God Has Become Counter Cultural

by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture: Matthew 5-7

May 23, 2010

We now live in an age when living up to the moral standards God set down for us flies in the face of the culture of the society in which we live. God has become counter cultural; Christ is counter cultural; following the leading of the Holy Spirit will run us smack dab into offending someone around us. For we have kicked God out of our legislature, our schools, out of the business of prayer before a football game, removing crosses from federal cemeteries, and even some churches want to preach to you about your personal success and fortune, not forgiveness of sins.

Stop America's slide away from God.

Be the Christian Counter Culture.

Let this Pentecost Sunday be the start of a fired up Christian life, a life that mirrors the lives of those early Christians who knew the touch of the Holy Spirit.

Center yourself on Jesus Christ.

Allow the Holy Spirit to work through you and begin to peel away the layers of this world that pull you away and hide you from God, that bar you from doing what you know He wants from you, that cause you to fear trusting in Him for what comes next, causes you to be fearful of those who threaten the body but cannot touch the soul, make you unsure of who Christ is and what is said of Him. Draw near to Jesus Christ and become the Christian Counter Culture that stops this nation's slide away from God.

No, you don't need to sell your house and everyone move to a communal farm. You don't need to go live on a mountain and become a hermit. Yes, Christ did say come out from among them, but he also told us to be the salt and light; Matt. 5:13-16.

Being salt and light in an unsavory and sin-dark culture, being the life that follows Jesus Christ is different, but we need to stay within society and be that difference. We need to say "NO!" out loud to that which is counter to the teachings of Christ. We need to say yes to what our God-given freedoms give us the responsibility to carry out.

Most of the educational institutes in this nation started out as Christian institutions because Christ tells us to share knowledge, share wisdom, share righteousness.

Most court houses in this nation have somewhere a representation of the Ten Commandments as examples of right and wrong. Moses got those from God and shares them down through the ages with us.

Most Americans know this nation began based on the principles of God's nature and personality. In fact, they were fleeing those who would repress freedom of religion. God told the Jews long ago it was not good to have a king, but He would give them one if that's what they wanted. And the framers of the U.S. Constitution knew by experience that God knew what He was talking about. No kings for America. We would place our trust in God and represent all the people, not a group of rich and royalty.

In the 19th century, political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America, wrote, "The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other."

And yet, almost a century later, that great Christian writer, observer and preacher A. W. Tozer noted, "Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender."

More recently Dr. Charles Stanley declared, "The church by its very nature will offend. We will either be offending the world or Almighty God. The church must make a decision whom she is going to offend."

God's people in America are being co-opted and are becoming offensive to Almighty God through our words, our actions, our inactions; our passive acceptance of evil among us.

Where did we go wrong?

That would take an entirely different, and long, sermon, so let's just move on to what do we do now. And right there we come back to where I began ... be the Christian counter culture.

Actually, what we are experiencing right now, in terms of morality, legalism, economic disaster, that is a culture counter to what America's founders originally intended. The present is the counter culture. But if we are going to stop the slide of America into moral, social and economic oblivion, we will have to become the Christian counter culture in order to obey God's intentions for us.

That's the mission, where do we find the tools to accomplish this?

We find them in Ephesians 6:12-18 and we find them in prayer. In fact, rarely will you find more specific direction for the Christian life than in Ephesians 4. And Ephesians 5 tells us how to arm ourselves against evil. In addition, prayer is an important tool, our weapon, of choice. For those of you on Facebook, there is a prayer group page on at http://www.facebook.com/OurPrayer where you can read example after example of answered prayer. You can post your prayers, your own needs, your own praise to God. You can learn more about prayer, about God's commitment to prayer, about how prayer to the Throne of Grace is such an effective weapon to those who belong to Christ.

Therein lies the first step, the first requirement, and the first qualifying question. Do you belong to Jesus Christ? Have you put your life in His hands, recognized His gift of eternal life to you, His authority over your life? This is the Son of Almighty God who left sweet heaven to be among us through the pains of physical birth, grew up among us with all the dangers and ill-will as well as the joys and the precious moments of life on earth. He agreed with the Father to take upon Himself all the sins of humanity in order to reconcile the creation to the Creator, to bring us home to the Father, to restore love between ourselves and Almighty God. Having no righteousness of our own, we walk clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and He presents us to the Father as His own.

