Sunday, August 30, 2009

Annual Conference Report

Signs of life at Annual Conference:
• Cross Cultural Events:
o Promote Racial Diversity and harmony within the COB.
o Dan, Jane and I sang with Bittersweet at the luncheon.
 It was a great time of praising the Lord
 There was/is real spirit filled life among our multicultural congregations.
o I attended their workshop “Barriers to inclusion.”
 It was hosted by a panel of leaders, 2 Hispanic -Ruben Deoleo and Gilbert Romero, 1 African American –Thomas Dowdy and one Caucasian –Nadine Monn.
 The main issue discussed is a willingness/desire to embrace another culture.
• We think that our way of doing things is the best and by so doing, we don’t take time to consider the value of other cultures.
• The solution is to be intentional about embracing other cultures.
• More than anything, this is done in music and styles of worship.
• Brethren World Mission/Witness
o At the Brethren World Mission breakfast, Jay Wittmeyer spoke.
o Jay is the new director for our Brethren Witness
o Jay represents a more moderate view
o He is as passionate about the gospel’s power to save people from sin and restore them to a right relationship with God has he is passionate about the gospel’s power to restore people to a right relationship with each other.
o I would call him a true Matthew 25 Christian.

Issues at Stake at Annual Conference, two significant queries:
• How to deal with controversial issues, Language about Same sex covenants.
o Standing committee will determine if an issue is controversial
o Once it is determined, a study committee will be formed to discuss how we are going to talk about it
 The goal is to talk about the issue on a congregational issue
 Then discuss it on a district and national level
 This way, the votes will be informed
o The query passed with an amendment to include Query #4: Are we going to continue to use the language from 1983 paper on human sexuality?

Struggles at Annual Conference:
• Conference had poor attendance.
o Probably more than anything, due to the economy.
• Conference rules were strained in procedure.
o The way that query 2 and 4 were placed together seems a violation of policy by many.
• No other way to say it but: “Battle lines were drawn.”
o One side used a crotched rainbow scarves
o It made those without them feel marginalized
 (Marginalized means that they were made to feel like they were merely outsiders).
o One man, wearing a scarf told me that it was their desire to split the denomination.
 He said: “There is no way we can continue to journey together. Our goal is to split the church. We (I assume he meant the liberals) can get Elgin and you can get New Windsor.”
• There are a significant number of key leaders who are neither liberal or conservative, they just love Jesus and are tired of the fight. Hopefully, our voice can be heard and we can work to prevent a split.
• New Carlisle COB has a query to next years AC stating: “The Southern Ohio District of the Church of the Brethren asks: Are there ways to structure Annual Conference that could more effectively unite, strengthen and equip the Church of the Brethren to follow Jesus?”

The Great Debate

Text: James 1:19-27
Focus: Grace vs works
Function: To motivate people to service.
Form: Bible Study

Intro:

Martin Luther didn’t think that this epistle should be included in the New Testament. He was concerned that this book described a sort of salvation whereby someone had to earn God’s favor by their own effort.
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us (SHOW): For by grace you are saved and this is not from you, it is a gift from God. It is not a result of works otherwise, we would have something to brag about.

So, Bible scholars have argued back and forth the whole question about faith verses works.

We are going to be doing a study on the book of James for the next several weeks. So let me be clear as to where most of the scholars have ended up on the discussion. (SHOW) Salvation is by faith alone in Jesus blood shed for us. The proof of salvation is not the ability to quote a statement, but in the way our lives have changed.

So, during this study, I hope to keep explaining the necessity of both so that we can understand it more clearly.

Look with me at verses 19-21: (SHOW) You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago when we were looking at the scripture, “Be angry and sin not.” We saw, from this verse that while anger gets us motivated, the solution to the problem doesn’t exist in our anger, but in our gentleness.

So, first things first. When we take time to actually listen to someone we find the sincerity in their words and the genuineness with which they came to their opinions.

Say this with me.
(SHOW) Quick to LISTEN, slow to speak and slow to anger.

When he explains “slow to anger” he says “therefore” and tells us how to do it.

We know that we must be quick to listen and slow to speak and keep our tempers under control and that is best accomplished by stopping two things and starting one thing. First the 2 things to stop: “ridding ourselves of wickedness and rank growth of sordidness.”

I love these deep statements that can be interpreted many ways.

Let me make this a little more simple. (SHOW) Don’t be mean and don’t be naughty.
(Be kind and be pure)

Then, we are called to do this: (show) Welcome with meekness the Word that has the power to save your souls.

Welcome with meekness. I love this phrase! This phrase describes an approach to the God’s Word. He is talking about the bible, but he is describing Jesus.

Jesus is the Word of God revealed in human form.

Meekness is not weakness. But it is an attitude. It is the same attitude of “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

The true Christian is a person who stops to consider his or her ways.

Stop and think about what you are hearing.

How often do people listen with the intent of forming an answer instead of just really hearing what the other person has to say?

Okay, you all know this. And you, if you are like me need to be reminded of this from time to time. I had an old preacher mentor who used to tell me all the time: “Don’t be afraid to repeat certain principles, we soon forget their importance.”

Let us move on to: “welcoming the Word.” He goes into a little more depth about how that plays out in our lives.

(SHOW) 22But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

I have heard a lot of sermons on these verses.

They give us something to do. They give us something to be proud about.

You hear this verse creep into my sermon prayer very often. I often pray “Lord, help us/ME to put into practice what you say to us this morning.”

It is taken right from this verse.

I hope you have this nagging fear that we hear the word and say to ourselves “Boy Oh boy, I wish brother so and so was here to hear this sermon today.”

We tell ourselves that we are the people who put into practice what we hear.

Go back to the introductory paragraph: Be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to become angry… …With meekness welcome the word.

The sermon isn’t for someone else, it is for you.
When our heart is there, welcoming the word, then we aren’t thinking about it how it applies to someone else, we think about how it applies to us.

