2023.08.27 Ask the Pastor
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Ask the Pastor
Ask the Pastor
This morning, in lieu of a formal, prepared sermon, I’ll be addressing some questions posed to me. We may run into some time constraints, so if I don’t get to your question, feel free to email me or setup a time to sit down and talk. The last thing I want is for any of your questions to go ignored.
I’ll begin with a few questions submitted beforehand, and then as time permits I’ll take any questions from the congregation.
Let’s jump in...
First Question
I believe Jesus is the Son of God. Do I have to do good deeds?
I want to answer this as a two part question even though the first part is a statement:
“I believe Jesus is the Son of God.”
Is this belief sufficient?
Romans 10:9
Romans 10:9 (NASB 2020)
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
What two things are required to be saved?
confess Jesus as your Lord (in charge of your life)
believe God raised him from the dead
Is believing Jesus is the Son of God sufficient? Unfortunately, no.
James 2:19
James 2:19 (NASB 2020)
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
John Wesley said: “Saving faith is not a mere agreement with the proposition that Jesus is the Christ … If intellectual consent were saving faith, the demons would be born of God, because they have this kind of intellectual faith.”
[Kinghorn, Kenneth C., “John Wesley on Christian Beliefs: The Standard Sermons in Modern English”, Volume 1, Sermon 18, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002, p. 301]
So, I would suggest you may want to revisit what it means to declare Jesus Lord of your life, and to believe God raised him from the dead.
Now to part two:
Do I have to do good deeds?
I would first caution the approach of this question. If your faith is founded on what you “have to” do, you are seeking a bare minimum. In confessing or proclaiming Jesus as Lord, however, no minimum exists. “Christ will be all in all, or he will be nothing.”
[“John Wesley’s Covenant Renewal Service, 1755. Quoted from https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/covenant-renewal-service, accessed 22 Aug 2023.]
James 2:14
14 What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?
James 2:17 faith without works is dead faith
17 In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
Look at the Amplified Bible:
17 So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
James 2:18
18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
John 6 indicates that the signs Jesus performed were the proof that he was who he said he was. While our “works” cannot save us. Our works will serve as the proof that we are new creatures in Christ, as we claim to be.
Matthew 7:21 Not everyone will make it … the one who does what the Father’wants will make it
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
Biblically, good works are driven by gratitude and obedience, not as a way to earn/deserve God’s good graces. Without good works, your faith in Jesus is not a living faith. It’s just agreement with intellectual principles, which is not sufficient to save anyone.
So, do you HAVE TO do good works? No.
But if you are truly a Christian, you will not be able to NOT DO good works.
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Next Question:
How Do I Know I’m Saved?
This is a FABULOUS question!
The first thing I’ll do is to acknowledge the error in tense because I think this matters.
“I’m (I am) saved,” is a present tense statement.
Nowhere in Scripture is salvation referred to in present tense – NOWHERE!
Every reference to salvation uses a future tense: “…will be saved.”
So, if you’ve ever been asked, “Are you saved?” you can biblically answer: “Not yet. But I will be.”
So, what exactly happens in the here-and-now when we make a commitment to Jesus?
In John Wesley’s day, sermons lasts well over an hour. On this subject, it took him two-parts titled “The Witness of the Spirit.” I share that to warn that there is a lot more information on this than I will be able to provide in this forum.
Our Baptist and other Calvinist brothers believe in the “doctrine of eternal security” commonly expressed as “once saved always saved.” We Wesleyans believe that as long as you are drawing breath, it is possible to walk back your commitment to Christ and thus renounce your own Godly inheritance.” An in-depth defense for the doctrine of backsliding would best be left to another question for another day. The simplistic answer to this question is found in John and Paul’s writings:
Romans 8:16
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
Notice again, that this doesn’t saying anything about the Holy Spirit testifying that ‘we ARE saved.’.
