THE IMMEDIACY OF “NOW”: How Important is “Now”?

#466b                            THE IMMEDIACY OF “NOW”:  How Important is “Now”?

Scripture  John 9:4                                                                                                                     Orig. 2/25/1968; 5/4/1974

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 2/10/1989

Passage: As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Purpose: To speak to my people about commitment that does not measure up to God’s expectations.

Keywords:           Commitment                     Discernment                      Resolution          Covenant

Timeline/Series:               Before Easter

Introduction

                Unresolved commitment is no new thing.  Our problems are not in knowing what to do, but rather in the stick-to-it-iveness to do what we know what we ought to do.  Unfortunately, irresolution and commitment do fit in the same sentence.  They don’t buck away at each other like the opposing poles of two refrigerator magnets.  They won’t stick to one another, but they will sit there side-by-side.

                You remember the children’s tale of the “little boy who cried ‘wolf.’”  He was supposed to be a shepherd, but he found a game that he could play to be more exciting.

                Occasionally, the father had other work to do and the lad would be sent out into the hills to tend the sheep.  When he became bored, and wanted to see some other human shape, he cried “Wolf”!  When there was some sound that he did not recognize and he wanted companionship, he cried “Wolf”!  If he became afraid of some shadow in the dusk, he cried “Wolf”!

                The bond of the shepherds in the hills was strong.  If anyone needed help, all who heard the cry of alarm went to his aid.  But arriving to the sound of the little shepherd’s plaintive cry, they never found any sign of the wolf.  The shepherds were leaving their own sheep in danger to answer the supposed need of the little shepherd boy who was more interested in games than he was in being a shepherd.

                So one day, the wolf really came..  The lad saw him as big as life.  He knew his sheep were in danger. So he called, and called, and called, but no one came.  Our text this morning is a short one, but it addresses our commitment.  Are we Christians in deed, or just in word?  Are we interested in making our faith easy on ourselves, or do we really want to follow the teachings of Jesus?

I.             Jesus Begins the Lesson Reminding Us that We All have Assigned Tasks.  “It behooves us to work the works of the one who sent me.”  Make sure we read what the verse says. The King James catches the spirit of Jesus’ own commitment.  “I must work.”  The NIV catches the plural:  “As long as it is day, we must do the work.”  The New King James adds a footnote: “We.”  Another [the Living Bible] says “All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned.”

                This helps us in not expecting too little of ourselves, and too much of others.  We really are overly protective of us.  And genuinely judgmental of others.  Proverbs 26:20 “Where no wood is, . . . the fire goeth out.  Where there is no tale bearer, the strife ceases.”  Need I remind you that the last two of the “Ten Commandments” were so directed?  “Thou shalt not bear false witness” [and] “Thou shalt not covet.”-

                Be honest with yourselves, and others.  What it boils down to, is that IF we spend our effort energizing our own commitment we will let others energize their own.  Nehemiah 8:10,”for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

                The joyous task of each of us ought to be in seeking God’s will. We do so in serious Bible study.  We do so in engaging prayer.  To avoid these is to avoid the search.  Unresolved commitment is where we wind up, or,  perhaps, “wind down.”

                It was Becky Thatcher, I believe, telling Tom Sawyer of her plans to be a missionary.  Tom’s interest was the river, and all the exciting places one could go.  So, he asked where.  To China, Africa, other places then discussed.  “I might even go to New Orleans.”  Might our, your, New Orleans be a small part of Union Parish where people need Jesus?

                A small word should be said about the required translation “must,” or “behooved.”  “Dei” in the Greek dictionary means “moral obligation.”  Found in Luke 24:26 “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things?” John 4:4 “And he must needs go through Samaria.”  Revelation 1:1 “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.”

                “Ought we not to work the works of the One who sent Jesus?”

II.            The Lesson Continues with a Call for Response.  “You must quickly carry out the tasks assigned.”  Isn’t that what Jesus meant?  Working the work of God while it is day? Get on with the business at hand while we have the wherewithal to do it?

                It is response born of faith.  It is getting ourselves ready for the opportunities with which God will confront us.  If you think the time of opportunity has passed, then you’re dead already.  You’re just occupying a living body.

                Some remember the “Old” days when every Baptist church in the state had a posted copy  of the “Church Covenant.”  To strive for advancement in knowledge, holiness, comfort.”  I don’t know a church anywhere that has not striven for “comfort.”  We had a “flap” in our seminary church because $1M had been spent on a worship center.  More than spent on buildings by Lottie Moon gifts that year.

                Do we strive as well for knowledge?  Parents faithful to school. On third snow day: “WE are going to be there demanding they open.”

                But  how faithful to Sunday School?  I was at College Place.  Darryl W. was  on his way to St. Francis Medical Center to visit a man who, the next Sunday, would miss the first Sunday in 58 years.  First Baptist Church-Bernice must return to that quest for knowledge of God.

                We’ve not yet said a word about striving for  holiness.  Do you have any scars from that kind of battle?  All that most of us can say about “holiness” is that we’ve heard of such people.  Missionaries.  Ancients.  It just isn’t “today,” we conclude. 

                Does not the work of Jesus compel us to response today?

III.           Finally, There is a Lesson on Candidness.  “The night is coming when no one can work,”  It is here that now takes on the burden of immediacy.  In spiritual honesty we are to be ourselves.  You remember the show Candid Camera?  Their byline was “People caught in the act of being themselves.”  The very last threshold for pretense ought to be in the dimension of spirit.  God has promised His Holy Spirit to all who are in Christ.  The key, then, is to be “in Christ.”

                It is through the Holy Spirit that we have a word for the world based on the WORD.  Our Wednesday night study in I Corinthians 14:9 “Except ye utter by the tongue, words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken?”  We rightly presume that [Paul] addressed charismatics.  Intellectual snobbery as well.  And a reluctance to communicate because we  just don’t care.  I Corinthians 14:12 “Since you want distinction, seek the kind that builds up the church.”

                We are too much like ancient Israel.  Deuteronomy 6:10, “When you reach the promised land, you will find cities which you did not build,  houses full which you did not fill, cisterns hewn which  you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant; when you  eat and are full, take heed lest you forget the Lord.”

                Assurance for the believer is “doing the work of the one who sent us” in  Jesus’ name.  It means “now.”  Job’s “now mine eye seeth thee,” Job 42:5.  David’s “Now, Lord, what wait I for?” Psalm 39:7.  Isaiah’s “Now, O Lord, thou art our Father, . . . we are . . .  the work of thy hand,” Isaiah 64:8.  Malachi’s “prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven,” Malachi 3:10.

Conclusion

                Metaphor: Years ago a scientific journal was placed in my hands.  It was “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist.”  The cover carried a picture of a clock.  The caption read, “The Doomsday Clock.”  It was twelve minutes to midnight. Some of [the] twelve have passed.

THE IMMEDIACY OF “NOW”

#466a                                                        THE IMMEDIACY OF “NOW”

Scripture  John 9:4, II Corinthians 5                                                                                                          Orig. 2/25/1968

                                                                                                                                                                                    Rewr. 9/1969

Passage: As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

Purpose: To speak to my people about commitment that does not measure up to God’s expectations.

Keywords:           Commitment                     Discernment                      Resolution

Timeline/Series:               Before Easter                     Covenant

Introduction

                Three days ago we celebrated the birthday of George Washington.  At least we acknowledge that it was a different day in many respects. 

