Truth or Consequences

 

“The teaching of a false prophet cannot withstand scrutiny under the divine light of Scripture.” John MacArthur

 
It’s a case that’s scandalized Kenya and has thrown a global spotlight on the too often deadly consequences of bogus religious teaching. Please don’t think it’s just the 3^rd world. It seems nearly every year there are sincere people following a false teacher that can result in deadly consequences.
  This time the preacher was prominent Kenyan ­televangelist, Ezekiel Odero, who described himself as “God’s chosen one.” Last April authorities arrested Odero along with another prominent pastor, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, after finding more than 100 dead or starving people on Mackenzie’s property. Mackenzie, the founder of Good News International Ministries, had asked his followers to fast until they died and met Jesus. Prosecutors linked the two charlatans as business associates who led their followers in some cases even fatally astray.
  More than 85% of Kenya’s population is “Christian.” Ministers, like Odero in a country where poverty is widespread, prey on the desire for health and wealth. Those in dire poverty are easily victimized by charlatans promising “God’s relief.”
  2 Timothy 4:3-4 warns us, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” While most false teaching doesn’t have such dire consequences, it’s still spiritually deadly. How can we protect ourselves from it?
  We must test everything by the standard of Scripture. False teachers like to use phrasing “God told me.” Or “I have a word from the Lord.” They use this as a cover because if God is saying something, how can you question it? But you can question it and are encouraged to in the Bible. God’s Word is always the yardstick. At Grace, we believe in Sola Scriptura. That simply means the Bible is the only infallible source of authority for our faith and practice.
  In the book of Acts the “the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). The Bereans were being taught by the Apostle Paul himself, yet they didn’t take what even an apostle taught at face value. They examined the Scriptures to see if what he said was accurate and true.
  That should be done with whatever is taught that claims to be God’s message. Every sermon, lecture or a claim of divine knowledge must be measured by what the Bible says to determine if it’s true.
  Don’t be intimidated by someone’s celebrity status or the size of their platform. In social media there’s something known as “social proof.” It’s the idea that if many people like it, it validates the person or what they’re saying. That doesn’t work for biblical truth. Just because the one saying it has a large following, it doesn’t mean that what they’re saying is true.
  Sometimes the bigger the platform gets the less people want to tell the truth because they’re worried about losing fans or financial support. As a result, they may be tempted to say what they believe their followers want to hear so they’ll keep coming back. The size of the following is not a validation that the message is true. It often only means that the message is popular. Popularity and truth rarely go hand in hand.
  Study God’s Word personally and be a part of a community of believers committed to faithfully studying God’s Word. The most important words when dealing with any teaching is to ask, “What does the Bible say?” When we read a book, even from a trustworthy source, we must ask that question. When we listen to a sermon or someone teaching a group, we need to do that. Even when we read books, blogs, tweets and other things, it’s the question we must ask. And when we do this, when we’re committed with the help of the Holy Spirit to seek to understand the Scriptures to the best of our ability, and when we hold all teaching—even good teaching—up to the light of God’s Word, there’s no place for false teaching to hide.
  There is safety too in a community of committed believers. All of us have preconceptions and prejudices. Partnering and studying with those who love God and His Word help protect all of us.
  Half-truth is one of Satan’s most dangerous weapons. A tragic example is – Does God want us to be moral and “good” people? Does He want us to obey the Ten Commandments and other commandments in Scripture? Yes! But will that gain us God’s forgiveness and entry into heaven? No, it’s not what the Bible teaches. It’s a half truth. We’re to seek to live as good people and obey God’s Word because we’ve been forgiven and committed our lives to Christ but not to gain points with God or entry into heaven. We do it because we’re His children not to become His children.  
  As Martin Luther said, “The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man was the idea that somehow he could make himself good enough to deserve to live with an all-holy God.” Just this half-truth has led many to believe that if they’re relatively good, attend church, have been baptized, do nice things or give away lots of money, etc., then they’re on their way to heaven. But it’s not what the Bible teaches. Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
  If we could be “good” enough for heaven, would God have sacrificed His Son Jesus on the cross to pay our sin debt? Yet Satan loves half-truths. Tragically, many will go into a Christless eternity because they believed that lie and didn’t check God’s Word for themselves. There’s only one yardstick for spiritual truth – God’s Word. Please use the right measure of truth, not just what someone says is the “truth” because believing a lie could kill you. Be like those Bereans. Check it out for yourself!

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

1 Samuel: More than just a great story!

 

“Every story deserves a great ending.”  Christopher Nolan

Do you love a good story? A good storyteller can have you on the edge of your seat. There are no better stories than the stories found in the Bible, but they’re not just stories – they’re history. They’re not make-believe or “once upon a time.” They all happened. They’re as much history as anything written by popular American historian, David McCullough. 

