Date: 11/24/2020
Questions
Will there be a sermon series in the future regarding dating and it’s challenges? Or having some type of couples class regarding dating?
- Probably not a sermon series (we stick to books of the Bible instead of topical, for the most part).
- Great idea for an equip class.
- I know youth ministry covers relationships and dating for our middle and high schoolers, but the questioner is older than that age group.
In your sermon a few weeks ago you talked about disagreements and being under authority which got me thinking about the American revolution. Were our founding fathers wrong to rebel against their authority? Taxation without representation isn’t necessarily a “moral” issue. So when is it appropriate to disagree with those in authority (in our government or in our church)?
- I’m no historian.
- There are some who would say that our nation began as a rebellion against authority that wasn’t the best. In many ways, we’ve never shaken that rebellion against authority which I think we’re seeing more and more in our country.
- Father-in-law email: “Yes, I believe that the American Revolution was indeed in opposition to God’s Word.”
- Here are important passages reminding us that we respect God when we respect the rulers He places in authority:
- Matthew 22:17-21 — Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”18 But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Hypocrites! Why are you testing me? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” So they brought him a denarius. 20 Jesus said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” 21 They replied, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
- Romans 13:1-7 — Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 4 for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities but also because of your conscience. 6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants devoted to governing. 7 Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
- 1 Timothy 2:1-4
- Titus 3:1
- 1 Peter 2:13-15 — Be subject to every human institution for the Lord’s sake, whether to a king as supreme 14 or to governors as those he commissions to punish wrongdoers and praise those who do good. 15 For God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.
- Rejecting a system of taxation and demanding more representation are clearly not biblical reasons for conducting war against the prevailing government. If the British colonies were truly founded and sustained by Christians — as is so often claimed by fundamentalist evangelicals — the people of these territories would have prayed and obeyed rather than taking up muskets and asking France (England’s nemesis) to intervene.
- In essence, the revolution was an unjustified civil war. Of course, the colonists had experienced power struggles between England and France, and they saw how the native Americans were exploited in those conflicts. The continent was politically unstable in many regards.
- Consider how so many colonists were opposed to rebelling against the king for economic and even moral reasons, particularly in the southern colonies where exports of cotton, tobacco, and sugar to Britain were highly profitable — thanks to slave labor. A major migration to Canada and the British isles occurred when war broke out. In fact, the revolutionists persecuted the loyalists who resisted them. It was an ugly chapter in the history of the settlers in the New World.
When to disagree vs when to go our separate ways?
- Church
- Heresy
- If the church supported some sort of immorality.
- Government
- Freedom to worship according to our conscience is imposed on. Meaning, they force us to all be part of a particular religion. You must worship Allah. Or be a Buddhist.
- They tell us we can’t worship — meaning it’s illegal to worship. Illegal to gather in person or provide worship services online.
- When it’s less clear?yout
- Christians (Bonhoeffer) attempted to assassinate Hitler. Was this biblically justified?
- My father-in-law again: I would like to add that Hitler was just another version of a cruel Roman caesar. The empire exterminated huge populations, including those in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., just as Jesus foretold in Matthew 24. Yet, Jesus did not endorse assassination; He taught His followers to pay to Caesar what was due to him.
Thank you for recommending the book Unoffendable, by Brant Hansen. I read how the author describes Christians as the people who should be known as never being offended. To put this into practice the author uses a great Lord of the Ring’s analogy to describe throwing our rings of offense into the depths of Mordor. This appears to be a life-work (something you spiritually pursue over your entire lifetime), would you agree or is the answer at the end of the book, for how to achieve this spiritual nature of being unoffendable?
- Yes, I think this is a lifelong battle (because it’s a battle against sin).
- I’ve seen the brown minivan a few more times. The one who almost ran me over. I wish I could say the van stirs in me joy and delight in Christ — as I think of God’s grace in protecting me — but I’d be covering up the depravity of my heart and lying to you if I did.
- Mortification – the killing of sin (throwing our anger into the depths of Mordor).
- Sanctification – growing in our holiness
- Can’t forget that greater our joy is in Jesus the lesser our desire for sin will be (we get the limo ride in the end).
Is the Eucharist truly the body and blood of Christ?
- Bible passages
- Matthew 26:26-29 — Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
- John 6:41-58 — So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me — 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
- Humanity and Divinity of Christ
- Fully human and fully God
- In his humanity, Christ is physically in one place at a time. Presently that is at the right hand of the Father.
- In his divinity, Christ is spiritually present everywhere (omnipresence).
- Roman Catholics — transubstantiation = bread and wine physically becomes the body and blood of Christ.
- Lutherans — consubstantiation = bread and wine physically coexist with the body and blood of Christ. Honestly, this one has always confused me.
- Zwingli (Baptists and similar; non-denominational; Pentecostals; Charismatics) — memorial view — bread and wine (juice) represent the body and blood of Christ, but nothing physically or spiritually takes place. It’s just us allowing the elements to remind us of what Christ has done.
- Reformed (Gateway; Presbyterians; other Reformed churches) — bread and wine (juice) remain physically bread and wine (juice), but Christ is spiritually present in the elements. Thus it’s more than just a reminder, it’s a spiritual feast of Christ and his grace to us.
- I believe the most faithful to Scripture and to our understanding of Jesus’ humanity (one location) and divinity (omnipresent).