Go back to that sermon prayer; I also say “Help us/ME…” I am preaching to myself.

I have many times fallen into the trap, the error, or the sin, of comparing myself to others.

And it goes back to this great debate, “what works do we have to do in order to prove our salvation?” If we have to do the works to prove our salvation, then technically, have we earned our salvation?”

When we look at Matthew 25, there are many who cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead, preach the gospel in the name of Jesus and He will say: “I never knew you because I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, I was hungry and you didn’t feed me….”

It is a big debate that has been going on since the time of Martin Luther and the beginning of the Reformation.

Martin Luther was clear, the bible teaches that Christians are no longer under the law, but are saved like Abraham was. We are saved by faith.

So James answers this question before he talks about “doing the Word” instead of merely “hearing the Word.”

(SHOW) But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

It isn’t the OT law we are under, but we are under a NT law. James refers to it twice, here and in chapter 2, verse 4. Here he calls it the perfect law, the law of liberty. In Chapter 2 he calls is “The Royal law.”

Paul said, the OT law was handed down by angels, but the Law that Christ has given us is royal because it comes from King Jesus.

It is a much more simple law to understand and repeat.

(SHOW) The Royal law is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We are under that law. But it is a law intended to set us free to do good.

James is a book about holiness. But it isn’t the holiness that the Pharisees placed their hope in. Their holiness was a code of rules and regulations, certain kinds of clothes, rules about who you could eat with, what you could do or not do on certain days. It commanded them as the way they paid their tithe, and even the way they washed their hands and prepared their food. It contained over 10,000 commands.

And the Church has at times strayed into that kind of legalism as well.

Martin Luther rejected the words of the book because they were being falsely applied to things like penance, adoration of the priesthood, and unquestioning faith in the leaders.

But that doesn’t come from James. When James talks about holiness, He talks about keeping the tongue in check, not showing favoritism to the rich, caring for the poor and worshipping and focusing on God.

Look at the remainder verses of our passage:

(SHOW) 26If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

If you want to talk about the great debate, then this is the great debate in Christianity. Does the Church exist for the good of itself, or for the good of the world?

It is true, the Church exists to bring glory to God and this is how we do it.

It is twofold: Be pure and loving.

The Law of liberty is to Love God and Love our neighbor.

Being pure IS loving God. Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. If we keep on sinning, they we make a mockery of the terrible price He paid to save us.

But here is what I have found. Churches are either places where people focus on purity, or places where people focus on caring for others.
We are called to both. One could almost say that the division between the left and the right in the church has to do with which of these two things we emphasize. When I read Matthew 25 and read the words “depart from Me, I never knew you…” I tend to focus on the latter, caring for others.

I have seen too many times where people justify turning their heads from the poor and oppressed because “they paid their tithe.” Or, “they don’t participate in those kinds of activities, so they must be Christians.”

All of that is merely placing our hopes on our purity. But God’s intention is both.

Because the other side of that is people can be so into loving the neighbor that they refuse to tell them how their sinful behavior is destroying their relationship with God and their relationship with others.

You remember how we looked at 1 Corinthians 5 where a man was committing incest and the church was saying “but we are free in Christ” and Paul told them that this kind of activity was even shameful to pagans and irreligious people.

Purity is about loving God. Taking care of widows and orphans is about loving others.

This is the Royal law because it is the law that Jesus implemented for us.

Do you love Him? Do you love others?

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Nature of Spiritual Warfare

Text: Ephesians 6:10-20
Focus: Spiritual Warfare
Function: To help people get a cosmic understanding of Spiritual warfare.
Form: Bible Study

Intro:

From our text this morning:

(SHOW) Cosmic powers of this present darkness, Spiritual forces of evil High places, verses rulers and authorities… …The Book of Daniel describes spiritual warfare.

Daniel is a prophet. We read about this time he prays to God in order to understand what is happening in the present time and what will happen in the future.

During this time, the nation of Israel is in exile in Babylon. The nation of Israel is in political bondage to the Babylonian Kingdom.

Daniel decides to fast for 21 days eating only bread and water while he is waiting on God for an answer to his prayer.

Now I can’t say this for certain, because the book of Daniel is not written in chronological order. We know from History that the kings that Daniel served went in this order: Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and then Darius.

Cyrus was not Babylonian, but actually a Mede, who conquered Babylon the night that Daniel interpreted the “writing on the wall.”

But the thing is, this 21 day fast begins in the reign of one king and ends in the reign of another. So apparently, Daniel is too humble to claim being super-spiritual by bragging about a 21 year fast, so he calls it 21 days (which is his theme throughout the book, days for years).

Okay, so let me put this together, He is fasting for 21 years in order to get answers to spiritual mysteries and during that fast, the Kingdom that enslaved Israel is overthrown by different Kingdom. And this second government is much more favorable to the Jewish Nation.

When Cyrus becomes King, one of the first things he does is to order that the temple in Jerusalem be rebuilt. The yoke of oppression on the necks of the Jewish people begins to lesson.

And hopefully, you are wondering what in the world I am talking about and what this has to do with our text for today.

So look at this passage (SHOW): Daniel 10:12-13 Then he said, "Don't be frightened, Daniel, for your request has been heard in heaven and was answered the very first day you began to fast before the Lord and pray for understanding; that very day I was sent here to meet you. But for twenty-one days the mighty Evil Spirit who overrules the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the top officers of the heavenly army, came to help me, so that I was able to break through these spirit rulers of Persia.

The angel charged with protecting Israel is in a cosmic struggle with a fallen angel who has the charge of helping Persia.

While that struggle is playing out in the heavenly realms, the kingdoms of men are fighting a similar battle.

You see, what happens in heaven plays on earth.

So, again, Paul says that (SHOW) “our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Rulers and authorities are earthly powers, cosmic powers and spiritual forces of evil are heavenly powers.

