A.W. Tozer on Sin

The Admin team is going through A.W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy (great call on this, Chris).  Here is a great quote we read this morning:

“Because man is born a rebel, he is unaware that he is one.  His constant assertion of self, as far as he thinks of it at all, appears to him a perfectly normal thing.  He is willing to share himself, sometimes even to sacrifice himself for a desired end, but never to dethrone himself.  No matter how far down the scale of social acceptance he may slide, he is still in his own eyes a king on a throne, and no one, not even God, can take that throne from him” (29, The Knowledge of the Holy).

Is it godly to watch a rated-R movie? Romans 14 says…

At youth group a couple weeks ago we looked at Romans 14 and those “weak” and “strong” in faith.  I think all of us were challenged by the night.  We began by asking the question, “who is more godly?” and filling it out with different scenarios:

…the person who gossips or the one who tames their tongue?  Yep, a softball to get us going.

…the person who watches rated-R movies or the one who limits himself to rated-G movies?  Now it gets dicier.

…the person who believes in courtship or the one who practices some form of dating?  Hmm…trickier still.

...the teen who attends youth group or the one who doesn’t?

We had more but you get the idea.  So, how do we go about answering these questions?  Romans 14 has much to say to us here.

UNDERSTANDING

Firstly, we need to understand Romans 14, and then we can turn to application.  He opens the chapter by calling us to “welcome” the “one who is weak in faith.”  Sounds wonderfully generous, and yet, in v. 2 we get a small shock as we realize that the “weak person eats only vegetables.”  We might have assumed that a “strong” person restricted their diet for Old Testament religious reasons.  Paul says the opposite.  The reason is that the strong person understands what Christ has done to the OT categories and ceremonial laws.  Christ fulfilled them, and we are thus free from them.

Verse 3 then summarizes his teaching on these matters: let the strong not despise the weak (“how could someone be so bound up in laws that are fulfilled!”); let the weak person not judge the strong (“how could a Christian say he loves God and do that!”).

Then in vv. 4-12 he goes after the weak person.  His summary command is not to judge others because both you and they have a judge and “we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” (v. 10).  When you judge others in matters that have no explicit biblical command then you are becoming an amateur judge–and in this case, amateurs need to just shut up.  If your Christian brother tells you he watched a rated-R movie, then remind yourself that God is their judge, you are not.

In vv. 13-23 he goes after the strong person.  If someone feels like it’s wrong to do something–and, again, something where we have no clear biblical command–then because of our obligation to love our brothers in Christ, we should not put them in a position where they are tempted to do it.   This is where we can freely shelve our Christian freedom because “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (v. 17).  We have what is truly precious–”righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”–so let’s not get bent out of shape because we can’t watch a movie we wanted to see or have that beer we were thirsting for with our steak.

Paul ends the chapter with a firm corrective, however.  His chapter might give us the impression that since we’re all free in Christ, we’re all free to do whatever is not clearly forbidden in the Scriptures.  Right?  Wrong.  Rather, “whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats….whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (v. 23).  In other words, if your conscience condemns you, you cannot do it.  Even if you can argue with yourself about what the reality of justification means, you are sinning to disobey your faith-educated conscience.  Of course, we need to train our consciences with the word of God, but at each step of the way we are accountable to them.  The sobering implication is that something that is sinful for you is not necessarily sinful for me.

Your rated-R movie might be sinful for me but not for you.

APPLICATION 

1.  Are we more tempted to judge the Christian freedom of others, or to despise the Christian restraint of others?

2.   What are some ways that you could “always think the best” when you are tempted to judge or despise someone else?

3.  How does v. 17 encourage us in shelving my Christian freedoms for the sake of fellowship with a brother or sister?

4.  What are some other considerations we need to reckon with in choosing movies to watch, a conviction on courtship/dating, and other matters where Christians disagree?

5.   Our sermon closed with this exhortation: “know the difference between something that is truly wrong and something that is wrong for you.”  What does that mean?