Through the birth, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have the ground to stand upon, the right to Christian life, and the promise of life eternal. In this day and age in which we live, we know by experience that no one keeps promises like God, and on that basis we have the right to live as the Christian counter culture. In God we find peace in the troubled day.

We do not accept the changing mores of society when they run counter to God's Word.

We do not accept the desirous but foul promises of physical gratification that Satan uses to clothe us in a guilt that pushes us away from God.

We do not accept that it is every man for himself and if our neighbor can't make it on his own, tough luck.

We do not accept that it's okay to raise ourselves up by pushing others down.

We do not accept that might makes right, and that we as adults have the right to ignore the well-being of children to feed our own desires.

We do not accept that those outside of Christ have the only truth about what is fair, what is acceptable, and what is wise.

We do not accept that we must be legalists, pointing the finger of offense, hanging signs of guilt about the necks of those prisoners to sin, refusing to love, refusing to help, refusing to be Christ to them.

We do not accept that human goodness can equate to God's righteousness. We do not accept that if our neighbor has something nicer than we have, we have a right to wish we had it, and make plans to steal it.

We do not accept that our position in society is built upon how much we have, have much we earn, or how much power we have over others.

We do not accept that our well-being, meeting our desires for earthly happiness justifies harming the lives of others, stealing the love of others, serving ourselves before others.

We do not accept that such things as love, caring, humility, and a servant attitude set us up as losers. On the contrary, such life attitudes make us winners in the eyes of the only one who counts, Almighty God. As the children of royalty we can afford to give of ourselves, to give of what we have to raise up others, to lower ourselves to lift others out of the muck and the mire of foul desires and covetousness in order to look Jesus and the eye, and belong to Him.

We do not accept ... anything but Jesus Christ, and the counter culture beliefs that He has lived out, and taught to us.

Begin by standing out. Begin by saying "No!" to what His Word tells us is wrong, and even "No!" in our own lives to what may not be wrong, but which could impair our brother's or sister's Christian experience.

Begin by standing up for the walking wounded about us who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and their Savior. Stand up! Be the image, the mind, the hands of Jesus Christ to those around you.

Begin by being that model of Christian change we want to see in others.

Begin by meeting hatred and abuse with love and the other cheek, by answering requests for your coat, with your coat, your hat, your umbrella, with all of whatever you can of decency provide. It will astonish. It is counter-cultural.

Begin by sacrificing what we want in order to reach out to those without the basic necessities of life.

Begin with a life that reflects the truth of Galatians 5:22-23 -- "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Verses 24 goes on to point out that, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires," and verse 25 urges, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

Begin by astonishing people with your Christian conduct in the same way Jesus astonished the crowds he taught with authority in His sermon on the mount. For His words, and His observed conduct, exhibited substance and quality, and He spoke with the authority of one who knows God.

We have good news for this generation, and for every generation; good news we can live as well as speak, even though it runs counter to the current culture. We have God's authority to do that.

Christian writer James Denny wrote that Jesus' teachings had a "practical sovereignty over man’s conscience, will and affections" with a "supreme moral authority,
legislating without misgiving, and demanding implicit obedience."

When you promote that today you will be "counter-cultural." Steadfast reliance upon the teachings of Jesus Christ, upon the Word of Almighty God, without running it through an awareness group for political correctness, without taking into account that it might run counter to some other group's opinions and practice, without leaving room for those who don't even believe there is a God who is the great "I Am," that is counter cultural. That runs against the grain of those who decided ad hoc what societal mores should be.

Tough. God said it. Jesus Christ affirmed it. I'm going to live it.

The reason the crowds in our scripture lesson today were astonished at his teaching was because He taught them with authority. He came to them first and foremost as a teacher, and He amazed His listeners by the substance, the quality and the manner of His instruction.

Then, as now, He assumes the right to t4eavchj absoloute truth. He was a Jew, but His message was not Jewish. He was interpreting Moses' law, but in such a way as to show it was god's. What He had to say was not culturally conditioned in the sense it was limited to a specific people such as the Jews, or to a particular place such as their Palestine. Being absolute, it was and is universal.

In different context in John 3:11, Jesus said, "We speak of what we know."

