Traditions and Rituals 2

Mark 7:9-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, November 03, 2019.

We are picking up where we left off last week.  In the previous verses, Jesus was responding to the Pharisees regarding the ritual of hand washing.  In verse 9 Jesus continues his response to them.

Jesus responds to the Pharisees about ritual hand washing

In verse 8, Jesus said that they were “laying aside” the commands of God to keep their rituals.  Just in case they missed it, Jesus restates this point, but with the harsher verb, “reject.” In the end, the fact that they would choose their own traditions over the word of God is a stubborn rejection of God Himself.

Jesus then gives them an example of a way that they keep tradition and reject God’s command.  This example has to do with the 5^th Commandment (of the 10 Commandments), which is to honor your parents (see Exodus 20).  The first 4 commandments have to do with how we treat God and this command begins the section of how we treat others.  Our first relational duty before God has to do with honoring our parents.

The word “honor” is the concept of treating someone as being of great weight, i.e. that you do not treat them lightly.  God felt so strongly about this issue that He makes the dishonoring of parents (whether beating them or socially cursing them) a capital punishment in Exodus 21:15, 17.  Jesus emphasizes this aspect of the Law of Moses to show them that God is serious about this command.  It was a grave offense.

Here is the rub.  An exception to this issue had been permitted later by the elders of Israel and thus was a part of their tradition.  It is here that we get a very practical example of honoring one’s parents.  When you are a child in your parent’s home, honoring them generally has to do with listening to them and trying to obey them.  However, when you are an adult and your parents are unable to take care of themselves, honor involves making sure that they are taken care of both physically and financially.  So, in verse 11, the “profit” that is being referenced is the monetary care that an adult child can give their parent or parents.  It could be translated as assistance, help, or advantage.  If a person had adult children, it was like having security for your old age, or when a husband passes and the wife is left widowed.  Of course, not all kids grow up to be wealthy.  Yet, the command is to honor them.  To honor them is to do what you can to help them, to take their need upon yourself, whether you can do little or much.  The point is not the amount, but the heart behind any of your actions towards them. 

Even the New Testament in 1 Timothy 5:4-8 states, “But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them [the children/grandchildren] first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.  Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day…But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  It is interesting that the issue that was a capital punishment in the Old Testament is now viewed as a rejection of the faith, i.e. a spiritual death, in the New Testament.  Adult children have a responsibility to care for their parents in their declining years.  Each family has to work out how this is practically done, but all should pitch in what they can for their parent’s care.  If the whole family is poor then let them be poor together, and also look to God for help, rather than ignoring the plight of their parents.  

Now that we have established what is being talked about in this passage, notice that verse 11 tells us that whatever money the adult child had is now “Corban.”  This is an Aramaic term that the Hebrews used to state that the money had been devoted to God (basically put in the temple treasury).  Whether this happened long before the parent’s decline or during is not stated.  Instead of providing for the care of their parents, the person has given the money to the temple.  This is not talking about tithes, but a gift that is above and beyond what is required, and is similar to the situation of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.  Such a gift is supposed to be given to God as a show of honor to Him.  Yet, that same God has commanded you to care for your parents.  Why would a person give all their extra money to the Temple (Church) instead of caring for their parents?  And, why would the priests allow someone to donate to the Temple who was not taking care of their parents?  I am sure the reasons are many.  High on the list would be to get social esteem within the religious community, perhaps to move up within the circle of elders, and obtain power, honor, and influence in Israel.  To care for your parents apparently didn’t bring much honor within their society and seemed like a waste of money to some.  Notice that it is impossible to honor God while you are actively dishonoring His commands to you.

This functionally nullified God’s command to care for your parents, and was a kind of religious loophole that the elders had created.  The truth is that God would rather you cared for your parents than give a dime to his religious institutions.  This is not just true for Israel, but also within the Church.  Do leaders and elders pay attention to large gifts that are given to their churches?  Do we ensure that these kinds of things are not happening? 

Jesus then states in verse 13 that they have many such things in which tradition had created ways to get around doing what God commanded.  Those who want to honor God in their hearts are not looking for ways to get around His commands.  Love does not ask what exactly has to be done to honor parents.  Instead it purely acts in order to honor them and honor God.  Thus, our honor does not need to look the same as someone else.