Unfortunately, I cannot pretend to be able to unravel all of this mystery, I am not a prophet like Daniel, or the prophet Elisha who saw the forces of angels protecting him from the human army of Syria.

But we do understand that greater things that we can imagine are going.

What, then, are we supposed to know?

Well, it is clear in the next few verses.

(SHOW) 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore…

Again, the word “therefore” is in the text.

So, he is saying, since we are involved in a cosmic struggle that we cannot understand, our part is to take up the armor of God and Stand.

(SHOW) 1) Put on God’s armor 2). Stand firm.

I include the first two words of verse 14 because the verb tense in the Greek is the imperative: Stand.
I am sorry to say it, but it is a war image. It is the image of soldiers on the front line of the battle and the enemy with very sharp swords, and spears, or fast bullets is coming straight at you and the temptation is to break ranks and run.
But the commander knows that if the army breaks ranks and runs, chaos will ensue and the army will be destroyed.
The best protection is to close ranks and stand together and not be shaken.

(SHOW) We are commanded to stand side by side in mutual support.

Ecclesiastes 4 states, 2 are better than one because if one falls, the other is there to lift them up. Their combined effort is greater than the sum of what each could do individually. And if they work together in a three corded strand (that is with the Lord’s help) it is very hard to break them apart.

So, we stand together and then he describes the nature of our armor.

Many people have this memorized:
• (SHOW) and fasten the belt of truth around your waist,
o The first is truth.
o Although the army is a military metaphor, the strategy is anything but military.
o Use Truth, instead of deception
o Count on the power of truth to fight for you.
o The truth will protect you and set you free.
o So often, in the midst of conflict, we are tempted to keep our cards close and only reveal what will help us
o But truth is truth and we live by that truth.
o Truth holds our pants up.
• (SHOW) and put on the breastplate of righteousness.
o I hope this next part doesn’t upset you.
o There are two very good, and different interpretations of this verse.
o I believe both are valid.
o First off, Satan, the enemy in this passage has another job. We have looked at how he keeps us from forgiving, how he sows confusion and doubt but the Bible also says that he accuses believers.
o He whispers shame in your ears.
o And guess what? You are still far from perfect.
o But, you are righteous if you have trusted in Jesus.
o The lies, or half-lies, or even the truths that Satan accuses you of are covered in the blood of Christ.
o Remember that before you wallow in your own shame and then refuse to fight in the battle.
o We are protected by the fact that our righteousness is given to us by God instead of our power to earn it.
o On the other hand, the word Diakaneos, the word that is translated as righteous, is also just as often translated as justice.
o Think about this.
o Paul is talking about warfare where spiritual kingdoms collide.
o We saw in Daniel how this played out in the kingdoms of men.
o God protects the nation, or the people or the person who fights on behalf of justice.
o Throughout the teachings of Jesus, we see His overwhelming concern for the poor and the oppressed.
o Reading through the prophets in the OT, the biggest sin they condemned in any nation was the greed that they had that lead them to treat others unfairly.
o God says that He blesses the land whose leaders and people care for the poor.
o That is why you hear me preach so much against racism, against greed and materialism, about being kind and generous.
o Standing up for what is right for everyone, instead of just what is right for you, your family, your race or your nation places us in the protection of God.
o Remember Matthew 25, Jesus says that the proof of our faith is the way we care…
• (SHOW) As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
o The gospel of peace is this: God will forgive, heal and restore you to Himself and to others.
o If peace is not part of the gospel, then it isn’t good news.
o The Good news is, we can be restored to God.
• (SHOW) With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
o The opposite of faith is fear and doubt.
o The Devil throws doubts and fears at us.
o Remember, this battle is fought in the heavenly realm and we read about angels and demons fighting it out and then it plays out in the affairs and politics of men.
o We can’t see, or understand what is happening up there, but we can see the way it plays out here.
o Listen to the national debate about here.
o For example, look at the way the debate about healthcare and tell me that Satan isn’t behind it with all the fear and accusations against people given by both sides.
o Remember, our shield is faith that wards off the accusations and fears described as “fiery darts” which are thrown at us by Satan.
o So, for our part, we use faith to overcome fear and doubt.
o Let us not stoop to the level of debate, accusation and attack. When we do, we fall into Satan’s scheme.
o You know, what has to happen to solve this problem is that we need a conversation instead of a fight.
o Let us do justice here by calling the people we know to put our arms out for a hug instead of our fists up for a fight.
• (SHOW) Take the helmet of salvation,
o When I think of the helmet, I think of the head and the thoughts of the mind.
o Because we have been saved, the battle is won and we know there is victory.
o It all comes from here, forgiveness, faith, justice the decision to stand…
o This is where it all comes together.
o Romans 12:2: let your mind be transformed.
• (SHOW) and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
o There is 1 offensive weapon in this armor
o Jesus resisted the Devil with the Word of God.
o Hebrews says that it is alive and powerful. It cuts through the confusion of human emotion and manipulation and exposes the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
o How effective are you with your swordplay?

And finally, he mentions the thing I have been talking about the most in this series.

He ends the discussion about spiritual warfare with an appeal to the power of prayer.

(SHOW) I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. ~Abraham Lincoln

Prayer is the beginning and end to Spiritual warfare.

CONCL:

Sunday, August 16, 2009

How Jesus Won The Battle

Text: Ephesians 5:21-33
Focus: How Jesus won us to Himself
Function: To help people see that the path to victory is through service, not domination.
Form: Bible study

Intro:

In this series on spiritual warfare, we are going to look at one of the most contested battlefields today: the family home.

Look at (SHOW) 1 Peter 3:7: The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.

Prayers run aground. I like the way Peterson paraphrases it. Your prayers don’t make it to heaven, they run aground. Cain and Abel both prayed and offered sacrifices. The smoke from Abel’s went up to heaven, but God was displeased with the heart of Cain and the smoke from his didn’t rise. It ran aground.