                Around our town and every other one large enough to own a calendar the birthday was observed with Hatchet Sales, Cherry Tree Specials, and George Washington’s Day Spectaculars.  I suppose that the reason behind this type of commercialization is to inspire trust.

                In the Halls of Congress on that day every year, Washington’s Farewell Address is read.  In recent years we are told that only a handful of our nation’s spokesmen have aspired to be present for the occasion,

                The second portion of the Church Covenant speaks directly to the urgency of Christian service.  It is pointed toward the immediacy of now  For Washington, the secure establishment of a nation depended upon his dedicated leadership.  Only the future can tell what awaits your dedication and mine.

CHURCH COVENANT We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love;  to strive for the advancement of this church in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote its prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and spread of the gospel through all nations.

                The key words are verbs and the reason for John 9:4. 

I.             Now is the Time for Unity. The love of Christ constrains us (2 Corinthians 5:14) to walk together in Christian love.  It decries judgment attitude toward others.

                How often we hear Christians criticize other churches.  “You hear about so-and-so’s church?  I know that wouldn’t work.”  Bro. Plauché told of his  conversion without berating the Catholic religion.  Jess Moody tells about the man who, when he talks about other people’s sins, his talk is nine part true! 

                Proverbs 26:20 “Where no wood is there, the fire goeth out; where there is no tale bearer, the strife ceases.”  An Eleventh Commandment:  “Thou shalt mind thine own business and no one else’s.”  Nine and Ten mention neighbor—Thou shalt neither lie nor covet. 

II.            Now is the Time for Discernment, to strive for advancement in knowledge, holiness, comfort.

2 Corinthians 5:15 “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”  Be susceptible to changing society.

                Advancement in knowledge.  In this day of heart transplants and space probes, who would doubt the validity of the Kingdom of Heaven?  Our children are learning in 2^nd and 3^rd grade what we learned in 6^th and 7^th. Some we are not happy about.  We know less and less about the Bible.

                Advancement in holiness.  Not a holiness that makes pretenses about itself ((Pharisees (1)shoulder; (2)wait-a-little; (3)bruised)) but a holiness that acknowledges personal unworthiness and God’s charitableness. (ref. G30p191). 

                Advancement in comfort.  We need no covenant to appreciate material and physical comfort.  But there remains the comfort of forgiven sins and dislodged guilt.

III.           Now is the Time for Candidness, to promote prosperity and spirituality—II Corinthians 5:17, “old things are passed away”—determining what is spiritually profitable.

                Being ourselves:  One of the most appealing characteristics of Candid Camera was its honesty.  Quiz shows [were] rigged—We felt duped.  Even so, pretense in religious belief leaves people with a bad taste. I was in school with young men more interested in mimicking Billy Graham than discerning their own potential.  If there seems to be an experience beyond yours then search in prayer and scripture but don’t pretend. 

                Speaking an understandable word to the age in which we live:  John 16:25, “The time cometh when I will use parables no more, but I will speak to you in plain words about the Father.”  Corinthians is classic Bible teaching on tongues: words easy to be understood, [yet] how shall it be known what is spoken?  To the Pentecostal—the unknown tongue; to the Baptist—lofty phrases without meaning.

                Promoting the spiritually profitable: I Corinthians 14:12, “Since you are eager to have the gifts of the spirit, above everything else, you must try to make greater use of those which will build up the church.”

IV.          Now is the Time for Resolution, to sustain worship, ordinances, discipline.  II Corinthians 5:18 “All things are of God.”

                These things are sustained through personal involvement.  Israel’s greatest danger: Deuteronomy 6:10ff “cities you did not build, houses full which you did not fill, cisterns hewn out which you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees you did not plant; when you eat and are full take heed lest you forget the Lord.”

                Someone has wisely noted that in the faith of Jesus there are no grandchildren.  In the Hebrews’ faith great store was  laid in children, grandchildren, and their children.  They were Hebrews regardless. But in Christ there must be a personal experience for each believer.

                The things we sustain:

• Worship—a periodic, communal encounter with God and others
• Ordinances—a continuation of basic expressions of Christ’s death for sin and our death to sin
• Discipline—a standard to hold men to the claims of the gospel
• Doctrine—a statement of belief
• Covenant—a statement of policy

V.            Now is the Time for Scrutiny, to contribute cheerfully and regularly—ministry, church, poor, gospel. II Corinthians 5: 19 “…he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”  To search carefully for a program of outreach for a church. 

                The support of the ministry.  This is a sore spot for some people but usually they are the ones looking for justification not to give as they should.  People should be growing in giving potential. A good message.  You can be sure that this preacher has earned what he has been paid.  Two things of which you can be sure:

• Busy about church matters
• I am available to you

By the way, I am one of the golfing preachers.

                The expenses of the church.  We have learned how important it is to have a budget, and to live within it.

• Utilities—100 years ago wood-burning stoves and kerosene lanterns
• Literature—an aid and incentive to learn
• Insurance—sawmill donate lumber
• Building—not to exceed ¼ of budget.

                The relief of the poor.  Our government has taken over.  But there are still needs.  Help them to sense that the church is an ally.  Help them to help themselves.  There are others who desperately need Peace Corps, US-2 Missions, Agricultural and Industrial Missions.

                The spread of the Gospel was evangelical, now educational and medical, soon technical.

Conclusion

                Why so much stress on now?  The answer is simple.

                On the corner of the January issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, the clock was set at 12 minutes to midnight. Now it is 7 minutes.

                We don’t need the Bulletin  to verify this.  The Bible warns of a greater doom in God’s judgment on sin.  Now the church must move.

WHAT’S RIGHT WITH FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

#626                                         WHAT’S RIGHT WITH FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH

Scripture  John 14:1-12, NIV                                                                                                                        Orig. 3/20/1976

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 2/15/1987

Passage: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Purpose: To remind my people of the nature of our well-being as a Christian family and our reason to trust our heritage.

Keywords:           Christ the Lord                   Mission                Salvation                              Mission of the Church

Introduction

                Haiti, a small island nation in the Caribbean, has drawn great attention to itself over the past years because of its political struggles.  It was in the news again a few months ago.  National Geographic carried an article some time ago, in which appeared events out of her history.  Christophe, the island’s first  dictator, was mentioned.

                When Christophe came to power, he rallied the people of this poverty stricken land to his cause.  To do so, he convinced them that they faced imminent danger of attack from others.  His plan included a fortress, up in the highlands, a view, and control over the harbor through which the attack would likely come.

                For 15 years, Christophe kept his people laboring for this cause.  Haiti was free. Haiti was independent.  And Christophe intended to keep it that way at any cost.  Finally, the fortress was complete.  It was in every way impregnable.  The best of available artillery was put in place.  No unfriendly vessel would ever dare to enter this  harbor.  So, the dictator convinced these oppressed people.

                The price of such defense was high.  During the years of construction,  of cutting and hauling such stone over these forbidding trails, of struggling against such odds to bring heavy cannon to this place, a terrible life toll was paid.  20,000 people died, building what proved to be only a monument to a dictator.  100,000 suffered all the hardships of privation.  To this day, Christophe’s guns have never been fired.

                What has this to do with us?  The institutional church faces a critical question.  Are we to acknowledge other hardships to be faced, and therefore, turn our energies in upon ourselves?  Or, are we to acknowledge that Christ is Lord, and He has commanded us to direct our energies toward a world beyond, desperately in need?  Perhaps self-examination holds the key that will give us direction.

I.             The First Thing Right about Our Church Is the Right Lord.  Thomas:  “How can we know the way?”  Jesus: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me.”  Phillip: “Show us the Father.”  Jesus: “Have I been so long a time with you, Phillip, and yet ye have not known me?  He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.”

