Dakota Community Church
May 18, 2008
Evangelical Omissions
Have you ever been reading along in your Bible and come across something that kind of subtly goes against one of your doctrinal viewpoints?
Right away you know it doesn’t mean ... it can’t mean, what it seems to mean; but, you also know those nasty opponents of your view will be misunderstanding it, and before long misquoting it, and eventually, no doubt, putting it on t-shirts.
Have you ever thought, "Lord, I wish you hadn’t let that verse get put in there!"?
Have you ever thought, “Jesus, why did you have to say or do that”?
This morning I want to take a look at some of the lesser proclaimed words and actions of Jesus in our North Americanized Christian culture. I want to focus on a few of the sayings of Christ that don’t get a lot of air play because they don’t tell us what we want to hear.
What do we want to hear?
We want to hear messages that affirm our right to live and act in a Kingdom of this world fashion. We want to be told that it is right to look out for number one; we want to be told that it is right to exercise authority over others whenever possible, and we do not want to be told anything that might challenge our comfortable lifestyles.
Matthew 19:16-23
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " ’Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ’love your neighbor as yourself.’"
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
1. It is hard for a rich man.
You never hear that. In this prosperity driven generation you never hear that wealth is a spiritual hindrance. “It is hard for a rich man.” Everything I have known or been taught, all of my personal experience has molded me to believe the exact opposite, in fact, the richer you are the easier it is, but… not where eternity is concerned … according to Jesus.
Let’s see if this is a onetime inference or if this is a central theme of Jesus’ teaching.
Luke 14:33-35
In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
"He, who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Matthew 6:19-24
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Has this little passage ever caused you any confusion?
Jesus is talking about wealth, he basically says, “wealth on this earth is not where it is at, give it away and have wealth in heaven.” Then he goes into this thing about the eyes and light and darkness. What is that about? Then back to serving money as a God.
Here is what I think; Jesus did not lose his train of thought in that middle verse. The whole passage is about God and money. The eye, or how you see things determines the light you walk in, if you see things correctly you will give, have a heart in heaven, and enjoy a life free from serving the god of this world. If you see things wrong, you will serve money, hoard wealth, and be stuck in darkness, but, worst of all, if your religion is darkness, if you make faith in Jesus about worldly wealth, then you are in the darkest place of all. Hear that if you can.
Luke 8:14
The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
Now we all know that this is from the parable of the sower. Did you realize that Jesus said that understanding the secrets revealed in this parable is the key to understanding what the kingdom of God is all about?
The thorns that choke fruitfulness are: worries, riches, and pleasures of this world.
So why don’t we hear these things too much in sermons?
- Pastors do not want to lose their jobs. In this day and age people will just go to a church that is preaching what they want to hear.
- Pastors are caught up in the same treasure serving lifestyles as their people.
2. Shun religious titles of authority.
One of the main differences between the kingdoms is the issue of authority and Lordship. Jesus said that the rulers of worldly kingdoms “Lord it over” their subjects and exercise authority over them, but it was not to be that way in the church.
Mark 10:42-43
Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.
I don’t think we could get this more wrong than we have in the North American church. We crave positions of leadership, we hold them out like carrots on a stick, we put our leaders on pedestals and serve them, special greetings, special parking, special titles.
We do exactly what Jesus was teaching us not to do.
We put another man between us and the Lord. We trust someone else to “hear” for us.
We continually reinforce that “power over” church of this world kingdom by insisting on titles that remind us who is who and who stands where in the chain of command that stretches up to Jesus.
Matthew 23:8-11
"But you are not to be called ’Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ’father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ’teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant.
So basically we all stand on level ground in relation to God, all voices are equal, and we are a corporate body, not a group of disjointed individuals. Some of us hold various offices in the church that are avenues of service, not a source of perks and promotions, not an opportunity to wield power and gain prominence in this world.
3. Offensive teaching? Go for it.
We are living in a mid to post seeker sensitive era, depending how fast you are on the uptake, and I think a few things need to be addressed.
The church had in some cases fallen into a silly habit of being totally wrapped up in this little subculture we built for ourselves that was totally and completely irrelevant as far as reaching the world goes.
What we needed and still need are seeker sensitive Christians; believers who can hold a conversation about something other than Jesus and church life.
We need believers who are aware of life on planet earth, able to engage non-believers intelligently, equipped to speak the language of the people they are trying to reach.
What we got were seeker sensitive churches that become giant spiritual nurseries because we think that nobody should ever hear anything that might cause offense.
Jesus was not worried about that! The truth must supersede sensitivity in importance! Go ahead and be seeker sensitive by not punctuating every sentence with “Praise the Lord” and “Can I get an amen?” be seeker sensitive by not singing for an hour and preaching for two; but whatever you do don’t stop serving meat with all that milk.
John 6:60-67
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you?
What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
Question:
Does this offend you?
Answer:
No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.
Final Question:
Are you going too?
Implied:
Because I am not watering this down to make everyone comfortable.
PowerPoint available free of charge on request – dcormie@mts.net