His prayer, his sacrifice didn’t get through.
Do you remember the importance of prayer in Spiritual warfare?

The problem is, when there is discord in the home, when there is disunity at home, we get a sort of road-block to our prayers.

I remember this scripture coming to play when I was a student in Bible College.

Our kids were young, and getting 4 children ready for Church was a chore.

So here was my practice: I would get up, get the newspaper, get coffee and read the funny papers, then I would bathe and dress for Church and turn to Kathy, with 4 kids to manage breakfast, dressing, wiping noses and changing diapers and say to her: “are you ready yet, DEAR?” For some reason, adding “dear” to that question didn’t help!

One Sunday, she finally had enough of it and she let me know how insensitive I was. Now you have got to understand that this woman is an incredible manager and organizer. Most of the time, if I tried to help, I just got in the way. But I was being a jerk.

And she let me have it. And I responded in kind and we get to church, fuming at each other trying to walk through the doors, put on a smiling face, forget about everything else and worship God.

This is a point of hypocrisy. We dropped the kids off at SS and waited for our own class to start and she is giving me the silent treatment. And God just lays a heavy one on my heart about how I am called by God to live with her, nurturing and caring for her as she does me and our children. I was really convicted and I leaned over to her and confessed that I had been insensitive for many years and asked her forgiveness, with a promise of repentance.

And quickly, she forgave me and I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt the air clear.

Not only did the air clear between us, but I also knew the air cleared between God and me. It is true: if we are living in discord, our prayers are hindered.

And it happened in the nick of time. All of a sudden, I was called on to lead the class in prayer. Now, I don’t know how you feel about it, but prayer is a pretty important job. More than anything, I depend upon God to lead me by His Spirit as I am leading the congregation in corporate prayer.

The most significant work we do for the Kingdom is done in prayer. And that verse was haunting me, how could I come to worship when I had offended my wife. How could I pray when my wife had a legitimate grievance against me? Even if one feels the grievance is not legitimate, the spiritual unity, the sense of one-ness in the flesh is altogether important to our prayer life.

Because: when we made our wedding vows together BEFORE GOD we promised God that we would love, honor, respect and cherish each other. Listen, the Bible says better not to vow than to vow and not pay it. Now, all of a sudden, God had an issue with me because I wasn’t performing the vow I had made to Him.

Husbands and wives, it is job ONE for you.

(SHOW) To love, honor, respect and cherish your spouse is JOB ONE for you.

1 Corinthians 7 says it may be easier to serve the Lord as a single person because you are not distracted by this priority in your life.
God places that priority right up there with our service to Him.

That is why the Roman Catholic Church does not permit their clergy to be married.

Now to be careful and correct, 1 Corinthians 7 also says that a husband or wife is powerless to change their spouse and sometimes given a lot of effort, it just doesn’t work. (SHOW) Here is an underlying principle about how God wants Christians to live at home: God has called us to live in peace.

He says this to the people whose marriages might fail, or already have failed.

This morning, I want to focus on that peace. When I think of Spiritual warfare, I think of two spiritual kingdoms colliding in war.

They are the Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven set against the Kingdom of Darkness, Satan’s domain.

The opposite of war is peace.

God has called us to peace. He has called us to make peace.

So what does Ephesians 5:21-33 have to do with that?

Well, it is a description of how Jesus made peace between us and God. It is a description of how Jesus won the battle for our souls. And, he uses the family as a metaphor for the victory.

Vs. 21 is significant. (SHOW) Submit yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

The whole thing starts out of our relationship with Christ. And then continues with an attitude of mutual submission.

Here is something that I think is absolutely pathetic. Many Bibles have subject headings in them. They do this so that we can find things more easily. So, in Ephesians 5, it starts out with a section titled “Be Imitators of Christ.” That is verses 1-21. Then it goes to a section: “Marriage like Christ and the Church.”
Now, these headings are in italics. They are not the actual God-inspired, perfect words of the Holy Scripture that we believe the text to be.
They, along with Chapter and Verse numbers were added in order to help us reference the Bible. It is a good idea and there is nothing wrong with it.
But I find it pathetic that the people who added this heading decided to make the separation between verse 21 and 22.
Verse 22, Wives submit…
Verse 21, Submit to each other.
Verse 22 cannot be taken out of context with verse 21. The one follows the other. We start with Christ. We mutually submit to each other and then he discusses the order in the home.
And I can go into depth about the fact that the real submission talked about in the passage is on behalf of the men.
He draws the courtship illustration of a man trying to woo the love of a beautiful woman.
This guy does everything humanly possible to win her affection. If she says jump, he says “How high?”
He says it very clearly men: Love your wives to the point of death. Give up your own pleasure, wishes and dreams if they contrast with hers.
Be the first to go out of the way to sacrifice for her in order to make the marriage work.
Jesus did it for us.
Jesus lived sacrificially.
Through Jesus’ sacrifice, He literally purchased our salvation and won our hearts into this love relationship with Him.
(SHOW) One time the text says “wives submit….” Three times, the text says: “Husbands love your wives….”

Men, the responsibility, the burden is on your shoulders.

Husbands, turn to your wives and say: “my job is to love you.”

Look, women, this isn’t rocket science. If your husband loves you more than himself, then his choices will be in your best interest, not his. And following him will be to your advantage.

This isn’t about who is better, who is more equal, who has more power and authority.

Because what it says is: If the man has it, he will sacrificially give it to her.

We have this discussion when we want to eat out. Where do you want to go? I don’t know, where do you want to go? What are you hungry for? You know the conversation, each person is more interested in making the other person happy than choosing the place they want to go.

That is the sign of a good marriage. I want to say to my wife, “your wish is my command.” And the only time that changes is when the master of our destiny, the Lord Jesus, has called us to something different.

(SHOW) When a marriage is based on mutual submission, it becomes a place where prayer is powerful.

(SHOW) When a home is based on God’s peace, it becomes a powerful base of operations for spiritual warfare.