Christian writer A. B. Bruce noted that other teachers spoke "by authority," but Jesus spoke "with" authority. That was the difference that thrilled those who heard Him speak.

In a commentary on Matthew, the Rev. John Stott wrote, "With complete self-confidence He declared who would inherit the kingdom of heaven, who would inherit the earth, who would obtain mercy, who would see God be fit to be called God's children.

Yes, what Jesus taught then and teaches now runs counter to today's cultural. But it just might be the salvation of this nation we all love. It will certainly be the salvation of millions of people we will never personally know. It will stop in its tracks the evil running rampant through society, and call to account those who call evil good, and good evil.

And it will be opposed. Make no mistake. Obeying God is a dangerous, violent idea ... to those who don't want to do that. And they will oppose it with the pseudo righteousness of men, labeling it unfair, racist, profiling, anti- this and anti- that. And yes, they will seek to crucify in public the messengers. But those who stand for Christ already know, from His testimony, this will happen. In Matthew 10:24, in John 15:20, in Acts 17:11 we find this message, represented by Matt. 10:24, "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!"

Maybe, if you think you are living for Christ, and no one is challenging you, maybe you better check yourself. As human beings, we are easily moved into the channel where we "go along to get along." We don't like pressure, we don't like opposition, we don't like not being liked. It's natural for us to seek the peaceful way, the way without any opposition. But Satan has no reason to challenge those who offer him no opposition. We see again the truth of those verses in Matt. 7:13-14 from God that tell us to "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

That which promotes the Word of God, of its nature, challenges evil, challenges those in opposition to the Christian way of life. Those who do not serve Christ, who serve themselves and their own agendas, they will see such "counter culture" as threatening and will react accordingly. Count on it.

However, our Lord tells us, in effect, that a good offense is the best defense. In Matt. 10:26 we are assured, "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

Why should we believe that our God will fight for us? Well, the Bible is full of exactly those assurances. But more basically, it is the very character of God that gives us that rock solid assurance. In Matt. 10:29 we read, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."

Moreover, in Matt. 10:32-33, Jesus Christ, Himself, assures us, "Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before My Father in heaven."

We have every reason in this world, and the next, to be counter cultural. And in truth, in being counter cultural we may be the last great hope of this grand experiment we call the United States of America. More importantly, however, we may be the last great hope of thousands, perhaps millions of souls over whom the angels in heaven will rejoice when the good news of Jesus Christ is heard and acted upon. And Satan will grind his teeth in angry desperation.

Turn this cultural around. Know what the Word of God says, and then speak out when confronted with wrong, with injustice, with unmet need. But don't stop there, do something about it. Don't walk away. Change the culture, one person of Christ at a time. For in the end we will realize the truth that the Psalmist wrote for us in Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds."

No one loves us more than our God. There is no power in the universe mightier than the God who created us, and this earth where we live. How is it that we have allowed this culture of God-given freedom and liberty, in which we live, to stray so far from God?

The challenge that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche threw out in the nineteenth-century is still relevant today: "Show me that you are redeemed, and I will believe in your Redeemer."

India's Mahatma Gandhi, that great man of peace, once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

I urge you to live the words of Francis of Assisi, founder of the Catholic Franciscan Order, and renown lover of animals in God's name. He urges us, "Always preach the gospel, when necessary use words." Let us be the counter culture, living out, day in and day out, before all men and women, the teachings of God, in the name of Him who loved us first, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus who is the Christ.

Be the Christian counter culture.

Amen.

Will Bible-based Truth Soon be Illegal?

British Police Street Preacher For Saying Homosexuality is a Sin

Note that this man preaching in an English square was not preaching about homosexuality. However, police insisted on raising the subject, and when he expressed his personal Biblically-based opinion to them, he was arrested and put in a jail cell.

The groundwork for this is being laid in the American Congress right now through legislation of the "hate crimes" proposals. This is not freedom of speech as guaranteed by our own Bill of Rights.