So, what do I do if my parents are not honorable?  Sure, some situations are very difficult and full of a history of bad blood.  However, if your parents have failed in their duties towards you then you should show love to them by caring for them in their old age to the best of your ability.  This is what Christ would have you do.  Who knows, this may change their hearts and create reconciliation, but if it doesn’t, it is still not a loss.  God will bless you for doing your best to honor Him by honoring your parents.

Jesus addresses the crowd

At verse 14, Jesus calls the crowd to himself and begins to make a point about this to them.  The washing of the hands, cups, and utensils all had to do with keeping spiritual defilement from coming into a person, and it was a creation of the elders of Israel.  Jesus corrects the principle that they had been taught (i.e. that such things could spiritually defile you).  He tells them that they are not defiled by what goes into their body.  The washing of feet and hands by the priests in the temple was never teaching that spiritual defilement comes from the physical things that get on us or in us.  That then begs the question.  What exactly does spiritually defile a person?

Jesus categorically states that we are defiled by what comes out of us.  Later we will see that he is talking about the things that come out of our hearts.  You are defiled by what occurs in your heart, period.  It is not the abundance of food or money that makes a person a glutton or greedy.  It is the desire of their heart that craves beyond godly boundaries.  It is not the act of seeing someone naked that makes a person a fornicator.  It is what is stirred up within their heart.  Now, in this context, Jesus is talking about food, but it scopes out to all these other issues.

What about garbage in garbage out?  Even in the area of pornography, it is not the fact that you see a naked person that defiles you.  Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to be intimate with our spouse without wearing blindfolds.  Again, it is what is being stirred up in your heart.  Pornography is acid to the spiritual soul because it stirs up the desire to treat sexuality and another human as a means to an end, as a piece of bread to be consumed and to satisfy an insatiable appetite.  We are told to flee sexual immorality, and may God help us to do so. We guard what comes into our eyes, ears, and mouth, not because it can bring defilement into us, but rather because it will dredge up defilement from out of the depths of our own heart.

The main battle is not at the level of controlling what goes into our body.  The main battle is in our hearts where the love of God either wins out, or our love of sexuality, money, fame, fortune, and a flood of other such things, does.  The over-emphasis on the external allows the internal to remain in a state of spiritual defilement.  Oh Lord, help us to cleanse our hearts through reading your Word, repenting, and praying for the strength to live out a love of you over the things of this world.

Verse 16 challenges us to listen to what Jesus is saying.  Do I have ears to hear?  If we really want to understand what Jesus is saying then we will hear it.  It is easy to get so lost in nitpicking how something is said, and any exceptions, that we don’t listen to the importance of the point.  A person can stop drinking alcohol, but this act alone cannot purify them because it wasn’t the alcohol that defiled them in the first place.  In the end, the battle is always in the heart.  Am I going to live for Jesus, or am I going to live for my flesh and this world?  A person can look like they are clean as a whistle on the outside, and yet be a garbage dump on the inside.  I personally quit drinking alcohol in 1988, that is 31 years ago.  Yet, 31 years of abstaining from alcohol cannot purify one single thing from my heart by itself.  It can only be effective when coupled with a mind that is repenting of the things that lurk in its heart.  I pray that we both have ears to hear what Jesus is saying today.

Jesus further explains to his disciples

After this, when they had entered a private place, Jesus is asked about what he meant by the disciples.  Thus, Jesus emphasizes that he is talking about food and drink.  No food or beverage can actually defile a person.  He makes them think about the eating process.  The body takes in what it needs and expels what it doesn’t.  In a sense, the body is a purifying machine itself.

So, why did the Old Testament command not to eat certain foods?  It was an object lesson to teach them that there are things that can defile the soul and a person should avoid them.  It was also a test of loyalty and faith.

The other side of the lesson is to point to where the true defilement occurs.  We are spiritually defiled by what comes out of our heart.  Of course, the abuser who screams, “Why do you make me so angry,” is actually lying.  The anger was already there in their heart, unresolved and untended.  The monster was always lurking in the shadows, and, instead of going into their heart, hunting it down, and putting it to death, they have allowed it to live by giving it scraps from time to time, even large meals.  Quit pointing to everything else under the sun and blaming it for your defilement.  You are the man!  The problem is right there in your own heart. 