                Interest here is not at all in suggesting to others that they have the wrong Lord.  Some denominational interests insist that they only are right.  Scriptures such as Acts 2:38 are used not to admonish to truth, but to support position.  Advocates, such as [illegible], win converts to a cause presenting Christ as son of the Father.  Little more than as I am son of my father. 

                Christ is Lord, and He is Lord of our church.  We must honor what this means.  The Baptist, scriptural position, on the Lordship of Christ is correct.  Many others share it with us.

                Time will not allow all that is right about our Lord.  He is right because of submissiveness to the Father.  V13 “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the  Son.”  Hannah Hurnard(1) in Hinds’ Feet on High Places uses the expression “down into Egypt” to suggest adversity.  God spoke to Jacob in such place: Genesis 46:3 “Fear not to go down into Egypt.”  As Jesus expressed such submissiveness, so must we.

                Additionally, what’s right about Jesus is His love.  John 14:21 “I will love him and manifest myself to him.”  John 14:23 “We will come unto him, and make our abode with  him.”  John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, . . . not as the world giveth.

                So are we, then, to give evidence of our love. V23 “If [one] loves me, he will keep my words.”  We sing it: “You can tell that they are Christians by their love.”  Do we mean it?  Celebrate Life:  “He is alive and I love Him.” (Crescendo of conclusion.)  “Jesus is All the World to Me.”

II.            What’s Right about Our Church Is that We Are Saved at the Right Price.  V2f “In my Father’s house are many mansions: . . . I go to prepare a place for you, . . . I will come again . . . (for) you.”

                You see, we are saved at the price of His blood.  Here, the highest expression of sacrifice.  Here, the spiritual equation: "In Christ’s death, I also die; to be reborn for eternity.  Mark 4:26f: Farmer plants a seed. He does not understand the means, only that the seed must itself die if it is to truly live.

                It’s that time again.  We will plant the seed and impatiently wait.  There is the temptation to dig it up to ascertain its co-operation.  Disciples suckled on Malachi 3:1 “Who can endure the day of his coming?”  When does it start?  That happens to us as well.  We want God to prove Himself to us.  By what right?  Our venture is one of faith. 

                Our salvation is at the price of God’s promise.  Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three are gathered” asks not who we are,  or by what name, not even how we are defined doctrinally.  It asks if we agree in seeking the will and the promise of God through His Son.

III.           The Final Right Thing about Our  Church Is the Right Sense of Mission.  V12 “Verily, verily I say  unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father.” 

                We are beginning another in the series of our support programs, the Home Mission emphasis.  Not for First Baptist Church directly, but we do, in accession to will of God.

                Do you know why we Southern Baptists have a Home Missions Board?  To minister to the Aboriginals of these United States; to minister to minority populations; to minister in the strange city of New Orleans.

                It is not ability that is the church’s goal, it is availability.  Old Coliseum Place in New Orleans is in subsidence.  Even First Baptist Church New Orleans to a degree.  Others are rising to prominence.

In Flanders fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row,
        That mark our place; and in the sky
        The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below. 

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
        Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
                In Flanders fields. 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
        The torch; be yours to hold it high.
        If ye break faith with those who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 
               In Flanders fields.          John McCrae, 1915  

                As the church on mission reaches out to its community, it also reaches beyond, to a lost world.

• 15%--to world mission

• 2-1/2 more to association

• Various causes on purpose

• To whatever degree, it is through individual commitment.

                Years ago I listened to the interview when Hank Stram became the New Orleans Saints’ coach.  “What can Saints fans expect in the way of something new?” “You don’t win football games with programs. People win football game.  People with discipline and hard work.”

                No better time to pray  than now.  Pray that the hand of subsidence will be removed.  Pray that His hand of growth will be felt.  Pray that those will be lifted up, young men and women, to take the place of those taken from us.

Conclusion

                The last time we were at Glorieta, I took a walk up the mountain one day.  Somewhere near the top, I came upon a small pool of water.  As I looked into the pool, I saw what appeared to be a large hair, the length of a pencil, but not as thick as the lead.  Suddenly, it began to move.  I looked to see if there was current, but detected none.  A few days later, I asked my veterinarian brother-in-law about such a biological form.  He identified it as a Horse Hair Worm.

                How wonderful it would be if all of us more closely resemble what we claim to be in the Lord.

(1)Hurnard, H. (1979). Hinds Feet on High Places.  Tyndale Momentum.

FREE TO BE

#283                                                                           FREE TO BE

Scripture  John 8:36 NIV                                                                                                                                  Orig. 11/16/63

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 6/29/88

Passage: ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Purpose: To share with my people an Independence Day message reflecting upon our heritage of freedom that is in Christ.

Keywords:           Christ the Deliverer                         Freedom             Heritage               Religious Liberty

Introduction

                It was June 7, 1776, and the Continental Congress was in session.  Richard Henry Lee, grandfather of Robert E. Lee, moved that the congress adopt a declaration of independence.  It took nearly thirty days to decide the issue, days of discussion, debate, and prayer.  On July 2^nd, the resolution was adopted.

                John Adams was a member of that congress.  He wrote home to Abigail, “the second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epochal day, in the history of America.  I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival.  It ought to be commemorated, as the day of Deliverance, by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.”  (John Adams and the American Revolution—Catherine Drinker Bowen, 1950).

                Adams had no way of knowing that the new American congress would pick up on July 4^th as the Epochal day.  To these men, the signing was mere form.  The milestone was reached when representatives from 12 of the 13 colonies agreed on a policy to pursue together, fully persuaded that it was none other than the will of God.

                “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect of opinions of mankind  requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. . . .  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”—Declaration of Independence.

                Thus, we are guaranteed constitutional freedom, but true freedom awaits the constraint of faith.  To deny to others what we hold so dear, is a betrayal of both the constraint and the faith.  “Free to Be” is not worth a plug nickel if we would withhold it from any other person.

I.             This Liberty Looks to the Scripture as Its Cradle.  V31 “If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed.”  There is an absolute link here between this freedom and the word.  We abuse freedom when we divest it of its scriptural character.  The scripture mandates the criteria of liberty.  Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”  Psalm 119:45 “I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts.”  John 8:32 “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  Romans 8:21 speaks of “. . . the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”  I Peter 2:16f “Live as free men: . . . Give due honor to everyone; love to the brotherhood, reverence to God, honour to the sovereign.”

                And others of persuasive faith have had their say.

                Samuel Adams: “Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum.”

                Alexander Hamilton: “The sacred rights of man are not to be rummaged from among old parchments or musty records.  They are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of divinity itself and can never be erased by mortal power.”

                There must be contemporary concern for this liberty.  We face more and more dangers from the anti-religionists.  The Bible nowhere remotely suggest a freedom from religion.  The constitution, then, was not written to mandate that conclusion. The constitution was a guarantee of freedom “in,” not “from” religion.

                We can learn much from the State of Israel about this false “dogma” religion.  As late as this, the atheistic Jew is welcomed and given a valued place in the hierarchy of Israel.  The Christian Jew is treated as an apostate and a traitor.  The dangers of materialism are real and imminent, and we must stand our guard.  Abuses are evident at every level.  Yet, the pre-eminent safeguard for us is in practiced stewardship.