Click the link below to view it now:

http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=44f085f4472ec6efcc82&sp=2

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The Ins and Outs of Christ

Sermon by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture -- Acts 11:1-18
11:1 Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God.
11:2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him,
11:3 saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?"
11:4 Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying,
11:5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me.
11:6 As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.
11:7 I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'
11:8 But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
11:9 But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.'
11:10 This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven.
11:11 At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.
11:12 The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.
11:13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter;
11:14 he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.'
11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning.
11:16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'
11:17 If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"
11:18 When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

This past weekend we here in middle Tennessee have been battered by a huge storm which included tornado warnings, thunder boomers that shook the house and rain falling in heavy, slanted sheets.

As my wife and I looked out the window, living on a slope as we do, we watched a torrential river of water race past our house, with white rooster tails of spray where a rock or pavement stuck out. Our garden out back had pools of standing water, but our neighbors at the bottom of the slope had another river filling their backyard and running into their neighbor's yards.

Our Florida room, filled with plants and outdoor tables and chairs and windows all around reverberated with the chatter of rain on the roof as it poured, and poured and poured. The weatherman says this will continue for another three days. I've been watching to see if anyone is building an ark.

It is at times like this we really thank God for a warm, dry place to wait out the storm around us. We are blessed and we feel special in God's hands.

However, what would we do if a stranger showed up at our door, looking like a drowned rat, asking if I knew where they could get out of the storm, get dry and warm, and catch their breath? What would I do with them there on my wet doorstep?

I guess I could refer them to my neighbors, who are younger and more capable of dealing with strangers and surprises, and besides they have more room, and if this turned out to be a dangerous person they would be more ready to defend themselves than would this elderly couple who live alone. Some might respond in that way, after all, because we live in a world where it is difficult to trust anyone you don't know very well. And even with those you think you know, sometimes there are heartaches and disappointments. And so our first thought is to protect ourselves.

Yet, for Christians there in the back of our mind is that verse in Hebrews 13:2, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it."

Not all of us have to make such cut and dried decisions, of course. Sometimes we must make decisions where what is at stake is not as clear as this. And yet we seem continually confronted with the issue of who is a Christian, and who is not. And is it necessary for us to make such a decision? Is it up to us regarding who is in as a follower of Jesus Christ, and who is out? Some of us deal with this by deciding we're not going to deal with it, we're just not going to make those decisions. That would relieve us of such tensions, except it's not that easy. We are continually confronted with issues that require is to either have faith in a person to be who they say they are, or to steer clear of them because there is something about them we do not trust.

It is these instincts and resulting decisions that are coming more and more into play as government and politics intrude more and more into our lives, affecting our daily life and future, and that of those we love and care about.

Without getting into which political persuasion is "to blame," it must evident to us that the lines between the "us" and "them" are hardening, with blame and claims and defaming being thrown back and forth. And the words of an old friend came back to me, that "it's hard to convince someone of the love of Christ when you have your knee on their neck."

Today's scripture speaks to this issue of drawing lines between groups of people; putting one set in one box and another set in another box. But living people don't fit well in boxes. No one is 100 percent this or that; our very existence as human beings lead us to dynamic existences that make us more mutt or smorgasbord than purebred or single subject. Even so, that doesn't stop us from judging those with whom we disagree to be 100 percent wrong and stuffing them into that box that may in fact be foreign territory to them. And in doing so we lose the initiative to find common ground through Jesus Christ. Here is where we throw into the trash can the common ground given to us by Jesus Christ, as described in John 13, verses 34 and 35: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Whoa! Back up the bus! How do Conservatives love Liberals love Moderates love anybody we disagree with? And what if they claim one name but their actions are those of Marxists or Socialists?

Yes, bizarre, isn't it? And yet I tell you Christ is calling us to step outside those labels and do what He has told us to do. Christians can be Republicans, Democrats, Independents, whatever political label they want to hang on themselves. But they still must do what Christ told us to do, first and foremost.

In our scripture today Peter was locked into how he could deal, or not deal, with certain human beings based upon whether they agreed with certain social requirements. But God unlocked him. God told him to do otherwise. Whom was Peter to obey, the socio-religious requirements of men, or the Word of God? No question there, is there? Shouldn't be.

All across our nation we are headed into a long, hot summer of disagreement between those who support what our elected government officials are doing, and those who do not. Harsh words and accusations are hurled back and forth. One side assumes what the other means by what they say and do, but these assumptions usually come with our own baggage, and may or may not have any validity. But that doesn't matter, because we know they are wrong, whoever "they" are.

