Sharing Jesus Passionately

Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:7-8.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 26, 2017.

We have looked at three purposes of the people of God.  First we are to Connect to Jesus and each other in a living relationship.  If it is a living relationship then we will Grow spiritually to become more like Jesus.  Thirdly, if we are growing to be like Jesus then we will Serve one another selflessly.  This leads to the last purpose that we will look at, which is to Share Jesus passionately with those who are not connected to Him.  All of these “purposes” flow out of the first purpose and can be considered part of it.  Regardless, let’s look at this issue of sharing Jesus passionately.

There are many today who speak of a cultural arrogance of Christians.  What gives Christians the right to tell others that they do not have the truth, in any way?  For sure over the years Christians have sometimes confused spreading the Gospel with spreading a culture.  Still, the question is this.  Is it ever acceptable to teach someone else something that you believe to be truth?  It should immediately be evident that much of life could not happen without the concept of some teaching others truth.  A child that is born into the world is never left to discover truth all on its own.  They are taught what to eat, what to avoid, etc.  A person who wants to learn a profession goes to those who are already doing it, in order to learn the trade.  Once a person has grasped the collective learning to that point, then they are in a place to seek on their own what may not be understood up to now.  What I am saying is that we cannot intellectually reject the concept of telling others the truth.  We can only disagree with what they are promoting as truth.  As Christians we should not allow ourselves to fall prey to the idea that we should let others find the truth for themselves.  Those who promote such things firmly promote it as truth, which in itself is a type of hypocrisy.  No.  If you are Christian then do not apologize for believing God’s Word.  Instead, confidently take your place within the market of ideas, and share Jesus passionately.  You have as much right as the next person to speak your peace.

We will see today that there is another side to this matter.  Up to now we have been dealing with our relationship to other people.  Yet, there is also our relationship to God.  If God has given us truth that others lack, and He has told us to share it with them, then we would be rejecting His will not to share the truth with them.  Thus we would not be walking in faith, but in disobedience.

Today we will look at a passage that shares an interaction that Jesus had with his disciples after the resurrection, but before he ascended into heaven.  It serves as a transitional story from the works that Jesus did while he was on earth to the works that His Church did through his spiritual help.  If we understand anything today, I pray that we will see that we can confidently share the good news about Jesus with anyone we meet without feeling shame.

Jesus gives his disciples a mission

Though the disciples are not exactly clear what is going on, we know that Jesus is getting ready to leave earth.  He is going into the heavenly realm to stay at the right hand of the Father, until he is sent back to establish his reign over the whole earth.  This begs the question: What should his followers do while he is gone?  In this passage Jesus gives instructions for what his followers should be doing.  But, before we talk about the mission he is about to give, let’s look at the condition of the disciples.

Their understanding of who Jesus is and what he is doing had received a complete upheaval at the cross.  They are in a state of shock regarding his death, and yet another shock regarding his resurrection.  Thus Jesus is helping them to make the transition from all that they thought Jesus was to the truth about it.  In some ways they were right, but in very big areas they were also wrong.  Verse 17 shows us that though they worshipped the Lord, some still doubted.   If they are going to be able to do what Jesus is asking them to do then they are going to have to overcome their doubts and learn to worship Jesus as divine.  The same is true today.  What were these doubts they had?  Maybe they doubted that this was really Jesus because their mind just couldn’t accept it.  Maybe they doubted whether they wanted to continue to follow him.  Regardless of what their doubts were and what our doubt might be today we must face them.  Doubts are a very real part of faith.  You can’t have faith without there being some doubts over which to believe.  As we take our doubts and lay them before God in prayer, we will recognize that He has given us very real proof and evidence on which we can believe.  Ultimately doubt and faith is about whether we trust Jesus or not.  So read the Gospels over again and ask yourself if you trust the One who was willing to go to the cross for you, or the wisdom of those who have not.  Christians accept Jesus as more than a great teacher, or a great example of faithful suffering.  He is all that and yet more.  He is the One and Only unique Son of God, who is worthy of the worship of mankind.  He is unique in that he was never created, and in fact, all things that were created were created through him.  What the disciples did that day was considered blasphemy to the Jews.  They accepted the divinity of Jesus and gave worship to him.  To worship Jesus was to recognize his absolute value above all created things and equality with the Father.  Though he was truly human, he was also God.