II.            Religious Liberty Grew to Maturity in the White-Hot Forge of Democracy.  V36 “If the Son frees you, you really will be free.”  I remind you that the religious life of the early colonies was  not characterized by religious freedom.  Early colonial governments dictated religious practices.  In New England particularly, there was an established state church.  Isaac Backus, Baptist, appeared before the Continental Congress in 1774 to appeal for religious freedom in Massachusetts.  John Adams, was without sympathy:  “just as well expect a change in the Solar System as to expect Massachusetts to give up her established church.” Our compatriots were Jews. Catholics who had settled Maryland.

                Free people are free simply because federal, state, municipal governments have no right to dictate religious practices.  But remember, that is freedom “in,” not “from” religion.  By its very declaration, it affirms the link.

                Thus, in those early years, Baptists became the force for public conscience and freedom.

                In 1740—50 Baptist churches

                By 1776—perhaps 475

                In 1795 there were over 1150

                Today—36,000 Southern Baptists with that many others

                It is imperative that we remember  who we are and whose we are.  It not who we are that God  has blessed.  His blessing then, and now, is upon those anointed with His concern for conscience, freedom, and truth.  What better expression than that of variance in convention outlook but togetherness in mission.

                Conservatives sustain a doctrinal base anchored in God’s Word.  Moderates remind us that we are free, and accountable for ourselves to the Father.  Together, we are to open the door of faith to as wide a gathering of seekers as we can.  The questionable resolution on the priesthood of the believer is something for us to chew on until next year.

Conclusion

                A Baptist named John Leland was the human influence that prodded James Madison to introduce the first amendment to the Constitution.  In that amendment, the basis for religious freedom would be established.  “Congress shall make no law  respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof.”

                We call ourselves “Baptist.”  Considering what it means, are we?  Or are we just prostituting the name until some real Baptists take it from us?

THE "RELIGION" OF JESUS

#697                                                            THE “RELIGION” OF JESUS

Scripture  John 9:13-41 NIV                                                                                                                             Orig. 2/17/78

                                                                                                                                                                               Rewr. 11/20/86 

Passage:

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”  16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.” 18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” 37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” 38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said,[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” 40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

Purpose: To help us to get a better picture of Jesus by better understanding the real religion He believed and practiced.

Keywords:           Christ the Mediator                         Doctrine               Religion                Commitment

Introduction

                People had problems with their religion in Jesus’ day as well.  It revolved simply around the fact that religion had become common-place.  The Hebrews had this heritage of God’s presence and power undergirding them.  That  He knew about them and cared.  Most of them were born into homes where they had parents,  even fathers, interested in sharing this spiritual destiny with the young.  And there were synagogues enough, not one on every corner, but enough.  They also had the Temple in Jerusalem.  So, they were a religious folk, but it was an outward form of religion.  They looked for ways to  minimize any struggle that might be brought on by such a religious outlook.  They wanted a religion that would cost them as little as possible.

                In Pilgrim’s Progress (1), we find the story of a religious pilgrim.  Some think it to have been a parable of Bunyan’s own life and pilgrimage.  He tells of the pilgrim who is called “Christian” on his journey to the “Celestial City.”  He meets other pilgrims who are going the wrong way.  There  was “Timorous” and “Mistrust” who come running down the road shouting “Go back, man! Go back! There are lions in the path!”  Then there was “Mr. Pliable.”  He was the one of enthusiastic beginning.  But one day on the journey, he fell into the “Slough of Despond.”  He climbed out on the side nearest his own house, a pathetic mud-smeared thing, and made tracks for  home, never to be seen again.

                Paul addressed the problems of the early church in the first twelve chapters of I Corinthians.  He wrote the people about worship, Christian character, God’s holiness, marriage, etc.  In the context of spiritual gifts, however, he reminded them, “You may have the best of religions, and unparalleled comprehension of it, but if you do not have love for others, your religion is without purpose.”

                This message is to the end that we may better understand the religion of Jesus, and thereby better adapt it to our own lives.

I.             Jesus’ Religion Establishes an Ethic not Afraid to Speak of Sin.  V39, 41 “And Jesus said, for judgment I am come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.  If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say ‘we see.’  Therefore your sin remains.”

                They, like many today, allowed themselves the prerogative relative to sin.  It did  not matter that there were clear declarations from the law.  Deuteronomy 6:6 “These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.”  Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”  Ecclesiastes 12:13 “Fear God, and keep His commandments:  This is the whole duty of man.”

                They had therefore achieved a level of sophistication whereby they rationalized God’s place and sovereignty in their lives.  It continues to happen.  Some renounce formal marriage ceremonies, [saying] it’s just a matter of record, or [out of] disdain for God.  Many have simply set moral law aside.

                There has found its way amongst us a movement called “God is dead.”  Not new, but even contemporary theologians are radicalizing it.  They pronounce human words, thinking to discount “unacceptable” words.

                I mentioned a few days ago, S.M. Lockridge, black pastor who will be speaking at our Evangelism Conference in January.  He preached at the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans a few years ago, and he spoke eloquently to this very question.  I quote: “We live in an alienated age, a computerized environment, and a psychedelic society.  Offbeat theologians and their fraternity mates have  plunged themselves into the depths of existential despair.  They have romped around in their sub-surface playpens and have emerged to announce that God is dead.  Now this shouldn’t have been surprising to us for the Bible informs us that the ‘fool has said in his heart, “there is no God.”’  And when I first heard  that absurd statement it made me want to ask some stupid and senseless questions.  Like, ‘Who assassinated Him? What, no one was called? Who signed His death certificate?  Who was so well acquainted with the One pronounced dead, that he could identify the deceased?  In what obituary column did you find His name?’  And, ‘Why  was I not notified?  I’m a member of the family?’”

                Jesus’ “religion” begins with an appropriate evaluation of sin.

II.            Jesus’ Religion Declared a Doctrine Determined to Raise Questions.  V16 “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, this man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath.”

                Jesus is not at odds with those who would question contemporary religious forms.  At issue is truth.  If what is done, though new and different, has truth as its goal, then Christ is in it.  In fact, to accept something just because it is palatable to the religious masses is spiritually inept.  Such statements as (1) Don’t make waves; (2) Don’t muddy the water; (3) Let well enough alone; (4) It was good enough for Grandpa; would have been morally and spiritually unacceptable to Christ.  They should be for us as well.

                This malady beset the elder brother in Jesus’ parable.  He had not gone against the “traditions” of family honor.  Even if tempted, he had overcome.  He had protected the “status quo.”  But he is ready to turn his own brother over to the ravages of a decadent society without so much as a camel knuckle to chew on.  How like many people’s religion he really is.

                There were questions needing a Voice, and Jesus would voice them.  There are ample examples.  In the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard, . . . but I. . . .”  More than fifteen times this conjunction of alternate thesis is used.  According to Jesus, then, what is true spirituality?  Is it keeping our bills paid, working regularly, going to church usually? Or are these nothing more than things we ought to do anyway? 

                Listen to Mark 8:34 “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”  Taking “cross” may be just the ordinary.  Following Jesus is the extraordinary.

                Whatever the question is, after it is asked, and answered, are we closer to Him?

                While in New Iberia, I was asked one year to serve as a judge for the Louisiana High School Speech Rally.  One session I was to judge “extemporaneous speech.”  I walked in the room to discover what the choices of topics included.  I don’t recall the others. One I won’t forget: “Good Old Plastic Jesus.”  These high school students were asked to make up a speech about a Jesus who could be manipulated, bent around the finger.

                But that’s not Jesus.  What some would want to make of Him.

                John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  Jesus said, Ask all the questions you like so long as you end up with this simple doctrine.