Okay, let's assume "they" are wrong, in the same way Peter knew the Gentiles were "wrong" in being ignorant of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. But, if Peter accepted the social dictum that they were even more wrong in not being circumcised, in not meeting the accepted social requirements, he would never have spoken to them about Jesus Christ.

What are our assumptions about "they" keeping us from sharing, from doing, from solving?

Jesus Christ, who walked in our shoes until His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection, knows what we are up against. He understands our aims, our goals, our hurts and misunderstandings, and how those work against His words in John 13:34-35 -- "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Do not assume those are words for another time. Do not assume He cannot be talking to you, right now, about this time. Jesus Christ transcends time, and brings to us the words of healing. Will we hear? Will we find ways to put them into practice, as He urges us to do: "By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Implicit in the words of the Christ is the knowledge, the understanding, that there are bigger issues at stake here. There are men's souls at stake here, "...the repentance that leads to life" is at stake here. Who will listen? Who will say "Yes, Lord," and find a way?

Even as the time is growing short, the fields are white with harvest, even as prophecies in Daniel and Jeremiah are being fulfilled, and souls created by God are at stake, souls He wants to be with Him. Who will step outside the labels and find ways to do what the Christ has given us to do?

Pray about this, I beg you. Find a way at last to answer Him, "Yes, Lord."

Amen.

Comparative Religion

Sermon by Pastor Ed Evans

May 21, 2010

Scripture: Philippians 3:4b-14

3:4b If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:
3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
3:7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
3:8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,
3:11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
3:13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

From my high kitchen window, I watch a black cat emerge from the tangled woods behind our house, walk with stealth, as only a cat can move, across our neighbor's green back lawn, and enter their children's play area. The black cat then wound around the slide and the swings and the jungle gym in a lithe manner almost resembling dance. Now he padded softly, now he pranced, now he walked with purpose, his furry black tail moving in rhythm with his walk. This was a beautiful cat, sure of the ground he walked upon.

At that moment, as if on cue, our own cat, Stormy, walked slowly into the kitchen, circled in front of me and sat down, looking up at me, as if to say, "Are you looking at another cat? Why are you looking at another cat? I'm right here."

Now, Stormy is a Maine Coon Cat, weighs a hefty 20 pounds, with thick fur in a fascinating mottled black and brown motif. But mainly he is a big cat. He intimidates some people with how big he is. Stormy isn't your cuddly, purring cat that you play with. Stormy doesn't play. He eats, sleeps, runs around the house like he's being chased now and then, scares small dogs, and intimidates some people. At this moment he was seriously eyeballing me. Somehow he knew I was looking at another cat.

As it turned out, I was able to bribe him with a few of his favorite cat goodies, and he ambled away, briefly mollified.

But the encounter led me to consider how we are always comparing what we have with what we don't have. The grass is always greener on the other side. The neighbor always has a nicer car, a better house, a bigger lawn mower. That other job always looks so much easier, pays better, has more benefits. That other religion makes so much more sense. And it requires you to actually do things, so when you do them, you know you're okay. Touch all three bases and you're home free.

For more than 2,000 years mankind has known about Jesus Christ, about the God Who Is, the God who said His name is "I Am." For nearly more generations than we can count we have read of His history with the people of Israel, with others of this world, we have read of His interaction with His people, seen how this God has protected and provided for His people. And yet, we are still looking around. We are still comparing theological ideas, possibilities, alternatives to the Living God.

In what other religion do you find a God who says, "I am going to be involved with My creation. I am going to send a part of myself, my Son, to take away that which separates My creation from Me. I have such an overwhelming love for them, I want them to be with Me where I am, but I also want them to be with Me only if they want to be with Me."

Do the Hindus, the Muslims, the Sufis, Shias, Suunis, Baha'i, Rastafarians, Zoroastrians, Shinto, Jains, Taos, Sikhs, New Age, Confucians, do any of them have a God who sacrifices part of himself to save His people? Who interacts on a constant basis down through history with them? Who says, "Come to me, all you who labor, for My yoke is easy", or "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end"?

Which one loved us so much that He sent His only beloved son to die for us, to reunite us to the Father? Which one says he loves us that much? Who says that to all the peoples of the earth, aside from the Living God?

