Foolishness of the Cross

 Just a few weeks till Easter and undoubtedly the minds of many are turning toward the death burial and resurrection of Jesus.

Over the years countless individuals have studied and made claims that the cross of Jesus just isn't possible. The time line doesn't line up, the gospels seem to have conflicting reports and so they conclude the error lies within the Bible. If something that significant, in other words all of Christianity hinges on the cross, is faulty than the entire Bible must be dismissed as unreliable. This of course brings into question those who are desperate to understand and are confronted with this supposed wisdom, those who are persuaded that the Bible is untrustworthy and renders their faith foolishness.

This concept and attempt to hijack the gospel with self proclaimed wisdom has bothered me more and more in recent years. Many times it is the "creastors" those who only attend church two times a year, who want to educate those who actually come to church regularly, read their Bibles and take a genuine interest all year in the gospel. But this year in God's providence I have been studying through the book of 1st Corinthians for our current series, "Corinthian coach". I say in God's providence, because the first chapter addresses this very current dilemma in the church. By verse 10 the apostle Paul is already rebuking the believers for the factions they have formed. Arguing over which man to follow when the gospel clearly reveals only one man worth following. But by verse 18 Paul has identified two people groups. don't forget this letter is to the church and therefore is assuming that they know the gospel and love God.Of course, they don't have the parable of the tares yet so they don't realize that even the first century church contained weeds mixed throughout the wheat.

The first people group are those who are perishing. These people may look like, act like and sound like the real deal but in their hearts they are playing church. They don't believe the gospel and have their own ideas on what it means to be saved.

The second group are those who are being saved. These folks don't claim to know everything, there are things about the Bible, God, and even the gospel that are confusing and hard to understand but in their hearts they know the word of God is reliable and the lack of understanding is not a reason to void the truth.

But the interesting thing is Paul says the thing that distinguishes them into these two groups is the word of the cross. Or course you and I call it the gospel today but it is the same thing that Paul is referring to. It is found in verse 18 of chapter one. He says the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. In fact what is being emphatically stated between the lines here is without believing the gospel of the cross it is impossible to be saved. These people search for humanly wisdom which is kind of an oxymoron. They might be wise in their own sight but Paul later says the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest humans claims. In fact the term foolishness here is where we get our word moron from and the word perishing in verse 18 means to destroy. 

on the other hand to those who are being saved it is the power of God. Maybe you have heard someone speak of the power of the gospel. It is the most life changing truth you can possibly hear if you are willing to believe. We as humans seek to understand and that's a good thing, but when it comes to the gospel we have entered into the world of spiritual revelation. Without God's Holy Spirit it would be impossible to understand the gospel. Why? Because it is spiritually discerning and contains great wisdom and insight into our creator. 

So what is the gospel exactly? The gospel contains what most have called the bad news, good news syndrome. The bad news, you are a sinner, you were born that way and your sin offends a holy and righteous God. And by the way you are helpless to remedy the situation. A just judge requires justice and that is God's demand. We were given the 10 commandments, which Jesus summarized into two, love God, and love others. This served as a guide to reveal that not one of us can keep the commandments and therefore even if we think we are good, the standard shows we fall flat. The good news, which is where we get the term gospel, is that God provided payment for our sins, past present and future. He sent His Son Jesus who willingly went to the cross, having never sinned, fulfilling the law and therefore provided the perfect sacrifice for mankind. Having been crucified on a cross, He was killed, buried and rose from the grave 3 days later. His resurrection was the defining moment that defeated death and for those who believe give us the glorious hope of eternity in heaven. 

That being said it does sound pretty sensational and hard to believe, that is why it is called faith. For example you believed the chair you are in would hold you up when you sat down. The faucet had water come out when you turned it on and the computer had power when you plugged it in. All things you probably couldn't explain every detail about,, yet you believe, that is faith.

I will leave it at that and let you wrestle with it for now. your comments and questions are welcomed and my prayer is that all who read this will come to the same conclusion I have.....Jesus is my Lord and savior and I place my faith in Him and abandon my own efforts to be saved. After all it is not foolishness, it is the power of God.

Till next time.

P.M.

Church Life

 We have been studying through a series called Church by the Book the last couple of weeks. It is one of my favorite sections of scripture found in Acts 2:41-47. These few verses are packed so full of rich truth and intentionality it is hard to just spend a few weeks in it. But the more I study it the more God reveals His instruction and design for a successful church. 

I was told long ago that a church that is faithful to the word will always be growing because we will be faithful to the Lord's expectations. I had others tell me that attendance is top priority, as if God takes roll call. (I will say as a pastor I have found people expect me to be there, miss a week and they think they can too. haha) All this to say that so many of the cliches that we use are actually not very good theology. They make for a good conviction but not a good reality. Of course we want to stay true to the word and if your not then your doors ought to be closed. I think of church as being the huddle where we learn more about the Lord and His teachings and then we spend the week on the field, fighting the enemy. When we come into the huddle, we are encouraged, challenged and given perspective through God's eyes through His word and His people. Those who don't know the Lord will find the Christian to be one sided, narrow minded and they desire them to broaden thier minds. But to adopt this seeker sensitive rubbish on how to do church is similar to asking the pilot of your plane to disregard the flat, hard well maintained runway for a city street, jungle animal path, or to just make your own path through a residential neighborhood. We know the significance of the runway when it comes time to land and how narrow that little strip of pavement is. Likewise if you call yourself a Christ follower, if you know Him to be your Lord and Savior than you must understand the unwillingness to compromise on God's design. 

