Delete Me

Remembering the Fundamentals of Faith

By Jason Self

Introduction

Pastor is with the FOP tonight for officer Woods memorial service so he asked me to speak. He wants to spend Sunday evenings in the month of January covering the Fundamentals of our faith, last week he spoke on taking the things of God seriously and asked tonight that I speak on remembering the fundamentals.

If I start and I ask to list the fundamentals of our faith it could likely go like this: We hold to the King James Bible, We don’t drink, We dress a conservatively, we are careful of the music that we listen to, We are careful of the television we watch and a list like this could go on and on. We could go to the distinctives. I think the old BAPTIST acrostic, this could be thought of as our fundamental beliefs: B is Biblical Authority, A is for the Autonomy of the local church, P is for the Priesthood of the Believer, T is for the Two Ordinances, I is for individual soul liberty, S is for saved church membership, T again is for Two Offices and S is the separation of church and state. But again these are distinctives of Baptists and are not the fundamentals of our faith.

To consider things that focus on the outward, even these things that are right and true the fundamentals of our faith is an error. It is an error that tells us that we put the fundamentals of our faith away from us because as it is always true, the things that are important to God are matters of the heart. It is much more difficult to dwell on the matters of our heart than it is to focus on those things which are visibly evident. Gone to seed, those things that are Baptist distinctives or characteristics of conservative Baptists may serve to make us arrogant in our religion, not much better than Pharisee’s save that we believe in Christ.

The true fundamentals of Christianity are humbling. And as we go through them and consider them this morning they ought to be a thing that causes you to reflect on your heart not to look across the aisle to someone else.

The Fundamentals

Simply stated we find the fundamentals of our faith stated by our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew, Chapter 22 and in verses 35-40. Please turn there with me.

35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

I would focus first on what we read in this last verse. 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. What are they: to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and to love thy neighbour as thyself. If we could be faithful in just these two things we would be faithful in not just some of the law and prophets but all.

To delve deeper turn with me to verses 8-9 and for our text today we will look at the Apostle Paul’s explanation of the second great commandment and here we will get a deeper picture of the fundamentals of our Faith:

8Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Do not commit adultery

I am not excited that Paul started his list with the most difficult of these points to discuss. He starts saying that to love one another “do not commit adultery”

Sexual Relationships outside of Marriage

To define it simply, all sexual relationships outside of the bounds of marriage is adultery. You may have not forgotten this but it is clear that our world has.

This is a fundamental of our faith is so easily forgotten because the whole culture that we live in seems to be turned towards its violation. Casual disregard for this commandment is rampant, and as we complain about it on our television and in the media of Hollywood we have to be honest with ourselves; art imitates culture, and what we see on the big screen is no more than a condemnation of the culture that produces it.

In its simplest form we remember this commandment and most don’t need a reminder of the violation. Stepping out on a marriage is adultery. Where we can run into troubles are in the details

Our Lord had to address these details:

In the Heart

27Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

It is a familiar passage to you but the imperative is difficult today than in any time in History. Images to induce the heart towards lust abound and the effort required to guard ones heart is greater than ever

Divorce is Adultery

The easiest detail of Adultery to forget is that Divorce is Adultery. Preachers don’t like to preach on divorce because unfortunately we have so many people in our churches today who are divorced and this is a shame. I never hear anyone say: We can’t preach on lying in our church because we may offend those who have lied or we can’t preach on murder in the church because we may offend those who murder. But when it comes to adultery, Hmm.

I will make the position clear from 16For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. God hates Divorce.

And Divorce is Adultery.

9And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery….

The bible is clear, divorce is adultery and there are very few situations where it is not: The cause of fornication as instructs or in the case where someone becomes and their unbelieving spouse leaves them. 15But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. Paul refers this as not being under bondage any longer.

What does he mean by bondage? What is being overlooked here? Well if we look up a couple of verses we can read what 10And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: 11But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. A divorced person is not to be remarried, why because it is adultery for both parties if they are. The person who was divorced commits adultery in remarriage and the person who married the divorced person commits adultery. Because, though we like to forget this truth Jesus said in 18Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

Do not Kill

The next fundamental on Paul’s list is that we do not kill. And it’s hard to argue this one, but still…people do. We need to remember that when Paul says Thou shalt not kill he is quoting the commandment as found in . The word רָצַח ratsach in the Hebrew is more than just ending a life. It is translated in other places murder, to strike dead, slaughter, pierced. It is the difference as we would call it between murder and manslaughter or defence.

To quote one commentary: The Hebrew word for murder literally means “the intentional premeditated killing of another person with malice”

This isn’t something accidental, this isn’t the result of soldiers in war and this isn’t self-defense or justice. It is the result of malice in someone’s heart which is what we read in if you want to turn with me 15Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. The act of murder is only the physical action of what is in the heart. Just like when Jesus said in for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. It is also out of the abundance of the heart man murders.

