Tested and Proven

Romans 1:14–17 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to the uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: “But the righteous one will live by faith.””

Introduction

Before we dive into the message today- which is actually the first in a three part series- I want to briefly explain why the need exist to discuss this particular subject- the confident defense of the Christian worldview- at all.

The world is changing. I know, this is a gross understatement, and quite obvious to anyone who’s paying attention. What should be equally obvious is the rate at which we are seeing the world change seems to be increasing. Our culture is not only moving away from our Judeo-Christian foundation, there is an increase in open hostility towards Christianity. This is nothing new; since the Church’s inception, we have been in direct opposition to the forces of darkness- and the darkness is not going to take it lying down.

This sermon was inspired by a recent trend: I have always had some connection with youth ministry, since that is where my call to ministry began. As such, I have grown accustomed to answering questions- children and young adult alike tend to have plenty of them. It has been a mutual blessing- I help to equip the next generation of believers, and I am forced to carefully consider the Christian worldview- repeatedly- and how to best communicate the Gospel to the world that needs it. But the trend I am referring to is the increase in the number of young Christians- in college, high school and even in grade school- who not only have questions but are experiencing a crisis of faith due to direct challenges against their beliefs. And so I came to a conclusion: I can continue to provide individual counsel, or prepare thew whole church for the battles that will inevitably come. You can guess which choice I’ve made!

Paul & Apologetics

In my opinion, Paul’s writings are invaluable and unique for the equipping pf Christians to articulate their worldview- a backdrop for the presentation of the Gospel, which must always take center stage. As Paul says in Romans 1:14 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to the uncultured, both to the wise and to the foolish.” Simply put, he understood his purpose to present the Gospel within the cultural context of the people he reached. So in a sense, Paul’s ministry revolved around apologetics, as he said in 1 Corinthians 9:22 “…to become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.”

Dealing with the “Inner-Me”

{Briefly share your testimony}:

raised in a pseudo-Christian household; accepted what i was told until 1st year in high school

Classmate challenged my worldview- best thing that ever happened. That day I accepted Christ and began a PERSONAL relationship.

Still had many questions. Blessed to have my friend’s father, a PhD in Theoratic Psychology, a few close friends, to address some of them.

I learned about apologetics only 12 years ago. The deeper I dug, the stronger my faith became. I embraced apologetics as a key part of my call to ministry, and have been learning & equipping ever since.

Back to Paul’s letter to the Romans. The first 5 chapters especially is a treasure trove of info we can use to defend the Gospel today. But before we can defend the Faith against objections from without, we must face the objections from within- what I call the “Inner-Me”, before we address the enemies of the Faith. It is my hope, over the next few months, to provide you with some basic tools to accomplish both. I’ve gone through quite a few books & articles over the past decade, and I recently purchased one by Dr. Nancy Pearcey, “Finding Truth”, that touches upon Paul’s letter. I intend to distill the 329 pages of her book (minus the study guide & appendix) into 3 sermons & 5 principles.

Principle #1: Face Your Doubt (Cast Down Idols)

2 Corinthians 2:11 “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”

One of the oldest tactics used by the enemy is to convince us that “doubt” is synonymous with “lack of faith”. If you encouter something that you don’t understand, then the problem is you- you lack faith, you don’t read the Bible enough or pray enough; so the conclusion is, “you have doubts because your faith isn’t strong enough.”. In truth, most of us do NOT read & pray as often as we should, and this can weaken our faith. But doubt is part of the intellectual search for truth. It should not be a source of embarrassment or riducule; and parents, ministers, and teachers…it should not be dismissed or ignored.

Exposing the mind to ideas, is like exposing the body to germs- it is the only way to build immunity.

I pair this principle with Dr. Pearcey’s principle “Identiy the Idol”. Paul knew then that the primary objective to belief in God is NOT an intellectual one. In general, people resist the “idea” of God, because they don’t like the thought that they are not in control of their destinies. And this is not entirely true; God’s greatest gift to us is choice- free will. We can accept Him, or reject Him. The problem is, that because of our fallen natures, we don’t like the “limits” of those choices. And so we attempt to live with God, all the while depending on Him, even for the ability to reject Him!

We were made to worship. If we do not worship our God & Creator, something else- and far less worthy- will fill the void. That substitue is what scripture refers to as an idol A few examples of common idols include reason, science, and human autonomy. Consider how an idol is described in Psalms:

Psalm 115:4–8 “Their idols are silver and gold, The work of human hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them.”

You need God to exist; but an idol needs you to exist. You give it form; you speak for it…you are its hands and feet. Any worldview other than Christianity rejects God to serve idols—resulting in spiritual blindness. Many are locked away in the prison of blindness- but God has left us the tools, and the mandate, to free them.

2 Corinthians 10:5“We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

The first step in cast down idols- those that exist in a person’s worldview (or even our own) it to identify the “god substitute”. What is it, in this person’s view of the world, that is preimminent? For example, materialism- or science as it is referred to in the public square- says only the material world exists- so everythnig comes from matter. Matter, in this worldview, becomes the idol- the substitute that explains everything. This leads me to the second principle:

Principle # 2: Name That Idol! (The Man in the Mirror)

Exodus 3:13–14 “Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ””

When Moses meets God, and get the assignment to speak on God’s behalf0 he immediately realized that He’d have to tell Israel who God is. His question- directed towards God in the 3rd person- is very revealing. He asks, “What is [You] Name?” Throughout the Biblical corpus, a person’s name told you somethnig about their character. In a way, Moses was attempting to simplifiy or “reduce” the character of God to something he could understand- and therefore communicate to others. God’s response is fascinating. Time won’t permit me to go into great detail, but suffice it to say the Hebrew phrase “I AM WHO I AM”, which can also be translated “I will be who I will be”, convenys a simple truth: God will not be redused- He will not fit in man’s “box” of understanding.

However, this tendency to name things in order to understand them can be helpful in breaking down one’s worldview. Once you’ve identified it’s name- its core principle, then it’s time to employ the “man in the mirroe” tactic. Does this worldview hold up to it’s own standard? Consider materialism once again. If we say that the material world is all that exists, and everything that exists comes from blind, unguided natural forces, then that would include the human mind- so how can we trust the conclusion of something that was created by random, unguided forces?

Let’s stop here for now