You reap what you sow. It’s one of the principles by which God has ordered his creation. It’s true for a student, it’s true in our marriages, it’s true at the office. You reap what you sow. Most importantly, it’s true in the life of our faith. If we are sowing into a great relationship with God, we will reap a harvest. If we aren’t sowing, we will reap a harvest of a different kind.
Tag: gospel
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Sermon: Baptism and the gospel – Matthew 28:19-20
At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the risen Jesus commanded his disciples to go out into the world and to make disciples and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Churches disagree on virtually every aspect of how a baptism is done and what it means but one of the areas of agreement is that it is something which is important for all Christians.
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An empty tomb in a graveyard of false prophets
An empty tomb in a graveyard of false prophets and gurus.
In Saudi Arabia, 270 miles from Mecca is the Tomb of Mohammed where the founder of Islam is buried. It’s viewed as a sacred landmark in the Muslim world. It’s customary for Muslims to visit this tomb when they take their pilgrimage to Mecca.
When Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism died, his body was cremated and the ashes were divided among various clans. Wars were fought over relics which had belonged to the Buddha. There are temples which claim to have remains of Buddha such as strands of hair, teeth, and other bones.
There’s a shrine to Confucious in China where the philosopher is buried.
Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism is buried in wester Illinois.
But there is no sacred place where we can go to in order to visit the remains of Jesus.
The founders of other religious movements lived and died. But Christianity lives and dies on the belief in a savior who lived and died and lives.
If the tomb was empty, if Jesus rose from the dead, then the gospel is true. And that means everything.
The Bible points to the resurrection as a real event in real human history, in real time and space. That it’s not some fairytale we tell ourselves. That it’s not some myth.
A risen Jesus has far-ranging implications. If Jesus rose from the dead, that means he is who he said he is and that we should have faith in him and trust in him for the forgiveness of sins that he promised.
But all of that hinges on the truth of the resurrection. It’s a razor’s edge. It happened, or it didn’t. There’s no gray area.
The late church historian Jaroslav Pelikan said “If Christ is risen, then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen, then nothing else matters.”And really, that quote is a great summary of our passage this morning from 1 Corinthians 15.
It is the resurrection that makes Christianity, Christianity. It is the resurrection that makes the gospel the gospel.
The challenge of the resurrection
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is making a historical argument for the resurrection. In verses 3-5, Paul says:
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Jesus died, and was raised, he appeared to Cephas – that’s another name for the Apostle Peter – and then to the rest of the apostles. That these men were witnesses to the risen Jesus.
In verse 6, Paul says: Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive
Paul is defending the truth of the resurrection.
In verses 12-13, Paul says:
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
So what’s going on there?
It appears that some people in Paul’s audience wanted to consider themselves Christians without believing in a bodily resurrection. But for those who wanted to undermine the possibility of a resurrection, they were professing a faith which ultimately did them no good.
If Christ is risen, then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen, then nothing else matters.
We believe in a living savior, not simply in a moralizing teacher.
Paul will also address this idea if we move a little bit further. Down to verse 16, when he says: For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
The resurrection in a postmodern world
In our modern day, the resurrection is hard to believe. But it was also a hard thing for people to believe in the first century.
Yes, we know more about certain things than people in the first century knew. But they understood death.
Probably better than the average person today does. They were more closely connected to it. People lived shorter lives. They died where they lived, not in a hospital. Funerals were not with the deceased having been embalmed, with their hair and makeup done to look lifelike.
They were confronted with death for what it really was.
And resurrection was not the hope of the average person living in the first century Greco-Roman world.
Most people believed in a duality of body and soul. They saw the body as bad. Death was seen as the soul being freed from the body.
Jewish people comprised about 10 percent of the Roman world at this time. They generally believed in a resurrection, but their view was that this would happen at the end of time, not in the middle of history.
And so both then and now, the resurrection challenges worldviews.
Our world is postmodern. Many people like to treat faith as if it’s relative. We like to act as though whatever someone believes about God can be true, we don’t like to tell people that they’re wrong, that it’s all equally valid. We do that because we think it sounds open minded.