We as Christians are supposed to be the one people who get it.  It is not the Romans, Pharisees, Democrats, Republicans, Russians, Iranians, and the list goes on ad infinitum.  We are to be a people who are going through life, and doing the hard work of dealing with the stuff of our own heart.  This is the genius of the teachings of Jesus.  It calls us to clean our own house, our own heart, and to be merciful to others.  It calls us away from the external image, posing, and pretending to be something that we are not.

Jesus then gives a list of things that lurk in our hearts and often find exit through our mouth, hands, and body.  We should note that this is not an exhaustive list.  His point is that none of these things come from eating the wrong foods, or eating good food with hands that haven’t been ritually washed.

Evil thoughts are the beginning of all sin and opens up our list.  Most of these are obvious, and we should note that they begin internally with thoughts, and then move to external actions.  Adultery begins in the heart whether it is ever acted upon or not.  Fornication is a word that refers to any sexual relationship outside of a man and woman who are married.  Any sexual activity outside of marriage is a sin.  Murder is easy to rush on by, until we remember that Jesus also means the internal hatred that, again, may or may not be expressed in external action.  Thefts begin with a covetous heart that has an inordinate desire for the things that others have.  Wickedness is a general term that covers everything that is bad.  Deceit is obvious.  Lewdness is unbridled lust, and the lack of restraint.  An evil eye is greed and coveting.  Blasphemy means to slander and can involve people as well as God.  We typically call it blasphemy when it is done to God and slander when it is done to a person.  Pride is to be overly full of our own powers and merits.  Foolishness is a lack of godly understanding.

Why does mankind struggle so much at trying to fix our national and global issues?  We do so because all of our hearts are quite capable of generating all manner of evil, and we are generally too enamored with it to go to war against our own heart.  May God save us from ourselves.

Traditions 2 audio

Traditions and Rituals

Mark 6:53-7:8. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 27, 2019.

As we head into the holiday season, the subject of traditions is an especially timely one.  The traditions surrounding Christmas within our society are quickly becoming outdated and tossed aside.  It is becoming controversial among some people to wish others a “Merry Christmas.”

Even the traditions of families require a bit of flux as the generations replace each other and the new stuff to do is determined.

In all of these issues, we can lose sight of the truth of God’s Word because of the sentimentality of a tradition that may or may not be based upon the commands of God.  Some of the traditions that our elders have passed down to us are healthy and worthy of keeping, but some of them are not.  As we approach Halloween and the celebration of all that is wicked and dead, it seems like harmless fun, but it has no connection to God’s Word, unless you consider the false religions that it describes.  Of course, some attempts were made to sanctify the period through the celebration of the saints on November 1, making October 31 All Saints Eve, or All Hallow’s Evening. 

Regardless of these things, our passage today will challenge us to make a distinction between the commands that are given to us by God and the traditions that were given to us by our fathers.  At the end of the day, we must never let tradition and rituals help us to lose sight of the commands of God.

Jesus continues to heal many

At the end of chapter 6, Mark starts with a specific event where Jesus and the disciples enter the Gennesaret Area.  This is on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee, southwest of Capernaum.  He then expands the scope from this specific event to how things were generally going at this period in the ministry of Jesus.  Jesus was still quite popular among the common people at this point, and he was still quite unpopular with the religious leaders.  Of course, this is easy to understand due to the fact that Jesus was healing so many and had also fed thousands in the wilderness.

Mark tells us that the presence of Jesus in these areas would draw people to him.  Part of his popularity was due to his novel character, the possibility that he was the Messiah, and his unique teachings, which were quite different from the religious leaders of their day.

However, the biggest driver of people towards him was the desire for a miracle, particularly healing.  We are told that the people were begging him to let them touch just the hem of his garment, and when they did touch it, they were healed.  Of course, the clothing Jesus wore did not have any healing power.  However, God saw their faith in Jesus and rewarded it with a healing.

We would like to think that people who come to us are always led by the Holy Spirit, and seeking God, but often they simply come out of desperate need.  It is challenging to help people in their physical need and yet open their eyes to their spiritual need.  There are many religious ministries that feed the poor and homeless to this day, but very few of the people who gather to them do so in order to be spiritually changed.  Notice that Jesus was compassionate enough to minister to these crowds even though many of them were only looking for a natural benefit.  Jesus could heal their bodies in an instant, but the healing of their hearts and minds would require their willingness to do more than travel to a particular city and beg to be healed.

