Untitled Sermon (59)

We now progress forward in our study in the letter that Paul wrote to Rome.

I want to share with you all a true story from history And I have to tell you that I think this is one of the most bizarre, insane story from church history that I can think of.

It is a story that I find so crazy that Hollywood could make a movie on it and not embellish one story , not embellish a single plot and people question whether it's true or not.

It takes place in the 1500s In Germany. And I will be giving the short version, to the best of my ability and so please be aware that this is the short version of the story.

As a little back story and we're going to be brief, the traditional pinpoint of the spark of the Reformation was October 31st 1517. This is when Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis onto the wittenberg church door.

After much fighting an much hardship in luther's life in 1524 and 1525 you had the German peasant war. And this was the German peasants declaring war on the Catholic Church period or the state church .

You have to understand that this is a time of state church. the peasants believed that Martin Luther would be on their side and it turned out he wasn't.

Martin did not like anything that ringed of anarchy and he felt like the peasants were bringing anarchy. Well a lot of people died 100,000 people died. This is a time where you didn't fire bullets from a distance war was declared and executed by the sword. That is a lot of people to die.

This led many Germans to believe that they were in fact living in the end times. And so that is the back story of what takes place in the story I'm going to tell you all. And the story revolves around the beginning of the anabaptist.

Now anabaptist means re baptizers. They had an idea that you had to be baptized as an adult and so they would continuously re baptize. Not just people who made decisions as adults, but whenever they really felt like being baptized, they re baptized.

This movement eventually evolved into what we know today as the Amish and the hutterites. But the story I will tell you will have no reflection on those 2 groups at all.

The story I'm going to tell you revolves around 2 men both have the same name and that name is Jan. There is jann Mathias and Jan of leyden. Our English rendition of the word would be john.

Jen Mathias lived in Strasburg Germany where a self proclaimed anabaptists profit said that the new Jerusalem would come in 1533 to Strasburg.

When this did not happen people began to question him. Anne Jan Mathias suddenly had a revelation that the new Jerusalem was actually in Munster Germany.

Now the area became predominantly anabaptist because Jan Mathias had a friend who owned a printing press which meant you had the power. This was a time when a printing press was extremely rare because it was just created. Well jan's friend, burnard rothman, had one. And he made pamphlets in the area grew more anabaptist.

And so now with Jan Mathias being looked at as this new Prophet, they migrated to Munster Germany. Now monster was a very well guarded town. It had a wall around it And I had 2 motes protecting it.

So because it became increasingly anabaptist they now officially outnumbered the Catholics and the lutherans in this area. And so they gained control over Munster Germany.

Angen Mathias, as the new prophetic leader, said if we're going to usher in the new Jerusalem then this city needs to be filled with Saints. And on a day that went down in history as a very very cold day, and if you don't know Germany is already a cold place but in the dead of winter you either have to conform or get out.

Low right before this point , jam Mathias said God wants equality for all people therefore he wants equality with our possessions as well. So the things that the people owned now belong to them and they will distribute them equally.

But now the warning of conformer get out was given and that meant that all the lutherans and Catholics were forced to leave if they did not become anabaptist.

And so those who refused to conform we're forced out of the city in the dead of winter without any possessions. Some historical accounts proclaimed that it was so cold some people died before actually leaving the town. But it's believed everyone who was forced to leave, men women and children all died.

The Prince Bishop, frons, was not happy when he heard about this period and so he set up to go after this town but it is an armed city. They had cannons, they had access to black powder. It's not going to be easy. But they did begin a siege.

They had to be careful because franz did not want to destroy munster, he had the ability to do so but did not want to because it was his city and whatever damage he does getting the anabaptists out, he has to pay to repair.

Meanwhile, the and Baptist know he is going to siege the town and they are prepared with boiling pitch to pour on the soilders who try to clime the walls.

Now officially, Jan mathas is the voice of God, because he is a prophet. And he gained control by doing public executions then, he would lead other people to believe that he was going to execute them, but, he is a prophet of God, and God just told Jan to spare them. Do you see how you can control a whole community where your life was on the line?

During all this time, Jan leiden is being discipled by jan mathas. OK, i really have to speed this up because there is a lot more to say. The siege is still taking place and Jan Mathias gets this prophetic word on how he can deliver monster from the siege.