But what does it mean to Hate? What is this heart attitude that our bible says is akin to murder? Μισέω miseō in the Greek. To take Louw-Nida’s definition: It means to dislike strongly, with the implication of aversion and hostility.

A Philadelphia woman in her will instructed her executor to take one dollar from her estate, invest it and pay the interest on this investment to her husband, “as evidence of my estimate of his worth.” Another woman—also from Philadelphia—bequeathed her divorced husband one dollar to buy a rope to hang himself.

We hear stories like that and think, wow, those women hated their husbands. But the definition of hate is broader than that. Who do we dislike strongly? Who do we have and aversion to? Who are we hostile with? See we can harbor these attitudes and forget that what we are harboring is hate. And we can forget that hate is murder and that 1 John, the book whose theme is the assurance of salvation tells us no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Do not Steal

The next item on Paul’s list as he quotes from the 10 commandments is Thou Shalt Not Steal. And we won’t dwell on this one but what is Stealing? Taking the property of someone else, secretly and without their permission.

In we are given the commandment but in Exodus 16And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. A very clear condemnation of slavery that I can barely believe was overlooked in this country’s history.

But where I think we are most likely to violate this is where it comes to intellectual property.

Christianity Today wrote: A Christian composer was pleased during his visit to a church in another city when the choir sang a song he had written. But his pleasure turned to mixed feelings of outrage and gloom when he discovered that only the organist had a published copy; the others all had photocopies produced by a machine on the premises. For every music publication sold, approximately seventy-five to 100 illegal copies are made either for personal group use or for bootleg sale, claims Peter Kladder, Jr., president of the Zondervan publishing firm in Grand Rapids.

Most of you are probably aware of this but Zondervan is a Christian company. A Christian company is saying that 100 illegal copies are being made of their sheet music for use in churches, to sing praises to God! It is a sad commentary that churches would take music without permission and expect it to glorify God.

Whether our conversation turns from stealing intellectual property like music or computer software or if it we talk about defrauding the government or even shoplifting and robbery. gives us the same advice 28Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Don’t do it anymore and work for what you get.

Do not covet

I am going to skip ahead and jump to the last of the 10 commandments Paul is listing here to Thou shalt not covet because of this point. If looking upon someone of the opposite sex is adultery in the heart, and hating someone is murder in the heart then I believe that covetousness is stealing in the heart.

Turn with me to 15And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

See where it says Take heed we should take heed when we read take heed. There is one word in the Greek that is translated to ‘Take heed’ here, it is Horate. It means to pay special attention to something, and it has the implication that it is something that concerns us personally. Jesus here in the book of Luke says Take Heed! Pay Special attention then he says Beware! Take Heed and Beware, Be on guard and for what? Covetousness.

Covetousness affects all, the rich and the poor alike. On one end of the spectrum you have hoarders who won’t let anything go or people that are just green with envy of those who have more than them. On the other side are those who are driven by amassing material wealth. Jesus says Take Head and Beware why? Because a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

I work with some folks who spend 12-14 hours a day at work. They come in every weekend, voluntarily Saturday and Sunday both. And those people have made outstanding careers and great wealth for themselves. But in their old age and on their death beds what will they want to look back on their life and see? Time spent with their families or time spent working isolated and alone in their offices? I can’t but give God praise that he has blessed our family with more than we deserve and I am extremely thankful, but stuff isn’t what defines our lives and if we allow covetousness in our life it will consume all of the precious little time we have here to spend it on things that really matter.

Do not bear false witness

Paul then writes Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Kate and I decided long before our oldest child Brody was born that we would not lie to our children. And to my knowledge we haven’t to this day. So as I was doing research for this message I came upon a blog post that stated quite matter-of-factly: All parents have lied to their kids. And if they say they haven’t, they’re lying. We don’t like to our kids, not even about things that people think we should lie to our kids about. We don’t lie to our kids in the winter and we don’t lie to our kids in the spring, and if you are thankful that I am being cryptic you should reconsider whether you should be lying to your children!

But it goes further than that. I make it a habit not to lie to anyone, at least not intentionally. Our word ought to mean something, in fact isn’t that what Jesus is saying in 37But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

I have shared this before I know but a few years ago my career took a sort of an interesting turn and I went into sales. And I will tell you this; a lot of sales people have no qualms about lying. Now, there are a lot of honest folks out there as well I don’t want to paint with too broad of a brush but you know what, I have been lied to by vendors I have been lied to by customers and I have been lied to by co-workers. The sad truth is, I have been lied to by church members as well. Really it’s kinda sad, but I get lied to, a lot.

