself.
14. That person might look at me and say: “Love, love, love, God is love, but what does love look like? If the Spirit is the embodiment of love, what does love look like?” Turn to Matthew 1:20 “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
15. The Holy Spirit conceived in Mary the seed of God, and God became flesh and walked as the Word incarnated upon the earth, a walking, talking, living, and even a dying expression of what love in the flesh looks like.
16. So if we want to see what love looks like then look to Jesus, and we will see what we need to pattern our lives after. Well, also see what Jesus thought was important enough to love.
17. First of all, remember what are the two greatest commandments? This is generally what Jesus came to show us. But let’s be more specific…
18. Love incarnated in the flesh is concerned about the following. Turn to John 13:1, “having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of love.” He loved his followers and wanted the “love that the Father had for Him to be in them and that He himself might also be in them” (John 17:26). Love incarnated loved us so much that He wanted God the Father’s love to be in us, and for He himself to be in us.
19. Turn to Matthew 19:13, “The little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” Jesus loved the little children. Why? Because they are so small and cute? No because they are innocent and helpless…
20. If adults don’t stand up for children then who will? Children were precious in Jesus’ sight because they more than any other human beings are helpless and innocent. Love always takes up for the helpless and misfortunate. Love always protects the innocent and the naïve. Love is always for the underdogs of life. Love is always compassionate for those who are suffering.
21. Turn to Luke 7:12 “As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Jesus’ heart goes out to those who have experienced great loss. Love reaches out to those in pain and who have suffered loss.
22. Jesus also had compassion for the masses, for the crowds of human beings and the condition of their lives. For example, Matthew 15:32, Jesus says in the feeding of the 5,000 “I have compassion for these people they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry.” Jesus loves hungry and needy people.
23. Another time Matthew says of Jesus “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Sheep without a shepherd are lost, helpless, and vulnerable to outside predators.
24. So Jesus loved the lost sheep of this world. In Luke 15:3, he tells the parable of a lost sheep saying “suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” When he finds it then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says: “Rejoice with me; I found my lost sheep.” It seems some sheep are lost out of indifference, others ignorance, and some arrogance but Jesus still loves them all.
25. In yet another passage Jesus sees another crowd of people and has compassion on them because they were sick and needy, and He healed them (Matthew 14:14).
26. My point to all of this is that Jesus gave us both direction and example of what to love in our lives. But we may be saying I think I know what to love, it’s just that I cannot always love. The Holy Spirit gives us the energy to love what He has commanded us to love. If we are not going to be spiritually lazy in life, we need both direction and energy to do what God wants us to do.
27. May Jesus direct our hearts to the greater love and may the Holy Spirit give us the means to carry out that love.
Week Of: March 14, 2010
Title: God is in Control
Series: Systematic Theology – Part 21
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11
1. How much do you believe in the providence (divine intervention) of God? Charles Spurgeon once wrote “we believe in the providence of God, but we do not believe half enough in it.”
2. Someone else wrote: “The more we trust the sovereignty of heaven, the less we fear the calamities of earth.”
3. And still someone else wrote: “Providence: The Hand behind the headlines.”
4. One of my favorites is that of Joseph, the second in command of all of Egypt talking to his brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20)”
5. And then Roman 8:28 “All things work together for those who love the Lord, and are called according to His purpose.”
6. Well what is the providence of God? Look at your handout sheet in your bulletin. The providence of God may be defined as: “God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that He (1) keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which He created them; (2) cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do; and (3) directs them to fulfill His purposes.”
7. In other words in God’s providential care, God preserves everything that He has created; cooperates and assists everything to carry out their purpose for existence; and He directs and guides everything to fulfill His purpose.
8. The book of Revelation says that God is both the Alpha and Omega—the beginning and the end. You might say that God is both in and out of the process keeping it going from the beginning to the end in the direction that He would have it go. Look at handout, from alpha to omega.
9. He guides it, and the guiding hand of God is what we call providence. If God had His “rathers” everything would go smoothly from alpha to omega. The Lord’s Prayer would be fulfilled and His will would “be done on earth as it is done in Heaven.”
10. But you don’t have to be Apostle Paul to know that things don’t work that smoothly. Look around you, read your newspapers, listen to radio and television, and look at your Bible and you will know that there is a big difference between what God wants done and what is being done. The reason being is freedom of will.