So, we can see through the ministry of Jesus that drawing a crowd is not all that it is cracked up to be.  I am not saying that we shouldn’t draw crowds, but that we should be aware of the finicky nature of such things.  People gather because they want something, and if they are not interested in true spiritual food then you will only succeed in feeding their bellies, their curiosity, and their desire for entertainment.  It is in this that we must see that if anything spiritual is going to occur, it will only be by God’s Holy Spirit, and by the grace of Jesus.

In fact, it would be a crowd that would later shout, “Crucify him!”  So, when the people heard that Jesus was in the territory, they picked up their sick and gathered where he was at, hoping to be healed.

Jesus is confronted about traditions

As we go into chapter 7, Jesus is confronted with the fact that his disciples are not keeping certain rituals that had become tradition within Israel.

The Pharisees had been watching Jesus.  They had sent representatives to the Galilee area with the task of watching Jesus, and determining the best way to stop him.  This led to increasingly confrontational situations. 

It can be easy to worry about people who are “watching us.”  What if political operatives were coming into our churches and watching us in order to determine how best to stop us?  What if the things that we teach were to end up reported in the headlines of tomorrow, only twisted and put in the worst possible light? 

Jesus knew these things were happening, but he did not fear them.  He kept focused upon the mission that had been given to him by the Father.  We also must remain focused upon the mission that has been given to us.  Unless we shine the true light of Christ, people will have no hope of finding salvation for their souls and rescue from their sins.  May God fill us with strength by His Holy Spirit.

This issue that is noted in our passage has to do with washing one’s hands before eating.  For us today, we would think that this is about hygiene, and that those backwater, Galilean fishermen were eating without cleaning their hands.  This is not what the passage is highlighting.  There was a whole ritual of hand washing that started with the physical cleaning of the hands, or pot, or utensil that would be used to eat.  After this, a ceremonial or ritual washing would be done to cleanse the hands or cooking pot spiritually.  I won’t go into all the details of how they would do this.  However, the point is that the disciples were not doing the ritual hand washing as was tradition.  This passage reminds us that religious tradition can be very powerful.

So, how did this tradition get started?  The Law of Moses refers to the priests washing their hands and feet at the bronze laver before they entered the tabernacle (later the temple).  It clearly represents cleansing oneself spiritually before entering the place of God’s presence.  Over the years, one rabbi’s ideas stacked on top of another rabbi’s ideas, the idea developed that all of Israel should observe ritual cleansing for particular situations, and eating was one of those.

The Pharisees put the question to Jesus rightly.  Why don’t the disciples of Jesus observe the tradition of the elders in this matter?  This is going to set up an important distinction, which Jesus points out to us here.  We must learn to discern between what is a command of God to us in the Scriptures, and what is a tradition that our elders have given to us.  God’s commands must always be obeyed.  Traditions are not so.

Traditions can be good and healthy if they encourage us spiritually to follow the commands of God.  Yet, traditions accumulate changes and lose meaning over the years.  We can fall into the habit of ritually observing traditions that have long since lost their meaning.  The very nature of traditions requires every generation, every individual, to search their heart before God and seek the truth beneath them.  It also requires us to be honest about how useful these traditions are today in highlighting the truth of God.

A classic example of this is all the commercial trappings that have become connected to Christmas.  Or how, about the overeating and, again, commercialism of Thanksgiving?  May God help us to hear the voice of Christ through this ancient custom of ritual, hand washing.

Let’s analyze the first part of the answer that Jesus gives, and next week we will look at the second part. 

Jesus reminds them of a passage in Isaiah 29:13 (I would suggest reading this whole chapter).  God chastises Israel for saying the words that honor Him, but not having a heart that honors Him.  The outward talk of honor is not enough.  It is not enough to say that Jesus is the reason for the season when our heart is really fixed on something other than Jesus.  In other words, our hearts are actually dishonoring God when we are not caring for His ways and longing for Him, period.  Do I want the grace of God that Christmas promises, or do I want merry, nostalgic emotions that make me feel good?  Do I want to give thanks to the God who provided for me when I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it, or do I want to overindulge my appetites, watch entertainments, and then go buy a bunch of stuff? 