III.           Jesus’ Religion Sought a Standard that Substantiated a Changed Lifestyle.  V35f “Jesus heard that they had cast him (blind man) out; and when he had found him, he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of God?’ . . . then he said, ‘Lord, I believe!’ and he worshiped him.”

                It is no easy matter to always be what others want us to be.  Whether parents, children, employers, neighbors, church friends, etc.  National Geographic report of danger to gorilla handler was more likely if jealousy involved.

                He likewise understands lack of fulfillment when working only to please ourselves.  Ecclesiastes 2:4, “I made me great works; I builded me houses; . . . and, behold, all was vanity.”

                The only viable choice remaining is that of a life standard based on the Word of God.  The family of the man in our text turned from their own son from fear of a religious tribunal.  The people who knew him best reject what they do not understand rather than to abuse their own ego needs.  Much of the world’s intolerance is in the name of religion.  At times, the sincerest believers suffer the greatest abuse.  But those who walk with God are therein comforted not by religion, but by a personal walk of faith.

Closing

                Gertrude, Mabel and Judy were offered a ride from Emmanuel Church in New Orleans.  “I don’t drive on Bourbon Street.”  Gertrude: “And there we were living on Bourbon Street.”

(1) Bunyan, J. and Vermilye, A. (2020). The Pilgrim's Progress: A Readable Modern-Day Version of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Brown Chair Books.

BEARING FALSE WITNESS

#292                                                             BEARING FALSE WITNESS

Scripture  Exodus 20:16; John 8:32 NIV                                                                                 Orig. 7/24/1966; 3/1976

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 8/17/1989

Passage:  

Exodus 20:16     You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

John 8:32             “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Purpose: Continuing a series on the Ten Commandments, here calling attention to the ninth and its urgings as to the importance of truthfulness  in all things.

Keywords:           Falsehood                           Truth                     Witness

Timeline/Series:               Ten Commandments

Introduction

                If one is writing on stone tablets, brevity and conciseness are essential.   It is necessary to say the very most in the very fewest possible words.  We must remember, then, that the value of these words springs not from their mass, but from their measure.

                John, the gospel writer, will not be content until the full measure of this meaning is stated.  He determines to define and personalize both truth and falsehood.

                “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. . . .  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  John 1:14,17.

                Satan was called “a liar and the father of lies.”  John 8:44

                Pilate wanted to know if Jesus was a king:  “You say that I am a king.  For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37f).  “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

                “Jesus said to him, (Thomas) ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’”  John 14:6.

                There is His most earnest expectation for us:  “I will pray the Father, and He will give you . . . the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  John 14:16f

                John 8:32 “If you continue in my word, you are . . . my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

                I shall seek to go in two directions this morning: (1)To define what “being a false witness” means,” and, (2)understanding religious experience as the fullest expression of truth.

I.             Bearing False Witness is the Passing of Any Judgment that is not Factually True. 

                We live in an age of compromised values.  Integrity and truthfulness are often sacrificed for personal advantage.  People in “high” and “low” places speak in the lingo of the Saturday matinee, “with forked tongue.”  What emerges is a bland mixture of truth, half-truth, and no-truth-at-all:  The fairest flower is poisoned; the tallest sequoia has root rot; the finest furrows of our fertile fields are awash with weeds.

                A man was asked: “What in your lifetime has given you the greatest satisfaction?”  He answered without hesitation:  “A child that went down the road singing, after asking me the way.”

                How willing are you this morning to perceive of yourself as the witness in question?  Anonymous:  “There is no fit search after truth which does not, first of all, begin to live the truth it knows.”

                To begin at the beginning is to define false witness as the giving of false evidence in a court of law.  This was at the heart of the Old Testament meaning: Perjury is a crime; it is false testimony; it is withholding truth.  The law court is a device, ordained of God, through which justice is mediated.  Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers.  For there is no power of God:  The powers that be are ordained of God.”  For the which there is judge, jury, witness, plaintiff, defender, accused: One lie irreparably breaks down the system.

                Out of the law court, the false witness is the peddler of malicious gossip.  Do not ask if true or false, it is gossip either way.  Claim not to be condemning sin.  That being the case, to the sinner you must go.  Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man/woman that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”  Doubt not that the one receiving such trash is as guilty as the purveyor.  We take garbage to a proper receptacle. So the gossip, with his load of filth, seeks out the willing ear.  If such people gravitate toward you, find out why.

                One who wishes to slander another can do so also by inference.  This is the realm of the half-truth.  When the real juicy stuff is in decline, this will do very well.  Proverbs 11:9, “An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor.”  Proverbs 12:18, “Gossip can be as sharp as a sword. But the tongue of the wise heals.” NEB. 

                Someone has  noted, “Beware of half-truths.  You may get hold of the wrong half.”  Shakespeare writes of Julius Caesar’s death at the hand of Brutus, but he thought justly.  Mark Antony delivers the funeral oration intent  on declaring his feelings to the populace.  Speaking then that “Brutus is an honorable man,” until the people begin to doubt.  After planting this doubt, Shakespeare has Antony to say, “Mischief, thou art afoot.  Take thou what course thou wilt.” 

                Likewise in need of consideration is standing in defense when it is in our power to do so.  In defense of a friend when their character is assailed:  Mainly, nothing counteracts slander at its roots like upbeat, positive reply.  Job 42:10 “The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends.”  John 13:34 “that ye love one another.”  Romans 12:20 “If thine enemy hunger, feed  him.”

II.            The Second Consideration from this Passage is a Valid Declaration of Religious Experience.  “Thou shalt bear false witness.”

                We are, in fact, to communicate the truth of relationship.  There are people in the local church and out, who deny Jesus is Lord.  Those out are the object of some  ministry of prayer or concern.  Those within are a contradiction of gospel declaration.  Mark 16:16 “He that believeth not shall be damned.”  These are the words of Jesus.  To what degree do we believe them?  Are we willing to live by them?

                Laws in natural world, fire, water, storm, are deadly.  Even the liberal media warn of dangers of drugs.

                Whether we take Jesus’ words (above) to be temporal or eternal, we are to live in the context of truth, reality.

                We, occasionally, need to reconsider our own spiritual experience.  In light of all the New Testament says about repentance, are we up-to-date?  Can we recall the time when, by actual expression of faith, Christ became Lord of my life?  “Ye must be born again.”  Let me rephrase an earlier statement. “There is no fit search after Jesus (truth), which does not, first of all, begin to live the Jesus (truth) it knows.”  Go, and live that experience, or be what you are, a false witness.

Conclusion

                Martin Luther had theological values we would not want.  He thought the earth stationary. (Eclipse.)  He thought demons caused thunderstorms.  National Geographic [has a] picture of black wall stain where he threw his ink pot at the devil.  But it was he, standing before Emperor Charles, surrounded by the royal court, knowing that he was bringing the combined wrath of empire and church down on his own head who declared his witness.  “. . . My conscience is captive to the word of God . . . .  Here I stand!  I can do no other!  God help me!”

FREEDOM AND ITS DEMANDS

#138                                                          FREEDOM AND ITS DEMANDS

Scripture  John 8:31-36                                                                                                                  Orig. 7/4/1965; 7/1975

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 6/30/1985

Passage: ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ³⁵ Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.           

Purpose: To speak to my people on the eve of Independence Day on the true nature of freedom.