Then in verse 18 Jesus preempts his instructions with an important truth.  He had been given all authority from the Father over all authorities in heaven and on earth (both the spirit world and the natural world).  This is important because the mission is going to require them to enter into the domain of earthly rulers and spiritual rulers, and promote Jesus as Lord.  This would be seen as an act of insurrection and treated as such by those same rulers.  Thus earthly rulers would challenge Christians on a very physical plane.  What gives you this authority?  In the same way wicked, spiritual rulers would resist.  They would have a better grasp on why Christians have authority to enter their areas of control.  But they would resist nonetheless.  Thus the existence of the Church becomes a means by which all authorities of earth are put on notice by the King of all kings that their time of judgment is rapidly approaching.  Our message to all the citizens of these domains is this: Flee the coming judgment on these rulers and their domains by renouncing them and join the kingdom of Jesus by pledging allegiance to him.  Christian you must understand that anyone who tells you to quit talking about Jesus, is themselves in rebellion to the highest authority of the entire cosmos.  We must not waver in the reality of who Jesus really is.  It is by his authority that we have the right to tell others the truth about their condition and situation.

So this leads us to verses 19 and 20.  These verses lay out the mission that Jesus has for his followers.  The heart of it is to disciple all nations.  So that starts with inviting people to become students of Jesus.  The emphasis of the word “nations” is meant to emphasize the individuals that comprise the nations, and not the geopolitical entities and their governments.  We are not called to Christianize all governments, but rather to “Christianize” all who want to become disciples of Jesus out of every nation that exists.  Now, I have taken time to make a rough diagram of the mission to make it easier to discuss.

Our command or imperative is to disciple all nations.  So we are to help others to become disciples of Jesus as we are.  Also, there is no biological, racial, or cultural boundary that we are limited by.  Christ has authority over all nations and thus authorizes us to make disciples from all nations.  All of this is not to be done forcefully.  All disciples must do so of their own choosing.  We are called by Jesus, “come follow me,” but not forced to do so.  Thus all Christians are volunteers in the service of Jesus. 

Now that we have the principle parts of the command, let’s look at the qualifiers.  The English version makes it look like our command is to go.  However, in the original language it is a verbal adjective that is describing the disciples.  The emphasis is not that everyone who claims to be a disciple must go to all the nations, but that the disciples are to be a “going” people.  Thus, whether we are doing our part by going across the street to our neighbor, or going to the ends of the earth, this is our collective responsibility.  Thus Christians who are not missionaries to other nations, are still “goers” because they are sharing Jesus within their own area and they help to support those that go to other nations through prayer and funds.  We cannot ever become a people who hide behind walls and wait for God to take the world away.  Rather we are called to advance into the most evil of environments and proclaim the judgment of God to those dark forces that rule them and proclaim deliverance to whosoever wants out of those kingdoms.  Christians must not be cowards who hide in fear.  Rather, we must be those who take our fears, much like our doubts, and place them before God, as we ask for courage to walk in faith.  We must have a going heart.

The next qualifying phrases refer to making disciples.  Although Matthew’s version does not explicitly mention this proclamation, Mark’s version says “go and preach the gospel.”  Thus we make disciples by first proclaiming freedom.  Then we baptize those who respond in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  In other words, we introduce them into the new community with a symbolic act that represents what is happening in their life.  They are dying to the old life and being raised up to a new life in a new kingdom.  This basically represents a person switching allegiance.  What must those spiritual powers think every time a believer is baptized in the name of Jesus?  It must be salt to their wounds as they lose another person from their grip and come one step closer to their judgment.

The next part of making disciples is to teach them all that Jesus commanded.  Part of what Jesus taught was that his apostles would be enabled by the Holy Spirit to lay down the whole truth for the Church of Christ (John 16:12-13).  He didn’t have time to lay everything out for them.  But He would lead them by the Holy Spirit.  Thus the Bible speaks of the foundation of Christ and his Apostles.  The truth must be taught to these new believers so that they too can become teachers and disciplers.

Of course I have continued the diagram to include what Jesus says about himself.  Notice the parallel.  In a sense he says, “This is what you are supposed to be doing, and this is what I will do.”  He promises to be with his disciples always, even to the end of the age.  Thus the promise is not just for the first century and the first disciples.  It is in force as long as is given to the Church to proclaim the gospel and as many generations.  So how is Jesus with us?  Acts chapter 1:7-8 helps us to understand this.