The problem is not the eating, football, and new gadgets.  The problem is whether we are truly thankful to God and honoring Him in our hearts.  The problem is whether or not I am truly amazed at the incarnation of Jesus and the hope it brings to all mankind.  Is there an inner honoring of God that matches the outward words and actions?

The Isaiah passage then mentions empty worship, or worshipping in vain.  Many in Israel had fallen into the sin of empty worship and exalting the dictates of men over those of God.  God does not need all of the churches that exist in this country today.  He does not need the millions of songs that are sung throughout each week.  He is not impressed with our amazing talents, musical ablilities, and laser light shows.  He is listening to the hearts involved.

To worship in vain is to be like a person who brings someone else a cup of water and yet it is empty.  What good is it?  We can do all the right things on the outward, but if our heart is not honoring God, worshipping Him, desiring Him, then those things are empty.  Don’t settle for being an empty vessel.  Don’t settle for filling your life with the things of this world, and yet, not have the hunger for God that you should.

Israel had fallen into the trap of exalting the teachings and dictates of wise men throughout their history.  We must never forget that.  No matter how wise men or women may be, they cannot give the Words of Life without God.  Only God can give the words of life, and He has been faithful to give these to those who seek Him with all their hearts. 

This holiday season, let’s not just say that Jesus is the reason for the season.  Let’s also invite Him into our hearts in a fresh way, and truly make it about Him.

Tradition and Ritual Audio

Walking with the Lord in 2019

Psalm 1:1-6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on January 6, 2019.

As we begin this New Year, we begin by praying for our walk with God.  We need His wisdom and guidance for the path ahead of us, and we need to grow in our ability to follow Him.  However, more than these things from the Lord, we need His presence in our life.  So we come to the question.  Am I walking with God as I should?  Am I following the One that He sent, the Lord Jesus Christ?  This is a question that we can ask ourselves every day.  It is that important.

The Bible presents Jesus as the perfect Son of God.  He is our example of how to walk with God the Father.  Yes, He is definitely more than an example, but He is one nonetheless, which we would do well to follow.

Our passage today compares and contrasts the one who refuses to walk with the world, and walks with God, to the one who does not.  This is not about disconnecting from society and the people around us in order to go on a spiritual journey.  Rather, it is living our life in the midst of society and the people around us by following God’s direction and not our own.  It is recognizing that my way provides no salvation for myself or this world, but His way brings life.

We need to learn to walk with the Lord.

Verse one of this psalm opens with a series of statements that use the verbs “walk, stand, and sit.”  It is clear that the psalmist is not just thinking of the simple actions in and of themselves.  He is not worried that a sinner might walk beside him on the road to Jerusalem, or that a scoffer might happen to sit by him at a wedding.  Rather, he uses these verbs as extensions of the choices that we make in our heart and in our mind, which cause us to do these things in league with certain people.

Thus, it is not about who happens to be walking next to me, but who I choose to walk with.  Similarly it is not about who happens to be standing or sitting beside me, but about those whom I choose to stand with and sit beside because I share their purpose and outlook on life.  We need to learn to choose to walk in harmony with the Lord, to walk in fellowship with Him, and to walk by His leading.

Thus we end up with a list of things that we should avoid because they take us away from the Lord.  As we look at this list, we should also note how Jesus perfectly demonstrates how to avoid them.  First, the blessed man chooses not to listen to the counsel of the wicked.  Now, the wicked are those who reject God’s Word and do what they want.  They have chosen a path that is adverse to God’s path for mankind.  Those who reject God’s path, and consequently His fellowship, have their own way of looking at things and their own “wisdom.”  Their counsel or advice is always a twisted reasoning why they should not follow the counsel of the Lord.  Their counsel is like that of the devil’s when he tempted Eve.  “Has God really said…”  The wicked can be openly hostile to God, or they may operate under the umbrella of God’s people.  Yet, their counsel always provides an exit off of the path of God’s way.  If we are to do well this year, we must learn to avoid listening to the counsel of the wicked.

Second, the blessed man chooses not to stand on the path of sinners.  “Sinners” here is a conceptual rhyme with the earlier “wicked.”  They are essentially the same with a slight difference in nuance.  Yet, the emphasis moves from their counsel to their path.  We start walking away from the Lord by first listening to their counsel, but then we find ourselves walking their same path.  The sinner’s path is not the path of the Lord.  The very definition of the word sinner is one who misses or falls short of God will.  They go a different way than the Lord.  Again, if we are to do well this year, we must not go down the path of those who reject God’s counsel and are refusing to walk with Him.

