John 6:61-64 10/15/2024

“Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?  Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!  The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing”. 

The dilemma for the American church is that when Jesus spoke it often offended people.… and we are some of the most easily offended people on the planet.  Our default response to correction is victimhood.  This predicament interferes with us “recruiting” members for our church. 

Our focus on increasing membership makes us unwilling to lovingly address unpopular topics that are clearly defined by God’s Word.  Any honest reading of scripture reveals God’s definition of marriage, sexuality, morality, the value of the unborn, greed, and a host of other topics that have been deemed “off-limits” by our culture … Jesus addressed difficult subjects, and never once changed truth to pacify His audience. 

It is not our goal to offend but some will see truth as offensive. If you call truth hate, you will hate truth. But like a good doctor we cannot be overly concerned with how medicine tastes to the patient - only that it heals them. I must lovingly give the correct dose, no matter how it impacts the patient’s opinion of me. 

If the truth offends my audience,  the remedy is to remind them that truth does not originate from man; man came from truth.  You can’t look through the lens of deception, and self-will, and expect to see the truth of God.

If you desire to change scripture and only follow what suits you … it is because you have forgotten who wrote it.  It isn’t a rough draft for you to edit.  It is a document written by the omnipotent Creator of the universe. Its purpose is to light your path, and without it you’re walking in the dark. 

“Christian” is not something you comfortably add to your resume.  You die to yourself, and Christ lives in you.  You become “unoffendable” by anything written in scripture and simply dedicate your life to following it. 

 If the Bible offends you… It is not scripture that needs to be adjusted…. You have options for responding to The Word of God, but being offended by it, and demanding it be changed isn’t one of them.

"An offended heart is the breeding ground of deception." - John Bevere

John 1:45-46 10/8/2024

“Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets also wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!”  Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good be from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 

Philip found the Messiah and ran to let Nathanael know…  He realized who Jesus was …He said “We found the promised one”… Philip had met the Son of God, and he recognized Him because they had been looking for Him for Centuries.  His knowing  “who  and what” he had found was the key…. and it still is today.  

Jesus is not a surprise. His first appearance in the manger was prophesied for thousands of years, and His return has been foretold by historically documented predictions. He is one of the most recorded figures in history.   His life has been verified by both church and secular historians, so the question of His existence is not the question…  Knowing “who and what” He is – is what changes everything.

When Philip realized this, he did the only logical thing he could do… He ran to tell his friend.  That is the only rational response we can have as well. If you realize that He is the foretold lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world, and you don’t tell the people you love… How can you say you love those people? 

The problem is that they may not be interested in your discovery.  So, we can also learn from Philip’s confident approach to witnessing… When Nathanael mocked him,  Philip didn’t retaliate, he simply said “come and see”… Those three words carry a wealth of theological implications and are incredibly powerful. 

You and I need to put away our argumentative rebuttals to naysayers and simply say “come and see” …  Our intellectual opinions are not as powerful as saying, “look at the changes Jesus has made in my life”, and then living in such a way that they can “come and see” Christ in us. 

The power of the gospel is that you have been made a new creation, and our job is let others know that God offers new life to all who come to Him.

“Live as a credible witness. If our actions don’t line up with the message we’re proclaiming, we risk losing our credibility.” — David Jeremiah

 

1 CORINTHIANS 10: 6-11

“Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.  Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes.  Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, …”

Read the last sentence again… This message applies to us individually and collectively.  It states that debauchery carries severe consequences.  God has made that historically clear. Yet somehow today, we not only tolerate these evils… we celebrate them.  

You argue that you stand against sin…  but what about “Grumbling”.  Are you lovingly pulling others out of the gutter, or just grumbling against those who are in it?  Do you love the word of God,  or do you resent His commandments? In this passage the result of self-centered grumbling was death, just like the other sins on the list. 

God is not vague about the purpose of this passage.  It says, “these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction…”.  That is not hard to interpret. In the original Greek, It means, “these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction…”.  

Do we suppose God’s opinion has changed about worshiping money, pursuing pleasure, or normalizing sexual perversion? Do we think it is acceptable now to grumble about the obligations of serving God?

This passage states that it is unwise to test God.  Yet here we are, dancing close to the flames. There is a precedent in this passage which we are unwisely ignoring. 

God’s word is not a buffet, you cannot choose which commands you follow. Cherry-picking scripture is pursuing YOUR will, not God’s. 

Christianity is an “all-or-none” proposition… You either surrender to God, or you don’t.  The Lord has outlined expectations on conduct, marriage, sexuality, treatment of others, and even attitude… They are not suggestions, nor are they subject to cultural standards, and ignoring them carries consequences. 

Jesus proved His love for us by dying to save us while we were still sinning…  So, we don’t avoid sin to make Him love us … We avoid sin because we love Him. 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments...”  - Jesus (John 14:15)