Keywords:           Freedom             Liberty                  Rights                   

Timeline/Series:               Special Day

Introduction

                The sight of a July Fourth parade will do it every time.  I don’t have to be there in person.  I can see it on television, or just hear the strains of music.  To know that it is July Fourth and that a parade is underway somewhere always brings back some recollections of childhood.  I remember standing on a street in my hometown watching the festivities among the people of my youth.  I remember the bands and the marching people, and the soldiers, and the Colors.   I remember seeing people weeping unashamedly, old men standing at attention with their hats in their hands, some in arthritic salute.

                There would be a community gathering.  Speeches would be made.  Patriotic speeches!  Speeches by people who loved their country and who had proved it in devoted service.

                I remember as a young soldier, standing in uniform and looking up to see the American flag flying atop the United States Capitol.  I remember going as a part of the official detachment to inter the body of a friend.  My high school classmate had gone into the Navy, and had been killed in an accident aboard his ship.  I remember firing the military salute, . . . folding the flag that draped his casket, and presenting it to my friend’s mother.

                What are the values of freedom?  Are they yet the same?  Do we feel the same glow that we felt then?  Is there a price to freedom that many seem reluctant to pay?  What . . . are the demands of freedom?

I.             There is no Liberty Without Limits.  Two strong attitudes are described here.  V33 “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone.”  V34 “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” 

                Living in a free society does not of itself guarantee liberty.  Too many people are the sum of their circumstance.  Surrounded by cynics one will become  cynical. One may become religiously oriented the same way.  True liberty guides a person beyond his circumstance to truth.

                The Pharisees looked upon themselves as special.  “We are Abraham’s children.”  We have our own set of labels.  A lot of pride in Dallas. 45,000 “We’re Baptists.” Two letters in Shreveport Times: “Why cover the [Southern] Baptist Convention?”

                God is not moved by our labels, but by our liability.  Labels—“Dallas Cowboys”—sports are proliferating.  New York Metropolitan Opera had a huge deficit.  We are not drawn to art forms glorifying God, but to sports glorifying man.

                Liberty is the benevolent gift of God to all such who would see all men free.  It started with Jesus who would have all people free.  It was passed on to His disciples who grasped its meaning only at Calvary.  It reaches our hearts with the discovery that there are limits to liberty, and the limits are in Christ.

                [Poet] James Oppenheim – “They set the slave free, striking off his chains/Then he was as much a slave as ever/He was still chained to servility/He was still manacled to indolence and sloth/He was still bound  up in fear and superstition, by ignorance, suspicion and savagery/His slavery was not in is chain, but in himself/They can only set free men free, and there is no need of that/Free men set themselves free.”

II.            There are no Rights Without Restraints.  V31 “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”        There is  no uncertainty about the intent of Jesus’ teaching.  Singlemindedness:  Elijah—How  long halt ye between two opinions?” Jesus—“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”  Dedication:  Revelation 2:10 (Smyrna) “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.”    Certification of discipleship:  It asks a question, “Are you My disciples?”  It gives the only possible answer. It responds, “Then you will remain entrenched within My Word.”  A verb form demanding continuity.

                Freedom is a gift from God.  It is the opposite of lust for power and greed.  Perhaps it is God’s way to compensate for man’s Adamic passion.

                Freedom is His gift and man’s goal.  The Constitutional Convention began deliberations on May 25, 1787.  June 8 found the weather warm and tempers flaring in the State House in Philadelphia.

                There was total deadlock.  Compromise and success seemed impossible.  Benjamin Franklin called them to prayer.  “And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, it is probable that an empire cannot arise without His aid.”

III.           There is no Freedom Without Focus.  V36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

                We are never really free until life begins to focus on what is beyond us. 

“Within my earthly temple there’s a crowd;

There’s one of us that’s humble, one that’s proud.

There’s one that’s brokenhearted for his sin,

There’s one who, unrepentant, sits and grins.

There’s one who loves his neighbor as himself,

And one who cares for nought but fame and self.

From such corroding care I would be free,

If only I could determine which is me.” (London Newspaper, 1945)

                Listen as Paul declares this to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 7:22), “He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s free man: Likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.”  And to the Galatians (5:1), “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” And Peter in his epistle (I Peter 2:16), “As free, and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.”

                Newsweek commissioned an issue on 100 heroes.  Only three mention religion: a Franciscan priest, a lapsed Mennonite, and _____________.  Captioned, “I Love to Tell the Story.”

                The demands of freedom are: There is no liberty without limits; there are no rights without restraints; there is no freedom without focus.  The limits, the restraints, the focus are clearly Christ.

Conclusion

                Boy behind Wilhites.  Whoop. Running to house with fish on line.  Emerges sans fish.  Shortly, a second boy emerges with fishing pole to try his luck.

                When the world is able to grasp our freedom in Christ, they will beat a path to our doors.

THE CASE FOR REALITY

#751                                                               THE CASE FOR REALITY

Scripture  John 8:24 NIV                                                                                                                               Orig. 7/26/1979

                                                                                                                                                                               Rewr. 5/2/1991

Passage: 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

Purpose: To ponder the question, do we live by the world’s values, or by God’s values?

Keywords:                          Christ the Word                Forgiveness        Christ as Saviour               Sin

Timeline:                             Bible Study, John

Introduction

                A researcher by the name of George Barna has recently published a book, The Frog in the Kettle,(1) in which he studies the impact of religion, more particularly Christianity, on American life.  The better known pollster, George Gallup, has already given us cause for concern.

                In a report last year, Gallup states, “While religion is highly popular in this country, survey evidence suggests that it is often superficial—it does  not change people’s lives to the degree one would expect from the level of professed faith.”  To some degree, the Barna group sought to compare its findings with those of the better known pollster.

                What he reports is not uplifting.  Only 38% of unchurched persons viewed the church as relevant.  The respondents were asked about their philosophy of life.  25% indicated a Christian philosophy, 24% claimed a philosophy  not based on Christianity, and 51% indicated that they had no philosophy of life.

                They were asked what it means to be Christian.  21% thought it meant to go to church, or to be a good, religious person.  Another 21% opted for a bland “to be different from others” answer.  19% said that it meant “to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.”  The others, 28%, chose either, “to believe in God, to help, or to love other people.”

                The question comes down to one about reality.  Is our religion settled by religious pollsters, or is this statement of Jesus valid?  “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”

I.             The Case for Reality Calls Attention to the Sin Question.  V21 “I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.”  Sin was then, and is now, a contemporary dilemma.  It was all around Jesus in His day.  It is all around us today.  It is a major factor in our lives. 

                Jesus’ directive to the Jews is to be taken seriously.  Sin has caused man to forfeit the place of honor given by God at creation.  Ecclesiastes 7:29 “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” The water hyacinth was brought in to beautify bayous.  Years ago, Australian sugar industry imported 101 cane frogs to deal with beetles.  Now in epidemic proportions consideration is being given to a parasite to control the frog.

                Every generation has found his own reasons for discounting the sin question.  Jeremiah 16:12 “And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may “not hearken unto me.”

                Every generation is tempted to seek its own impersonation  of the historical Jesus.  We suppose we are in a better position to define eternal truth.  It is Satan’s grandest design.  We seem content to have it so.

II.            The Case for Reality Describes the Burden of Sin.  “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins.”  Consider Israel’s involvement in media events.  Think of the world’s major powers.  Today it’s still USA/USSR.  Germany and Japan were briefly.  In prior centuries it was England, Spain, France. 

                Yet, Israel has a major voice in every decision touching the world.  A nation 100/150 miles in length, hardly more than forty wide.  Jerusalem holds a pivotal place in three great religions.  How?  Egypt’s greatness is seen at Giza.  Marvels of Minoan Crete at Knossos.  The Parthenon accentuates the uniqueness of Greece. Ephesus was the Queen city of the Aegean.