In this passage the disciples wanted to know what would happen to Israel as a nation at this time.  But Jesus tells them to wait for an event in which the Holy Spirit of God would come upon the disciples of Jesus and help them to be the witnesses and teachers that they were called to be.  So, it is through the Holy Spirit that Jesus is with us.  In fact, in some places the Holy Spirit is actually called the Spirit of Christ.  Why?  He is called that because He is not acting on His own, but leading only in the direction that the Son of God desires.  So what is this age that Jesus refers to and when will it end?  The best way to describe it is to see it as a time of God’s gracious offer of citizenship in His coming kingdom to whosoever will.  Of course Satan fights hard to blind people to the truth and even to pull people back away from Christ.  He will never give up until he is completely removed by God (see Revelation 20:10).  Take time today first to pray for the help of the Holy Spirit.  You were never meant to do this alone.  Thus we have the Holy Spirit and we have a community of others who are in communion with the Holy Spirit.  Second, ask God for focus on how to be a witness of His love and His truth.  Ask Him for help to speak the truth in love and with passion.  Yes, you must become convinced that these things are true before you can worship Jesus and serve Him in this purpose of telling the whole world.  This Age of Grace has a point in which it will end.  We are not told a date or number of years.  We are simply told to be faithful.  May God help His Church to be awake and alert in these perilous times.

Sharing Jesus audio

Serving Selflessly with our Spiritual Gifts

1 Corinthians 12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on March 19, 2017.

Last week we talked about using our natural gifts to serve God’s people, and so today we will move to the area of spiritual gifts.  Though they are very different things, they are intended for the same reason, to help others.  Spiritual gifts may sometimes look like natural gifts, but they will always have a lack of natural explanation.  Thus, a person with a natural gift of healing has studied and learned through experience what works and what doesn’t.  But a person with a spiritual gift of healing simply prays for them.  When people are healed through either method, it is clear the source of gift, whether it is natural or spiritual.

It is easy to let fear in this area cause us to stay away from it, ignore it, or even reject that it is meant for today.  This fear can rise from the fact that spiritual gifts are not generally a part of our everyday experience, whereas natural gifts are.  Another issue is that the spiritual gifts have been abused quite often.  Thus many people stay away from them because they don’t trust people who are “exercising” a spiritual gift.  Many people who are not submitted to Christ have used the guise of a spiritual gift in order to manipulate people and bring glory to themselves.  However, in the Bible we are told to be careful in this area.  Just because someone seems to be spiritually gifted does not guarantee that they are motivated by God.  There are false spirits and false motivations within people.  In the Bible they had to be vigilant continually against false teachers, false prophets, and even false-Christs.  So, some have felt that this area is so fraught with difficulty and confusion that we would be best to just jettison it from our religious experience.  Let me challenge you on that kind of logic.  If we quit doing something because someone somewhere abused it, we would be hard pressed to find anything left.  In fact many Christians still believe in the gift of teaching even though this is one of the most abused spiritual gifts of all.  If they will not quit teaching the Gospel because of the fact that others distort it, then why would they quit seeking spiritual gifts and their use because they are abused by others?  The truth is that we need to grow up and approach this with a mature attitude.  We must exercise responsibility for our own motivations and the leadership of churches must also exercise responsibility for what they allow and promote as spiritual gifts.  Sure it is an area that can be abused, but when we look to the Lord for help, He helps us grow in understanding and discernment in this area.  God challenges us to grow up and become more mature, so that the spiritual gifts can operate through us and we can recognize their proper use.

The use of Spiritual Gifts

Starting in verse 1 we notice that Paul is concerned about ignorance.  All teaching is intended to counteract not just the lack of knowledge, but also those things that we have mistakenly accepted as knowledge.  For the Corinthians as well as for us, we come to Christ with a lot of cultural ideas and ways of thinking.  It is easy to make the Gospel conform to these ideas and “truths” that we think are true.   Paul has heard reports about some issues that are happening with spiritual gifts and wants them to understand the truth.  In verses 2-3, Paul describes what I would call testing for that which is genuine.  The Corinthians had come out of a pagan background full of idol worship, temple prophets and prophetesses, and the oracles of these false gods.  The pagan gods had no unifying principle.  Their prophecies and spiritual operations were generally cryptic and purposefully misleading.  One was left questioning the motivations of the gods and their prophecies.  This cultural background was affecting how spiritual gifts were being used in their church.  Thus they needed some instructions to help them guard against false spirits and to embrace the Holy Spirit.  Paul’s test is simply this question.  Does the person promote Jesus as the Lord or not?  Both Christ and his apostles had taught that Jesus was the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.  He had ultimate authority over all things in heaven and on earth.  Thus Paul reveals this as an important test.    We could add to this a more general test that Paul gives in Galatians 1:7-8.  There the question would be this.  Do they contradict the Gospel that has already been given from Jesus and his apostles?  In fact Paul goes so far as to say that if he himself were to come back later with a gospel different from what they had already received, then he should be excommunicated.  The technical term is to become anathema.  Galatians 1:8 says, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed (anathema).”    So what it teaches about Jesus and about the Gospel becomes the test of what spirit is behind a person.  The apostle John in 1 John 4 gives these same tests only in different words.  There John says that if someone denies that Jesus came in the flesh or is the Son of God, they are of the spirit of antichrist.  He goes on to state that those who won’t receive what the apostles were teaching were not of God.  So we are given a very clear means of knowing whether someone is of God or not.  We check what they teach about Jesus and whether or not they embrace what the apostles taught.  This of course describes the New Testament.  The Bible itself becomes the means by which we can test the spirit behind any spiritual gift.