Even though really, it’s intellectually lazy.
But life and death are not relative. They’re absolute.
The resurrection of Jesus happened or it didn’t. It’s a fact or history or it’s a lie of history. There is no middle ground.
And so again, if people wanted to hold to the idea that no one can be raised from the dead, not even Jesus. And if you believe that, then Jesus does you no good.
Wanting to be a cultural Christian who doesn’t have faith does you no good. It’s the resurrection that matters.
A person could ask, “Couldn’t you still take Christianity for its moral teachings?”
No.
It would be like an electrical grid with wires coming from a substation, connected to lines, coming into your house, but there’s no power plant at the other end of the grid.
Believing in a Jesus who didn’t raise from the dead does about as much good as flipping a light switch that has no power.
Christmas and easter
Every year at Christmas time, I see some people who decide to take on this religious crusade where they complain about people and businesses, and commercials saying “happy holidays.” They say “we need to keep Christ in Christmas.”
The bigger issue is that we need to keep the resurrection in Easter.
And as the passage continues, Paul will talk about the consequences of an unrisen Messiah.
The consequences of an unrisen Messiah
Verse 14: if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Strong wording. If there is no resurrection, then Christianity is predicated on a lie. If Christ is not risen, we have misrepresented and misunderstood God.
Verse 15: We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
That’s no small matter. If Christ is not risen, we’ve placed our hope in the wrong savior, we’re living for the wrong salvation.
It would be like going to a different country that has different laws. And you’re familiar with American laws, but not the laws of this other country. You can try to assert your rights or how you think things should be.
But the government of that country doesn’t care what you think about their laws. Their laws are not based around your agreement with them.
They’re bigger and stronger than you are. The hope of eternal life is not whatever we say it is.
We can’t even control our own physical life, let alone our eternal life. We have limitations. We have fears. Because we know how frail and vulnerable we are. It’s why we go into our basement when there’s a tornado warning. It’s why we wear seatbelts when we’re in the car. Because we know we don’t have control.
Yet when it comes to eternal life, many want to act like they can just decree whatever they want it to be and reality will just conform to opinions.
The gospel points us to hope because it is faith in one who died and rose and who promises eternal life.
Moving to verse 17:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
If Christ is not raised, then we’ve put the hope of the atonement of our sins in one who hasn’t done it. Jesus cannot just be a moral teacher when he said he brought forgiveness.
Sometimes a person thinks that they have something that’s really valuable.
I love the History Channel show: Pawn Stars. And sometimes you’ll see a person on that show and they think they have something that is really valuable.
And an expert comes in and examines it. And you learn that it’s really worthless.
That’s what the gospel is reduced to if Jesus didn’t raise from the dead. The resurrection is everything. And there’s no neutrality when it comes to faith in that.
It would be like throwing down your money to make a purchase and they examine the bills and tell you it’s counterfeit. You thought you had something of value, now you don’t.
1 Corinthians 15 verse 18: Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
If Christ is not risen, Christians are worthy of pity because we wasted our time for nothing.
That is the razor’s edge on which the gospel rests. It’s either the most important truth that can be known and the resurrection is the most important event in human history or it’s all meaningless.
The resurrection and meaning
What does the resurrection mean in your life?
Again, it’s easy to be a cultural Christian. You’re not an atheist, you live in America which does have a rich religious heritage, there are things about Christianity that you appreciate, and you’re a nice person, and so you check that box.
But is the resurrection your rock? Is it real to you?
Because the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the first Easter is not just some nice story that we tell ourselves.
The resurrection points us to meaning in life. It’s to live for Christ and to the glory of God.
The resurrection points us to hope. Because we have a savior who lives, and who has promised to make all things new, to make all things right, to one day wipe away every tear, to forgive us our sins.
The resurrection points us to life. Both to what true life is like and what eternal life is like in the presence of God.
The resurrection points us to truth. Not just to truth, but to the greatest truth that can be known. Not just to truth, but to the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.
