Disunity is everywhere, and it seems many people decry it while holding to the very selfish views and actions that promote even more disunity. Is that always wrong? Sometimes it is. Yet in the case of the Church, what — or Who — is it we should be unifying around anyway?

In this continuing collection of sermon notes from Sunday messages, one of my church’s pastor answered why, based on the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to the Romans in Romans 12 …

01.31.2010 — Romans 12: 1-16 (Paul)

• In our church, we want to be committed to “living theology” as a community of believers. We are called by God, all of us, by Jesus and empowered by the Spirit to do the work of ministry (2 Corinthians 5: 17-21).
• Our unity now is found only in Christ, for the glory of God alone, making much of Him as His new creations, for the rest of our lives.
• But we still struggle because we wrestle with our sin natures. We do not always deal well with diversity, do we? Too often we think deep down like we are always right. If the world were a perfect place, we subconsciously assume, everyone would only act as we do! Such disagreements have done such damage, over insignificant things, to the cause of Christ. Yet we are called to love God, and each other as we love ourselves, and we know we do that.
• “God’s mercy is our motive and our motivation for growing together in grace. … The mercies of God make us family.” So we can call each other brothers and sisters in Christ, with affection He has given us, with God as our heavenly Father.
• The mercies of God give us a common purpose and move us through a common process. He has given all for us; let us be grateful and give all to Him. This makes rational, reasonable, right worship. We help each other in perseverance too, because we need each other. This is a lifelong community project, letting our lives be transformed.
• We must encourage one another to find our satisfaction not in the temptations of the world, but in Him (2 Corinthians 5:18). We need to want to be like our Heavenly Father, beholding His glory in everything. His mercy moves us from selfishness to being committed to others.

Continue reading …

Yesterday, Adam preached the sermon at my church. He is a great guy, normally with shaggy brown hair, but recently he had a haircut and it took a moment before I recognized him. It was a great message, thematically tied to the previous two (also posted on this site). And somehow, even more truths in this Biblical message related to this site’s current God’s will hunting series.

Another truth I haven’t included below: I can do quite a decent Adam voice impersonation. Yet I’m not sure whether continuing this is God’s will, because the Spirit hasn’t “nudged” me one way or the other (like He does every time we have a decision to make, right?).

So, discussion question: can I imitate Adam’s voice to the glory of God? It’s not forbidden in the Bible, and I believe my intention is not mockery. So in this instance, that might be permissible.

01.24.2010 — 1 Corinthians 10:23 – 11:1 (Adam)

• What is idolatry? It is whatever we serve and worship that is not God — false worship.
• This can be seen as corporate worship and individual worship. Corporate worship, with believers in a church, should not in effect worship itself or its own method, but be done for the good of glorifying God. However, we will spent our time this morning talking about individual worship — which is much more difficult. Again, human beings are hard-wired to worship, all the time.
• If the world belongs to God, everything we do in it says something about what we think about Him.
• God has set us free to worship Him, not “freedom” to have chaos. The human need to have organization in life is even reflected in the TV show “Lost,” which shows the survivors when they land on the Island getting together to form a structure of self-government.
• But not all our free choices lead to more freedom! What if we climbed on top of a roof and began dumping all our cash off it, then jumped off? That would not result in more freedom.

