Fundamentals of our Faith Part 2
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Intro:
Intro:
I know that our community is hurting right now
There has been a lot that has happened in a little bit of time
And during moments like this it’s normal to have a lot of questions
And I would add that, the Lord isn’t scared of your questions
In fact, He already knows before your ask
And as much shock and chaos that has ensued over the last several weeks
God was not taken by surprise and He is in complete control
This morning we are diving back into our “fundamentals of our faith” series but before we do I just want to read us a verse and encourage us with it and then I’ll pray and we can dive in
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
I don’t know how much of Paul’s story you know, the author of this text.
But Paul was a man who knew suffering
persecution, anxiety, hardships, danger. It was as if Paul’s suffering knew no end
And as Paul here begins this letter to the church of Corinth he opens as he normally does with a greeting of thanksgiving.
But somewhat unusually, this thanksgiving is not focused upon some praise worthy characteristic of his readers, but rather upon the Father of compassion and God of all comfort.
Which Paul experienced first hand.
And so, Paul, as troubled and persecuted as he was, is able to make this statement that through all of it I was able to persevere because I serve a God who is the God of all comfort.
So, I want to encourage us in this room.
We will all be affected by this. Some more than others. Maybe you won’t be affected directly as some
But, if you’ve followed Jesus for any amount of time, I can just about guarantee you that the Lord has comforted you in your most desperate hour
And Paul here would point out that you have been comforted by the Lord so that you may comfort others through the Lord
And I don’t know what that looks like for every person in this room, but I believe, if you are willing, the power of the Holy Spirit will reveal to you and move you to allow Him to use you in that way.
Secondly, for those of us that don’t have any answers. That are overwhelmed right now. That don’t know what tomorrow holds for you and your family, nevertheless, next week, next month and next year.
I want you to know, God is compassionate toward you, and He has given us the ability to experience His comfort in ways that make no sense to the world or you or me.
God is near and He loves you and wants what’s best for you even if that looks much different than what we would want
And I believe, that when you follow Jesus, the promise isn’t that bad things won’t happen, the promise is that everything, all of it, has purpose.
This season is not wasted, this moment is not wasted.
And it can be, based on the story of redemptive history, that our most desperate and painful moments are often the most fruitful in our journey with Christ.
So take heart, the Lord has overcome this world. The sun rose this morning, the promise of His mercies new this morning are still true
God is working and moving and He is producing. We just need faith. And through all of it, my prayer for you is that the God of all comfort will comfort your mind heart and soul in a way that is unexplainable.
pray
Ok, we are launching into a new series we’ve titled, “the fundamentals of our faith.”
And I think this will be such a timely series for us
Because we can say all the right things and we can show up and we can go through the motions, but when the rubber meets the road, when the going gets tough, what are the truths of our faith that keep us grounded and going
how does our faith shape the way we interpret the world around us?
Wade, several weeks ago now, kicked our series off talking about what theology is, the importance of it, who does it, and how best to do it.
so, if you did miss that I would highly encourage you to go back and watch it
But theology, even the word alone, usually brings with it some feeling for you
For some, it may fire you up, you might be chomping at the bit right now.
You’re the one who’s like, yea say something about predestination right now, I’ve got 8 points and 10 scriptures
Or maybe 5 points if you're a calvinist
Or, say something about eschatology, I’m ready to bring my charts out and narrow it down to the day
For some, you are on the other side.
You’d probably say, listen, I don’t care, just tell me the nuts and bolts and let me come and worship and bring all of my cares and problems to Christ
The problem is, either side could be in danger of unrighteousness
We may be so adamant about theology that we turn Scripture into a weapon that doesn’t go out and defeat our enemy but rather scares off our neighbor
It can become a pedestal to not just prove the truths of Scripture but prove that I am right.
We may be so standoffish that our beliefs are handed down to us and not sought out for ourselves
We may know some surface level ideas of God but when the storm comes and the wind blows our house of sand tumbles because we are not deeply rooted in the knowledge and wisdom of the Lord
So what should happen is, what theology should be is, a renewing of the mind that transforms the heart.
This is what
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
It starts in the mind, but it should always move to the heart.
You must first decide that this is important. You’re never going to do it justice if you don’t see it’s value
Then you must put in the work
Almost every truth we will outline is going to have 1, 2,3, 25, sticking points.
Things about it that are hard to understand, seem to contradict something else, maybe even not given with a clear answer right? So, it’s going to take effort
But I believe, when done well, it will shape the way that you see God, interpret the world, and live your life
It moves from mind to heart
“the heart cannot love what the mind does not know”
It’s not just so you can do theological gymnastics with the best of them
It’s purpose is to cause you to love the Lord greater and deeper than you ever have before
And to cause you to live in the world with purpose and direction
So, today I want to discuss, with what time we have left, “the doctrine of Scripture.”
Asking questions like: Is God knowable? If so, how can I know Him? And how can I be confident that I do actually know Him?
Some belief systems would say that God is unknowable.
There’s nothing you can do to know God
You can search, you can guess, but it’s going to turn up empty
Others would say that knowledge of God is revealed only to the individual.
Only by pure human effort or by a secret knowledge revealed to the individual may He be known
But Christianity makes this claim: God can be known and that we only know Him because He has made himself known.
And this is done, by Him, under no obligation to do so.
And the purpose in doing so is relational. So that we can know and love Him
God has revealed Himself to us so that He can have relationship with us. God is relational, we see it from the very beginning of time and into eternity.