Everybody is hearing about this town and they want the town taken over. And so the next morning Jan Mathias takes 12 people and he tells the town of Munster that he will miraculously deliver that town from the siege.

So Mathias and the 12 go out and everybody is watching and they suddenly see 500 men on horseback coming towards the 13 men. And all 13 of those men were just slaughtered.

And then the soldiers who killed 13 men , who killed Mathihe, took his head and put it on a post as a sign of what is going to take place next.

And the whole town witnessed this take place. So while he is dead and they are being forced to look at his severed head, rumors began to circulate that Jan Mathias will rise in 3 days , that he will be resurrected.

Well this is the moment where Jan leyden now rises to power. Laidin was a trained theater actor. And he knew how to be theatrical. And so he comes in and suddenly acts like he's receiving divine prophecy Ann says that Jim Mathias death was just, because God told him that Mathas was supposed to go alone Anne Mathas took 12 with him.

Jan of Lieden, now takes Mathas wife for himself to show that he was now the new leader. By this point, every non anabaptist is demanding That that city is taken back from the anabaptist and they gain control.

In their line of thinking they're saying, Hey those people are crazy, we have crazy people and those crazy people are attracting the other crazy people. Take care of these crazy people before all the crazy people gathered together.

So Frans besides OK I will begin to invade the town. He had his army and hired mercenaries. they had their camp set up just right outside the town and the plan was that at sunrise they would go for the attack.

But the mercenaries did what mercenaries do best and that is they drank. They knew they had to fight the next morning at sunrise but decided the night before it was time to get drunk.

Well they got so drunk that when the sun was setting they couldn't remember if it was the sunset or the sunrise. And these guys were going like I'm pretty sure it's the sunrise, and if it's sunrise that means the army is going to go in and they're going to get all the action before we do. We have to get there before the army does. So they invade.

And the army is watching and they're saying what are these guys doing, well we're not going to let them get all the action and so the army went in. During this time you did not fight wars at night. You could not see, and you were outside of the town. You were going into a battle completely blind and these men ran into a battle during sunset.

So it is pitch dark outside they're trying to set up their ladders to go into the city but the women were all prepared with boiling pitch and so they're just dumping it on these soldiers in mercenaries. The siege was a failure.

Ok, I have to skip a lot of key plots. They began to demand pologamy, just like every other cult, some people got mad and a mutiny began, the rebles were gathered and public execution was done by the order of Jan leiden.

A second siege was attempted and it also was a failure, Jan laiden declares himself king and prince bishop is getting fed up. So what we have now is a cultish, kingly communism taking place. And as all communism does, when resources runs low, the leaders eat well but the lay people began to go hungry.

Jan was taking other wives for himself, mix that with hunger, Jan is becoming a little desperate. This is a recipe for franz, because he can now send a former escapee back into the camp with a story that he was not an escapee but a prisoner. Jan had no choice but to believe because people were losing their steam.

People were now dieing of hunger, were being executed for trying to leave. While, one of jans wives was tired of eating so well while people were starving. She decides to publicly call him out.

So Jan holds in assembly, a mass gathering of people with his wife next to him, with all of his wives next to him, and he says God is testing us right now and our job is to be faithful. And we have no room here for the unfaithful.

Guys, hang on tight 'cause this story gets really uncomfortable really fast, he then gives the order to put his wife Elizabeth's head on the chopping block. Demanded that his other wives sing hymns as he picks up the sword of execution himself and swings it at his own wife.

And then he began to sing along with his other wives as they danced around the body of Elizabeth. This is real history. And I am giving you the shortest, edited version. Well because there was an inside man and because people were becoming desperate there was a plot 2 get Jan and his two right-hand men both named Bernard.

The plan was a success and because these guys were anabaptists and because they created such a reputation for their heinous acts, Protestants and Catholics would kill any anabaptist on site. Today the Amish in the hutterites are known as pacifists , they will not engage in violence and that tradition comes from this moment in history.

The three leaders are caught and they are publicly tortured. And the specific type of torture they are given was done with iron hot blades and iron hot utensils. And these guys had to receive this punishment for one hour period if they passed out the torturer would kindly wait until they woke back up and continue with the remaining time. Had to be a conscience hour.

They did it one at a time. They were tide up on a post, a massive post and they could not see each other but 3 men were chained to this post. Jan of ladin was the first to be tortured and after his hour was up he was executed. The two other men had to sit and listen to the torture and smell the burning flesh.