Spiritual gifts are intended to be motivated and enabled by the Holy Spirit.  The enemy loves to promote a knock-off fake of the original.  So, each of us need to be motivated by the Holy Spirit.  It is the New Testament that helps us to have confidence that we are being led by the right Spirit, as we read it and embrace it.  We are all to be truth and error detectors.

Starting in verse 4 Paul makes the point that the spiritual gifts are diverse in their expression, but unified in their source, the Holy Spirit.  This is important because we should not try to make everybody be the same.  No, there is to be a diverse expression of the spiritual gifts that is as diverse as the people God gives them to.  Just as the Creator makes a diversity of natural things, so He operates in a diverse manner through the spiritual gifts.  Yet, they are always united by their connection to the Holy Spirit.  This is an important point.  At times churches have descended into a chaos of “dueling prophets” or teachers, each trying to get the majority to come under their influence.  This is a sure sign that the Holy Spirit is not behind what is happening.  Each claims to have the Spirit of God, all the while, they tear the Church apart.  The true spiritual gift will work in harmony with all the others in the body, because it is motivated by the same Spirit that motivates the others.  Each of us must be submitted to this truth.  God is not trying to raise me up above others, but rather, He is trying to harmonize His work through us all.

Thus in verse 7 Paul states what should be obvious by now.  The purpose of the spiritual gifts is for the common good of all believers in the Church.  The spiritual gifts are given as rewards or badges of honor to individuals to lift them above others.  They are not meant to be used to win “the Olympics” of spiritual gifts.  This question must always be behind the use of any spiritual gift, “How can this be done for the good of everyone?”  When there is turmoil and factions that develop around the use of spiritual gifts, it calls for believers to stop and remind themselves of this truth.  Even if the Spirit speaks something to us to share, we should always seek wisdom for “how” and “when” to share.  The goal is not to conflict with the other gifts and to promote the good of the whole church.

Examples of Spiritual Gifts

In verses 8-11 we are given 9 examples of spiritual gifts.  We know that there are more than nine because later, at the end of the chapter, Paul mentions two other spiritual gifts: the gift of helps, and the gift of administrations.  So let’s acknowledge that though these are some pretty big spiritual gifts, they are not meant to be a complete list of all spiritual gifts.  The first two are a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge.  People who have these gifts will receive wisdom and knowledge from the Holy Spirit.  Wisdom has to do with the plan or how to do something.  We see this in Acts chapter 15 when the early Church was debating about what to require of the Gentiles who were being saved.  The Spirit of God gave them wisdom through certain individuals that led them to refrain from requiring the Gentiles to obey the Law of Moses plus embrace Jesus.  A word of knowledge has more to do with information.  It often works in conjuction with a gift of prophecy.  God will give individuals knowledge of things that there is no natural reason why they would have that knowledge.

Next we see the gift of faith, which should not be confused with the faith by which we are saved.  In this case we are talking about a spiritual gift in which individuals have great boldness and confidence in their natural and spiritual gifts.  God uses them to help encourage and embolden the other believers.  Next is the gift of healing.  I mentioned this earlier and it hardly needs much explanation.  Though we can all pray for healing, some are given a spiritual gift in this area.  Though healings would technically be a miracle, Paul lists the spiritual gift of miracles, which is the ability either to predict or direct events that cannot be naturally explained in their coincidence.

The gift of prophecy is not only about trying to predict the future.  Prophecy simply means to speak on behalf of God.  In a general way, all Christians are to speak on behalf of God to the lost of the world.  But, within the Church, God speaks to some in order to speak to the whole assembly.  These words of prophecy may be about the past, the present or the future.  Either way, it is up to the people of the church to discern whether the prophecy is in keeping with the New Testament.  Also, it would not be treated as being on par with Scripture.  However, we should recognize that if it truly is the Holy Spirit speaking to a person, it will be 100% accurate.  The idea that a person can be completely wrong in a prophecy and somehow still have been motivated by the Holy Spirit is a blasphemous thing to say.  At the very least, the person has presumed that their own ideas were from the Spirit of God.  It takes strong leadership to pull such people aside and caution them.   The spiritual gift of discerning of spirits has to do with an ability to recognize the spiritual motivation behind a manifestation of a “spiritual gift.”    There is no natural reason for them to question a person’s motivation, but they recognize it by the help of the Holy Spirit.