If He really is the Living God, don't we owe Him something, such as our worship, our undivided attention, to demonstrate resurrection for us? Are we so much that we can ignore Him, and when this life ends, as it must for all of us, do we have some place we can stand and bargain with Him for what comes after this fleeting life on earth?

Or are we so beyond His redemption that there is no use to even consider that He might care about what happens to us? And, oops, right here we run head-on into the Apostle Paul. Having already been where we might stand on this issue so many centuries ago, he has posted a message for us, as if on some message board that surpasses time. Paul's words on this come down through time to us through scripture.

This late apostle wrote, for those who might feel so confident in their own flesh, in their own position in this world, "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more."

In his time, Paul held great power in his hands over his own destiny, and that of others, because he touched all the bases required to be a man of power within the religious realm of his time; he had been "circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee..." He stood head and shoulders above most of the crowd around him. Crowds parted when he walked toward them, some people cowered when he entered the room, some stretched their necks to look at him with awe. Paul was somebody.

He took his privileged background and converted it into action and into power. For he wrote, "...as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." Wherever there were Christians in Paul's early life, they knew his name, for he persecuted them with a fervor like no other. He hunted them down, had them put into chains, into prison, and stoned to death. Paul was no friend of Christians, or of the Christ.

Yet there came a moment when Jesus Christ reached out to Paul specifically and got his attention in a way Paul could not ignore. This self-reliant giant among persecuting Pharisees, who thought he knew it all and saw it all, was suddenly struck blind, forced to rely on others. That moment changed Paul's life completely.

Paul knew, in his heart, the terrible things he had done against Christ, tragedies he had perpetrated against the men and women who had worshipped Christ, and he had every reason to consider himself so lost as to be beyond the love of Christ. Yet Paul had experienced the power of this resurrected Savior, had experienced the love of Christ through those who had every reason to hate and fear him, and instead of running from Jesus Christ in fear, Paul ran toward his Savior.

Paul, the Pharisee who had it all, wrote, "Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith."

For Paul, there was no comparison shopping around for a bigger, better savior. He didn't need to look around and see if he could find one that agreed with his educated ideas of what a god and a savior should be, one that allowed him to work out his salvation on his own terms, one that seemed gentle and kind and met all of his needs morally, mentally and physically.

It was not as if Paul had no other choices. His world was full of idols and other religious groups, promising all sorts of moral and sensual benefits, just as they do in our own day. They are all around us, idols of one form or another, seeking our attention, our time, our money, our worship, our life.

Paul took Jesus Christ as he found him. After all, isn't that how Jesus Christ took Paul? As He found him.

We can shop around if we want. God gives us that freedom. But where will we find another god that created us, that was not created by the mind and the hand of man?

Paul was a highly educated man for his time. And the one thing an educated man knows is where his ignorance lies. When Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, he knew immediately this was an area of ignorance on his part. Paul did what we should do, he made his decision for Christ and moved on.

In the last few verses of our scripture today, Paul, having made that decision for Christ, writes, " Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

Entire sermons have been preached on that last phrase from Paul: "I press on toward the goal..." For you see, if you are outside of Christ, there is no eternal promise for you. This moment is all you have. This moment, this moment, this moment, is all you have. Your last breath is always in your nostrils.

Hurtling down through the halls of time, from the pen of Paul of Tarsus, comes this example for our life. Press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ. Stop looking around, pay attention to what God is saying to you, asking of you, offering you. Like Paul, join yourself to others who have a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, share alike in the blessings and the worship of Him who loved you first, and hearing that heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, press on toward that eternal life in Him. Press on.

Amen.

Everyone Goes Away

Sermon by Ed Evans

March 14, 2010

Scripture: John 6:26-67

²⁶Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

²⁸Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

²⁹Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

³⁰So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

³²Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

³⁴"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

³⁵Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

⁴¹At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." ⁴²They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"

⁴³"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. ⁴⁴"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

⁵²Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

⁵³Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."⁵⁹He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

⁶¹Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? ⁶²What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. ⁶⁵He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

The little girl in the dirty white ao-dai dress of young girls always stood out from the other children. Even though many were orphaned and hungry, they still usually had the smile of a child. They ran, they jumped and played, they begged for food, their eyes darting this way and that, watching for any opportunity to get some food and run. We would give them what we had, C-ration cans of food, maybe a bottle of Coke we had brought with us.