Back when I first started in sales I had a co-worker who was more senior to me tell me to just make up a lie to tell the customer about something. I told him know and I got a response of something like it not being that big of a deal. So I asked him, “If I would lie to this customer what makes you think I wouldn’t lie to you if it were in my best interest”.

Here is the thing, once I know that someone has lied. To me or someone else, I know that that person is a liar. I know that that person’s word is worthless and I have to consider them accordingly. Now let me be clear, If that person repents the slate is clean but how can you really trust someone who is known to lie?

So I read a blog about all parents lie and now I am talking back to the computer screen…no we don’t. Because I know that if my children have known me to lie to them about bunnies and elves how can they believe me when I tell them about a Savior?

We don’t find exception clauses for lying in the Bible. In fact turn over to . It reads 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. You get the point, but you see where it says liars, which liars does this verse refer to.

Love thy Neighbor

And as we come to the end of Pauls list of Christian fundamentals as we read in if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Of what we have covered so far tonight, if we missed anything it can be covered in this sweeping statement love thy neighbour as thyself.

Turn your Bibles with me over to 14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. I mean, that is what Paul is saying in Romans, that is what Jesus is saying in the book of Matthew when he said On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. The entire law of God is fulfilled if we love our neighbors as ourselves.

This entire list of Paul’s that we have been going through tonight:

Thou shalt not commit adultery, Do we drag someone we love into the sin of adultery? Can you love someone by objectifying them?

Thou shalt not kill, Would we kill someone we loved…would we hate them?

Thou shalt not steal, Is stealing a sign of love?

Thou shalt not bear false witness how about lying?

Thou shalt not covet When you start to want what someone else has to the point of envy, is that loving them?

This entire list is just an exposition of the phrase love thy neighbour as thyself.

So if this list is how we fulfil the law of God, how can it be -- that If loving our neighbor as our self is the second highest commandment to loving God – how can we talk about people behind their backs, how can we look down on our brothers and sisters in Christ, how can we be anything other than gracious, compassionate and loving to our church family.

tells me that really, loving our church family tells us about our relationship with God. Where It reads 20If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

So we can know, unless our Bible is wrong, everything we need to know about someone’s relationship with God, by how they treat other people.

The Forgetting

How do we forget

Now that we have looked at just what the fundamentals of our faith how do we get to where we have forgotten them

God as you know brought Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy he gave this warning:

10And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, 11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; 12Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

When Hebrew people were in bondage they remembered God, they cried out to God and they only had hope in him but in good times things are different. They live now in a land that they didn’t even have to work for: Cities were built for them and stocked, wells were dug for them, crops were planted for them and they were no longer hungry. God had blessed them greatly in a land of opportunity and relative comfort. And in this God says beware lest thou forget the Lord.

Privilege is a word that is thrown around a lot these days. And while I don’t subscribe to the political rhetoric, I know that I am privileged. I don’t worry about plagues like smallpox and polio because a generation before me learned to vaccinate against it. I don’t worry about starving to death through the winter because generations before me came up with ways to preserve food. I don’t worry about freezing because someone else invented a heater. The world wars were fought 2 generations before me. When our needs have been provided for us by our land, we stop being desperate for God and then we forget Him and His laws.

But even for those things that we do build 13And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; We can start to rely on our own cleverness and we can start to think that we are something, our bible says that our hearts will be lifted up, we will become proud people, and we forget God.

The danger in forgetting (Closing)

I hope that just hearing what God has said about keeping the fundamentals of our faith is enough. I hope all that it takes is to just hear from the word is all the motivation that we need to make it the deliberate day in and day out focus of our lives. All of the law and prophets, everything we have here in our bible come down this…I mean really, there is no other reason for you to even be here but these two things First, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And Second, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. And as we read earlier we can measure the first commandment by the second.

If you have had a chance to study the book of Hosea, you will know that this is a book with a prophecy where God is almost transparent in showing us what it means to him for Israel to have gone after false gods. He compares Israel to a wife who he takes care of but is still unfaithful. She prostitutes herself because she has forgotten the goodness of her Lord.

God writes through Hosea 6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

See Southland. We can miss the point entirely. Our church can be about the business of our Wednesday night children’s program, it can be about the struggles of the Nursery; it can be about improving and maintaining our grounds, organizing activities, VBS, Camp, whatever. If we aren’t defined by our love for one another we have missed the point entirely.

Hosea writes that Israel wasn’t destroyed because the economy tanked, they weren’t destroyed because of an invading army or because people didn’t agree with them. They were destroyed because they rejected the knowledge of God.

There has been a lot of talk around our church, concerned that we aren’t reaching our teens. We lose a lot of them after become adults. Is it how Hosea finishes in verse 6? Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. I hope not, but let us be sure.