The last two spiritual gifts that Paul points to are speaking in different kinds of languages and the interpretation of such.  The Holy Spirit can help people to speak in a language that they have never learned.  This may or may not be understood by people present.  In fact, some languages may not be of this earth.  Either way, in the church assembly they are intended to be interpreted (not translated).  Both of these gifts go hand in hand.  They can be used by the same person, or with two different people.

Now in looking at all of these spiritual gifts, some of them have natural counterparts.  But, the emphasis with spiritual gifts is that there is no natural explanation for them.  They are powered and enabled by the Holy Spirit.

More about Spiritual Gifts

It is important to recognize that these are not things we can take a class on and learn.  They are not things that we can hang out with a person who has them and can mentor us.  These are given by the Holy Spirit as He desires (vs. 11).  There is no place for self-promotion or self-calling with the spiritual gifts, and yet, these very things are often on display.  Instead of worrying about what we have or don’t have, we are to be a people of prayer seeking to help one another.  In that context we will discover gifting within ourselves.  The emphasis is on helping each other, not on having a list of gifts embroidered on our lapel.  Now I want to skip to the end of the chapter to recognize how the apostle Paul wraps up this section.

In verse 31 Paul tells us to earnestly desire the best gifts, and yet there is a more excellent way.  Of course that way is the way of love in chapter 13.  This verse has two aspects.  The first has to do with desiring the best gifts.  As I said at the beginning, some are afraid of spiritual gifts and want to avoid them.  However, the apostle tells us to desire them.  I would point out that this is both individually and corporately.  However, sometimes our desire can be fueled by the wrong reasons.  The Corinthians all desired to speak in tongues because they thought that this was the most spiritual gift.  In their mentality, it must be the most spiritual because you couldn’t be understood.  Yet, Paul would show them that without interpretation this gift does not help the whole Church.   It is better to prophecy in a language that is understood than to only speak in tongues without interpretation (we are talking about within a gathering).  There misunderstanding of the purpose of the spiritual gifts had caused their gatherings to become a wild and chaotic free for all with everyone speaking in an unintelligible language.  His words are not meant to shut it all down, but rather to give it wisdom.  This way the true purpose of the gifts and the Spirit who gave them could happen.

Now the second part of verse 31 points us to the way of love.  There are some who believe that Paul is trying to replace spiritual gifts with love, like it is better than them.  However, when you honestly read the opening verses of chapter 13, we see that Paul is still talking about using spiritual gifts.  “If I speak with the tongues of angels and have not love…”  The Corinthians had become very self focused in their use of the spiritual gifts.  The more excellent way is to have our spiritual gifts tempered and directed by the love of God.  Spiritual gifts are meant to operate through the love of God.

I pray that you will not run from spiritual gifts, but I also pray that you will learn to be wise in what truly is of the Holy Spirit.  There is always going to be some immaturity in this area if we are winning people to Christ.  We will have our own moments that parallel Paul’s attempts to teach the Corinthians.  However, this can be a good thing if we have enough people who are spiritually mature in the use of the spiritual gifts and can help those who are not to grow and learn to serve properly.

Serving with Spiritual Gifts audio

Do not Test the Lord Your God

Matthew 4:5-7.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 04, 2016.

Today we continue our study of the temptation of Christ that we see in Matthew 4, and look at the second one presented to our Lord.  If the first temptation was to satisfy and sustain yourself with material things, then the second temptation is to promote yourself and make things happen by your own wisdom.  Another way to categorize these three temptation is to use the phrases that are given in 1 John 2:16, “For all that is in the world- the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life- is not of the Father, but is of the world.”  The first temptation appealed to the lust of the flesh (make bread for your stomach).  This second one seems to be more about the pride of life.

All of us deal with issues of significance and often desire situations in which we are exalted above our fellow man.  Satan loves to play off of these desires and mislead us into a path of destruction.  For some this path leads them towards religion, but twists it with human pride.  For others the path may lead them away from religion out of a wounded pride.  Either way he wins because there is no other solution for the hearts of mankind than the Creator Himself.  So the first are walled off to Him by the self-delusion that they are acceptable, and the second wall themselves off to Him out of their pain.  May we all learn to lay our pride at the foot of the cross of Jesus and thereby remove from Satan’s arsenal a very powerful, spiritual lever that he loves to employ against us.