When I think about this I think that it would be worse to be the last guy. To listen to the other 2 go through that. And so this torture an execution was completely public to send a message to the world, you will not have a rebellion like this period but they decided that was not good enough.

they then got 3 iron cages, about the size for a body to fit in , they put these men into the cages. They then raised the cages up on the steeple of the cathedral in Munster Germany.

So when people walked by they would see the bodies in those cages and they left the bodies there to rot. They did not go back for the bones until 30 years later. Ladies and gentlemen, for reasons unknown, those 3 cages still remain hoisted up on that cathedral pillar until this very day.

This story is long, I know but this is what happens when people do not know their role in the body of Christ. When people decide that they're going to be what they want to be. And this is the warning we're seeing from Paul.

There is a reason why Paul gives this warning and the story I just shared with you all is a heinous, totale depraved sin filled true story of what happens when scripture is violated like this.

And I am sad to say that this is not the only example.

So let's dive into God's word, we are going to get the theme of this generally today, then we will unpack it further next week.

Romans 12:3–4 NASB95

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,

Romans

It is important for us to understand a little bit of early church history to better appreciate and recognize what we actually hold in our hands. There is much debate , over vast amount of topics, on why the apostles only wrote on specific topics and never fully expanded on those topics like they are expanded on today.

Here is something that we must know, some people wonder why the writers of the New Testament did not expand on certain doctrines that have been expanded on over the course of church history.

Just as an example The Trinity. Objectors would say that the word Trinity is not in the Bible and those who are trinitarian would agree. It is simply just a title that history has given it so that's we understand what the scriptures are teaching. There were those who affirmed that Jesus was the son of God but he was not equally divine.

So they had no problem with saying he is the son of God and they also had no problem with saying he is God. But when it came down to equality with the father then some people had issues. The word Trinity helped eliminate people from hiding behind words.

It would expose heretics within the walls of the church. Because that word Trinity is a word that anti trinitarians cannot stand. Yet when you look at the pages of scripture it is taught as if it was a normal line of thinking.

And people ask why hasn't this been expanded more by the Apostle Paul or by john? Well in my opinion they did just fine in teaching what they taught. But, a little bit of early church history helps us better understand things.

And so, why do we not have way more writings on Jesus, about Jesus, about the apostles? If Jesus did all these amazing things, shouldent we have way more than what we have in the NT?

Well , Simply put, let's see how much writing you get done when you are always running for your life. These guys were always sought out by the state an were imprisoned or executed.

Some of the letters we have from Paul were written while he was imprisoned. So if you were always on the run for your life , chances are you are not going to find time to sit down and write.

And so when we look at the epistles, you have the four gospels the book of acts and the rest are the epistles except for revelation, when you look at the epistles you should know that these guys are not just writing for the sake of writing.

They are addressing specific issues that they were well aware that was going on and they were confronting those issues. They didn't say things just to say things, they didn't have time to go you know I think I will write Rome, dont know what I will say, just whatever comes out of me comes out of me.

And so the issue that Paul takes up that we will begin studying today is an issue that's not only addressed to this church in Rome but was also addressed to the Corinthians. It's an issue that was prevalent in Pagan culture and it's one that goes on today as well.

It is an attitude of people thinking higher of themselves than what they ought to and it's the attitude of people trying to be in positions they shouldn't be in.

This is something you see in everyday life but the problem is it creates major issues within the church. Historically speaking this is always been true. And historically speaking this always happens.

And so, Paul is addressing this for a reason. And the reason must be because it is known that it is taking place in Rome. Because again, these guys did not have the time to sit Ann Wright the most thoughtful and expanding pieces of writings that they possibly could. So they went to the point, they got to the point right away.

now this section that we're looking at is our relationship to each other within the church. In around versus 12 to 16 you begin to see a change take place and it becomes the churches relationship with people outside of the church. So Paul declares for through the grace given to me.

he is declaring a type of authority, he is uprooting his authority to make a declaration but he doesn't say because I am an Apostle. He doesn't say no who I am the great Paul.

He mentions himself but Paul is not the focus of the statement. It is grace Ann what was given to Paul. And so the context is the grace of apostleship. This is what he says in the 1st chapter of this letter and he's using the same language to repeat the same thing.