These issues are vast and touch on so many related areas–none of which we have time for.  May God give us the grace to love others in a way that honors the gospel that has saved us, and the standard of holiness that God has presented so clearly in his word.

DJB

Short film contest reminder

Just a reminder that videos for the short film contest are due at November’s corporate meeting, the 25th. If you guys have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask

“Trinity 101″

Daniel Baker gave an excellent teaching on the trinity at our last corporate meeting. To follow up Sunday’s care group discussions, check out Justin Taylor’s post on the Desiring God blog. It’s called “Trinity 101″ and succinctly sums up what Daniel said. You can read it here.

MercyMe gets to meet Emma Hinds

I got a chance to talk to Emma on the way back from Carowinds and she had just had the opportunity to hear and meet the group “MercyMe”. I asked her to tell us about it, so here it is in her words…

As the last few chords of “So Long Self” faded into the fair-food scented air, the rush began. MercyMe’s bassist, Nathan Cochran, had told the audience just a few songs earlier that by purchasing a pre-order copy of their newest CD, you got a ticket to a meet and greet with the band.

Sign me up!

Dad and I worked our way through the crowd of humanity and managed to buy two copies of the CD. Triumphantly holding our pre-order certificates in hand, we joined another mass of humanity in the long line to see the band.

By that point, it was just after ten o’clock at night. We had the Carowinds trip the next morning – at six o’clock. Hmm. Sleep, or MercyMe? Sleep, MercyMe?

I’ll take MercyMe for 500, Alex.

I had recently missed an opportunity to meet one of my favorite singers, so I wasn’t about to give up this chance without a fight. But I didn’t need to – my dad and two siblings (who had opted out of the concert, but had been enjoying the fair while Dad and I watched the show) were willing to wait so that I could have my brush with fame.

And they did wait. About forty-five minutes. At last, Dad and I were close enough to see MercyMe. They were sitting at a plain folding table, wielding Sharpies. A roadie took the opportunity to inform the crowd, “Feel free to take pictures, but the band-members will not pose with you.” I told Dad to just snap pictures as he could.

It’s silly how excited and nervous we get when we’re meeting someone famous. They’re just people, after all. But even so, my heart was in my throat as I shyly handed my certificate to Mike, who was first up along the table. He flashed me a grin and thanked me for coming, and I just managed to trip out some clumsily worded thanks of my own.

Then I moved right along to Jim, who I have a strange affinity with… mostly because he has glasses exactly like mine. He greeted me with a smile and shook my hand, then bent down to sign my certificate—

—Only to be interrupted by Mike, who was saying, “Picture! Picture! Everybody pose!” Obviously he had noticed my dad attempting to take pictures on my camera phone. So they all dropped what they were doing and grinned very brightly with me – despite the fact that the roadies had said they wouldn’t pose.

After Dad took the photo, I continued down the table with my little pre-order certificate for them to sign. Jim signed it and asked me if I was a junior deputy (I had a sticker from the police department); Bart grinned his characteristic huge grin, complete with dimples; Barry nodded very seriously at me and signed a heavily flourished “B”; and Nathan also thanked me for coming and scribbled a rather incomprehensible jumble of Sharpie ink on the bottom left corner.

By the time I reached the end of the table, where Robbie sat, I had a Classic Dimwit Moment. I pointed at the drummer’s head and said, “I like your Mohawk.” Robbie stared at me for a split second, with that Hmm, what a strange person look in his eyes. “Thanks,” he said, cracking a grin.

And then off I went into the crisp October air, clutching a square of paper that had been inked by six signatures. Well, that, plus an enormous smile.

So, all in all, I was quite impressed by MercyMe’s Christ-centered attitudes. All through the concert, they had kept the focus on God, not their own talents or glory. And in the meet-and-greet, they kindly and eagerly welcomed each and every fan, despite the fact that they were tired and had to get on a bus once we all left. They’ve handled fame well, and I’m more a fan than ever.

