Finding Solid Ground

P- Gods word is solid ground in seas of uncertainty

I- chaotic waters vs solid ground

A- build on the rock

Ephesians 4:11–14 (NIV)

11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

Look at this storm imagery

What does it feel like to be tossed back and forth by waves?

Overpowered, the sea is way bigger than you, no control

its difficult to know which way to go, get flipped around

its difficult to see and breath ( panic and anxiety)

If you’re being tossed back and forth by waves are you at peace? obviously not. just the opposite. your very life is in danger.

What does v14 say is tossing people back and forth? other teachings and the craftiness of deceitful people.

But this idea of chaotic waters is not unique to this one verse. Bringing order out of chaos represented by water is written in all throughout the bible.

Examples of the chaotic waters in the Bible:

Genesis 1 - (Tohu wa-bohu, formless and void) chaotic waters

Genesis 5 - Noah, the world is chaotic, God sends water, God sends wind, and brings order

Exodus 14 - The Israelite are brought through the waters of the Red Sea to the promised land

Psalm 69 - David describes his enemies are water up to his neck

Isaiah 17 - nations are raging waters

--Get personal--

Anyone who knows me deeply knows I can be very indecisive and i consider things for very long periods of time. I will ponder and consider things for weeks and constantly question myself, especially when it comes to my feelings. I’ve had a lot of uncertainty over the past few years - feelings about how to live life, marriage, what kind of job to have, should i just live in a van, thoughts about baptism, or gender roles. A lot of us have these kinds of questions and we look for answers in many different places. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Jordan Peterson,a professor of psychology, and he has a lot of interesting things things to say about life and how to live but then I’ll flip to another video and some other guy is saying the exact opposite. so who am i to listen to?

Chaotic World

There is a massive void of uncertainty in the world,

in the first century the disciples had to contend with paganism, all of these different Greek Gods, and Mithraism Persian polytheism based on zodiac, and Gnostisim idea of secret knowledge god is hiding from us.

there are similar crashing waves of teaching happening today. We have a lot of “isms” we can attach ourselves to.

materialism, consumerism, patriotism. these are all ways of thinking, ways of “conforming out minds” to a particular set of beliefs and doctrines. but they change and evolve.

A big issue i see today is the Post-modernism mindset sweeping academia and spreading into the world

Postmodernism says there is no objective ‘truth’, categorization's only purpose is power and tyranny, and denies grand narrative

the post modernist mindset is skeptical of hard rules, accepts all interpretations of text as equally valid. (bad hermeneutics)

because it doesn’t accept that things can be categorized Sex and gender cant be male and female - gender is “fluid”

if you try to categorize it, the purpose must be for hierarchy and oppression

so since you cant categorize things you cant distinguish between groups either. so you cant distinguish separate roles for men and women without it being tyrannical.

the roles of men and women are mixing and crossing over each other

marriage boundaries - skepticism of hard rules and grand narrative - who are you to say of are expanding beyond man and woman

Another issue today: Tribalism, nationalism

us vs them mentality

aggression between political groups (in west this means red vs blue), social groups (LGBT) and racial groups

Their is a growing mentality that objective true doesn't matter in politics as long as your side wins

Post modernism isnt the only teaching we need to be weary of.

Christian liberalism is also a significant issue. This is a belief system that basically takes out the exegetical side of studying scriptures in favor of interpreting the bible into our modern culture. What ends up happening here is they deny the infallibility of scripture and start changing the meaning to fit modern sensibilities, scriptures get cherry picked and the idea of “christian” ideas are just whatever a culture considers to be the best virtuous a person can have. its the “be a nice person” approach to Christianity.

There are even divisive issues still in the church

should we use instruments?

should we take Genesis 1 literally or is it poetry?

Can women preach?

is hell really forever?

issues of legalism, patriotism (putting the worldly empire of America over the Kingdom of God), gender roles, how dating should work

These are deep, important issues that we need to deal with and reconcile as best we can in order to be the unified body of Christ.

How do we do this? firm solid Biblical Principles

Biblical Principles

Why? because biblical principles don't change, and they arnt subjective.

All of these issues I’ve brought up are the mixing of the chaotic waters of the world.

All of these “isms” and worldly mindsets and dogmas can become religions unto themselves. will conforming you into a useful tool for the ruler of this world.

Romans 12:2 NIV

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.

God does give us the answers we need. Hes not always as specific as we would like but it is there.

So what do we do? what do we do against the winds and waves of chaos and false teachings that toss us back and forth? We cling to the rock.

Matthew 7:24 NIV

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The ruler of the kingdom of the air,

---Satan is the one who stirs up the stormy seas not the one who commands and calms the stormy seas. Matthew 8 - Jesus calms the chaotic waters of the sea

----there is the one who drags men down to deep nothingness, and the one who walks along the surface and pulls us to our feet. Matthew 14 - pulls Peter out of the waters to stand above the waves with him.

The bible doesn't tell us not to get in the water. it doesn't tell us to hide away from the wind like an Essene. It doesnt tell us to throw futile punches against the wind like a Zealot. He tells us to build our house on the rock so that it can stand against the wind.

We need to bring effort and resources to build that house. that house is where you spend your time, its where you bring people in to shield them from the storm, its where you find your rest.

We need to go out into the wind, and we’re going to get hit by the waves, but how much time are you spending on the rock vs in the waves? are you tired?

Are you swimming out into unknown seas because you think there might be a better rock out there somewhere?

Spend your time clung to the rock of sound teaching then you will not be tossed back and forth by the waves.

References

Christ and culture Revisited

D. A. Carson

The Anchor Academy: Transformed or Conformed

https://youtu.be/N4AwIjFASq8

Bible Project Podcast: Metaphor E3: Chaotic Waters

https://bibleproject.com/podcast/series-h2r-p21-metaphor-e3-chaotic-waters/?utm_source=web_social_share&medium=shared_podcast

BEMA Podcast ep 92: How to Bring Order Out of Chaos

https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/92

Examples of the chaotic waters in the Bible:

Genesis 1 - (Tohu wa-bohu, formless and void) chaotic waters

Genesis 5 - Noah, the world is chaotic, God sends water, God sends wind, and brings order

Exodus 14 - The Israelite are brought through the waters of the Red Sea to the promised land

Psalm 69 - David describes his enemies are water

Isaiah 17 - nations are raging waters

---But God has dominion over the chaotic waters---

Genesis 1 - God brings order out of the chaos

Matthew 8 - Jesus calms the chaotic waters of the sea

Matthew 14 - pulls Peter out of the waters to stand above the waves with him.