2020.03.08 Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsScripture is useful to identify and fix our errors in thought/belief/action
Notes
Transcript
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 3
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2 Timohty 3:16-17
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.
9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
8 Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.
9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
2 john 16-17
Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church: That's Not Right
Last week we began the series “Future Church” by talking about Scripture’s use as a teaching tool. If you need a takeaway from that message, I would say that we would all confess we don’t know everything, and the two ways to deal with ignorance is to:
learn and study to diminish your ignorance
be okay with your ignorance
If you aren’t studying Scripture in some form, you’re saying you don’t care about your ignorance.
This week, we move forward in Paul’s letter to Timothy, and we’ll talk about Reproof and Correction.
How do you pronounce this word?
For this being such a big issue since the end of World War II, why can’t people say this word correctly?
Nu-cu-lar
“‘nu-cu-lar’” is wrong!
But I don’t want to leave you just knowing that’s wrong. I want to show you an easy way to say it right:
New-Clear
Let’s replace that bad pronunciation with the correct pronunciation, “new - clear”
Reproof and Correction
Telling you “nu-cu-lar” is wrong is reproof.
Telling you “nu-cu-lar” is wrong is reproof.
Telling you the correct pronunciation is “new-clear” is correction.
Just telling people they’re wrong is not sufficient. So the Scripture doesn’t do that!
When we discover we’re wrong about something, especially if it’s important … we should throw out the bad information. But that leaves a void.
Jesus said in (one slide) --
43 “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.
44 “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.
45 “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
Matthew 12:
Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church: That's Not Right
The public face of the Church has grown more and more negative in recent years. The national media prefer irate presenters, so Christians tend to come across as angry and judgmental on TV.
The public face of the Church has grown more and more negative in recent years. The national media prefer irate presenters, so Christians tend to come across as angry and judgmental on TV because that’s who is given airtime.
Whether that’s a true picture of Christianity or not is irrelevant. That’s what people see, so we have to try to counter the image any time we have the opportunity.
I can hold fast to my position without being rigid and miserable. I can believe the Truth of Scripture without figuratively hitting people over the head … and that’s what we must do! We have to HELP others to the truth, because no one in the history of humanity has EVER been BASHED into the truth. EVER. IN HISTORY. NEVER.
We must HELP others to the truth, because no one in the history of humanity has EVER been BASHED into the truth. EVER. IN HISTORY. NEVER.
Scripture is useful to take beliefs that are askew (whether greatly or slightly), rebuke them as wrong and replace the void left with a correct belief.
For example...Believing that Jesus is just a good teacher is wrong! But simply knowing that it’s wrong doesn’t really fix the problem. The wrong must be replaced with the correct: Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God … he is Yahweh’s Messiah, and salvation comes through no other name!
And this type of reproof and correction is needed INSIDE the church community more than outside it. They don’t care what Scripture says. But if my beliefs or actions aren’t aligned with Scripture, I HOPE someone points it out.
Later in this same letter to Timothy, Paul writes:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
…so reproving … with great patience and instruction is expected!
Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church: That's Not Right
When a disciple’s rebuke is necessary, it must occur in a loving and caring environment.
How we do that is so very important…According to one source:
When a disciple’s rebuke is necessary, it must occur in a loving and caring environment.
https://www.simplybible.com/f50j-discp-rebuke-correcting-a-disciples-sin.htm
Some folk will perceive a rebuke as an unloving act. They will say that to rebuke a disciple is judging and pressuring that disciple. But their idea of love is according to human sentiment rather than God’s word. Anything done according to God’s word is an act of love.
---simplybible.com (an Australian church page intended to teach and spread basic Christianity)
Let me shift gears a minute...
How many times have you heard someone referred to as, or accused of being “The AntiChrist”? Our understanding of “the antichrist” is flawed. The truth is, there are MANY antichrists according to John’s own words, and he’s the one who coined the term.
Our understanding of “the antichrist” is flawed. The truth is, there are MANY antichrists by John’s own words.
one slide
7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
While John does use the article “the”, his sentiment is not that an individual is antichrist. He tells us MANY deceivers … don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh … and that idea, that belief, that worldview, that person is antichristian.
While John does use the article “the”, his sentiment is not that an individual is antichrist. He tells us MANY deceivers … don’t acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh … and that idea, that belief, that worldview is the antichrist.