                Jerusalem . . . without a river, port, transportation system, without resources to compete in world trade . . . remains.  The Jerusalem of David and his capital, of Solomon and his temple, of Herod and his hate, of Jesus and His love.

                It is this same Jesus, the son of Israel, who here implores concern for sin.  His birth melody rang out its message.  Matthew 1:21 “And thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”  It was central to  His own teaching.  John 8:34 “Verily, verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin . . . John 8:36 “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

                It has been the message of every age declared by his disciples.  2 Corinthians 5:20f  “. . . Be ye reconciled to God.  For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

III.           The Case for Reality Explains Forgiveness from Sin.  “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”  One of the functions of the church has been to call people to repentance, forgiveness.  Psalm 95:7 “Today, if ye will  hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.”  Isaiah 59:20 “The redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression.”

                What can we bring, if we have not first brought our sin to the altar?  Money.  Talents.  Appearance.  God’s spiritual kingdom will  survive without any of them. 

                [Novelist] Sholem Asch --  The Apostle: A crusade is underway, the converts are urged to bring “fruit, meat for repentance.”  The merchant, in dapper dress, brings a bag of gold.  “No,” says the apostle, “naked from the womb, naked to the earth.”  A poor man:  “these hands, the muscles of my back I offer.”  “No, my son, you are trying to give back what already belongs to God.”  A beggar brings his sin.  “My son, you have given more than the others, you have given what is yours.”

IV.          Finally, the Case for Reality Introduces the Saviour from Sin.  “If you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”  This is either the greatest hoax perpetrated upon humankind.  Jesus, the crucified.  Jesus, the advocate with the Father.  Jesus, the light-bringer. Jesus, the hope. 

                No, it is not a hoax.  It is conditional release.  It is forgiveness from sin.  It is deliverance from guilt to glory. 

                It is salvation.  Jesus:  “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.”  Jesus: “The author and finisher of our faith.”  Jesus: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.”

Conclusion

                Piglet in  his yard.  Pooh passes.  Again.  “Hallo,” says Piglet, “what are you doing?”  “Hunting . . . tracking something.”  Piglet  joins in the hunt, and every time they go around the spinney more tracks are seen, and the more apprehensive they become.  Whatever it might be, they were getting dangerously outnumbered.

                Christopher Robin:  “Silly old bear, what were you doing?  First you went around the spinney by yourself.  Then Piglet ran after you and you went around together.”

                We must see to the matter that our REALITY is what is, rather than what we imagine it to be.

(1) Barna, G. (1990). The Frog in the Kettle. Baker Publishing Group.

(2) Asch, S. (1943). The Apostle. G.B. Putnam's Sons.

THE THEOLOGY OF LIGHT

#793                                                             THE THEOLOGY OF LIGHT

Scripture  John 8:12-29, NIV                                                                                                                        Orig. 2/25/1983

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 4/24/1991

Passage: Dispute Over Jesus’ Testimony

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

13 The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”

14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. 16 But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. 17 In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. 18 I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”

19 Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

Dispute Over Who Jesus Is

21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”

22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”

23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” 27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”

Purpose: Continuing the series from the gospel, here describing the language of light depicting Christ as the agent of God.     

Keywords:           Christ as Light                    Doctrine               Series Beliefs                     God                       Trinity

Timeline/Series:               Bible Study John

Introduction      

                Chapter seven introduced the time and place.  It was the occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2,10).  Because of the hostilities of the Jews, Jesus had spent the last weeks in Galilee.  As the time of the festival approached, more and more of the people began to make their way to Jerusalem.  Even His own brothers mocked Him about going on up to the feast to show His “works.”

                At the appropriate time, however, He went up also.  We are not given His specific itinerary.  We do know that the first night of the festival was the setting of a ceremony called “The Illumination of the Temple.”  Four great candelabra were prepared, and at dark were lighted.

                It was not exactly a Thursday night bonfire before the big game.  It was not akin to the lighting of the Christmas lights in Natchitoches.  It certainly would not have measured up to the fires set on the Mississippi levee on Christmas Eve down in the Gramercy, Lutcher area of St. James Parish.  But it was impressive.  Ask the person  who has spent time with bandaged eyes what the first glimmer of light was like.

                The celebration went on all night.  The wisest and holiest of Israel’s men danced before the Lord and sang psalms of joy and praise.  Every courtyard in the city became a reflection of that light from the temple.

                Perhaps it is now the next day.  Jesus has seen this glow from the Mount of Olives (8:1).   To the gathering of people who have now come to hear Him He says, “I am the light of the world.” 

I.             The Light of the World Attests to a Theology of Opportunity.  V12 “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  Jesus is accorded a place never given to any other.  He is the unique “Son of God.”  John dealt with this very thing earlier.  3:16 “For  God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son . . . .”  “Only begotten” says the King James.  “Only one of his kind” says the Greek.  Some versions use “unique.”

                He is not trying to take from these struggling people the joy of the festival.  He points them to a more luminous light.  There will be no such ceremony in the temple the next night, or the next.  He is simply affirming for them a light that can never burn out.  The talon is not expended.  The oil is not depleted. The wick is not carbonized.

                He gives them the opportunity to bask in the glow of One who has come from God.  19th Century history tells us of Prince Frederick of Prussia.  He was a good and capable man in line for the throne.  His German doctors found a growth, advised its removal.  He would lose his voice.  Other doctors advised to the contrary.  Frederick did nothing.  Within a year he was dead.  Kaiser Wilhelm ascended to the throne, far  less capable, or intelligent, or experienced.  Could WWI have been avoided had Frederick heard?

                In the verses that follow, Jesus plainly declares the need of His hearers to heed.  Jesus was making His presence felt.  “I go my way, . . . ye seek me, and . . . ye die in your sins.” V21.  All the time they are looking for a deliverer, a Messiah. 

                How many people around us are looking for a deliverer, of their own expectations?  Jesus was there as the breaking dawn.  They were content with such light as may come under the door. 

II.            The Light of the World Accords a Theology of Oneness.  V18 “I am one that bears witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.”

                So much that we know of God we learned of Jesus.  He is Himself expressly called God.  John 1:1 “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Titus 2:13 “Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.”  The works of God are ascribed to Him.  John 1:3 “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”  Colossians 1:16 “All things were created by Him, and for Him.”

                Jesus receives  honors due to God only.  Acts 7:59 (Stephen dying) “Lord Jesus, receive my soul.”  Philippians 2:10 “That at the name of Jesus, every knee  should bow, and of things in heaven and . . . in earth, and . . . under the earth.”

                Jesus claimed equality with God.  John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”  In this passage He says so, 8:19, “If ye had known me, ye  had known my Father also.”

                Jesus has come, not just to Jerusalem’s darkness, but Bernice [Louisiana]’s as well.  8:31f “If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed.  And  ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall  make you free.”  These are not the words of a misguided zealot, or an over-ambitious prophet.  These are the words of God.

                Scripture recognizes Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They are not perceived separately.  This is not tritheism (three Gods).  We perceive them distinctly in their roles, but their work is never contradictory.  Even after 2,000 years of the attestations of deity, countless people deny.  On the wall of a Palatine Palace in Rome: a human figure is fixed on a cross, with the head of an ass.  A man kneels in worship.  “Alexamenos adore his God.” Mocks believers in Christ.