But he's not boasting about himself what he is doing is he is pointing to the giver of it all. So through the grace given to me I say , and again the grace of apostleship. I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think.

Oh boy, if we would just take that advice every once in awhile. And it's easy to sit and nod our head and go Yep Paul, that's right shouldn't think higher than what you are. It's a good thing I'm the best that I can be. We are a bit delusional in that area. Man if I wasn't already the best person in the world that verse would scare me.

Now I know nobody is that extreme in their head but you're also not making it quite personal as you should. So Paul Says do you think with sound judgment. And he's saying that we need to do that about ourselves. We need to think about ourselves with sound judgment.

We need to be honest with ourselves. This is our wakeup call, this is our moment where we need to really reflect on who we are and move forward. And this is to our benefit but it might hurt a little if we took this seriously.

If we took this seriously it would be like ripping off a band aid and that Band-Aid has a little hair on it. You need to have sound judgment about yourself because God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Paul is not talking about there are some who have greater faith therefore they have greater blessings . As some have taught. What he is saying though is that God has given you a gift like God has given him.

There is a gift of grace God is giving you so much and the context when we go into verse 4 we're just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function , in that context and the context of the rest of this section, we need to understand that God has given us a gift. An those gifts play a role , specifically in ministry.

And God has dealt this out as he sees fit. God is the one who will deal the gifts out and each gift plays a role and each of those things need to be exercised within the confines of the ministry. And so we were given the image of a body.

It's not the first time the church is given the image of the body but in this specific situation he is not talking about the body of Christ as in the church he is using an analogy to paint a picture. It just so happens that this specific analogy fits perfectly with the verbage that we already use as Christians.

And so, you see the body and you know that the body has many members , and each members or parts of the body have a specific job, they play a specific role. The hand's job is not to be the head, the head's job is not to be the foot.

Whenever members of the body start thinking that there's something that they're not, chaos happens. And what Paul is saying here is that God is the one who distributes the gifts, and based on the analogy that he is giving Each gift and person with that gift plays a specific role, has a specific function.

and if that person tries to be something that they are not then it becomes chaos. Just like if your head started to act like your foot it would be chaos.

This happens in churches all the time. Now I do not want to get too carried away with the analogy because I do not believe the analogy was meant to be too carried away with.

we know Jesus is the head of the church , he is the ruler of the church . We do not need to sit here and figure out who is the head who is the eyes who is the hands who are the feet.

The analogy is not meant to be dissected that way. It's just simply meant to make you think that if you are not the head why are you trying to be the head? Or if you are not the hand why are you trying to be the hand? If this is not your function, if this is not your role, then why do you attempt it.

When I open up and lead us in song at the beginning of our worship, I don't do that because I want to. All of you know I don't want to. The only reason why I do that is to give these guys a break. I'm not music ministri. I will never be that. That is not my gift that is not my calling , that is not for me.

Just like some of you in here can never lead in the preaching of God's word because you know that that is not your calling , you know that's not your gift that was given to you. So you go Nope not getting involved with that.

I am assuming that if you are aware it is your gift you would pursue it somehow. And Paul will go through a short list of what are some gifts that God gives. It is not the fullest list but it is a list.

And some of you may be sitting here going well I never overstep my gift and what God has given me. Paul is warning us that we need to be honest with ourselves.

So some people have the gift of mission work and others don't. Oh, pastor i'm not one who's going into missional work, yeah that may be true so maybe you are not the one best suited on how to even give to missional work. or somebody who's going to tell the ministry on how we should give to missional work.

Some people's gifts may be that they are a gifted treasurer and some people are not , yet you will find people who are inclined to tell the treasure what to do.

Do you see how this works. And because it works this way I do not go over until the music ministry how they should play. Hey you know those notes you were playing to that him, I want completely different notes played.

Next time slower tempo, next time faster tempo. I don't do that. It's not my gift therefore it's not my position to dictate all the time. Now of course if there is a problem in the music ministry that I feel is affecting the ministry as a whole I would speak up because that is my purpose.

but If there's a financial question then it makes sense I go to a financial expert. If there's a construction question it makes sense that I go to a construction expert. If there is a farming question then it makes sense they go to a farming expert.