Some English translations even use the article “AN Antichrist” because John appears to be identifying an errant belief rather than one individual. NIV, CEB and NRSV all translate “this” as “Any such person...”. New Living Translation renders it “Such a person...” So a more literal translation of the Greek would be ‘this person who is a deceiver and does not acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh is the/an antichrist.’
The idea of a singular antichrist is often attributed to Revelation, but you know what … John is the only biblical writer who uses the term “Antichrist” and it never appears in Revelation! Beasts, Demons, Dragons, Sea monsters, Land monsters, False Prophet, Satan … all make appearances in Revelation, but John doesn’t use the term as a title anywhere in his apocalypse.
John also wrote in 1 John:
3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
So, antichrist is already in the world!
This may seem like splitting hairs, but I can’t tell you the number of emails I got claiming that Barack Obama was THE ANTICHRIST, and the world was going to end if he was elected President. If we use John’s term, we also must understand it based on how he used it. Antichrist, therefore, is not connected to the end of the world, and there isn’t just one. If you want a singular antichrist: The ultimate persecutor, the ultimate accuser of the Church would be Satan himself, not a human endowed with such a title! So Antichrist is more logically a spirit of Satan that is already here and runs rampant!
That’s what reproof and correction are, so let me take a moment to reprove and correct a belief that needs to change for the sake of Future Church.
Future Church: That's Not Right
Future Church: That's Not Right
Many of the loudest voices claiming Christ on the Internet, radio, and television will loudly lament the Church’s loss of status in our society - fearful that Christianity is being marginalized.
The Church is not being marginalized! [repeat with emphasis]
The Church has ALWAYS been marginalized! Jesus told us, “the world hates me. They’ll hate you, too.” What part of that do we not understand?
THE CHURCH ALREADY ARE THE MARGINALIZED!
The anniversary recently passed of ISIS beheading Christians and distributing the video of it all over the world.
Chinese Churches are regularly bulldozed by the government, even if they’ve kept themselves in good standing with all of the bureaucracy.
According to the 2020 World Watch List Last year globally:
2,983 Christians were killed for their faith
9,488 church buildings and other Christian buildings were attacked or destroyed
3,711 believers were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced or imprisoned
-- 2020 World Watch List - https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/
And that’s just from the REPORTED occurences!
We’ve always been marginalized! But I also think we’re part of the problem!
We want the outside world to take us seriously as Christians, but we don’t take our own faith as seriously as we should.
These are generalities, but generalities exist for a reason...
When we hear the term “Church” we immediately think of a building or an event instead of a community of believers - people - human beings!
Christians don’t study Scripture like we should - It’s not the Word of God if we don’t treat it like it is the Word of God.
Attending worship used to be the flagship sign of a loyal believer - Attendance has become sporadic and optional to most believers - Sure, we can exist without engaging God, but we’ve made that the default for self-professed believers instead of the exception.
When we’re given opportunities to serve our community, Church folk don’t show up. If you think attendance is down in worship — try getting church people to go to a community event to represent Christ. Ask them to actually talk to others about Jesus and you may have no one show up!
When we hold a children’s event here at St. Mark’s, we can count on the same basic people to show up and help. And those people are rarely the ones who complain about the world not respecting Christianity. They know it’s true … but instead of whining about it, they’re doing something about it!
So, the reproof is this … Nothing in the Bible tells us we should expect the Church or Christians to have status or respect in our communities. The correction is this … The Bible tells us we should expect the opposite, and statistics confirm that the Bible is right on the money.
Sitting around a table griping about the situation of the world and politics isn’t going to fix a thing. It won’t convince a soul, and you’re giving up your opportunity for influence by doing it. Moaning and bellyaching every time the Church is disrespected by a public figure or a decision is NOT going to make any difference … it will only make you a bellyacher, and many of us are precisely that!
If you want to make a difference in Future Church, you’ll have to get off your duff and do something about your faith!
You’ll have to:
engage your faith
study deeper
work harder
and love wider.
Starting next week, we’ll talk about the basic principles of Future Church, like this, that need to sink into our souls so that we can engage the mission of making disciples, by developing a Christ-centered community of prayer and fellowship, reaching out with the hope and love of God.
If you want the Church’s influence to spread, it begins with earning respect instead of demanding it. Influence happens one person at a time … and you’re the only person that can make that happen.
Lamenting the loss of Historic Church is okay for a period. At some point, we have to stop lamenting and start working toward Future Church. That time is here.
Are you ready to start?