How did Jesus win the victory for us? He did it by dying for us. He did it through self-sacrifice. God demonstrated self-sacrifice for us.

Listen, I don’t understand all the dynamics and spiritual laws around this, but I have seen it work out in relationship to my own prayer life and success in prayer.

When we live and pray for others, when we are in absolute unconditional love for others, when we are in total forgiveness and free from bitterness, when we truly have that peace. We are rocks who are immovable in our prayer life.
The minute we hold back our love and forgiveness, we are hindered. This principle about living in unity in the home applies to the Church, to the work-place, to school. It applies to every facet of our lives. When we live that way, we are truly living by faith.

And I know this is true because the Devil will do everything he can to distract us from this kind of self-sacrifice. That is why through this series on Spiritual warfare, we keep looking at the conditions that are there to give us success.

It isn’t about formulas or special prayers; it’s about us preparing our lives to be living sacrifices.

Look at (SHOW) Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.

Jesus won the victory by faith, by giving Himself up and entrusting Himself to God.

Listen, the commander in Chief is the God of the universe. The outcome of Spiritual warfare is Guaranteed.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Don't Let The Devil Get a Foothold

Text: Ephesians 4:25-5:2
Focus: The danger of anger
Function: To help people manage anger
Form: Bible Study

Intro:

We are discussing Spiritual warfare from Ephesians.

Some might think that is rather odd, since without apology, we preach peace here.

Here’s the thing. Jesus taught that political conflict is not the job of the Church. The Church can and will be effective in bringing peace when it concentrates on Jesus whose battles were always spiritual.

And this is a battle. Jesus told us to take up our cross, and follow Him. We are at the same kind of risk as any army soldier. That is why our brothers and sisters in Nigeria are dying.

Think about that: Our brothers and sisters are being killed by Islamic fundamentalists. How does that make you feel?

Does it make you hate all Moslems?

Our natural response is to be angry. What angers ME the most is the way the crowd is being stirred into violence through religion by the political powers who seek to control others.

But the fact is: we get angry. After 9-11 a good Christian lady, a deaconess in her church told me: “I will never forgive them. Stop telling me I have to.”

I looked at her and smiled as I said: “we are Christians, we don’t have that luxury.”

We’ll keep referring to her throughout the sermon.

In this passage, the author makes a very clear reference to another scheme of the Devil. He tells us, anger is okay, but it is also a place where the Devil can gain a foothold in our lives.

I have often said: (SHOW) “Anger is the drug that stimulates the Western culture.” (show shooting up)

This scripture says, (SHOW) “Anger is a place where the Devil can gain a foothold in us.”

I mean it, watch a modern action movie with any sort of classic story line. There is a bad guy, and a good guy. The bad guy goes from bad to worse and finally the hero gets angry and rescues the world from the bad guy.

When the hero gets ANGRY, the tide changes, the women all swoon over him and the world is set back to right.

Brothers and sisters, (SHOW) the message, that anger solves our problems has been drilled into our heads hundreds, if not thousands of times throughout the course of our lifetimes.

So what about anger? What is anger?

Well, anger in itself is not evil.

(SHOW) Anger, is a God-given emotion.

Anger is not a sin. The passage says: “Be angry.” Sometimes, that’s a command. But then it is quick to say: “But don’t sin with it.”

I talked last week about how “righteous anger” was falsely used by the religious authorities to incite the mob into the murder of Jesus.

This is exactly the danger that God warns about in this passage.

Anger is an emotion. God created us to feel emotion. Anger is important for our mental well being.

Anger motivates us to do something about the problems that we face.

One of my psychology professors told me: “95% of depression is caused by anger that people feel powerless to do something about.”

They get angry, feel helpless to change the situation and then they stifle it.

When they do that, the adrenalin courses through their bodies and without a proper release it causes stress that leads to failure of organs, cancer and a weakening of the immune system that leads to other problems.

God WANTS US to deal with anger, but not to sin in the process.

(SHOW) Be angry. Sin not. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.

That last phrase is important. Deal with it quickly instead of letting it fester. Letting it fester makes it worse and leads us into sin.

But here is our problem. Our culture has conditioned us to feel anger more and more.
We feel it at times when it is not the appropriate emotion.

An ancient proverb states: “every person has two dogs, a good dog and a bad dog. The dog you feed is going to be the stronger dog.”

We are subtly taught that anger is the only way to solve our problems.

Anger may get us started on a solution to our problems, but for the Christian we have many more resources at our command.

Remember the deaconess who said” “I will never forgive?”

That day, she made a choice to disobey God.

She made a choice to give the devil a foothold in her life.

I watched that unwillingness to forgive permeate the way she lived her life.

Pretty soon, she was reminding her daughter of the ways she rebelled when she was younger and the daughter and her husband left the church.

(show shooting up again) The anger began to control her and ruin her.

She was so wrapped up in her anger that she brought down the whole Church. When she made the decision to stop forgiving, she not only brought herself down, but she brought down those around her.

Now this passage starts out with a “so then.”
That means that it is a conclusion to what was written before it.

Before it we read:
(SHOW) You used to be non-Christian. You used to live your lives merely driven by your emotions and passions and you did what felt good to you.
(SHOW) But now, you have changed the clothes of your lives. You have put off the old ways and put on the new ways.

(SHOW) So, when we get angry it means that we have the task of changing something.

So, what has to change?

It is either me, or the situation.