 We are tempted by pride

It is often said that Satan fell through pride in his own wisdom and beauty.  Thus it would stand to reason that he would seek to enamor us with his own prideful reasoning.  The Bible does not make it completely clear whether Satan knows he was wrong and is operating out of sheer spite, or whether he still thinks there is a play here where he actually “proves his case” and wins.  Regardless we must expect to be tempted in this area of pride.

We see in verse 5 that the devil takes Jesus up to the highest point of the temple.  It is not really important the mode of this travel, though many can speculate.  The setting is a place that no one may see immediately (while he is being tempted).  But if he listens to the devil there will be a very public spectacle.  How could jumping from of a height that was as much as several hundred feet be tempting?

It starts with being reminded of his relationship with the Father.  The first temptation tries to paint the Father as not taking care of Jesus.  “God doesn’t care about you as much as you think.  Make your own bread.”  However, this temptation does the opposite.  It plays on the pride of such a close relationship with the Father.  “Since you are the Son of God make a public show of God’s love for you.  There is no way He would let you die.”  Of course the devil makes no mention or shows no regard for what the Father’s plan might be.  Jesus loves the Father and has been in a relationship of unity with Him since the beginning.  So He is not only concerned with what the Father wants, but already knows that what Satan suggests is not the plan. 

So what does Satan hope to accomplish?  It is tough to say.  Perhaps he hopes to try and thwart any spiritual help that would come with his own angels, so that Jesus would die.  Clearly he seeks to kill Jesus because of the cross later.  Let’s get one thing clear.  Satan is not interested in promoting Jesus and he could care less about promoting you.  In the end his only aim is to destroy your life.  If he can do that by inflating your pride in your relationship with God, then he will.

Notice that this time Satan backs up his temptation by quoting Scripture.  His first temptation was pushed aside by Jesus reminding him of Scripture.  So he tries to reverse this tactic back on Jesus by quoting some Scripture himself.  One thing is clear in the Bible; the devil always twists the meaning of God’s Word.  He is only capable of abusing Scripture for his own ends, which are contrary to God’s.  An illustration of this can be seen in politics.  Every word of an opponent is generally twisted out of context and used against them by the other side.  Finding a truly, objective treatment of the person is rare.  As Christians we must flee this kind of activity in our own life.  2 Timothy 2:15 says that we must “rightly divide [handle] the word of truth.”  We can see that the devil does not do such a thing but twists the meaning of Psalm 91 by skipping phrases and leaving out the context.  So let’s look at this section of Psalm 91.

Satan quotes from verse 11, skips the second part of it, quotes verse 12, and leaves off verse 13.  It is always important to pay attention to what is left out.  Notice that God’s angels would be commanded to watch over the righteous “to keep you in all your ways.”  The way of a person is a huge theme in the Bible.  In fact the righteous are known by their determination to walk in the “way of the Lord.”  Thus the passage is about a person who is in a trusting relationship with God and living as God has taught us.  When God’s ways are our ways then the devil will find little within us that he can manipulate.  Now verse 12 points out that God’s protection is upon the righteous.  But verse 13 shows why.  We are protected in order to tread upon the lion and the cobra.  Now this is not a passage about handling literal lions and cobras, although God is more than capable of delivering the righteous from such.  There is never a case of people “treading” on lions and cobras in the Bible so that should be your first clue that something deeper is going on here.  The lion and cobra are metaphors for our spiritual enemy, the devil.   1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.”  God doesn’t necessarily protect us from ever falling down literally.  But He does offer constant protection so that we may never fall to the schemes of the devil and be devoured by Him.  Similarly, in Revelation 12:9 it says, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.”  The “serpent of old” is an allusion to Genesis 3 and the Fall of Adam and Eve.  Adam and Eve fell before the Serpent (Satan) because they were tricked into distrusting God.  Clearly Satan doesn’t want to quote this part of the passage and highlight that angelic protection is so that we can tread on the devil, not cooperate with his plans.

However, Jesus does not go into Psalm 91 and point these things out to Satan because there is an even greater context to these verses.  All Scripture is context to any one verse.  A very powerful thing about Scripture is that its proper understanding will not contradict any other part.  If it seems to then you know there is an error in your understanding.  So, dig deeper.  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16.  Yes, God will protect you along your way.  But we also, must not test Him in this.  Now, God is gracious and many of us have been in times of weak faith and have asked God to give us a sign of his love.  If we do so without the threat of walking away from Him then He sometimes graciously responds.  But, if you lay down something as a test that God must pass or you are walking away, then beware.  Such actions are not born out of a loving relationship with God, but out of selfish love for yourself.  Beware of those who trumpet on Scripture to the detriment of the rest of Scripture.  This is classic cult leader stuff.