The church has fought for years regarding deep or wide ministries. Should we teach deeply and know that many who are not redeemed in the pews will find offense, or do we shallow the waters a bit and make it an enjoyable festive welcome party, week after week? Acts would teach us that the church was a place for believers to be built up,  sent out and recieved back anxious to hear about each others ministries. At the foundation of the church in Acts 2:42 was the Apostles teaching. They were to teach what they had learned from Jesus and instruct others to go and do the same. Creating disciples with every opportunity. 

So when you turn your attention toward the political arena, Christians are sure to have a different perspective than much of the country. We seek out truth and we seek no savior but Jesus. We do not live as though a mere political figure can fix what is wrong. We live in a broken world that will continue to erode and no replacement parts can be found. You will not find the love, encouragement, and purpose from this broken world, only in the church. Yes, do your part, vote, go out and make a difference, defend lives, serve others, love without hesitation and expectancy but your weekend huddle with a church that preaches the truth and loves God and others is the only place you will find true rest.

Here is my point in all this. When a political figure claims to be Christian, who supports the murder of babies, they are lying to you. You can not have a person who stands for life and votes to kill babies, that is narrow objective truth. When you are told by a candidate that they will keep you safe but take away your constitutional rights such as bearing arms, attending church, singing hymns and go so far as to encourage the looting thugs who are under special priveledge, they are untrustworthy and not worthy to lead this country. When thier lives are full of scandals and make up fake stories to take the focus off of themselves, they are deceitful wicked individuals. Once again narrow truth, we cannot be so contradicting of our own words or actions and be genuine in what our mouth asserts we are or are not. I call upon all who call themselves Christians to defend the truth and never accept the challenge to broaden your thinking. 

The first century church did grow by thousands in its early days, hundreds all the time recorded in the first chapters of Acts, but the people were responding to the gospel and then be discipled. The 120 mentioned earlier in Acts were the ones who were among the apostles  and through the work of the Spirit around 3000 were added to thier number. They were drawn by the works of the Spirit, specifically the pentecost account. Sounded like a violent rushing wind that filled the house they sat in, and flames as if fire split and came upon each of them and they spoke in a language that was understood by different nationalities. Yet even in this remarkable event, some came up with what they felt was a reasonable explanation. "They are drunk" Thats the best they could come up with to discount the hand of God. No slurring, falling over or any of that, just a real language that was spoken to different people so that they would hear the teaching in thier native tongues. 

Its not going to get easier, we must make it a priority to grow in our faith and understanding and not accept the worlds, anything goes mentatlity. Hold fast to the truth and be assured that scripture will speek to whatever it is you run into. Be encouraged, the time draws near when the Lord will call the names of His children and we will live in peace forevermore. But until then be steadfast. 

Till next time. P.M.

What is church?

 We could have a room full of people, pose the question, "what is church" and have just as many responses as people. The problem is that many of the responses would be subjective and would have more to do with a persons upbringing, experience, preferences, and traditions than what the word of God teaches. Many have the view of church being a stuffy, irrelevant, "have to" when in reality it should be the highlight of the week. The joy of corporate worship, the command of our Father and the encouragement we gain from fellowship should far outweigh the inconvenience of church. 

That being said most of us already know that the church is not a building it is people. Sadly with each generation we are seeing a trend that church simply doesn't matter, after all what is God going to do if I don't go to church?

There was a pastor in the upper east part of the country who took on a dyeing church with enthusiasm and energy, he gave it his all week after week. Seeing little to no change, he ramped up efforts and to his dismay the church continued to dwindle. He had one last thought, a final shot at building the church. He ran an ad in the paper with the death notice of the church. He made arrangements for the funeral at the church with a casket in front covered in flowers and the date was set. Curiosity consumed the community and they came to see what this funeral was all about. Starting 30 minutes before service the sanctuary filled up, bringing tears to the pastors eyes as he desired to accomplish this with all the work before and now seeing all the people brought mixed emotions. By service time there was standing room only and those in the back on tip toes to get a glimpse of the casket. The service began and the pastor delivered a wonderful eulogy, but the people couldn't wait to see the casket. The pastor invited people to give their final respects as they would line up and file by the casket. He moved the flowers aside and opened the lid, moving aside so the people could funnel by. As each person walked by, soberness filled their faces. As each person shuffled by, responding in shame, they set eyes on the dying church...... a mirror that the pastor had placed inside the casket reflecting the church that had died.

Why is it people like to say they belong to a church when they seldom place priority on entering the front doors?

We see the condition of our great country and see the attacks on churches and pastors daily, but in many cases we literally don't lift a finger to change the tide of change. We know that things will grow increasingly worse, but no where in scripture does it speak to giving in, laying back and watching the destruction. You and I are called to fight the battle, serve Christ and instead of licking your wounds at home, to celebrate with the brethren that we are found worthy to pick up the sword for our Lord. The gathering, corporately, is for worshiping God, but in that we get so much out of it. Praying for one another, serving one another, encouraging one another and so much more. 

So here is my challenge. Forget what you thought you knew about the church and open your Bibles to Acts chapter 2:36-47. The first century church was bold, vibrant, unified and focused on what mattered most. Join me as we explore getting back to doing church correctly. 

Till next time.

P.M.