That is the first question: Maybe I need to change? Several wrong things can cause anger. Ask yourself:
• Is my anger due to a lack of forgiveness?
• Is it due to the fact that I am being selfish?
o Do I want something I can’t have?
o Ahab the king sulked in anger because he wanted his neighbor Naboth’s vineyard.
o But the OT law was clear: the land must stay in the family.
o So his wife, Queen Jezebel, had Naboth and his family murdered and gave the field to her husband as a present.
• Remember the lady who took down everyone around her?
o I’ll show you how it spread to others.
o Look at (SHOW) Proverbs 22:24-25: Don't hang out with angry people; don't keep company with hotheads. Bad temper is contagious—don't get infected.
o The whole culture of her Church became one of back-biting, accusing.
• Our text today talks about with this:
o (SHOW) Ephesians 4:31-32 Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ.
o She had to forgive if she wanted to keep herself connected to Christ.
o She refused and it corrupted her and the people around her.
o So, there may be a selfish reason to our anger.
• Don’t over-think this selfish bit. Generally the person we are the hardest on is ourselves.
The reason I don’t want you over-think it because, secondly: (SHOW) Maybe you need to change the circumstance you are in:
• Change may be very hard for you.
o Stifling your anger may be easier.
• But remember, we are in spiritual warfare.
• So let me give you some scriptural advice on how to be angry without sinning.
• You know, it’s funny, this anger thing:
o Be angry, but be careful! You could fall into a trap!
o It’s like a sword fight.
o You are not going to defeat the enemy unless you engage him.
o And when you engage the enemy, you place yourself at risk.
o When anger leads us to action, we are in that risk.
o Risk of sinning by the anger, risk of failure to make the change.
• Sometimes, our anger indicates to us that God is calling us to action.
• Jesus cleared the temple with a whip.
• He was angry when He told the religious leaders that they were nothing more than whitewashed tombs, or a den of snakes.
• I believe He was passively aggressively angry when they brought to Him the woman caught in adultery and He ignored them and kept writing in the sand.
• Listen, Jesus was no wimp, and He wasn’t always gentle.
• But even in the times of His anger, He loved the person enough to tell them the truth.

So, we are at risk when we do something about it.
Let me contrast that risk with the sins of obesity and alcoholism:
• Eating is different than alcohol.
• Some Christians say, “If you never drink, you’ll never get drunk.”
• This is a safe way to keep alcohol from dominating your life.
• One dear pastor friend’s wife was raised by a very abusive alcoholic father and his promise to her before he was married was to never touch a drop.
• So, a way to keep from alcoholism is to never drink in the first place.
• But, what about obesity?
o You can’t not eat.
o So it is necessary for everyone to depend upon the fruit of the Holy Spirit of Self-control.
• Being angry may be a gift from God that is calling us to take necessary action and we need the control of the Holy Spirit to take action in a way that is consistent with our Christian values.
• So, what does the scripture say about not sinning in our anger?
• Look again at verse 30 from our text: (SHOW) 30 Don't grieve God. Don't break His heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for Himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.

So, after I have asked myself “is it me, does this anger mean I have to change?”
And if the conclusion is: “No, I have to do something about it,” then how do I proceed?

Remember (SHOW) 1st Rely on the Holy Spirit.

2nd: Anger has motivated you to change, but anger will not solve your problem.

We will look at this next scripture in depth the last Sunday of this month, but look at now: (SHOW) James 1:20: “for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

The Bible says: Man’s anger doesn’t solve the problems we face, even in Spiritual warfare.

Anger starts us into the battle, it motivates us to begin, but the solution is going to come from somewhere else. The solution will come from God.

The author of this passage tells us before we were believers; we were slaves to our passions, in 2,000 years things haven’t changed at all.

But once I have made the decision to change, the solution comes from my relationship with God and my willingness to fight the battles in a spiritual way, not a human way.

Anger isn’t going to solve your problem, it only gets us started. The solution comes from our faith.

This is also scriptural: (SHOW) 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 It is true that I am an ordinary, weak human being, but I don't use human plans and methods to win my battles. I use God's mighty weapons, not those made by men, to knock down the devil's strongholds.

Anger is there to get you started, but the solution comes from your faith.

Let me end with a story about how powerful God is:
It is a little bit of history. About the time I became aware of the entire world and not just my own home they build the Berlin wall.
• Throughout the formative years of my political and social development, that wall stood as a symbol of oppression and fascism.
• When I thought of the way evil is done by humanity towards others, that wall came to my mind.
• I was a young minister and I was reading Jesus promise that if we had just the tiniest bit of faith we could speak to a mountain and it would be cast into the sea.
• I didn’t think that God wanted us rearranging the topography of the earth, but I wondered just exactly how far that would go.
• So, in prayer I asked God and I sort of got an answer in a question.
• I heard in my mind the thought: “What is the greatest evil you can think of in this world?”
• Immediately, I thought of the Berlin wall.
• Again, in my mind I heard the words: “Speak to it and have it cast into the sea.”
• So, I did. I prayed: “In the name of Jesus, Berlin wall, I call you to be uprooted and cast into the sea.”
• I forgot about it.
• As a matter of fact, sometimes I question my own sanity, did God answer me?
• But if you remember the events, the West and the Soviet block were embroiled in a terrible struggle of ideologies.
• It was called the cold-war, and it was indeed a war.
• It was fought by spies and the lives of those who died trying to cross that wall.
• Some say that President Reagan’s huge investment in the military broke the bank in Russia and they lost control of the European block countries like East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and etc.
• Others say their war in Afghanistan broke their bank.
• I don’t know the exact mechanism.
• But I do remember this. There was no hint of that wall coming down, and if you were alive and remember, all of a sudden, in a span of less than 6 or 3 months depending on whose history you read, that wall came down.
• I remember that day and watching it on the news and God speaking into my heart again, “remember how you prayed?”
• Now, it could have been just me. I am sure that many millions of others, especially those most directly affected by it were praying as well.
• But I learned that the weapons we use are not physical, made of human flesh, but they are indeed spiritual.
I can take this verse and without changing the purpose and intent of scripture tell you this when He says Be angry and sin not:
(SHOW)
• Your life has been given to you by God to make a difference for Him.
• Be passionate about making those differences.
• Have faith in God.
• Partner with God and do it His way.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Exposing the Enemie's Tactics

Text: Ephesians 4:1-16
Focus: Lighting a candle
Function: To remind the Church to keep focused on Christ instead of arguing.
Form: Topical Bible Study

Intro:

This passage ends with the statement that it is Paul’s goal to keep the congregations from being tossed about by doctrinal fads so that the Christian Church can be unified and effective. He wants people focused on Jesus.