Third, the blessed man chooses not to sit in the seat of scoffers.  The image of a seat seems to be the end of a series of choices that lead to a worse and worse situation spiritually.  Having listened to false counsel, and walking down a false path, we can end up in a destination full of those who scoff, mock, and scorn those who follow God.  How sad to go from walking with God to mocking those who still do so.  If you find yourself sitting with those who mock and deride God and His Word, if you find yourself in league with such people and such attitudes, then you are in a bad place.  If we are to do well this year, we will need to avoid that mocking spirit which wants to pull us off of the path of Christ and on to a path of our own making.

Now verse 2 gives us the positive things that a blessed person embraces.  Here we see that the first is the Law of the Lord.  Now the psalmist is an Israelite living prior to the times of Christ and the Law of the Lord represented the apex of God’s Word.  God had made a covenant with Israel and given them His Law.  As Christians we are not under the Law of Moses, but rather the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).  The point here is not about legalism.  The Law represented God’s counsel and wisdom to Israel as to how they should run their society and show their faithfulness to Him.  For Christians today, we also need to heed God’s counsel and his wisdom in order to stay in fellowship with God and show our faithfulness to Him.  However, we have the Gospel from Jesus and His apostles.  We need to listen to the counsel that they give us.  Jesus will not lead us towards wickedness, sin, or mocking.

We should also note that it says that we should delight in God’s Word.  This represents an emotional response to the grace that God gives when He gives us His Word, His wisdom.  If we are to do well this year, we will need to delight in receiving God’s Word and then follow it.

Secondly, we should embrace meditating upon God’s commands.  It is not enough to merely hear God’s Word.  We are told to meditate upon what He says.  This is an inner dialogue that we can have with God in which we contemplate His Word, how it applies to us, and what obstacles we need to overcome.  The focus is to fill our minds with the understanding of God’s counsel and commands.  This involves recognizing and casting aside those understandings and counsels that are adverse to Christ.  If we do not take time to meditate about our choices in this life, we will fall far short of walking with the Lord.  If we are to do well this year, we will need to set aside time each day to meditate about the path in front of us, and prayerfully ask God to help us see His path.

In verse 3 we see the effect of the path that we walk upon our life.  Those who walk with the Lord become fruitful and beneficial to others.  This image of a fruit tree may somewhat conflict with the imagery of walking with the Lord.  However the difference in imagery helps to further explain what is intended for us to see.  The one who is walking with the Lord is simultaneously a tree in this world.  The rivers of water point to the need for trees to have water.  Without it there can be no growth.  God and His Word is our source of water.  When we are connected to God as our water source then we will become fruitful. 

Now the whole point of a fruit tree is to provide something for others.  Apple trees do not eat their own apples.  Our growth is not about getting all sorts of stuff to feed ourselves.  The one who follows God’s path becomes like a tree laden with fruit and all who come upon them can find good sustenance from them.  What kind of fruit am I in the life of those around me?  If we are to do well this year then we must turn our roots towards the waters of life, and not the stagnant waters of this world.  Then we will be fruitful and beneficial to those whom God has put in our life.

 Walking with the Lord also makes one to prosper.  “Whatever he does shall prosper.”  With so many teachers talking about prosperity, it would be good to pause and remind ourselves of what prosperity is and what it is not.  For many it only means to be financially wealthy and physically healthy.  However, in pursuing these things we can often be feeding the lusts of our own flesh.  We can promote greed, selfishness, lack of discipline, and idolatry as we try to prosper.  We cannot serve God and wealth!

Instead, the New Testament emphasizes spiritual prosperity above material prosperity (I did not say instead of).    It is not that God will not take care of our material needs, but that our flesh gets too attached to material prosperity at the expense of spiritual prosperity.  Thus we are called to be thankful and content with whatever material things God supplies, be it little or much.  We are to be other-focused and become spiritually beneficial to people around us, and, as the Lord directs and supplies, materially beneficial to them as well.  Ultimately we worship God and serve Him, rather than dollar signs and looking good in front of other people.  If we are to truly be prosperous this year, then we will need to break down the idol in our hearts that wants to be rich and satisfy all the desires of our heart.  Then we will truly prosper.