John Piper: A Challenge for Young People

Do you have a holy ambition?

Short Film Contest

Get out your video cameras and get ready for our very first Short Film contest! Here’s the scoop: Write, direct, act, and produce a 5–7 minute film with  5 people or less based on the theme “All I Want for Christmas…“

We want you to team up with your friends to make an Oscar-winning film. We want you to be original. We want you to interpret the theme in your own unique way. It can be anything from slapstick comedy to drama, a Hitchcock-esque mystery or B-movie science fiction. Whatever you want to do. Seriously.

Interpret this theme as openly as possible. We don’t want a bunch of Scrooge movies or It’s A Wonderful Life rip-offs. We’re going to give creativity the most weight when judging this movie. If you’ve got questions about this feel free to ask anyone on the admin team for clarification. But don’t hold back. As long as you can convince us that your movie relates to the theme in some way you should be on track.

Once you finish your movie and enter it we’ll post it on the internets and open up the voting. Your peers will vote by sending in their nomination via email. The Admin Team will also vote. And there will be special prizes for the winner(s). Oh yeh.

The deadline to have your movie submitted to us is November 25th. Voting will start the first week in December. Please submit your film on DVD or in .avi, .mov, .mpeg file format. If you need help with this, let us know. We can hook you up.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

1 Peter Study: Chapter 5

After spending the previous four chapters talking about suffering, Peter takes this last chapter to talk more specifically about humble service. He’s speaking to leaders, but we all should serve in humility, valuing others more than ourselves. Look at what God has to say to leaders in verse 2. He says to “shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” So our service needs to be motivated by love for our brothers, keeping in mind what’s best for the ones we serve. Our model in doing this is Christ—the greatest suffering servant.

What interests me most about this passage is the incentive God offers for serving well. Not only will God be pleased, but he will give you an “unfading crown of glory.” In this God demonstrates his abounding love again—not only has he saved us from the punishment we deserve, he gives us tangible rewards for doing what is our duty as servants. We should be humble, then, and remember that even the good we do is empowered by him, and that he draws us to himself so that we’ll grow in godliness, and will to do good. God promises, in verse 10, to “perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” Praise God! If we humble ourselves, he will exalt and reward us.

That’s the last chapter in 1 Peter. The next series will look at seemingly mundane activities, and how we can glorify God through them. Check out the first in that series.

Carowinds update: Please read!

Hi everyone,

Please plan on being at the church this Saturday at 6AM–NOT 9AM–for our trip to Carowinds. Also, please plan on bringing some extra cash for meals, gas and parking.

Remember, 6AM at the church.

Should be fun!

Expelled: The Movie

This movie looks like it will be a lot of fun. But it looks like it will also make some very important points about the intolerance of anything or anyone that questions the secular religion of Darwinism.

But we need to keep one thing in mind about the Intelligent Design movement — they are often reluctant to give God the glory. The world was created not by an “Intelligence” but by the God of the Bible, through Christ and without him nothing was made. Our purpose in life is not to win arguments or make science better (and it would be better without the nonsensical paradigm of evolution). If we cast out the demon of Darwinism or the demon of secular humanism and we don’t have Christ, it will become like the unclean spirit of Matthew 12:43-45 — cast out of the man, but returns to find the home empty, swept clean and brings back 7 spirits more wicked than himself. So it will be if we merely sweep out Darwinism from people’s lives but refuse to glorify Christ. We will wind up with Crick’s “Panspermia”, scientology or some other wacko religion becoming the new spirit of the age.

While Darwinism is a contradiction of Genesis, refuting it is of no value if Christ is not also proclaimed.   While it’s true that the natural man will reject spiritual things, we have the duty and pleasure to glorify Christ as the Lord of Creation.  To paraphrase Dawkins, if we think God is wonderful, the onus is on us to tell them why.