God desires a relationship with His people and to make it possible He reveals Himself to us so that we may know Him to have relationship with Him
Theologians call the study of God’s disclosure of Himself the doctrine of revelation.
So, all knowledge of God is revealed knowledge.
So, question number one. Is God knowable? Christianity answers, yes! He makes Himself known to us.
And if that answer is yes, then the next one follows: How can I know Him? or maybe now we would ask it this way: How does He make Himself known? How does God reveal Himself to us?
So, God’s revelation of Himself falls into two categories: general revelation and special revelation
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
The Psalmist here is describing what we would call, general revelation.
The idea that God makes Himself known by what He makes
Every sunrise and sunset
Every early morning in the deer stand or the duck pond
Every time the leaves change colors
Every inhale of flowers blooming
Every mountain peak and flowing stream
you are not just experiencing the beauty of God’s creation
you are also witnessing a testimony to God’s existence and very nature.
Creation is glorifying and revealing its Creator
As devastating as hurricane Idalia was, it also brought with it a sense of power and authority.
The shear size and power of it should cause us to go, “If a hurricane can do that, if it is that powerful, and yet God can merely speak and cause it to calm, then how powerful must He be?
Creation reveals to us its Creator
This is general revelation
And it’s general for 2 primary reason
While it declares that He exists, it does not proclaim the way of salvation
It is directed to a general audience - all humanity
So, we don’t fully come to know God through general revelation
Right? We can know God through His creation, but that knowledge alone does not redeem us, rather, it actually condemns us.
So, it gives us knowledge of God as Creator, but we need to know God as Redeemer. We need knowledge that gives new life. That knowledge is called “special revelation.”
This knowledge is sufficient for salvation and revealed to us in Christ and the Scriptures
Jesus comes to accomplish salvation for us and He does exactly that.
But that is not all that He accomplishes
He also comes to make God known to us
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
So, Christianity believes, that Jesus is the exact imprint of the nature and character of God.
That when we come to know who Jesus is, we come to know who God is.
Ultimately, because, Jesus is God. And we will get into that more another week.
So, to understand who God is, we look to understand who Jesus is.
God is not knowable apart from Jesus, but God is known in and through Jesus.
If we know Jesus, we know God.
One of the problems you and I face is, we are over 2,000 years removed from Jesus’ earthly ministry.
He no longer walks among us but reigns and rules in Heaven
So, then, how do we come to the knowledge of Jesus?
you guessed it, through the special revelation of His Word given to us in the Bible. The Bible reveals Christ to us.
The bible is, at face value: a collection of 66 books, written across approximately 1,500 years, by more than 40 different authors.
It’s message is consistent and has stood the test of time which should be evidence enough of its miraculous origins and nature.
There are 7 categories for the Bible’s miraculous origin, nature, and purpose.
We are running short on time and so I’m just going to state these and briefly define them and next week in More class we can dive a little deeper, so if you want to do that, join us there.
#1 It’s inspired, or breathed out by God
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
The claim here is that the Bible is God’s Word, His speech, His very breath.
#2 It’s authoritative
The Bible, with God as its divine author, share in God’s authority.
It has the right, for the Christian, to govern us in all matters of faith and conduct.
The Bible is authoritative because God is authoritative
#3 It’s inerrant
Because God is the divine Author, and He is perfect, making the author of the Bible perfect, that means that the Bible is also perfect, or without error.
God’s Word is truthful in every respect
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
#4 Infallible
Where inerrancy would affirm the bible is free from error, Infallibility affirms that the Bible can be trusted.
It is unfailing in what it says.
37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
As J. I. Packer says “Scripture is trustworthy as a guide that is not deceived and does not deceive.”
It can be trusted as complete, whole, perfect, truth.
#5 It’s necessary
So, as stated earlier, general revelation gives us knowledge that God exists, the Bible gives us revelation necessary for salvation, sanctification, and relationship with God.
The bible is necessary for our salvation because all of it is pointing us to Christ by whom we are saved.
Without the Bible, we would be in complete darkness in so many now knowable things of God and necessary knowledge of God
#6 It’s Sufficient
It not only provides what is necessary for life and godliness and salvation but it does do sufficiently.
It does not need to be added to
In it, we have all that we need to know Christ and follow Him.
#7 It’s clear
Now, some of us in the room would say, Pastor, I’ve read a lot of things in Scripture that I have no clue about. And I get that
But, the Bible is given to us in clarity.
It is written in a way that it can be understood by His people
You don’t have to have a doctorate or go to seminary
You don’t have to know every Greek or Hebrew word
Yes, it requires discipline and the use of good tools on our part but it is written in a way for us to clearly know who God is.
Now, here is how I want to end this morning.
If we can know God, and this is how we know God, what should it do?
What does or should the Bible do?
Going back to how we started, the Bible should transform us.
The Divine Author breathed out Scripture for us not to just know things but to know God and be transformed by Him.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible grows us in the knowledge of God, growing our relationship with God by proclaiming and transforming us into the image of Christ
I’ve heard it stated like this, “The purpose of the Bible is not merely for communication about God but also communion with God.”
We aren’t meant to just know about God, but to know God.
So, what does the Bible do? It invites us to know God and love God.
The Bible (special revelation) shouts what creation (general revelation) whispers: There is a God, and you are made to commune with Him.