11. This big difference has led some to believe that the world is not in the control of God but of the “evil one.” Turn to 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” I know that’s what 1 John says but does that fit with what the rest of the Bible says?
12. Daniel 4:35 says, “he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him ‘What are you doing?’”
13. Psalms 135: 6, 7 says, “’whatever the Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deep. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lighting with the rain with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses.”
14. Hebrews 1:3 says that Christ is “upholding the universe by his word of power.” Paul says in Colossians that in Christ “all things hold together” (1:17). Nehemiah 9:6 says, “You are the Lord, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all the host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worship you.” Paul says in Ephesians 1:11 that God “accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will.” Job 12:23 says God: “makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and the leads them away.” Psalms 22: 28 says, “Dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.”
15. Ephesians 2:10 says “God prepared beforehand (our good deeds), that we should walk in them.” All of this doesn’t sound like a God who has lost control.
16. And even though Satan may say in our scripture this morning that He could give to Christ all of the kingdoms and nations of the world, he is promising something that he had no right or authority to promise. Remember, just because Jesus didn’t correct Satan’s lie doesn’t mean that Satan was telling the truth. Sometimes lies are so ridiculous that they shouldn’t need to be corrected.
17. And what measure of influence and control Satan has in this world, as 1 John 5:19 might suggest, God is the one who allows it. Whatever rebellion and measure of influence Satan has received is only because God has granted permission for it.
18. One of the earliest theories of atonement has stated that Satan has stolen all of creation from God, and that mankind especially belongs to the devil.
19. First off, what is atonement? Atonement put in the simplest terms is what does Jesus suffering and dying on the cross mean? Easter and Good Friday will be celebrated at the first of the next month. The reason that we are celebrating Good Friday and ultimately the Resurrection is what the atonement is all about.
20. One of the many, many theories of atonement is called the ransom theory of atonement.
21. In it, Satan is now the governing power of the world. As world ruler, he has rights that cannot just be ignored, he owns the world and most importantly us. We, humanity, are Satan’s slaves. God has to get us back. He will not steal us back from the devil, nor violently take us from the devil. So God asks what is necessary for Him to buy our souls back from the devil. Satan sets the price of Jesus’ life and, really, His soul. Jesus for us, the ransom is set and with the death on the cross the ransom is paid. However, things don’t work out the way the devil envisions. Sure Jesus dies, and descends into Hades preaching to those in the grave, but God the Father tricks the devil and resurrects the Son. Now the Son sits victorious at the right hand of the Father. God the Father has deceived the great deceiver and we have won!!!
22. There are numerous things that are wrong with this view of atonement. One is that any time anyone says that God is a liar or a deceiver, that person is dead wrong. God hates lying, stealing, and cheating. He will not stoop to that level, not even for us. The only thing that God cannot do is do something that is against His Holy Character.
23. Two, do you believe that the end justifies the means?
24. Three, Satan has “no right of possession” over humanity. Humans belong to God, in fact even though things may look rather ify and shaky in our lives and in the world. God is still ultimately in control.
Week Of: March 21, 2010
Title: Moving Toward the Cross
Series: Systematic Theology – Part 22
Scripture: John 12:20-28
1. We are getting closer to Good Friday and Easter. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, then Holy Week and then Good Friday and then Easter. You might say that Good Friday and Easter are the events that everything moves toward every year. Good Friday and Easter are the most important occasions in the life of the church.
2. In fact, Good Friday and Easter are the most important occasions in the 33 years of Christ’s life. Look at verse 27 in our scripture this morning “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify thy name.” Good Friday and Easter are the very reasons that Jesus came into this world—to die and be resurrected again.
3. You might say that Jesus’ entire life was moving toward the Cross and Resurrection. So the day after what we call Palm Sunday Jesus is trying to prepare His disciples and really anyone who will listen for what is going to happen.
4. The task of trying to prepare the followers of Christ, and really anyone else who will listen, is still going on. By the grace of God, we will soon be experiencing another Good Friday and Easter Sunday and the present day church will once again will try to proclaim what has happened.
5. What do you think is the significance of the Cross? And maybe just as important, why do we have to have a Cross? Let me direct your attention to your worksheet this morning. I’ve tried to give you some answers to these two questions
6. Christ’s death is seen in many ways, the following represents six ways:
(1) Jesus’ death is the perfect example of the type of dedication God desires of us.
(2) Jesus’ death is a demonstration of the extent of God’s love for us.