  There’s an account about the great Reformer, Martin Luther, related to the stories in the Bible. The great turning point in Luther’s life came when he was assigned to teach the book of Romans at Wittenberg University. When he came to Romans 1:17, “The just shall live by faith,” God used it to transform his life. The Reformation was conceived from that encounter with Scripture. Yet, that wasn’t Luther’s first contact with Scripture. 

  When he attended seminary he studied books of canon law and church tradition but amazingly for someone studying for the ministry, he was never actually encouraged to read the Bible. In that dark period of Church History, the Bible wasn’t considered worthy of any real investigation. Church leaders were concerned with other things. Nevertheless, one day Luther found in the university library an old copy of the Latin Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible done 1100 years before by Jerome in the town of Bethlehem.

  Luther blew the dust off of it and began reading in one of the early books. That book turned out to be 1 Samuel and what he found amazed him. He was reading a story, not heavy theology, as he expected Scripture to be, but the story of a boy named David, and he was fascinated. It didn’t change his life at that point, but it intrigued him. That experience became part of what God used to make him into the world-transforming figure that he became.

  Today we’re returning to our study of 1 Samuel: God of Reversals. We’re in the latter half of this great book. And we’re jumping in this morning with the most famous story in 1 Samuel – David & Goliath.

  David is the hero and a dominant character of both 1 and 2 Samuel. We first met this young man in our study before Christmas in chapter 16 when he was anointed king by the prophet Samuel. Yet, 1 Samuel is much more than a sling, a rock, and taking out a giant story. In it, we will often find a reflection of our own lives.

  1 Samuel has highs and lows. It has motives that are maligned and unjustly questioned. Doing the right thing and what pleases the Lord often isn’t rewarded. Instead, it carries a high price.

  It has one of the most wonderful friendship stories in Scripture. It’s unusual in that it touches an area that’s often overlooked yet desperately needed – healthy friendships between men. Jonathan and David are comrades in arms. They have a friendship stronger than many brothers. In today’s world, most men have difficulty even knowing how to have a friendship. A good friend is often considered someone who likes the same sports we do or that we play golf or go fishing with. Yet, God intended friendship to be so much more.

  1 Samuel has messy families. A younger child is disdained by his older sibling. There is an angry, ongoing conflict between a father and son, or a daughter who is caught between loyalty to her spouse and her father. It bubbles over with plots, divisions, and conspiracies.

  It’s a horrible version of the original “Bad Boss” story. Not only is there abuse of an employee, but he’s not just terminated, there’s an attempt to exterminate him.

  1 Samuel is filled with political intrigue. Power plays and plots are normal. Jealousy and envy grow like dandelions in the Spring. Perceived usurpers and threats to current leadership are hunted down. The innocent or anyone who stands in the way of the political machine pays a high price.

  The obnoxious, rude, and even foolish are here. Doing the right thing or living the right way doesn’t seem to add up. A love story peeks out from its covers. There is temptation in the midst of the terrible trials to stop trusting God and go spiritually AWOL. Even witches and the occult are dabbled in.

  During the coming weeks, we’ll discover 1 Samuel is a page out of today’s world, our world, my world, and your world. The problems, struggles, and issues are ours, too. It’s not just theoretical stuff. It will resonate within our own lives and hearts. We’ll see our own lives reflected in these pages.

  But most of all, it’s God’s story. When it seems that evil will win and wrong prevail, we see that all along God has been working. He’s using even trials, difficulties, and suffering to accomplish His will and purpose.

  Christian counselor and author, Paul Tripp writes: What is the biblical story? It’s the story of a God of love invading the world in the person of His Son of love to establish His kingdom of love by a radical sacrifice of love, to forgive us in love and draw us into His family of love, and to send us out as ambassadors of the very same love.”

  1 Samuel is first and foremost God’s story. As God works throughout this book, He is also working in our lives, even when it doesn’t look like it.  He’s not surprised by anything that we face or struggle with. God takes what from our side of eternity is a hot mess and transforms it into a masterpiece of His grace. It’s not just back then, it’s today. It’s not just for great heroes of the faith, like David. It’s for you and me.

  1 Samuel isn’t just some well-written story. It’s a picture of our own lives and our own relationship with a loving God. It reminds us anew that even when all seems dark, He’s still there and we can trust Him. 

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. 

Stop attending church!

“Now the church is not wood and stone, but the company of people who believe in Christ.” Martin Luther

When you think about it, it’s fun yet a bit silly. Whenever I attend a professional ball game, along with everyone else, I’m caught up attempting to guess how many fans are attending. As you know, about halfway through the game, they place up on the scoreboard several options for the attendance. Fans are encouraged to guess how many are there. I’m not a very good guesser, but it’s encouraging to me when it’s a high attendance.