Romans 8:17
17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
The present tense situation of being children of God puts us in line to inherit eternal life. But eternal life or ‘salvation’ is not fully ours until we receive it on the other side.
Philippians 2:12
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
I sense that a person posing this question is searching for some sort of ‘feeling’ that makes them feel like they are in right relationship with God. However, feelings sway with the wind, and often convince us of ‘truths’ which are wholly false.
So, I would recommend looking for what Methodist doctrine calls “Assurance of Salvation” from a source other than feelings.
If indeed...
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,
If indeed “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” what does that look like?
I would suggest the answer begins with searching for the characteristics of children of God in yourself. Do you bear the characteristics of children of God? If so, you have evidence of your right relationship with God.
Add to Paul’s writings these from 1 John (too many to put on screen … they are ALL from 1 John):
3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been born of Him.
1 John 3:14 [NASB 2020]14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers and sisters [namely that we “love not just with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” 1Jn 3:18].
13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit.
24 The one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
John Wesley preached: “In sum, those that have these proofs are children of God. If we have these marks in our lives, we can conclude that we are his children.”
[Kinghorn, Kenneth C., “John Wesley on Christian Beliefs: The Standard Sermons in Modern English”, Volume 1, Sermon 10, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002, p. 174]
Wesley was fiercely logical. So he offered the following logical formula as well:
Whoever loves God, delights and rejoices in him with a humble joy, holy delight, and obedient love is a child of God;
I love, delight in, and rejoice in God;
Therefore, I am a child of God.
[Kinghorn, Kenneth C., “John Wesley on Christian Beliefs: The Standard Sermons in Modern English”, Volume 1, Sermon 10, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002, p. 174]
So, honestly look for the biblical characteristics of the children of God in your life. If they are present, be assured that you are presently a child of God. None of us have arrived at Christian Perfection, so continue to work on those characteristics. But evidence of these characteristics can affirm your childhood and your position as a beneficiary of God’s ultimate and eternal graces.
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Next Question:
Why millennia after millennia is man still as dumb as a sheep? You would really think that man would wisen up to the need for God, but nope - we keep going down that sinful path of not being able to get it... At least the sheep is smart enough to know the shepherd's voice, we're not.
This is really more of a statement than a question, but it presents a good opportunity to address a concern within the Church.
I’ll begin with a reminder that the Scriptures refer to God’s children as sheep, and the connection made in the Word is that we’re like sheep because sheep are dumb. Check it out, we’re essentially called dummies throughout the Old Testament … and the historical record of the Church gives a lot of credibility to that claim.
As for non-believers: Well, we can be disappointed in the world’s failure to recognize Christ. But we cannot truly be surprised.
All three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 10:22, 24:9, Mark 13:13, & Luke 21:17) record Jesus telling us “You will be hated by everyone because of my name.”
John 15:18
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
One error the Church has repeated throughout history is the expectation that the world should be like us. Don’t misunderstand me. The Church absolutely should be telling the world about Jesus. That is why the Church exists: make disciples, baptize, teach obedience.
But we have to be careful about how we talk with outsiders. A haughty, arrogant approach will never represent Christ properly. Never. We often talk about and to the world as if we’re just better than them.
Meanwhile, God repeatedly tells us to measure ourselves against him, instead of other humans. And compared to God … we’re all equally failures (“all have sinned and fall short”).
This temptation to arrogance is nothing new … Paul had to address it in the Corinthian church.
1 Corinthians 5:6
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
He goes on to say:
=1 Corinthians 5:12-13a
1 Corinthians 5:12–13 (NIV)
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
13 God will judge those outside.
So let me invite the Church to a measured response to the world:
Tell the world what Jesus has done for you.
Hold yourself accountable to God’s standards.
Hold each other accountable to God’s standards.
Leave the world to God’s judgment if they don’t respond to Christ.
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Those took a fair amount of time. On the spot answers won’t be as long as those were...
So, Are There Any Questions in the room?
Ask the Pastor
Ask the Pastor