(3) Jesus’ death underscores the seriousness of sin and severity of God’s righteousness.
(4) Jesus’ death shows God’s victory of the forces of sin and death, thus liberating us from their power.
(5) Jesus’ death renders satisfaction to the Father for our sins.
(6) Jesus’ death is substituted for our own.
Of the six, I would like to draw your attention to #5: Jesus’ death renders satisfaction to the Father for our sins.
7. Have you ever thought why cannot God just overlook your sins and, for that matter, everyone else’s sins? When someone slaps me on the cheek, what am I supposed to do? Turn the other cheek. When someone sins against me, I am supposed to forgive them seven times seventy and so on, so why shouldn’t God just forgive me?
8. Let’s start with clear understanding of what’s sin. First off, sin is first and foremost against God. Psalms 51:4 “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.” In fact, you might say that sin is basically a failure to render to God what is due Him. By failing to give God everything that is His due, we take from God what is rightfully His and dishonor Him.
9. Sin is basically showing disrespect to God. If a school teacher tells a pupil to do something and that pupil refuses, then the student is in trouble because he or she ignored the teacher. If the teacher is a good teacher then he or she will not overlook the disrespect that the student has shown. They will figure out some way to make that child pay for their disobedience and disrespect.
10. Why? Just to be mean! Not really, because that child has to be taught to show respect to authority and learn to obey the rules of the class and ultimately the rules of society. No one is supposed to be above the rules.
11. And then if everyone disobeys the rules and is disrespectful to the teacher, then the class breaks down and learning stops. So for the sake of the child and the class there must be discipline and consequences for the breakdown of discipline.
12. So God being God, not only wants to act to preserve His own honor, discipline, and rules, but He must do so. Sin left unpunished would leave God’s economy of things out of order. God is a just God and He wants His rule and His universe to be just like Him.
13. What then is justice? Justice is simply giving to someone or something what is its due. If you do wrong you are due to be punished. If you do what is right you are due to be rewarded. If you are a criminal, and disobey society’s rules you have a debt to society. You get caught and you go to jail. You’ve done your time and you’ve paid your debt; then you are free to go.
14. But are all debts equal? Are all crimes the same? Not in the eyes of society, if I steal from someone that’s a crime, but that is nothing like killing someone. But what if I harm the President of the United States, is that the same as harming someone else? No because it is a federal offense to threaten or harm the President of the United States.
15. My point is this! Offenses against a President or a King are more serious than just an offense against an average everyday person. So what about God? We cannot harm Him physically or emotionally. But religious people have always believed it is more serious to insult and disrespect God than anyone else.
16. God is the infinite King and Lord of the Universe. To dishonor Him is a serious crime that we cannot pay off by ourselves. To dishonor God earns an infinite debt that I don’t have the means to pay off by myself. God has been wronged and shown disrespect and my sin is so great that I can never by myself make it right.
17. So God’s violated honor cannot be overlooked because the very order of the Universe and the honor of the One who made it are at stake. Therefore he can do only one of two things. He can condemn us all, and sentence us to hell, or he can work out some means of satisfaction on our behalf. He loves us but there has to be some means of satisfaction made for the huge and incomprehensible debt that humanity owes God. There must be satisfaction made.
18. So our debt is infinite, and he sends that eternal part of Himself that is called the word, to become flesh like us, to live a perfect and sinless life to die for us.
19. There is story told of a young woman that was picked up for speeding and drunk driving. She was ticketed and taken to jail then she spent two or three days waiting for her trial. Once her trial came the judge read off her charges against her and asked how she pleaded: Guilty or not guilty? The woman replied, “Guilty.” The judge brought down the gavel and fined her several hundred dollars or more time in jail. Tears came to her eyes and she said she didn’t have the money.
20. Then an amazing thing happened; the judge stood up, took off his robe, walked down around front, took out his billfold, and paid the fine. The judge was her father… and whether you agree with the wisdom of what he did or not, he loved his daughter he wanted to pay her debt. But He was a just judge, and his daughter had broken the law. He couldn’t just say to her, “Because I love you so much, I forgive you. You may leave.” If he had done that he wouldn’t have been a righteous judge…but he loved her so much that he was willing to take off his robe and come down and pay her fine.”
21. If you understand and believe what I am saying that is in human terms what God did for us, except He did so with His son.
No sermon week of March 28 - Easter Musical and Baptisms