So, (SHOW) The passage starts out with the appeal to unity, focused on the fact that Jesus is one.

The Spiritual warfare in this passage is about how Satan distracts us from our unity in Jesus Christ.

He tells us that the Lord equips the Church to do its spiritual warfare.

Verse 8: (SHOW) The psalmist tells about this, for he says that when Christ returned triumphantly to heaven after his resurrection and victory over Satan, he gave generous gifts to men.
Paul is referring to the actual spiritual battle that Jesus was involved in. He died on the cross and went down into Hades and led out a whole host of captives. Colossians 2:14 and 15 talk about the same thing, that after Jesus died on the cross, he went down into Hell itself and disarmed the Satanic powers in order to set us free from sin and its threat to keep us from God.

And then, for those of us left on earth, He gave Spiritual gifts to us.

(SHOW) Spiritual gifts are part of the weapons that we use for spiritual warfare.

They are broken up into two categories:
Gifts for everyone, and gifts of people for the good of the Church.

Everyone has a job to do, everyone has a task, everyone is called to be engaged in this battle.

But then, in order to make it work better, He gives gifts of people to the Church. They are Apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastor/teacher.

Their job is to equip and nurture the Church. Their job is to build the Church by bringing in new people to the Kingdom. Their job is to help the church understand. And their job is to administrate the Church.

Apostles were the leaders who organized the Churches and call the prophets, evangelists and pastor/teachers into their positions.

Evangelists are gifted at bringing people to Jesus. Prophets speak to the issues of the day on behalf of the Church and help encourage the church to stay focused. When the Church loses its focus, they call her back.

Pastor/teachers help the body of Christ understand the mysteries. That is why the preaching is central in our Churches. But they also care for the people. The term pastor comes from the idea of pasture, they are here to nurture and feed the flock.

The job of all those people that God gave to the Church is to keep her focused and in unity.

Christian unity happens when we quit being tossed back and forth by ideas.

Satan knows how to distract that church. He gets the church fighting about doctrine so that we miss the important things.

We are here to shine a light in the darkness, not curse it.

So, the Devil wants to keep us arguing here on this planet, as long as we are doing that, we are not focusing on Christ.

If we are arguing, we are not forgiving.

Let me open the connection, then between forgiveness and spiritual warfare:

(SHOW) 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 When you forgive anyone, I do too. And whatever I have forgiven (to the extent that this affected me too) has been by Christ's authority, and for your good. A further reason for forgiveness is to keep from being outsmarted by Satan, for we know what he is trying to do.

In the King James it says, “we are not ignorant of his devices…” In the NASB it says: “we are not ignorant of his schemes…” In the NRSV it says: “We are not ignorant of his designs” in The Message it says: “we are not oblivious to his sly ways.”

We want to keep from being outsmarted by Satan.

Look again at the reference, Brother Paul says: “I am glad you forgave this man who offended you; I will too, if I don’t then I will be playing right into Satan’s hand. I will fall into his scheme.”

Here are two of the things the Bible says Satan does: 1). He is the destroyer. He destroys through lies and stirring up strife. 2).He is the one who accuses the saints.

When we walk in unforgiveness, or when we are accusing another person, we are playing right into Satan’s hand.

So, the apostle, the leader of the whole Church said: “I am using my Christian authority to forgive this man.”

Those are mysterious words. Look at (SHOW) John 20:22-23: Then he breathed on them and told them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are unforgiven."

This authority he is talking about is genuine and real. It is real spiritual power. And the abuse of that power, our lack of forgiveness, is one of Satan’s common schemes.

I told everyone that I was doing a series on Spiritual warfare out of Ephesians.

Someone asked me, “when are you going to tell us how to confront the devil? How do we discern demonic activity? Can you give us instruction in knowing when we should rebuke the Devil or just pray? When is it time for prayer and fasting?”

There aren’t formulas, tricks or special prayers for Spiritual warfare.

Paul said that part of the fight is overcoming ignorance about the Devil’s schemes.

The Devil: He sows confusion. He sows strife among good-hearted people. He accuses imperfect people of their imperfections and tries to destroy their hope through shame. He stirs up righteous anger against people.

Think about it this way. How did Satan convince the mob that only one week before Jesus’ crucifixion was shouting out: “Hosanna! Blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord?”

Satan killed Jesus through righteous indignation. You know the story. Jesus was a healer. That was part of His job. So they put a man before Him who needed healing on the Sabbath day. Jesus healed him and then they stirred up the crowd against Him because He had such “poor regard for the Mosaic law.”

Satan’s scheme worked, and this man/God, Jesus, who was wildly popular on one day, was hated by the same group just one week later.

So how do we prevent falling into that problem?

Verse 14 of our text helps us understand what a good, loving, experienced, kind and gentle pastor and leader is supposed to do: Keep people from being tossed around by winds of doctrine.

Here is why:
(SHOW) If we want to be effective in Spiritual warfare, then we need to fight the battles the Lord wants us to fight, not the battles that are made popular by the cultural wars going on around us.

You see, throughout history, unscrupulous people have sought to get others riled up about some sort of cause in order to gain power, wealth or influence.

I love the Music Man musical. He gets the town riled up to action by contrasting the difference between the game of billiards and the game of pool. TROUBLE IN RIVER CITY!

If we want to be effective in spiritual warfare, then let us keep the main thing the main thing.

Look at this scripture verse: (SHOW) Proverbs 18:17 The first speech in a court case is always convincing— until the cross-examination starts!