  Do you remember a few years back when there was a concern that professional baseball might die from a lack of popularity? I hope that day never comes. I love baseball. Of course, my first love is the Atlanta Braves. I’m thankful that the Brewers are in the National League so I can see my home town team periodically play when they come to Milwaukee. There’s just something very special about attending a baseball game.

  Many Christians think church is like that. They think church is all about attending. It’s not. If you think about it in our technologically driven world attending church is a bit stupid and lots of people have figured that out. The trend is growing as fewer and fewer people are attending church.

  You may have even asked the question yourself: Why bother? That’s also why if there’s a “competitive” option (family event, ballgame, weary from work, etc.), people skip out on attending church. Yet, we’d rarely skip work or having our children attend school for the same reasons we skip attending church. For example, an entire family will skip church if one family member is sick. Can you imagine that conversation with the school attendance office? “Yes, our children’s baby sister has a cold so our other two won’t be attending either. After I hang up with you, I’m calling work because neither my spouse nor I will be attending today because of our sick one year-old.”

  The reason that doesn’t work is even though we may language it that way, it’s totally unacceptable to just attend school or attend work. And we all know this. If your child merely attended school, you’d soon receive calls from his teacher. “Mr. ______, we have a problem. Johnny is attending but he’s not engaging in class. He won’t bring his books, refuses to interact and won’t do his homework.” If you only attended work but never actually worked, you’d soon find that you didn’t have a work place to attend.

  The commonly accepted model of church in America is an unbiblical one. In fact, it’s a sinful one. The New Testament knows nothing of “attending” church if you’re part of the Church; that is if you’re a believer and know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Today, as there were in the early church, there will be seekers, those who have not yet committed their lives to Christ attending church. But Jesus doesn’t give His followers the option to attend church. Add to that, in today’s culture, attending is kind of silly.

  Think about it. Why get dressed, take the time to drive and use up fuel to attend. Everyone has either a TV or the Internet. Most have a smart phone. It doesn’t make sense to attend church. If you’re attending, in light of the time, expense and convenience, a logical question is: “Why go to church?”

  While our church doesn’t yet stream its services online, you can download last week’s sermon from our web site. And if you want an immediate church experience, millions of churches do and you can access almost any church you want, anywhere, anytime. Free. That all brings us back to the question: Why attend church? Why even bother?

  Let me say this very simply – DON’T. Jesus does not want us to attend church; He calls us to something so much better and greater. We are the church and that must change everything. Merely attending church doesn’t make you much of a church because sitting in a back row consuming church doesn’t make you very good at being the church.

  The New Testament teaches that being the church has everything to do with living your life for Christ, demonstrating God’s love by loving and serving others, and sharing your faith with those who don’t know Him. That’s very different than consuming church sitting in a back row, which you can just as easily do sitting at home in your pajamas.

  The compelling biblical reason that a Christian should go to church each Sunday is that you’ve moved from being a consumer to being a contributor. You don’t go to be served, you go to serve. There’s something deeply biblical about that, so let’s start with the basics.

  First if you’re a Christian, church is not something you attend. It’s something you are. You can’t disassociate from church as a Christian any more than you can disassociate from humanity as a person. You don’t go to church, you are the church. Most of the New Testament is not about the teachings of Jesus, but about the work of the church that Jesus initiated and ordained. Without inundating you with Bible verses that prove my point, you’d have to discard the majority of the New Testament to argue that the church was about filling a seat just attending. Or, that it was a nonessential. 

  Second, the metaphors in the New Testament for the church indicate commitment, unity and participation. Terms like army, temple, body...to name a few, demand commitment and unity. The Bible compares us to a family. Because Jesus loves us so much, we are to love each other. Because He’s so committed to us, we’re to be committed to each other. Family gatherings aren’t optional, they’re anticipated. The family also has idiosyncrasies and sins. Because we’re family, we love, forgive and help each other grow past them. When there’s a problem, we don’t go down the street looking for a new family. Each member contributes and participates. We look forward to welcoming new family members. In fact, we get very excited about them. We encourage each other and sacrifice for each other.

  So to be a little blunt, if you’re looking for a church to attend, this isn’t it. That’s a ball game. At Grace, we’re committed to what Scripture teaches – that we’re family. Because Jesus loves us and we love Him, we love each other. Just as He is committed to us, by His grace we are committed to Him and our brothers and sisters in Christ. That’s the church!