That we live in a fallen world where there is sin and death but that we have a savior who has overcome death.
If Christ is risen, then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen, then nothing else matters.
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The cross of Christ and the cost of sin
We have a sinfully low view of sin.
We cannot overestimate the weight of sin when we see the cost of sin on the cross.
None of us lives up even to our own moral standards. Do you ever get mad and you regret it? Ever yell at someone and wish you hadn’t? Ever tell a lie or bend the truth and wish you could have it back? Ever manipulate people to get your own way? Ever do something where you know deep down it’s not what you should have done?
Of course you have.
We don’t live up to our own standards. And if we can’t do that, how on earth do we live up to the standards of a Holy God? We don’t and we can’t. We have no room to stand on our own. We have nothing to go to God with on our own and say “you have to accept me. You have to love me. You have to let me into heaven.” On what grounds? We sin.
And it’s not just “well nobody is perfect.” But that we sin. We rebel against God. In our thoughts, in our hearts, in our actions, in our inactions.
We can’t make ourselves Holy. We can’t make ourselves worthy.
We have a sinfully low view of sin. Our view of sin is so low that we think we can master it on our own. Our view of sin is so low that we think we can do enough good to outweigh our sin.
Then why the cross at all? Why did Jesus die?
We like to think we can do it on our own. That we can make it to God by our efforts. That there are people who are doing just fine without God.
And so the world likes to judge God. Likes to say what he should do if he really were loving. That he’d just wipe the slate clean. That that would be love.
We like to tell God what love is. Because we have a sinfully low view of sin.
Because the reality is that God SHOWS US what love is. On the cross. That’s what love is. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friend (John 15:13).
Jesus shows us what love is when he lays down his life for you. When he endures the penalty of your sin for you. When he bears the wrath of God for you.
And again that’s a message that many find offensive. That many hate. But that again shows our sinfulness when we try to judge God. When we try to tell the God who made us what really would be just or holy or good, or loving.
We can’t earn God but he freely gives himself on the cross. We might debate sin. Just how big of a deal it really is. Just how much it really matters. But Jesus shows us how big of a deal sin is on the cross. He shows us how imperfect we are on the cross, how sinful we are on the cross. Because he bears the weight of our sin on the cross.
We have a sinfully low view of sin.
We cannot overestimate the weight of sin when we look at the price Jesus paid for sin. Jesus didn’t die for you because your sins weren’t that bad.
He did it because of the holiness of God and our inability to live up to that. But rather than to just have us languish with no hope, he gave us hope. On the cross.
Jesus is God. And because he’s God, he was a worthy sacrifice for our sins. For all of eternity, Jesus is God.
God came into the world. The word became flesh and dwelled among us (John 1:14). Born of a virgin at his incarnation, Jesus is fully man. And because he’s fully man, he is like us in our human nature. He lived the holy life we could not. The sinless life we could not. And he died for you.
Jesus goes to the cross and in going to the cross, he doesn’t simply die for us. He’s tortured for us. It’s not like our day and age where methods of execution are designed to be relatively painless. Crucifixion was designed to humiliate and maximize the torture and pain.
It was designed to prolong suffering. After being flogged to within an inch of your life, a person would have to carry the top part of the cross beam, which weighed upwards of 125 pounds to the place of his or her death.
Nails would have been driven through the wrists and feet. Just imagine the agony of that. And the cross beam would be hoisted up with the condemned person attached.
Struggling to breathe, their body sagging down on the weight of their legs. Then pushing up somewhat to get more oxygen. And repeating this horrid cycle until a person died from asphyxiation or exposure to the elements.
But there we have God on earth. Dying in the most agonizing way. The most humiliating way. In a public way. But it was for the sins of the world. It was so we could be forgiven. Because as he was nailed to the cross, so was our sin.
We have a sinfully low view of sin.
That that was the price to be paid for it. God on earth dying for it. But he did it willingly. Not because he had to. But because of his love for you. That’s what love is.
We have a sinfully low view of sin. We see the sinfulness of humanity in Jesus’ death.