We must not put God to the test

So let’s develop that last point that Jesus makes to the devil.  The Holy Spirit had not led Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple; the devil had.  In our own lives it is not always so clear who is leading us.  Thus we must be careful to recognize anything that smacks of trying to force God’s hand, or trying to speed up things.  This is manipulation of the relationship that God wants with us.  Now, a parent loves a child, but would be foolish to allow the child to fall into the habit of trying to manipulate them.  Of course, kids are learning how to love.  They don’t understand such deeper concepts.  It takes a parent who loves them too much to let them get away with it, a parent who disciplines them in such times, in order to help a child grow in love.  Just as your flesh desires material things, so it desires the pride of life: public success, and the accolades of those around us.  Satan plays off of these things.  Yet, Jesus did not operate in such a way as to lift himself up, or try to out think the plan of God.  In fact, Jesus often did the opposite of what self-promoters would do.  Jesus pointed us to the Father and for such a blessing he was crucified.  That was to be his public moment of demonstrating the love of the Father.

But it goes deeper than just crass manipulation.  We cannot force God to demonstrate His love as we dictate.  When a person lays down an ultimatum to God, “either you do this or I walk,” we step out onto shaky ground.  God in His grace does work with our weakness.  Gideon was given a sign by God.  Yet, we must always have as our foundation, “Nevertheless, Thy will be done.”  In fact, God gave the greatest demonstration of love possible when He gave His One and Only Son to become a man and do for us what we could not do for ourselves.  All this is so that whosoever would believe on Jesus would have everlasting life instead of perishing.  It is easy for us to do this to one another.  We can be angry and made that someone didn’t show their love in a particular way.  We can even do the politician thing and twist everything that they do or say into “not love.”  But when we act this way we actually destroy the very love that is being given to us.  Too many people say, “If God would only do such and such, then I would know that He exists and that He cares about me.”  The problem is that you are trying to control God and refusing to deal with the countless ways that He has demonstrated His love for you.  So we can push aside 1,000 ways of love and complain that we did not receive a particular 1.  This is folly and not the path of love.  Love is a discovery of the uniqueness of another and how we can uniquely love them back.  How can we demand more than that?  Love doesn’t dictate how another person loves.  Rather, it receives it freely and with Joy.

Do not Test audio

Old Man New Man

Ephesians 4:20-32.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 15, 2016, for Pentecost Sunday.

Today is Pentecost Sunday, which is the commemoration of the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all of God's people in Jerusalem following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  Today it is easy for us to be so fixated on a particular experience with the Holy Spirit that we can lose sight of all that the Spirit of God is trying to do in our life.  If you are a believer in Jesus, you have been made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit.  It is impossible to put your faith in Jesus without his aid.  Thus that same Holy Spirit is at work in your life whether or not you have had a particular kind of experience.  Over the course of history we see that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit does not always happen the same way and look the same.  I mention this because one of the problems in the Church today is that people can actively reject the leading of the Holy Spirit in their life, all the while seeking a religious experience in a service.  It is important for us to come to grips with the reality that we cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit while we continue to embrace the life of our old nature, and that those who have been filled with the Spirit and turn back to their old nature grieve Him and negatively affect His work.

As we look at this passage today, we will focus on the work of the Holy Spirit to deliver us from the "old man," and enable us to be a "new man."

We are learning a new way of life

In the verses leading up to this section Paul has been talking about the gentile nations, which is the unbelieving world around Israel.  They had hardened their heart towards God, and thus were ignorant of the life that God had for them.  Paul shows how their futile thinking separated them from that life God had.  In Jesus, we who believe have been called out of that futile thinking and separated state, into the mind of Christ and connection with the Father.

Putting off the Old Self.  Sometimes this phrase is illustrated with clothing.  When we wake up in the morning we take off our night clothes (pajamas) and we put on our day clothes.  Thus the believer is waking up to the daylight of God's truth.  This calls for a different attire, which is the actions of our body and the intentions of our mind.  Yet, this illustration can be somewhat misleading.  In life we continually cycle back between night clothes and day clothes, and there is nothing wrong with this.  However, God does not intend for us to put back on our "night clothes."  In Jesus we dwell in an eternal, spiritual day.  Thus wPaul uses the phrase "old man" in verse 22.  Another way to see this is to think of it as the old self.  The old self represents the old way of life before the truth of Jesus.  I was ignorant of God's truth and used my futile thinking (influenced by the futile thinking of the world around me) to live my life in a way that was contrary to God.  My own sinful desires deceived me into embracing them and thus I further corrupted my life and mind.  Our fleshly desires deceive us into adopting all manner of thoughts and actions that increase the separation between me and the Life that God has for me.  This is why we are called to lay aside the old man or old self.