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address. "

One strange herd

“Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in Him unless he knew where His believers are?” Martin Luther

In the animated movie, Ice Age, when saber-tooth tigers attack a tribe of nomads, a mother and her baby attempt to outrun the man-eating beasts but they’re cornered at a raging waterfall. The little boy is discovered by a wooly mammoth named Manfred, a sloth name Sid, and a saber-tooth tiger named Diego. These three unlikely companions unite on a common mission to return the baby to his father. As the trio treks through a mountainous terrain of ice and snow carrying the baby, at one point the mammoth, sloth, and tiger realize they’re on an erupting volcano. The heat of the lava melts the glacier bridges atop the ice fields, separating Diego from the others. Isolated on a quickly melting island of ice, Diego jumps to reach the others, but falls short. Dangling from the edge of the ice field, his grip falters, and he falls. Manfred, unwilling to let Diego perish, leaps into a chasm after him and tosses the tiger upwards to safety. Diego, realizing the danger involved in the rescue, is moved by Manfred's compassion, courage, and sacrifice.

  “Why did you do that?” he asks. “You could have died trying to save me.” Humbly, the mammoth responds, “That's what you do when you’re part of a herd. You look after each other.” Amazed at the convergence of circumstances that has brought these three together, Sid finally muses aloud. “I don't know about you guys, but we are one strange herd.”

  One strange herd! That’s a pretty accurate description of a healthy local church. It is, or at least it should be, a description of us. A mix of individuals with different personalities, backgrounds, ideas and perspectives sometimes, who might never hang out together— except for the one thing that we have in common: we have been rescued from sin and death! We have the same Savior. We’re regenerate and we love Jesus. In one way or another, we’ve been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirt and God’s amazing love and mercy. And because of that, we hang out together. But even more than that, as the film illustrates in a cute way, as a “herd” of Christ followers, we look after each other—even if we might look a little strange at times.

  When our church, when any local church is what it should be, it becomes a place where our old nature and our old instincts begin to die. We begin thinking completely different about ourselves and the other believers around us. People who we might never have associated with before, or people who we never would have thought we’d speak to, must less befriend, suddenly become our brothers and sisters. And we find ourselves wanting to bring in more and more of those who might not belong anywhere else—we find a place for them. Our herd, our community, becomes a place of love, grace and service; a place where people experience the transforming power of Jesus at work in their lives.

  Something we don’t understand, even in a church family, is that we have very limited power and influence, as long as we function as individuals. The power of the Spirit flows and is so much more potent when we’re a community. There’s unity in the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit) and God has designed us, as a redeemed people, to have that same unity.

  The very first thing that Satan did was divide the first couple. He attacked and continually attacks the local church to cause that same division. It was not Peter or Paul that God used to turn that 1^st century world upside down, it was the church – a community of committed believers. God’s plan hasn’t changed. Jesus loves the Church. Jesus died for the Church. It’s in the Church that His greatest power is displayed and that is first seen locally.

  The greatest unity most of us know today is that of a marriage or a family. Yet, God wants so much more for us. That’s why during the next five weeks we’re going to take a break from our series on Luke’s Gospel and focus on unity and community in the Grace Church family, Me to We: The Relationship Series. Spiritual community is our focus for 2015 because if we don’t first love one another, how will we ever share Christ’s love with a lost world.

  And I need to warn you. This will stretch you. It’s going make us uncomfortable. We like the status quo. But Jesus didn’t die so we could play “church” and have our souls periodically warmed. He calls us to come and die. If we will commit to obeying Scripture and submitting to the Spirit, God can do a great work both in us and through us that will count for eternity.  

  Part of the power of local church community begins so basically. We must first know one another. For example, we’re commanded to pray for each other. I’m sure God knows who we’re talking about when we pray for that tall guy who drives the Chevy BUT God wants so much more for us.  How can we pray for one another? How can we love each other? How can we encourage each other? When we don’t really even know each other?

  To be what God wants us to be is going to demand that we crucify ourselves. It’s going to mean that we die to our own agendas, schedules, desires and plans. It means that we must spend time with one another. It means that we have to be willing to be stretched. It means that we must see that person in the seat in front of us as Jesus does.

  For many, it’s going to mean joining a Sunday Morning Live class or small group. It’s going to mean that we don’t rush in at the last minute and then rush out on the last “Amen.” It’s going to mean having a meal with people where we hardly know their name. It’s going to mean stepping out of our comfort zones and stretching, actually spending time with people who aren’t just like us. Because Jesus didn’t die for clones. He loves and died for one strange herd! It’s His will that we love that same strange herd! But how can you obey and love people that you don’t even know?

  Can you imagine having someone tell you, “I love you but I can’t stand your kids”? Jesus loves the Church, so much that He died for it. We’re to love His Church too. It starts here. Because if we don’t love the Church, we really don’t love Jesus. It’s His Body, His Bride. If you love Him, you have to love His Church. Over the next few weeks we want to grow in our love for His Church and begin moving by His grace from Me to We. Yes, it will stretch us, yet it will be so fulfilling because we’re obeying, doing His will and then, because we are, experiencing His blessing!