The Church Suffers Controversy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Welcome/Announcements
Mission Sunday
Explain special offering envelope in bulletin on Sunday - you can also give through our church app to Missions Sunday
50% stays local and 50% helps international mission teams
International needs:
5-10 houses ($700 each) and 2 food distributions ($1,000 each)
Total $5,500 - $9,000
Pray about how you and your family can support these teams and mission endeavors this summer through the area of giving. We will pray and some will go, but this Sunday is a time where we worship God and partner with these mission trips through sacrificial giving above and beyond our normal offerings/tithes.
Business Meeting / Childhood Protection Training (March 12th PM)
Easter is next month! Be praying about someone that you can invite to worship with us in the days and weeks to come.
Prayer Requests
Prayer
Testimony
Introduce Week 7 Bible Study: Last week we concluded looking at the 7 Ecumenical Councils and what they dealt with during the first few centuries of the church as they helped Christians stand on what the Bible teaches and not give into false doctrine, even if it was extremely popular. We looked at some of the creeds and statements that these Christians made and discussed the importance of the Trinity and the danger of getting the Trinity wrong or overemphasizing one person within the Trinity over any other as they are all Co-Equal.
Tonight we move from the period of the church councils to a period called the Scholastic period where Christianity has permeated the entire culture once again and its influence has extended into education and government. In many respects this is a good thing as many people come to church, but this also creates some problems. Some spend all their time focusing on academic questions rather than living a life for Christ. Others are off to wage war for Christ during the crusades. Some are wrestling with what it means to be saved in a very Christianized culture. We’ll look at these questions and study from Titus 3, Galatians 2, and Ephesians 2 whenever we’re done.
VIDEO
Following the early church period, we get into the middle ages. You have many church leaders who have embraced something called a monastic lifestyle as they isolate themselves and devote themselves to study God’s Word alone. Many took a religious vow along the lines of a monk or nun and they would not only study Scripture but write commentaries on the Bible and other religious based works to help people better understand the Bible and things like that. Monasticism was a popular thing for a period of time as people prized education and knowledge. But eventually it gave way to something called Scholasticism. Scholasticism was a popular movement in the history of the church as people pursued wisdom and they would do this first by studying Scripture.
What does Scripture tell us about pursuing wisdom?
See James 1:5
5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.
This isn’t a bad thing! In fact, we SHOULD look first to God’s Word in order to attain Godly wisdom in our time of need. These people often used Scripture as their base and built schools founded on Christian principles and Greek philosophy. One of the issues that arose in this time and from this movement, though, was more of an internal pride about knowledge than Godly wisdom. This can be a difficult line to walk at times, but how do you differentiate Godly Wisdom from Personal Knowledge?
Kind of the same but people can have lots of knowledge without having Godly wisdom
Knowledge is an awareness of information or ideas or concepts
Wisdom is practical understanding skills that lead to a successful life
Christians should be both knowledgeable and wise when it comes to Scripture and living a godly life - but we have to move our head knowledge to action, and this always requires Godly wisdom.
The issue for many in this season of church history was a glorification of knowledge at the expense of Godly wisdom. A failure to look to Scripture first off and instead deal primarily with experiential and philosophical questions like “How many angels can dance on the tip of a pen?” Who cares?! Is this still a danger in our world today? Are we tempted to care more about knowledge than we are Godly wisdom on how to put that knowledge into use in glorifying our Savior? For some the answer is yes - and for others there is a fear of knowledge. Genuinely, in talking with some of you about your previous experiences at churches, there are some churches and Christians who are afraid of learning more about the Bible and theology and church history because they believe that there is no place for that in the church and that knowledge is dangerous. Knowledge is a gift from the Lord. We are called to steward what God gives us wisely and to make sure that we don’t have a dead faith like James says in James 2 and that our knowledge would lead to action. This was a temptation for people in this era and it still is a temptation for us today and we must fight against this as we grow in our walk with the Lord and understanding of His Word.
While this is around the time that the Crusades were taking place, we focus more on the West than we do what’s happening in the Holy Land and maybe one of these days we can do more of a deep dive into why the Catholic Church was as passionate about the Crusades as they were.
Dr. Yates mentions several key people in this lesson video: Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, and Thomas Aquinas. These 3 men are from slightly different generations, but they all made a lasting impact on the church - and not all in positive respects!
Let’s consider one of the things that was said about Abelard: Everything we believe should be logical and reasonable because truth comes from God. Abelard was one of the leaders in this era and he developed something called a Systematic Theology. A systematic theology is the study of God and His Word that seeks to arrive at a consistent and logical order.