What doesn't make sense is that if I have a farming question I go to a financial expert. And what really doesn't make sense is a financial expert telling the farmer how to farm and the farmer telling the financial expert about finances. That would be overstepping your role in any other given field . In any other given situation.

and this is the very actions that are committed in ministries every single day. now that's not to say that people can't have input or that people can't have an opinion on specific situations but if you can admit that you don't have the expertise in a certain area then maybe , show a little grace in the areas that you or not gifted in.

And if your thoughts are then I don't get involved at all, then you got bigger problems. Paul is saying every member has a gift and every member better be exercising their duty. And when Paul says every member he's talking about body parts every body part every part has a purpose. He's not talking about church membership.

well I can't preach, I Can't Sing, I have bad credit so i'm not good with finances, I don't have time to study so I can't teach, what left is there in the ministry for me to do?

Look, I can't tell everybody what their specific gift is. It may not be an official title within these walls. Your gift may just be listening to others, your gift maybe that you're always there helping others, your gift may be your edifying others. I don't know each and every one of your gifts.

What I do know, is that God has given everybody, every one of his children gifts. And he is the one that has measured it out, and it better be exercised for his glory. Otherwise you are not living out your potential and you are part of causing chaos.

You see the reason why I chose to share that story with you all was because it was the most dramatic image of chaos taking place when people think there's something that they're not. When people begin to act on something they're not supposed to be acting on.

And it happens, it is still happening today in it's not as extreme as what you all heard. But there are still self proclaimed prophets out there.

People who were saying God told me so and so will be elected, God told me that you will have this house in X amount of time , God told me that your marriage will go through this but don't worry it's going to bounce back.

All of that are forms of adding to scripture. The word of God is sufficient in our walk in day to day life. And when we start to depart from that and listen to other people who say God told me our actions display that God's word is not enough.

Had those people, those anabaptists, took the sufficiency of scripture seriously they would have never followed a self proclaimed Prophet.

As soon as someone approaches me and they say God told me before they can finish the sentence i got a dozen alarms going off in my head. A bakers dozen. Before they can finish the sentence my alarms are up and I'm paying extra close attention.

Because I am fully convinced now whatever I hear next is going to contradict God's word. because if someone serious about telling me something true from God they're going to tell me the scripture say or God says in the scriptures. The person will use the scriptures as the source of authority. Not their own intuition.

So this stuff still takes place today, we cannot allow the chaos to take place like that period folks we have to know our gifts, and we have to exercise them.

We have to know our function, we have to know our role. If we don't then we are a deformed creature. So let's be a unified body where everybody is acting according to the function and purpose that they were given. Lets Pray

He then expanded on why he felt that way and gave a solid explanation. And his concern was the future state of the church, which is my concern as well. You see John MacArthur does not have a problem with Beth Moore publishing works that help people. He does not have a problem with her having positions in ministri where she gets to teach.

But he is against her being in a position of leadership, which she is , when it comes to the leadership roles of the church. And the reason why he takes such issue with this is because scripture is abundantly clear about this.

to argue against this , you're not arguing against John MacArthur and you're not arguing against me you're arguing against God an his word. Not only did Paul state verbatim that women shall not have such a position. But the qualifications for a pastor or teaching elder is that he must be the husband of one wife.

Little difficult if we're going to hold Our stance on marriage. Now here is the thing, not only is the scripture clear on the roles of women in ministry, but I have yet to hear anybody make a biblical defense for it. They can't, they give an emotional response and accuse men of being massageanistic and they used current social justice warrior words like patriarch ISM.

now I do believe that our current culture displays the infinite wisdom of God. Because Paul lays out that he does not allow women do hold these offices and the reason why is because Eve was the one that was first tempted. That is how Paul explains it. I have yet to see a denomination that has started to ordain women not give in to liberal theology.

It hasn't happened. The ordination of women has always been the beginning of a very slippery left downslope. Always. Doesn't mean that women cannot be talented preachers. Just means that God designed it this way for a reason an if we are Bible believing Christians we follow it we don't argue with God on it. Well this section of scripture that we're looking at today is a section about gifts.

And this is a difficult concept in our modern age because our modern age says you better be the best. we think just like the pagans of ancient Rome in Greece did. I'm smart enough, I'm good enough And I should have that position. And this was a huge issue in the early church and this very issue is the reason why Paul is stating what he is stating now. So let's dive in and learn how we honor God within the assembly of the church.