Putting on the New Self.  In verse 23 Paul states the positive side of this.  We put off the old so that we can replace it with the New Man or New Self.  The New Self is not just a better you, bu rather is Jesus himself.  Those who put their faith in Jesus begin a process of cooperating with the Holy Spirit's makeover of our life.  He intends to make us like Jesus.  The new me is being patterned after Jesus.  The mind and thinking of Jesus is not separated from God, neither is it ignorant of His plan.  Rather, it cooperates with God in accomplishing His will.  The Spirit of God operates to soften our hearts so that they can be made righteous and holy.

The "List of Sins."  It is common in the New Testament to run into lists of sins.  Paul begins such a list in verse 25.  It is amazing that some who call themselves believers ignore these lists under the guise of being under grace and not under the law.  Of course we are no longer under the Law of Moses.  However, we are under the Law or rule of Christ.  In Romans 8:2 Paul calls it the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is not counseling us in the sense that He is giving us a good opinion or advice, something that we can regard or disregard.  He is God working in us to lead us where we ought to go and teach us how we ought to be.  If we refuse Him, we do so at our own injury, as well as the injury of others.  Christ wants us to be free from those deceitful desires of our flesh that separate us from God.  How can we give into those deceitful desires and still claim to not be separated from God?  Paul calls these sins to task: lying, sins of anger, stealing, unwholesome talk, bitterness, rage, brawling, slandering, and all forms of evil.  We are called to lay such things aside and leave them behind.  We cannot avoid this by saying we are under grace.  No, we are under Christ and in that place have been given grace.  Grace is not given to those who reject the Holy Spirit.  It is given to those who recognize what He is doing and are embracing it.  Yes, we do fail at times and God offers grace for the repentant.  But a person who is not repentant cannot use grace as a shield for rebellion.

The Principle of Opposite Virtue.  There is another thing to notice in this list.  Paul is pointing out that in our life of sin before Christ, we gave ourselves to such sins.  Part of putting off these sins is to adopt the virtue that is opposite the sin, or the virtue that counteracts that sin.  Thus in verse 25, liars should practice speaking the truth.  This will be extremely difficult at first.  But those who listen to the Spirit and fight the good fight are given the grace to do so without fear.  In verse 26 we see that those who sinned out of anger need to channel that energy into righteous action.  In fact, in light of verse 31, we should get to a point where we are not acting out of anger at all.  Rather we are energized by the mind of Christ and the Spirit's power.  In verse 28, theives should use their hands at a legitimate job and use the money to give to others rather than take.  In verse 29, those who practice unwholesome talk (corrupt or rotten speech) should speak only that which builds others up in Christ according to their needs.  This whole issue is worth investing hours of prayer and seeking God for wisdom regarding how we can replace our own sins with the virtues that nullify the hold these sins have on us, as long as we pursue them.

Grieving the Holy Spirit.  Because we are in a relationship with Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can grieve Him.  He is leading us from the Old Man to the New Man.  Like Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, so we can be stubborn and mule-headed, moaning and complaining.  Thus in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Paul encourages believers by saying this, "Do not quench the Holy Spirit."  This literally says, "Do not put out the Spirit's fire."  The presence of the Spirit of God in your life is like a powerful fire that burns in you to become like Christ.  When we douse that power and embrace our old life, it causes the Spirit of God to be sorrowful.  He is not sorrowful out of petty, selfish reasons.  Rather, He knows the pain and sorrow we are bringing on ourselves and the people around us by embracing these sins.  In Galatians 6:7-8 Paul warns, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.  Whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap.  If you sow to the flesh you will from the flesh also reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life."

Yielding to the Holy Spirit.  Thus we need to learn to yield to the Holy Spirit and stop grieving Him.  The Holy Spirit dwells in us in order to teach, lead, and fill our lives with power to obey.  He also marks us as belonging to Jesus (sealed with the seal of Jesus in verse 30).  He is teaching us to let go of evil motivations and desires, so that we can operate from the Love of God.  This is what verse 32 is describing.  The Holy Spirit will fill our life with God's kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness if we will yield to His direction.  It is when we yield that the power to do will come from the Lord.  Let's become like Jesus and not like the world!

Old Man New Man audio