But the one little girl seemed to have lost her childhood. She never smiled. She never joined in with the other children. She stood off by herself, alone. Her dirty clothes and unkept hair told us she was without any family.

One of the Marines walked over to her and offered her a package of crackers. She took it, slowly, watching him. Kneeling down he took her hand and patted it softly.

"It's a beautiful day," he told her. "The sun is shining, you are warm and dry, and you are safe. Why are you so sad?"

We didn't know if she understood English, but she answered in Vietnamese. The interpreter, standing nearby, said, "She told you 'Everyone goes away.'"

"Does she mean she wants us to go away?" the Marine asked.

"No," the interpreter said, "she means, 'everyone goes away.' Everyone has left her. She is all alone."

The little girl's mother and father had been killed by the enemy when their village was attacked. Her brothers and sisters were all dead. Her grandmother and grandfather, all dead. Most of the villagers she knew were either dead or had moved away. A great sadness hung over her. In her own words, "everyone goes away."

Everything changes. It's the nature of life.

Here in Nashville, Tennessee, in mid-March, winter is beginning to move away. The cold winds, the snow, it's all gradually going away. It's just the nature of things. As the little girl said, everything, and everyone eventually goes away.

Jesus Christ, who has given us life and salvation, knows very well the nature of things is to change, to go away. And so he asks that question in our scripture today, "Do you also want to go away?" And many did. Verse 66 says, "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." Jesus had been telling them things that were hard for them to understand, so they left him.

They didn't rush back to riotous living, throwing parties and getting drunk, going on to rob and misuse people. They didn't rush about stealing from the poor, refusing to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked. They just walked away from Jesus.

There are many people today who are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving the homeless a warm, dry place to sleep safely at night, pouring their lives out and working to do good for Jesus Christ, but they are not walking with Him. There is no oneness for them with Jesus Christ before God Almighty. There is no absolute dependence upon Jesus Christ for our natural life.

There is a very chilling, frightening passage in the New Testament that applies here. We find it in Matthew 7:23. Jesus is telling His disciples that they will recognize His own by their fruit, by what they produce. While Jesus knows what is in our heart, we cannot know another's heart, but we can see what it is that their life produces, whether it is good or evil.

And in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Frightening words.

Have you ever wondered of whom Jesus was speaking there? Who could it be that works so hard in the name of Christ, but never bothers to draw close to Him, never really knows Him, and in the end, does not do what God the Father requires of them?

You have seen them. I hope you are not one of them. They are in nearly all our churches and Christian institutions. They work for the accolades, the praise, the pretty ribbons and awards, the kind and gracious words of men. They have their rewards here, and perhaps it is good that they do, for they have nothing stored up in heaven.

"I never knew you. Depart from me..." Chilling words;.

God is so gracious. He tries to warn us, if we will pay attention.

On the mount in Mark 9, when Peter, James and John saw Jesus in the presence of Moses and Elijah, afterward Peter was prattling on and on about building monuments to the meeting, performing "things" to honor Jesus, and right in the middle of it, in verse 7, God interrupted to say, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him."
Shut up, Peter! Pay attention. It isn't what you want to do, it's what God wants.

It isn't about us, in the end. I know that's hard to swallow. But we must. It isn't about us. It is about God the Father. It is about what He wants.

If we can just trust God that in His divine plans He has already made arrangements to care for you and I. There is no need for us to reach out and grab everything we can in order to prepare for our survival. God has already arranged for that as part of His plan. You and I, as genuine followers of Jesus Christ, are already provided for, in His plan.

Right after the Korean War, in the 1950's, one of the icons of the U.S. Marine Corps was General Burwell "Chesty" Puller. Everyone knew him as a rough tactical leader, but also that he took good care of his Marines. His idea of taking care of them was to make sure they were well-trained. He believed that the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war. This training one day involved a long, full day's march over the hills and through the woods of North Carolina, with a full pack and rifle. The Marines were told to put an extra pair of boots and socks in their already full, and heavy, packs.

There were some who saw no sense in that, just loading them down with more weight on the march. And they took only the boots and socks they were wearing.