Jesus never leaves us, he never forsakes us. His disciples let him down. Three times, they fell asleep in the garden. Three times Peter denies Jesus. Judas leads the party who arrests Jesus. Judas walked with the Lord for three years. And betrayed him.
Jesus is brought before the Jewish ruling council.
Matthew 26:59-60 tells us: Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, 60 but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.
These people were not out for the truth. They had the savior of the world in their midst. And instead of seeing him for who he really was, they kept bringing up witnesses, trying to find something to hold against him.
So they take his words out of context: At last two came forward 61 and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’ (Matthew 26:61)
In the First Century Roman world, desecrating a temple was a capital offense. Jesus was referring to his own body. Jesus is the true temple, the presence of God with his people. And so they misconstrue the words of Jesus, but it all works to the divine plan.
This leads to the crucifixion of Christ because he said that he could rebuild the temple in 3 days. Ironically, when they then crucify him, he shows us that he could rebuild the temple in three days. Because as the true temple, Jesus rose on the third day.
He’s taken before Pilate. Pilate is an earthly authority, the governor. Pilate knows he can find no fault in Jesus. He sees the innocence of Jesus.
Pilate symbolically tries to cleanse himself. The text says: he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
In the face of intense pressure, Pilate can’t bring himself to do the right thing.
He offers up an option. Pilate has a custom of annually releasing one prisoner. There is Barabbas who is a killer and an instigator of insurrection. Or they can have Jesus who is totally innocent. And they select Barabbas.
The Roman guards later mock Jesus. They make a crown of thorns, they hand him a reed as a makeshift scepter, they put a robe on him. They bow down and say “Hail, king of the Jews.” But again they play into the irony. Because Jesus IS the king. He’s the king of kings.
While he’s on the cross, the mocking continues. Jesus is crucified with two men who are guilty. And they too join in the mocking. The guilty mocking an innocent man. Dying people mocking the Lord. Crucified men who can’t even show humility for another man who is dying the same gruesome death.
The priests, scribes, and elders continue mocking Jesus, beginning in 27:42, “he saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.”
But they miss the point. Because it’s because Jesus didn’t come down from the cross that we CAN believe in him. Because Jesus died on that cross that day.
The mocking continues in verse 43 “he trusts in God, let God deliver him now, if he desires him.”
Again they miss the point. God did not spare his son so that he could spare you.
The followers of Jesus, the betrayer of Jesus, the ruling Jewish authorities, the ruling Roman authorities. All contributing in various ways to Jesus’ death.
This isn’t the isolated failing of one person. It’s not a lone wolf assassin who takes out Jesus. If that had been the case, maybe we could chalk it up to one bad egg.
But in the passion narrative, it’s everyone. Everyone’s failures and sins lead to the cross. But even in spite of that, God is working it for his own glory.
In spite of that, God had planned throughout all eternity to actually use that evil and wickedness for our salvation. Because even though it was sin and evil that brought Jesus to the cross, it’s because Jesus went to the cross that he was able to die for you and for the forgiveness of your sins.
We see the sinfulness of humanity in Christ’s passion. We can’t downplay the sinfulness of humanity when Jesus came into our world and we killed him. The righteous and holy God who made the world came into the world and we crucified him. We can’t downplay the severity of our sinfulness.
The most atrocious way that humanity has ever conceived of to end a person’s life, crucifixion is what is used against the righteous savior of the world.
We have a sinfully low view of sin. But in spite of all of that, we again see the grace of the Lord on the cross. Because Jesus bore infinite wrath for sin. There is infinite grace when we turn to him. There is no sin he is unable to forgive.
Infinite wrath because of our sin. But infinite mercy on the cross because of his grace.
Jesus died on a hill called Calvary. They had taken him to Jerusalem just outside the city where the Lord was crucified.
Hundreds of years before, God had made a promise to Abraham of land. And on the first Good Friday, Jesus died on the cross in the very land that had been promised to Abraham.
But that was always God’s plan. To make a way for sinful people to have a relationship with a righteous God.