• Background: at this point, the Corinthian church is a mess. Members have been defending blatant sin in their members, class warfare, believers suing each other.
• When we’re asking what things are okay for us to do as Christians, we should ask two primary questions: first, is it directly condemned in the Bible? Drunkenness is wrong, for example, or gossip. But what about the harder choices? Questions for those: are even the not-wrong actions beneficial, and do they build up? Examples: deep-friend Spalding’s donuts, or hanging out with friends every single weekend. So we can see that these seeming gray-area choices are actually wrong.
• We must also consider how others will be affected before our own good. Can you buy an expensive car while friends are out of a job? Maybe, but what would they say about Jesus and Christianity to them? What about going to Haiti on a vacation cruise while people are dying? What would others, especially nonbelievers, think if you told them you did?
• The Bible doesn’t say specifically that these are wrong. But do we think foremost about the preeminence of Christ and how He would look to those we know?
• Verse 25: things in and of themselves are not evil. Instead, our own sin and what we choose to do with things make them our idols — it is our fault. We offer worship to fake gods, such as our good work or jobs, as if those things gave blessings to us. Money, food, comfort and safety can be turned into evil. A poppy plant can used to make heroin for the abuse of one’s body. Even our own bodies can become objects of lustful worship.
• So, what if we are invited somewhere, as in verse 27? Even if our conscience is clear, our goal should be not to harm the conscience of another, and represent Jesus to others.
• How does this play out in some typical life scenarios? Example: should you work for a political candidate, when many people already assume that Christian = Republican? Would doing that result in harming the Gospel and people’s perceptions of you?
• What about joining a college fraternity? What if you are a preacher and want to cut a Sunday morning sermon short so you can get home to watch the college basketball game?
• I’m not saying we should pull away from the world entirely because this is all too hard. Neither am I saying that the answer to such questions is always no, don’t do it. We don’t need to get together and buy property to Montana, move there and set up a walled commune. But even these seemingly unimportant life decisions do matter.
• Verse 31: true worship includes everything. Nothing is outside this definition. And glorifying God should be something we enjoy to do!
• When we much such decisions with God’s glory and worship in mind, sometimes we must disagree with people, even family members, and in so doing love them more than we would if we just went along with them, for the sake of Jesus. But simply not showing up when invited somewhere doesn’t help them — they won’t know the reasons for our objection if we just fail to attend something. Instead, we must lovingly give our Christ-honoring reasons.
• Again, we were made to glorify God! He is better than everything else!

Changes are coming to my church, which is only three years old and thus far has about 50 members. In that light, Sunday morning sermons this month have focused on the church’s core beliefs, such as the preeminence of Christ. (That was last week’s sermon; my notes are here.)

So yesterday’s message was about God’s Word, as in His written Word. But unlike some usual admonitions about making God’s Word supreme in our lives, my pastor talked about the need to base all this on delighting in the Word of God. We avoid error, receive life direction, grow to be like Christ and all that stuff mainly because we love the very words God has inspired.

Also — this has application for the current “God’s will hunting” series. After all, as noted below, one can’t find in the Bible specific instructions for many life choices. If we could, that would make the Word about us and mere behavior modification, not seeking delight in God Himself!

01.17.2010 — 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:5 (Paul)

• Though typically we interact about other things, we must talk more about the Word of God, our growth and our spiritual struggles. Let’s encourage this, including on the church blog, ProvPress.org — living out our theology.
• During the Reformation, the defining battle cry was SOLA SCRIPTURA and four other solas: sola Christos, sola gratia, sola fide, and SOLI DEO GLORIA. Reformers, such as John Huss and Martin Luther, began recovering these: the defining issues, contrasted with the Roman Catholic Church’s emphases on traditions and human teachings above the truth of God’s Word — though they believed it was inerrant.
• Church authorities tried to prevent these truths from spreading by burning the Reformers’ books, and sometimes the Reformers themselves.
• If the Bible is not central and valued in our hearts, it will become to us just another book wit good advice on how we should live. Do the predictions of Paul to Timothy resonate today? Absolutely they do!
• “Everything in our faith rises and falls” on what we learn about God, Christ and the Gospel from the prophets’ and apostles’ words in Scripture.
• Thus, to disobey or disbelieve any word in Scripture is to disobey or disbelieve God too. Example: Romans 13, which says to obey human governmental authorities unless they contradict the clear word of God. Failing to treat others in a Godly manner, also, is to disobey Him.
• Paul does not say reading the Bible brings salvation — it is not itself the saving agent. But the Word of God reveals the Gospel, which a person hears, and which the Spirit uses to bring saving faith. Through the preaching of the Word, the Spirit opens people’s eyes to receive it.
• This is why we keep the Word central: because we want to spread the Gospel of Christ — justification — and this is how; and to grow to be like Him — sanctification.
• The Bible equips us for every good work by equipping us for God’s unique callings on our lives. Too often we want specific answers for what we should do in life, and what decisions to make in specific circumstances, but this is not how God’s Word works. Rather, as we read the Scripture, the Spirit reveals to us how to have wisdom.
• As we learn His Word, we have our hearts changed to find more and more satisfaction in Him, not in our sin, and not just reading lists of rules.
• Example: the Bible doesn’t tell husbands how to address every specific situation with their wives. But it does say to build our marriages on the relationship between Christ and His Church — the way He loves her.
• We all face choices like this. As we become more familiar with the Word’s teaching, we are more familiar with how the Spirit would have us act.
• Psalm 1: the writer delights in and meditates on God’s Word constantly. The man who does this, who loves God’s Law and studies it, will be blessed. Never reduce God’s will to rules of behavior! Rather, we should be Christians because we love and delight in God and His Word. We should taste such sweetness and crave more, and grow to be like Jesus!
• We bring forth fruit this way, in all seasons of life, good or bad. That is why we must hold to God’s Word. “That is our sustenance, and that’s our joy.”