At the end of the day, as the sun was going down and the Marines were preparing to turn around for the long night march back to camp, they were met by a convoy of Marine trucks. The trucks had brought hot food for the Marines, and they were pleased not to have to eat cold C-rations for supper. But after supper, Gen. Puller instructed all platoon leaders to have their men place one pair of boots and one pair of socks in the trucks returning to camp, and then the night march would begin. Everyone, no exceptions for any reason, was to place one pair of boots, and one pair of socks, in the trucks.

It's the same sort of thing that happened in Matthew 25:1-13 to the five foolish virgins attending the wedding, who brought no extra oil for their lamps. The wedding party was delayed, and when the time came for the arrival of the bride and bridegroom, they had to run off and get more oil for their lamps, but when they returned, the doors were shut to them. They were locked out. The bride, the bridegroom, and the joyful party had gone away for them.

It is the nature of this life, everything, and everyone, goes away.

But if we have followed God's instructions, if we have put our absolute dependence in Jesus Christ, shown absolute devotion to Him, instead of ourselves or others or the things of this life, then we have no further concerns. It is the same in this life; we are to have no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead for that is the secret of walking with Jesus.

One of my very favorite passages in the New Testament is John 18:15-26, the story of Peter when he turns his back on Jesus, when he wishes he could go away from the accusations. Jesus tells Peter he is weak and this is going to happen, as a warning to Peter to walk closer to Jesus. But Peter is Peter, perhaps the reason so many of us identify with this old saint, and Peter is going to do what Peter is going to do. Three times before the old rooster crows, Peter denies that he knows Jesus. Three times, Peter denies him. And Peter is heart-broken at his own weakness. He loves Jesus. He does. He dearly loves Jesus, and yet like everyone else at this critical moment, Peter has walked away from Him.

But here is the part of l love. Three times, Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?"

Three times Peter denied Jesus, and three times Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to say, "Oh yes, Lord, You know I love You."

There in John 21:15-19 our Jesus, now restored to life, lovingly reminds Peter that he was chosen to go with Jesus. And as we read through these verses, seeing how easy it was for Peter to deny His Lord, and then seeing how lovingly Jesus restored him, each of us must answer that question for ourselves, and for no one else: "Do you also want to go away?"

Amen.

What is Islam, Really?

Anyone who has studied the Koran must realize that Islam cannot be called a religion in the traditional sense.
"Craft" is a better way to describe Islam.
Too few of us know what the Koran says. It actually describes Allah as a "deceiver" at one point. The Koran describes Allah as the best deceiver there is, a liar who is not above using the same evil and wicked schemes of his opponents. For example, the Koran calls Allah a "makr," in fact the best "makr" there is. This web site will give you all the examples you need to understand it: http://www.answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_best_deceiver.htm
Those who claim the Koran also allows and even encourages Muslims to lie to non-Muslims, and deal falsely with them, are absolutely correct.
The amalgamation of an ancient idolatry with political aims that use threat, violence and falsehood as an arm of recruitment and diplomacy is not a religion. It is time we called it what it is ... a "craft" if anything at all.
Right now a young female Muslim is attempting to pressure Abercrombie & Fitch into changing their company policy so she can wear a hajib; a headscarf worn by Muslim women that conceals the hair, the neck and usually has a face veil that covers the face. However, the Koran does not require this girl, or any Muslim woman, to wear this piece of clothing that pushes all Muslim women into a position of anonymous personhood. Nevertheless, CAIR, an Islamic support organization has taken up her case.

The push to accept their cultural practices, and the implementation of Islam's Sharia Law are just aimed at gaining control over those who do not subscribe to Islam, which is why Muslims in the U.S.A. are pushing so hard to get local American county and state governments to accept the implementation of Sharia Law. At the same time, pressure is being brought to bear on a number of American businesses, under the guise of political correctness, to gain benefits for Muslim employees that are not available to non-Muslims. These are simply two prongs of the same attack to force the acceptance of Islamic rules and rituals and the justification of Sharia Law. That must not be allowed to happen.

Those who don't take seriously the nuclear threats of destruction toward Israel and the U.S. (the Great Satan) by Iran's Pres. Ahmadinajad don't understand he is doing exactly what the Koran tells him to do. This is not a "religion of peace," and both we and Israel need to take measures to protect ourselves.