Jesus endured an agonizing death. For you. If you know him, let this be a day to praise him and to thank him for what he’s done for us. To remember the grace he’s given. To be mindful of our sin and the grace that he gives us. To remember where we were, dead in sin. And the life that he gives. But if you’re struggling right now, if God doesn’t seem as close, know that he paid the price. For you.
Because of his love for you. And if you don’t know him, examine your heart. Do you live up to your own standards? Be honest with yourself? No one has broken more promises to you than you. But know that Jesus forgives you. And died for you. And if you accept the grace for what he did, and what you couldn’t do, by faith, your sins are forgiven. Because there’s no other way.
And if there is, I repeat a question from earlier. If we can do it on our own, then why did Jesus die?
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Warning signs of abusive churches
In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, the church had been infiltrated by people who had corrupted the gospel message and were seeking to add law onto grace.
In Galatians 5:1, Paul said for freedom, Christ has set us free.
Sadly, many churches fall into similar problems today with authority that is not Biblical and which brings its own form of slavery rather than the freedom Jesus died to give.
Here are six warning signs, in a list which is by no means exhaustive.
- The leadership is authoritarian
If you have a pastor – or leaders in general – who are not accessible or accountable, it’s creating the conditions for problems. Other signs of authoritarian leaders: a leader who never admits that he or she is wrong, lacks compassion and empathy for others, and is strong-willed to get his or her way.
If all of the power in the church is effectively given to one person, that’s also a sign of authoritarian leadership. The biggest problem with that leadership style is that it’s not Biblical.
There have been some high profile instances of megachurch pastors being forced out because of abusive leadership. But those are just the examples we hear about. It can happen in a church of any size.
An abusive pastor can do tremendous damage. They can hinder rather than help someone’s walk with Christ. They can sour a person on the church.
But the issue isn’t ultimately THE CHURCH. It always comes back to people, and sin, and adding to the gospel, which brings slavery.
2. Secrecy
A church shouldn’t have levels of access. Some churches, people have no idea how that stuff is working. And when churches do that, it can be a symptom of a bigger issue with authority.Because there’s no reason why that stuff needs to be secret.
Again, I’m not saying it’s always because a church is deliberately doing something inappropriate. But it allows for those conditions.
3. Every issue is a gospel issue
Some issues are gospel issues. That’s what we see in Galatians. In Galatians, the gospel itself was being undermined. The way in which we can be forgiven by Christ was being undermined. That was a non-negotiable.
Third warning sign of a church that is bringing slavery over freedom. If every issue becomes a gospel issue, it becomes its own form of intellectual tyranny.
But if you make everything non-negotiable, you basically crush independent thought, you crush honest conversations, and questions. It’s seeking blind compliance.
4. If the church makes the members prisoners
If the church calls your salvation into question if you leave it for another church, that’s a warning sign. Because it’s elevating their church to have influence over your salvation. We’re saved by faith in Christ.
If you’re a follower of Christ, it is important to be part of a church. The New Testament is clear on that. And I’ve before made the commentary that our culture is way too quick to leave good churches for reasons which are not rooted in theology, but which are rooted in personal preferences.
But sometimes there can be legitimate grounds to leave.
5. If they have a culture of shame around doubts and honest questions
Fifth, if you can’t ask honest questions or if you’re afraid to express doubts. Sometimes we go through a spiritual crisis where we’re really struggling. A church needs to be a place where a person can have the comfort to be open and honest about that. Without fear. A church needs to be a place where you can talk about your struggles.
The Bible does tell us to bear one another’s burdens. Not to be forced into hiding.
6. Adding to the gospel
The sixth warning sign, if a church makes you feel guilty and like you’re never doing enough, or they’re adding things to the gospel and tying them to salvation.
If people are led to believe that anyone besides Jesus is their savior, and anything besides the gospel is the means by which they are saved, then it’s a church that has added law onto the gospel.
That’s not to say that pointing out what the Bible calls Christians to do is legalism or slavery. But when we act like doing certain things in addition to the gospel is contributing to our salvation, we have added works to grace.
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