III.           The Light of the World Affirms a Theology of Obligation.  V24 “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”  Many confirm for us who He is.  William Gladstone: “All I write, and all I think, and all I hope, is based upon the divinity of our Lord, the one . . . hope of our poor wayward race.”

                Vance Havner: “The world by its wisdom believes that the natural man can be cultivated and refined until he can pass inspection at the judgment bar of God.  But the gospel entertains no such hope for the fallen sons of Adam.” S103 p73.

                This obligation is directed to all alike.  To the first century Jew who nailed Him to a cross.  To the 20th Century church member to whom faith is a table game.  International chess match may last for weeks.  We have so many interests, and our response to Christ is a small part of one of them.

                Ballad [by Pete Seeger]:

Where have all the people gone?

Gone to graveyards every one!

When will they ever learn?

When will WE ever learn?

Conclusion

                Robert Browning writes of an occasion when Charles Lamb (18th Century English essayist) was hosting a gathering of his contemporaries.  They began to discuss their reactions if some of the notable people of history should suddenly join them.  Browning writes that Charles Lamb became suddenly quite serious.  He asked, “And if Christ entered the room?”  He was said to have stuttered he was so moved at the thought, and then continued, “You see, if Shakespeare entered, we should all rise; if He (Jesus Christ) appeared, we must kneel.”  

                Doubtless, the world will never know the  height of Jesus’ power, including the so-called Christian nations, until we are ready to pay Him homage.

LIFE GIVING BREAD

#488                                                                   LIFE GIVING BREAD                                                                                          

Scripture  John 6:30-59, NIV                                                                                                                          Orig. 6/7/1970

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 8/20/1990

Passage: 30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’[a]” 32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?” 43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[b] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Purpose: Returning to series preaching from the gospel, here defining Christ as the One who is Himself the Bread  of God.

Keywords:                           Nature of Christ                Sacrifice

Timeline/Series:               Bible Study of John’s Gospel                       Bible Study of the Parables

Introduction

                This chapter dares the reader to attempt to pass  through these pages without being drawn into the discussion of Christ as the “bread of God.”  Chapter six can, in fact, be divided seven ways, each funneling the reader into that deeper realization of Christ as BREAD.  It opens (vs 1-7) as Jesus questions the disciples about feeding the multitude that has come to hear Him.  The second segment shows Andrew acknowledging (vs 8-11) a lad who still has his lunch.  Next, in sequel form, (vs 12-14), the disciples are admonished to see value in fragments also.  The interval between this day and the next finds Jesus coming to the disciples during the storm at sea.

                Immediately the next day begins, the crowds have returned for second helpings.  What Jesus fed them satisfied their daily hunger, and they were back for more (v22-29).

                The sixth segment contained in this chapter is our text this morning.  Jesus presents Himself as the “life giving bread” (v33).  The concluding portion of the chapter (vs 60-71) reminds us of Peter’s faith in this feeding (v68), and of Judas Iscariot, who like so many then and now, were content to get by on the table scraps that they had set for themselves.

                The two essentials for nourishment are food and drink.  In 4:7f Jesus offers a thirsting woman water that would quench her thirst. Now, to these who hunger, food is offered.  The water was from a supernatural source.  So, also, the bread.  If all they want is a full belly, a full belly is all they will get.  It will hardly last the day.

I.             First Noted is the Striving of the Bread.  V33 “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” V38 “For I came down from heaven, to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” 

                Do we really, truly understand that Jesus is of more than fleshly stripe?  Five times in  this passage Jesus refers to His incarnation.   No doubt His birth was a human birth.  But it was so much more.  We put great stock in important people.  Go overboard getting program personalities who are important: Terry Bradshaw; Tom Lester (who played Eb on Green Acres) was invited to Camp Harris. 

                This incarnation establishes divinity John 1:14 “The word was made flesh, . . . and we beheld his glory.”  Do you behold Him as God? I Timothy 3:16 “Great was the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.”  The Greek doesn’t say “God.”  The  text accords to Jesus the character of God.

                Do we honor Him as is His due?  I John 4:2f “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. . . every spirit that confesseth not . . . this is that spirit of anti-Christ.”

                Jesus comes in the flesh to do the will of God.  His doing establishes that it can be done.  It testifies as well that we haven’t done it, and are ourselves at risk.  The glory is that faith in Christ affords us with His substitutionary atonement.  Hebrews 2:9 “We see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

                1500 years ago missionaries from far to the south came to the land we call England.  Celts had never heard.  Some saw this as an insult to their gods.  In the Grange Hall they argued far into the night.  A small bird blundered in toward the light of their oil lamp.  A chief: “Like that small bird we blunder toward what light we see.  But will this new religion  help us as we go out into the darkness where none of us have been?”

II.            Second Noted, There is the Striving with the Bread.  V41 “The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.”  V52 “The Jews strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

                It was striving against messianic claims.  The Jews introduce a word of manna.  The feeding of the multitude prompts.  Jesus informs them (v31) that the bread was from God, not from Moses.  The Messiah likewise will be from God to nourish people.  V33 “The bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”  Nehemiah (9:15) refers to manna as “bread from heaven.”

                The messianic tradition was that when Messiah came He would feed them manna.  At destruction of temple, pot of manna secreted away by Jeremiah.  Messiah will return it to the people.  Revelation 2:17 Pergamos: “To him  that overcometh, I will give to eat of the hidden manna.”  For Jesus to say that He was the bread  from heaven was to say He was the Messiah.

                They were striving also against His presumed claims to divinity.  It is so easy for a person reared in the indigenous atmosphere of church.  It is not hard for people of the same culture to easily grasp faith.  But for the Jew, everything they believed is being threatened.  Jesus informs them that it is not Moses who offers manna, but God; and now they are offered bread.

                Someone (Lockyear, p. 319) makes the point that Jesus offers life three essentials.  They are defined as breath, water, food.   In John, chapter 3,  Jesus spoke of breath, wind of Spirit without which man cannot have eternal life.  In chapter 4, Jesus offers a woman living water by which she can live forever. In chapter 6, Jesus offers Himself as the food available and essential for life here and hereafter.

                We should not overlook also that in His birth it was Bethlehem, house of bread.

III.           Finally, There is a Striving for the Bread.  V40 “This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

                Has it occurred that the only physical commodity sought in Lord’s Prayer is bread?  It acknowledges the majesty of God.  It confesses man’s weakness and sin.  It pleads escape from our confused inner selves.  Of physical needs, it pleads only bread.

                Our greater need is for the One who is our daily spiritual replenishment.   To what degree are you striving for Him?  V50 “This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die.”  How readily do you accord Jesus the place of priority in your life?

                I have told the story of the little boy in the home of people of means, who stuck his hand in the  mouth of a Ming bowl.  It would not release.  Broken.  Inside the clinched fist of the boy was a penny.

                How many of us are intrigued with the gospel story, but our spiritual fists are clinched around some worldly device that we refuse to yield?

                Your striving, my striving, must be for the bread. 

                V34 “Lord, evermore give us this bread.”  Hear Dorothy Sayers in her book, Creed or Chaos:  “The reason why the chuches are discredited today is not because they are too bigoted about theology.  At the risk of appearing  quite insolently obvious I shall say that if the church is to make any impression on the modern mind she will have to preach Christ and the Cross.  Of late, she has not succeeded well in preaching Christ.  She has preached Jesus, which is not at all the same thing.”

Conclusion

                Do  you have a place at the table where this bread is served?  Have you called home to say, “I’ll be there, too!  Set a place for me!”?  V51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any . . . eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh.”