This is Paul. He’s one of the pastors — or teaching elders — at my local church. This is also blurry, because it’s difficult to take photos in a dark small sanctuary room and take notes at the same time. It was an excellent sermon, based on Colossians 1: 13-20, about the supremacy of Christ and His worth in a Christian’s life, and how His people must live in light of that.

So I got to thinking: knowing and loving Christ for His preeminence could, over time and by God’s grace, naturally debunk a lot of Christian myths. Gospel-centered teaching will do that.

Thank God for those He’s gifted with that role. We need them — even more, perhaps, than books and blogs about the lies. So doesn’t it make sense, at least every once in a while, to post my notes from a church sermon on YeHaveHeard?

Continue exposure to God’s truth: the best antidote to myths.

01.10.2010 — Colossians 1: 13-20 (Paul)

• We exist, and the Church exists, to magnify Jesus, displaying His greatness. This is the testimony of the Word.
• In the passage, Paul presents a series of amazing truths about Jesus — 15 things about Him, among which: all was created by, through and for Him, for His glory.
• We should ask God to give us “affections that correspond to the measures of His greatness.” — John Piper
• Let’s look at verses 16-18, specifically, which repeat the truth that all things are for His glory and for His pleasure. It exists to display His greatness, a huge scope.
• Paul uses the concept of the body to teach the diversity yet unity of the Church (such as in Romans 12: 4-5). But the Body cannot function as a whole unless it has a life-giving Head, Christ, as its source and sustainer. If we focus too much on ourselves, we’ll neglect Him.
• Recall that Paul has deep affections for the church in Colossae. He had heard the people were drifting from their first love in Christ. They were falling into legalisms, and Paul told them: don’t trade the glory of Christ for empty deceit. He encouraged them not to devalue Jesus, but to delight in Him, to stay rock-solid on Him alone. They should not be taken captive or dissuaded by a man-made system.
• How could we become enamored with lies and we have the awesome, merciful Jesus before us?! Paul places the emphasis on a Christ- and cross-centered life.
• Based on that, we should not return to the shadows of man-made traditions, or the Law, that pointed to Him.
• We should exalt and proclaim Jesus alone, not relegate Him to a corner of our religion. He is our only hope. Paul longed for his spiritual siblings to yearn for Him.
• Why be a Christ-centered church? Because He is our Source. Without Him as Head, we are a disjointed and unhealthy group; with Him, we are vibrant and growing naturally.
• Jesus is preeminent — above all — in everything, superior to all, greater than Moses and everyone, with an eternal Kingdom. Nothing has ever been or ever will be greater than Him. So are we living our lives around that truth that He is? We do love talking, preaching, singing about this truth, but applying this in our life is much more difficult. We must reaffirm what we believe, but use these truths in real life.
• Jesus’ preeminence should affect our relationships with people, our priorities, our time, how we spent and more.
• It hurts to see this, but it’s good to be pierced by the Word. We must also be committed to the centrality of the Scriptures, not deemphasizing or devaluing Christ.
• His sovereignty and Grace must be in all our life. That means, for example, we forgive others, and give thanks in persecution, and love our enemies — after all, we ourselves were once enemies of the Cross, and He loved us anyway. And we forgive others as Christ has forgiven us first.
• When trials, especially, break against our faith, we must respond in a way that reflects our Savior — doing what He says, having built our lives on Him as our Rock.
• What keeps us from doing that?
• 1) We become enamored with His created things rather than Him — “counterfeit gods” as Tim Keller calls them. “Whatever controls us is our lord.” Even good things, given as God’s grace, can become idols — food, possessions, sex, family. We must count it all as loss to live in Christ Himself instead.
• 2) We make our faith about performance rather than about Jesus. Baptists can become very entrenched in looking good on the outside, doing good things, rather than obeying because we value and are grateful to Jesus.
• May God give us the grace and strengthen us, as He has promised to do, to value Him above all else, towering above our lives, for He alone is worthy.