This week we are looking at the eighth statement
that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church, which summarizes the answer
to the question “How are we supposed to live as followers of Jesus? What should
drive how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus here on earth?" So
let’s look at this eighth statement of our doctrinal statement together:
We believe that God’s justifying grace
must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us
to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with
care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed.
With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we
are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s
commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness
to the gospel in word and deed.
Yesterday, we looked at that the
phrase God’s justifying grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and
activity in the world which results in a person being declared “not guilty” of having
a problem with God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. By contrast,
the phrase sanctifying power refers to the process where a follower of Jesus is
becoming more and more like Jesus in character and conduct.
In addition, we saw that justification
and sanctification are not separate in time, as God transformational activity
in our lives that results in us being declared not guilty of having a problem
with God also brings us into a relationship with Jesus that results in us
becoming more like Jesus as we live a life that loves and serves Jesus and
others.
God’s transformational activity in
our lives not only rescues us from our rebellion so that we can experience
forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. In
addition, God’s transformational activity in our lives results in us living
lives that increasingly reveal and reflect Jesus.
We also saw that while good works do
not result in salvation, the good works that flow from God’s transformational
activity in our lives provide the proof of salvation. We were rescued by God so that we would
live our lives in a way that is engaging in God’s kingdom mission to be the vehicle
that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to others. Now a natural question that
arises here is “Well how exactly do we know what those good works are that God
has prepared beforehand for us to be doing?”
That’s a great question, which leads
us to the second sentence of the doctrinal statement that we are looking at
this morning, which states “God commands us to love Him supremely and others
sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion
toward the poor and justice for the oppressed.” We see Jesus Himself provide
the answer to this question in Matthew
22:37-40:
And He said
to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH
ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost
commandment. "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS
YOURSELF.' "On these two
commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
Notice Jesus answer here. Notice Jesus does not say that
the most important thing is to try harder and do better. Jesus does not say
that the most important thin involves either knowing or doing. Instead, in
verses 37 and 38, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, which was part of the Hebrew
Schema. The Schema was the Jewish people’s confession of faith. The schema
would be recited by all Jewish people as part of their daily prayers and was
committed to memory.
This answer would not have surprised those listening and
would have seemed like the right response. But Jesus did not stop there. Instead,
Jesus continued His answer by departing from the Schema to quote a seemingly
obscure verse of the Law found in Leviticus 19:18. Not only did Jesus seem to
be changing the Schema by adding this verse, Jesus was stating that this verse
held equal weight and significance as the Schema.
The problem for the Pharisee’s, and us today, is that
Jesus did not say that these two commandments were an either or proposition.
Jesus did not give us the option to be on the fence, uncommitted, apathetic, or
an agnostic toward God as long as we loved our fellow man. The idea of loving
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind conveys a
sense of total commitment. We would communicate this thought today by saying
that we should love God with our total being. So, on one hand, what was most
important when it came to following God was to love God with their total being.
On the other hand, however, Jesus did not say that we
could love God with our total being and be indifferent or hostile to our fellow
man. You see, even though we have not seen God, His relational image is
imprinted on each one of us. We were created for relationships, both vertically
with God and horizontally with others in authentic community. And because we
were created in His image, we show our love for God by how we love others
around us.
That is why, for Jesus, what is most important when it
comes to obeying God is not an either or proposition; it is a both/and
proposition. We show our love for God when we love our neighbor. Conversely, we
show a lack of intimacy with God when we are indifferent or hostile toward our
neighbor. Now, if that was not enough, Jesus hammered this point home by saying
that "On these two commandments
depend the whole Law and the Prophets." But what does that mean?
During Jesus day, the Hebrew Scriptures were classified
into three main sections; the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets. In essence,
what Jesus is saying is that all of the commandments of God can be summed up in
these two interconnected commands. But how can that be? So, can we just ignore
the rest of the commands in the Bible if we just love God and one another?
Think of it this way: If what is most important to God in
terms of obedience is loving God with our total being and loving our neighbor
as ourselves, then sin would be defined as love of self over God and over our
neighbor who was created in His image.
So, if that is the case, then let me ask you a question. If we were to
live our lives consistently loving God with our total being and by loving our
neighbor as ourself, would we ever sin? If we always loved God and others,
would we lie? Cheat? Steal? Murder? Gossip? Slander? Be divisive? Commit
adultery? Be involved in pornography?
You see, when we love
God with our total being, He receives glory. As the source of life and the
Creator and sustainer of all things, God desires, deserves, and demands our
devotion. In addition, we show and reveal our love for God by how we love and
serve others. The letters that make up the Bible are not simply about doctrine
and theology that is to be preserved and taught in its purity.
The
letters that make up the Bible reveal for us a life to be lived and a message
to be proclaimed that is able to impact the world and transform lives. Our
doctrine and theology should be evidenced in how we live our lives in
relationship with fellow followers of Jesus and in relationship with those who
are far from God. As followers of Jesus, we are called to care, love and serve
the poor and marginalized that are in our midst. The church has a
responsibility to reflect Christ’s heart for the poor and the marginalized by
meeting their pressing needs as well as sharing with them their profound need
for Christ.
Now a
natural question that arises at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but
how exactly are we to do that, because I really struggle with living out a life
that loves God and that loves and serves others, especially those who are
nothing like me?” That’s a great question, which the next section of the
doctrinal statement that we are looking at this morning addresses: “With God’s Word,
the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the
spiritual forces of evil.”
The letters that make up the Bible
reveal for us the reality that there are spiritual forces that are opposed to
God, the Kingdom of God and followers of God. In church mumbo jumbo talk, this
is often referred to as Spiritual Warfare. Simply put, spiritual warfare is a
multidimensional war against selfishness, rebellion and sin that every follower
of Jesus experiences. As followers of Jesus, we are constantly in a battle
against the world, which are those things in the world around us that are at
odds with God and place themselves in opposition to God. In addition, we are
constantly in battle with our flesh, which is our old selfish and rebellious nature
before we became followers of Jesus, and the devil and his forces.
How we achieve victory over these
forces that oppose us as followers of Jesus requires allowing the Holy Spirit,
through prayer and reading and reflecting upon God’s Word, to expose areas of selfishness
and rebellion and the areas of vulnerability to those areas of selfishness and
rebellion around us. As God reveals areas of either selfishness or rebellion,
or vulnerability to the world, the flesh or the devil, as followers of Jesus,
we are to confess that selfishness and rebellion and reject the lies that the
world, flesh or devil are trying to sell us.
Then, as followers of Jesus, we
are to replace the lie that is being sold to us with the truth of the message
and teaching of Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we have been armed with the
presence of the Holy Spirit, the truth of the message and teachings of Jesus,
and the power of prayer, to win the spiritual battle against the forces of evil
that oppose Jesus and His followers.
But
not only do we live our lives as followers of Jesus on the defensive against
the spiritual forces of evil. In addition, we are to live our lives as
followers of Jesus on the offensive in order to advance God’s kingdom mission
in the world.
Friday,
we will see Jesus explain how we are to be on the offensive...
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