Verse 4 reminds us that if we don’t walk with the Lord the effects will be negative.  The ungodly will not be like a tree that has plenty of water and bears good fruit.  Though the psalmist could have stuck with the tree imagery and said that they produce poisonous fruit, he doesn’t.  We switch to another metaphor, that of wheat.  The wheat metaphor makes it clear.  The ungodly will perish.

Wheat has a hard shell that must be broken off of it in order to get to the useful food beneath.  The broken remnants of these shells are called chaff.  It was common to crush the wheat and then throw it into the air.  The wind would blow the light and insubstantial chaff away, but leave the heavier, good wheat behind.

This metaphor can be taken two ways.  First, all the trials and difficulties of this world have the effect of separating us into two categories.  We are either wheat that will be gathered into God’s barn, or we are chaff that the wind of God will blow away.

Second, we can also recognize a further truth that all the trials and difficulties of our life are testing and breaking the chaff off of us.  If we will allow Him, God will use those pains and hurts to break off the hard shell around our heart and remove it far from us.  We can become that which is good and the bad part will be blown away by the wind of God.  Though this image doesn’t bring up the sense of God’s love for His people and His desire to be loved by them, its lesson is still important.  God is always working to remove the bad and protect the good.  If we are to do well this year then we must learn to cooperate with this work in our life.  Quit worrying about those who reject God.  Even if they seem to prosper and seem to be so substantial in this world, the day will come when the wind of God will blow them away and they will perish.  Don’t seek to be like them, rather seek to tell them about God’s love for them.

The psalm ends with the warning that the ungodly will not stand in the Day of Judgment.  We will all one day stand and give account to the God of heaven, specifically Jesus Christ.  In that day those who have walked with Him will be blessed and enabled to stand, but those who have rejected His ways, mocked and derided them, will recognize their folly too late.  Don’t be such a person and don’t make such mistakes.  In fact, be a tree of life that when such a person crosses your path, you have enough power of Christ within you to get their attention.  If we are to do well this year, then we need Christ to help us offer something helpful to the lost world around us.

May this year be a year in which you walk with the Lord and are truly blessed.

Walking with the Lord audio

Water Baptism

Matthew 28:18-20; Romans 6:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 16, 2017.

Today we are preparing to have a water baptismal service as we celebrate the new life that God has given to believers.  There is a part of us that may wonder about the value of such an enactment, and whether or not we should continue doing it.  So today, I want to take some time to establish both its importance and significance in the life of a new believer.

It is the command of Jesus

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus not only gives his disciples a command, but he also emphasizes it by declaring his authority up front.  All authority, in heaven and on earth, had been given to him.  This is important because it establishes his authority to tell his disciples what to do, and it establishes his authority to send them to all the other nations in order to make new disciples.  He even states that this dynamic in which He spiritually is with them in this task, will continue until the end of the age.  So let’s break down the command or commission that Jesus gives to his followers.

The main thing in this command is to make new disciples.  They would do this by telling other people about the person, teachings, miracles, and work of Jesus and then extending to them the offer of Christ to become his disciple.  Thus it is the command of Christ that those who are already disciples are tasked with the mission of working to bring in new disciples.  Those who believe in Jesus and respond positively are to be those who are “discipled.”  Jesus mentions three other aspects of this task that are given to qualify or describe what that will look like and entail.

The first he mentions in verse 19 is going.  This mission requires us to go, whether it is across the street, the city, the state, the nation, or the world.  Not every disciple will do all of these things.  As God leads us, some may go to other nations, and many will be focusing on their homes and neighborhoods.  Regardless it is our task as a group to reach the ends of the earth with the offer of salvation and becoming Christ’s disciple.

The second aspect is that of baptism.  But I am going to come back to that since it is the main focus of today’s sermon.  The third aspect is teaching.  We make disciples by teaching people the commands of Jesus and His apostles.  Thus we have the Bible, which is the record of this teaching, and we have the influence of those who became disciples before us and are tasked with teaching us today.  Being a disciple of Christ is not about having a title, but about learning the ways of Jesus.

Now let’s go back to water baptism.  Jesus tells his disciples to baptize those who become new disciples.  Notice that as a command this is a matter of obedience upon those who are making disciples, but it also implies the obedience of those who are becoming new disciples.  There is really no way around the fact that Jesus commands us to baptize new believers and thus commands new believers to allow themselves to be baptized.  To ignore this would be to reject being a disciple of Jesus.  So with its necessity clearly established, let’s go to Romans chapter 6 in order to further flesh out what water baptism is and why Jesus commands us to do it.