One of my favorite pieces of English Literature is the Play Julius Caesar by Shakespeare:
• Brutus and his friends murder Caesar and they give a speech to justify their actions. The crowd is all in favor of what they have done.
• And then Julius Caesar’s friend stands up at his funeral and changes the emotional tide of the mob. You have probably heard the opening of the speech: “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend me your ears!”
• And the speech is actually quite humorous as he uses satire to ridicule Brutus’ motives. He keeps repeating the phrase: “Brutus says Caesar was ambitious, and Brutus is an honorable man.”
• About the 4th time he says: “And Brutus is an honorable man” after telling of something dishonorable that Brutus did, the crowd begins to get it and they are swayed back into condemning Brutus for murdering Caesar.

I remember studying that speech in High School and coming to the conclusion that sometimes, a mob mentality can easily be manipulated, or as our passage of scripture says: “tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine.”

So, the passage says, a healthy pastor, a truly spiritual leader will never exploit the emotions of the crowd, but will gently guide them into the truth, keeping them focused on Jesus Christ.

Satan sometimes abides in that passion, in that anger.

(SHOW) A healthy church will keep the main thing the main thing.

It is interesting, Paul refers to the schemes (plural) of Satan. The obvious one is unforgiveness and so-called “righteous indignation.”

But another scheme comes out as well. And that scheme is getting distracted from the main thing by minor things.

That distraction was tearing their church apart. They were offended by someone’s sin.

Now, to be fair the issue that they were forgiving this man for was pretty serious. I think it was more serious than Jesus healing on the Sabbath. We can read about it 1 Corinthian 5. Paul had taught the Corinthian Church that we were free from the law except to Love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Freedom meant just that and all of a sudden it became an “anything goes” mentality. That mentality resulted in a man sleeping with his father’s wife. Not only was it adultery, it was incest! And Paul is indignant about that. He tells them even the worse pagan cults know that it is wrong. So, he tells the church to discipline the man by stopping to pray him.

Now here is an interesting thing about spiritual warfare. When they stopped praying for him, he was physically vulnerable to the Devil with the hope that his body would die before he lost his salvation.

Their goal was to save the man’s soul. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

Now instead of dying, the man repents from his sin; he comes back to Christ and asks the church to receive him back. And the whole passage there in 2 Corinthians is the Church going out of their way to let the man know he is forgiven.

So, part of our spiritual warfare is praying for the protection of God upon one another.

Joining a church means that we are in that covenant to care for each other.

Look, the whole goal of the Church discipline was not to feel good about how good they were or how they took a stand for God. The goal of the discipline was for the welfare of the man. It was to preserve his soul for eternity.

Paul wants them to keep the main thing the main thing.

Now, all of that leads to something I want to talk about personally.

I want to spend some family time as a Church together discussing a sad dilemma that threatens to tear our denomination apart.

At Annual Conference, they voted to question whether or not we would still be governed by our paper on human sexuality.

Our paper on human sexuality states “Covenantal relationships between homosexual persons is an additional lifestyle option but, in the church's search for a Christian understanding of human sexuality, this alternative is not acceptable.”

My experience is that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. We need Jesus to save us. Our freedom comes in our relationship to Christ. Repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit.

The fact that we are fighting over this issue means we have already fallen victim to the schemes of Satan.

We have lost sight of the main thing and people have gotten all upset about different winds of doctrine.

The debate going on over homosexuality is a cultural argument, when we get involved; we are being caught up in winds of doctrine.

Moral issues throughout the ages have been cyclical. Police used to stand guard over the steam vents in Times Square, New York City to stop men from ogling women’s ankles when the heat from the draft lifted their dresses up.

Moral behavior goes in cycles. It always has and to focus on this issue drains our energy from preaching the good news.

The main thing isn’t sexuality. The main thing is the atonement. Did Jesus die on the cross to save us from sin, or did He die to make an example to us about living sacrificially for others?

Well, it was both, but some would say it was just the later. He was merely giving us an example.

I went to the microphone at Conference with a speech about “let’s stop fighting and get back to the main thing.”

One man told me: “Phil, I really appreciated your speech at the microphone.”
He said, “I appreciated your speech, but you have to understand that I believe that there is no such thing as sin.”

Now we are at the main thing. This now deals with an issue worth discussing. That statement deals with Jesus work on the cross which is the main thing.

Jesus worked both for God and for Man.

When Jesus worked on behalf of God, He did show us an example of self-sacrifice and love. That man and I agree on that point.

But Jesus also worked on behalf of man. And when He did that, He became the sacrifice, the substitution for our sins and purchased for us the privilege of being restored to a relationship with God.

To deny that truth is to deny the main thing.

But we are all human. We are all susceptible to the danger of being tossed about by whatever philosophical, theological or religious fad is currently shaping the mindset of people.

God is calling us to keep the main thing the main thing and focus on the person and work of Christ.

So, this battle is heating up, and unfortunately, I am in the middle of it.

Now don’t be upset with me. I am not going to pick one side or another in this battle over sexuality. Don’t be upset, but pray for me.

There are people who will accuse me of things with those clichés that are intended to distract people from the main thing, the clichés that incite people to different winds of doctrine. Things like: “He’s sittin’ on the fence.” Or: “The man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.”

Listen, neither of those clichés is found in the bible. What is found in the bible is “you are neither hot nor cold, so because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out.”

I am going to be hot about the main thing.

I am afraid that I will make enemies of both sides. But I am going remind the church of Jesus’ mission, to seek and save the lost.

I don’t want us caught up in the winds of doctrine that are shaping the passions of our culture. They are being used by political powers to gain influence. I want us to keep the unity of the faith by keeping our minds focused on Jesus.

Pray that I can be effective in this on a congregational level, a district level and a national level because many people are looking to me for leadership.

(SHOW) I want to remind them, and you of my trial sermon here. We are not called to curse the darkness, but to light a candle.

And believe me, it is spiritual warfare. Satan’s scheme is to distract us from preaching Jesus. If the Church is going to survive, we need to keep on loving, forgiving and lifting up Jesus!