Have you ever looked at a systematic theology before? I didn’t really until I was at SBU. In a Systematic Theology, the person starts with God’s Word and from that points begins to unpack how one can know God. Systematic Theologies cover the doctrine of Scripture, God’s omnipotence, Salvation, the seriousness of our sinfulness, the work of the Holy Spirit, the church, the second coming of Jesus Christ and so much more! Systematic Theologies are a blessing but man are they thick to read! In this era of scholasticism, you have people devoted to this type of study and it’s a blessing to the church. Not really pertinent to our overall discussion, but “What are some of the more interesting topics in your mind that systematic theologies cover?”
The doctrine of Adoption
Millard Erickson’s 3rd Edition Christian Theology is probably the standard ST these days but Wayne Grudem has a much shorter version entitled 20 beliefs every Christian should know and it is extremely helpful and informative
Because scholasticism desires the integration between education and religion, there runs a danger of a false belief being believed by a teacher and, thus, changing the way that many people think about certain things (doctrinally). This is why it’s so important to check everything that we do with what the Bible teaches. Never be ashamed to say, “The Bible says…”
One of those dangerous beliefs that began to be widely believed was the idea of infant baptism and that their baptism gave them grace and made them innocent before God. This means that a person could potentially live a holy life and earn their own way to heaven… or, a works based salvation. This belief was popularized by Thomas Aquinas (who held to many other orthodox and correct positions) and it quickly became standard in the Roman Catholic Church… the idea that baptism could sets you out on this innocent path and that you could maintain that path through good works.
How is a works based salvation diametrically opposed to salvation found in Scripture?
We are saved by grace through faith in Christ! Not by our works
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Augustine, nearly 1000 years earlier, shared that we are separated from God because of our sin. That we are born in sin and that this creates a serious problem for us… Yet, because of Aquinas’ influence in teaching and preaching others, many RCC’s bought this and believed it as gospel and still do to this day. Let’s watch this short clip from the American Gospel Christ Alone video regarding the difference between this belief and what Scripture teaches us.
How do we know this to be true?
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,
5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior
7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
8 This saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. These are good and profitable for everyone.
9 But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, because they are unprofitable and worthless.
10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning.
11 For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.
Let’s do a pro’s and con’s diagram here regarding our salvation.
We see in this text that God saved us (verse 6 we see the Trinity in action). Why? On the “con’s” side there’s a lot of negative things that we bring to the table: Sin, selfish, disobedient, hateful, prideful… what’s on the “pro’s” side? What is the good stuff that we contribute to God and our salvation? Nothing! There is no reason for God to do this! But what does verse 4 tell us about our God? He saved us out of His kindness and love - not our works! It’s only through the finished work of His Son! We look to the crib and the cross and we see the Creator’s love for His creation. If we get our salvation wrong, we’re in big trouble. If we think that we are saved by our works or that we are innocent before God, we’re in trouble! Why do you think this idea of Works-Based salvation became as popular as it did 1000 years ago and why does it remain popular even in churches like ours today?
Because we crave credit
Do you know what the Bible says about our good works?
6 All of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment; all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
What do we desperately need? We need a sinless Savior to justify and sanctify us. This is why Martin Luther (Reformer) couldn’t stomach much of the Catholic practice of indulgences and their works-based system… because it directly contradicts our need for a sinless Savior! It nullifies Christ’s sacrifice in our place on the cross!
Let’s look to one more passage of Scripture
15 We are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners,”
16 and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
17 But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!
18 If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Martin Luther said this about the doctrine of justification by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone, “And this is the truth of the Gospel. It is also the principal article of all Christian doctrine, wherein the knowledge of all godliness consisteth. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.” My goal as your pastor is to help us all glorify Jesus and fulfill our God-given purpose. Part of serving as your shepherd is repeating things because I know I need things to be repeated early and often! In 30 years when I’m old, I pray that generations of people at FBC Salem will have had this beaten into their heads because it’s of eternal importance. We are not saved by our works. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. Jesus lived the life we could never live - a sinless one. You and I have a fallen, corrupt, sinful nature. Rather than giving us what we deserve, though, because of Jesus Christ, and because of God’s grace, those who have saving faith in Him are given Christ’s righteousness. We are pronounced innocent in God’s eternal courtroom - not because of our innocence (we’re guilty) - solely because of the innocence of Christ in our place.
We live in a world that craves credit and they want to sneak in credit in their salvation. Friends, we can’t give into this fleshly itch… not even an inch. Whenever controversy arises, let’s stand united on the solid foundation of God’s Word. Let’s remember that our only boast is in Christ’s work - not our own. There’s no room for pride whenever you’re looking at the cross and the tomb. Let’s remember to give Him thanks for all He’s done for us this week.
