Our World and the Synthetic Saviour (Who is your Saviour)
Understanding Out Times • Sermon • Submitted
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· 11 viewsWhat Saviour are you going to believe in?
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WHAT DO I WANT THEM TO FEEL
WHAT DO I WANT THEM TO FEEL
Synthetic and/or Simulated Saviour - Fake
Injection molding machines at Prince Corporation
How often have we met people who are imitating Christians and have merged their own ideas with following of Christ? Some people are genuinely attempting to merge the world and belief in Christ out of ignorance or disobedience. Their unbelief causes them to construct a factitious Jesus. A simulated saviour produces a synthetic Christian! If this is the foundation of a Christian’s life, look at what Jesus says in Matthew 7.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
“The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Cellular Saviour - Informational (Find a religion that fits you)
People who serve this saviour know as much about Christ as you or I do about Taoism, or Hinduism
The cellular saviour appeals to information junkies. An information junkie is someone who spends a lot of time reading, watching, and listening to informative content but uses very little of their time to put into practice what they learn. It’s easier than it has ever been to get your hands on content — either on a phone or a computer. These people need to stay connected and know what’s happening around them and that need is addictive. Information junkies lie to themselves about the good that’s going to come out of external information that they consume. How much information is there to use to create a cellular saviour? (Zetabytes- In 2020, the amount of data on the internet hit 40 zetabytes. A zetabyte is about a trillion gigabytes. One way to estimate the size of the Internet is to look at the amount of information consumed by web traffic. (1,200,000,000,000 1.2 trillion 4k movies) The truth is, all that information is easy to access. If you want to create a saviour that fits your life, you can.
Anyone can get on their phone (85% own one and Americans spend 23.6 hours/week online). You can research any fact you desire. If you want a Jesus to cares and relates to NBA players, you can look that up. If you want a Jesus that redefines what loving God is about, you can research that too. You can make Jesus say anything you want him to say. The Cellular Saviour can be tailored to fit your needs and beliefs. You never have to serve the Saviour who talked in terms of obedience to his Father’s will. In fact the will of God can be any perspective your comfortable with. You can even serve a very legalistic Saviour. An unloving, judgmental Saviour. You can even create a Saviour and define in whatever terms or facts you desire.
Look at what God said to the Israelites in Judges 10 after Jair the judge died. 13“Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your distress.” After you’ve created the cellular saviour, how will he save you when you take your last breathe?
Facts and knowledge are not something we’ll give our lives for. Would you give your life for the Cellular Saviour?
Self-serving Saviour - Jesus follows me
Thomas Jefferson lived this kind of God. (Here’s what he said:)
The whole history of the Gospels is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to think and doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have come from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.
Many people who have any sort of post secondary education fit into this place.
Saul/Paul fits this description
Pre-Christian Career. Before his conversion Paul actively preserved and protected the religious traditions of his forefathers. Considering himself an “orthodox” Jew, he was zealously committed to eradicating apostasy. Going further than his peers, he became a member of the Pharisaic sect (see Saldarini 1988: 134–43) and took it upon himself to persecute the Christian church (Gal 1:13, 23; Phil 3:6; 1 Cor 15:9). Exactly why he singled out the Christians for persecution is not clear, though a clue may be found in his particular dislike for the Christians in Damascus (Gal 1:17, 22–23; 2 Cor 11:32; Acts 9:2–25; 22:5–6, 10–11; 26:12, 20) and relative disinterest in those of Jerusalem and Judea (cf. Acts 8:3). The reason for persecuting the Christians of Damascus seems to have been that, though Jews, they had discontinued Torah observance, doing so as a matter of principle rather than casual neglect. But neither Paul nor Acts provides any detailed information. Conversion. While Paul was approaching Damascus he suddenly experienced a vision of Christ. This experience had dramatic consequences, changing his entire life, self-understanding, theological views, and goals. Whether this vision occurred in his mind (Gal 1:12, 16) or externally (Acts 9:3–8; 22:6–11; 26:12–19) remains unclear, but it turned him from a persecutor to a propagator of Christianity. Christ himself commissioned him to proclaim the gospel among the gentiles (see also 1 Cor 9:1; 15:8, 9–11; Rom 1:5). Although we customarily label this experience Paul’s “conversion,” this can be done only in retrospect, for at that time Judaism and Christianity were not yet separate religions. In reality, then, Paul changed brands of Judaism, switching from Pharisaic to Christian Judaism.1
Listen to what Paul says about himself in Acts 22 & 1 Timothy 1.
And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said,
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.
“I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,
as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
Superficial Saviour - Casual Acquaintance Jesus
Many people who attend church serve this saviour. Distractions from life, other priorities, poor teaching, lack of desire, the cost of following all contribute to this. One of the significant issues is faith. When we don’t believe what God’s word says, we will then refuse to live a transformed life. In essence we are telling God we don’t trust him. Jesus becomes a “casual saviour”.
God is not interested in a casual life with us. Simply being acquainted, simply knowing our names is not enough for him. (Ask the Elders to come forward & serve communion)
Jesus knows we have a weakness in this area. He addresses in Matthew and Luke.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
John 14:15 “If you love me, you will follow and obey me. You will keep my commands .”
Romans 1:21–25 (NASB95)
21For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Hymn: He Lives
The hymn discusses the experience of Christian believers that Jesus Christ lives within their hearts, which is scriptural in the Word of God: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”—Galatians 2:20, and “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.”—Ephesians 3:17. The fundamental foundation is the word "faith".
1
I serve a risen Savior
He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy;
I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him
He’s always near.
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
2
In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary,
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading,
Through all the stormy blast;
The day of His appearing
Will come at last.
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
3
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs
To Jesus Christ the King!
The Hope of all who seek Him,
The Help of all who find,
None other is so loving,
So good and kind.
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.