The meaning of water baptism

Romans chapter 6 is not about water baptism per se.  It is actually about the conflict that can occur in people’s understanding of the grace of God.  So Paul deals with the person who would take the truth that God’s grace becomes greater in order to overcome our sin, and posits that a Christian should sin all the more in order to make God’s grace even greater.  This is a perverted sense of “glorifying God.”  If a person comes to believe that grace means that they should or could continue to sin then they are deceiving themselves and not paying attention to the Gospel that they received.  In verse2 Paul categorically rejects such an idea and goes on to use their experience of being baptized in water, when they first became a Christian, as his case for why they too should reject it.

In verse 3 Paul first points out that water baptism symbolizes being placed in Christ.  Thus the whole event of water baptism speaks of a person coming to Jesus and being place in Him.  They now have a place within the community of disciples, and an inheritance in Jesus.  The Holy Spirit has taken the person, made them spiritually alive, and connected them to Jesus.  We now belong to Him.  Another word we could use here is identification.  This identification with Jesus is important because it speaks to the Christian community that this person belongs to Christ and is a fellow brother or sister.  It also speaks to the world that this person is a believer in Jesus.  But even beyond this, it speaks to the spiritual powers and principalities that have held mankind and the nations in bondage under their deceptive lies.  It says to them that this person is under the authority and protection of Jesus.  “Hands off!”

Paul also points out that water baptism symbolizes joining Jesus in His death to this world and being raised to live a new life to God.  Before I came to Jesus I lived my life all for myself and this world.  But now I am following Jesus, both in His death and in His life.  I now live my life for Him and the glory of God the Father. 

Verses 5-12 give us a clearer picture of what Paul is saying in verses 3 and 4. Notice that in verse 12 Paul ends with a conclusion that we should all come to believe:  I must not let sin reign in my mortal body in order to obey its lusts.  The believer may fall into sin, but they should never think that this is what Jesus wants them to do.  We are called to the daily battle against sin and our fleshly desires, not so that we can be saved (under law), but because we have been saved (under grace).

In verses 5-12 Paul hits upon two different aspects of the symbolism within water baptism, one is present and the other is future.

The present aspect of water baptism is mainly spiritual and points to a spiritual transformation that is happening in my life.  It does not point to a physical death, but rather a spiritual one.  I had been a part of the rebellion against the Heavenly Father, but now I am at peace with Him.  So the old me is dying, but the new me (made alive by the Spirit) is living for God.  The old life dies the new lives.  In fact notice that verse 11 says that we are to “reckon” or “consider” ourselves to be dead to sin.  Thus, the Christian will still sense the old nature’s sensitivity to sin.  But by the Holy Spirit, we put that old nature to death and live out the righteousness of God.  The Christian can say “No,” to sin because of the power of the Holy Spirit in their life.  This new spiritual leadership is fueled by the Holy Spirit, but also carried out by the believer.

The future aspect of water baptism is mainly physical and points to a physical transformation that will happen in my life.  It is prophetic in that it declares what God will do in our life.  You see, Jesus had always lived “dead to sin” and alive to God, while he was on earth.  However, at a point in time, He died physically and then was physically resurrected.  Yes, the resurrection body is called a spiritual body elsewhere, but that is because it is different from the earthly bodies we are used to here.  Thus my baptism not only says to the heavens that I am going to live for Christ today, but that I no longer fear my physical death.  I know that just as Jesus physically died and was resurrected, so too will I be resurrected from the dead in order to live a new life with Jesus in the New Heavens and the New Earth.  Thus Jesus devises a ritual that reminds the believer of their future destiny, but also reminds Satan and his angels of theirs.  We are the overcomers of the world and water baptism shouts that to the cosmos.

If you are a believer today, take time to remember that day in which you were water baptized.  Remind yourself of the new life that you can live today because of the enabling presence of the Spirit of God.  But also remind yourself of the future life that God has for us in the age to come.  May God fill us with boldness to walk in the authority of Jesus and share the good news with others, so that they too may participate in this amazing statement to all that this one belongs to Jesus!

Water Baptism audio