Faithology - Biblical Christianity
Slide
Good morning, I am glad that you are here this morning.
Today we are starting a new series called Faithology.
If you have never heard that word before, it is because it is just made up, but it does have real meaning.
I have combined the word “Faith” - a term that refers to a confident belief in a transcendent reality… or a Supreme Being.
Wikipedia – accessed 3/30/2010 at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith
with -ology – from the Greek word meaning “the study of”
To come up with Faithology – the study of belief’s that people have in regard to a transcendent reality or a Supreme Being.
Now, I preached a series like this about 6 years ago, but after some recent events and conversations, I thought it is important to readdress some of these topics.
I believe it is necessary that we, I am speaking to the Christians out here today, that we not only have a deep understanding of our own faith, but that we have some basic knowledge of other faiths as well.
I believe this is important for us to understand because our society is becoming increasingly pluralistic. Now whether you think that is good or bad is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that it is, and it is going to become increasingly more so in the coming years.
And so we have to understand the differences so we can better communicate the gospel to those of differing faiths, because if we don’t understand these differences ourselves, it could lead to some serious misunderstandings and could have eternal consequences.
Professor at Wheaton
Recently there was a professor at Wheaton College who was suspended, and this week the college was moving forward in terminating her employment, for some views she had expressed. There had been some misrepresentations and confusion in the media initially for the reason why she was suspended.
You see during Advent she had started wearing a hijab – a head scarf common for those of the Muslim faith.
Slide
She was wearing it as USA Today reported, as “part of her personal effort to show solidarity with Muslims, who have faced backlash in the aftermath of recent mass shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. and Paris. ”(http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/12/16/professor-suspended-after-saying-christians-muslims-have-same-god/77418168/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories)
Now, whether you agree with her stance or not, it is not a bad thing to stand with those who are oppressed or facing difficulties for who they are or for being associated with others and wearing a headscarf is not the reason the college suspended her and is moving to terminate her employment.
The reason she was suspended from teaching at Wheaton, a private and distinctively Christian college, was what she said in a post on her Facebook page. She posted on December 10th 2015, why she was wearing a headscarf and she said,
Slide
“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.” (https://www.facebook.com/larycia)
Wheaton suspended her from teaching there for this coming semester and is moving forward with her dismissal for stating that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, a statement that is in conflict with Christian teaching and with the belief statement that all faculty must sign at the beginning of each year.
Anyways, as this story was circulating in Christian circles and there were people misinformed on the reason of her initial suspension and others who knew of the real reason, but didn’t find anything wrong with her statement, I thought to comment on this myself by sharing an article about this and posting a comment sharing the importance of knowing and teaching truth on my own Facebook page saying,
Slide
It is imperative that we as Christians understand not only Christianity, but the basics of other faith systems as well, so we do not believe falsely that different faiths worship the same God. I applaud Wheaton College for their decision to suspend a professor teaching at their college that clearly has a confused understanding of Christianity and/or Islam to believe these faiths worship the same God. They have every right, and in fact a duty, being a private and distinctively Christian college, to make sure their professors believe and are teaching in accord with sound biblical theology. (Dec 17, 2015 - https://www.facebook.com/scottkircher66)
Because of that post and some of the comments and some subsequent conversations with a few people, it indicated to me that there are quite a few people that believe that many faiths – especially, Islam, Christianity and Judaism which can all trace the historical roots of their faith back to Abraham - all worship the same God and just call Him a different name.
In fact, in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post by Kelly James Clark, a Senior Research Fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University
Slide
said that “as long as Muslims, Christians and Jews worship the God who spoke to Abraham, they are worshipping the same God…The names and descriptions -- same or different -- are irrelevant…
many Christians mistakenly assume that two people worship the same God only if they have identical or nearly identical descriptions of God. This assumption, which may seem obviously true, is deeply flawed both philosophically and spiritually.
Two people can worship the same God with incomplete, incompatible and even false descriptions of God.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-james-clark/muslims-and-christians-on_b_8875236.html
While I will agree that nearly all true worshippers worship with an incomplete understanding of God, just by nature of our limited ability to understand all things, it is completely false that 2 people can worship the same God with incompatible views of God.
If I say I worship a God who gives salvation solely as an act of His grace and
you say you worship a God that gives salvation solely based on what you do,
we are not worshiping the same God. It is not possible.
Transition
Slide
So over the course of this series, we are going to familiarize ourselves with the essentials of Christianity and the implications of those essentials, as well as the basic beliefs of other faiths and compare them with Biblical Christianity to understand how they are different, how the gods they worship are different from the God of Biblical Christianity, and hopefully learn how to communicate truth to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, God made flesh.
As we start today and discuss Biblical Christianity, I think it is important that we start with a framework of Biblical thinking on how we view and deal with people who believe in things that are in opposition to Biblical Christian beliefs, otherwise, we may end up believing truth, but sinning against God in how we seek to or not seek to fulfill the Great commission.
To glorify God, we must not only think and know biblical truth, but we must live and act in accordance with biblical teaching.
Thinking and Living with a Biblical Framework
Slide
So let me give a few overarching biblical principles to keep in mind as we go through this series and some things to be contemplating in our own minds during this series
First, we need to recognize and live in the power of the Spirit realizing that
Christians are to love people, even our enemies
Slide
Matthew 5:43-45
"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.
We will talk next week about Islam and the differences between Islam and Christianity, but I think it is imperative to address this because of many of the terrorist acts that have been committed by those who hold an Islamic worldview.
As humans, we can easily become angry at people who kill and terrorize and most of the terrorist and inhuman activities that we have seen around the world – the beheadings, the suicide bombers, the terrorist acts - have been committed by people who hold to the teachings of Islam. That anger you feel is completely understandable from a human standpoint, but sinning in your anger or allowing your anger to stop you from loving people is opposed to Biblical Christian teaching, and is a sin.
We are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us that they might ultimately come to trust in Jesus.
It is not a question if we are to love our enemies, terrorists, those who hold to different beliefs than Christians. That question was settled by Jesus. We are to love our enemies.
The bigger question here is HOW do we love our enemies?
Do we love terrorists by letting them terrorize without consequence?
Do we love our enemies by not seeking justice for crimes and atrocities?
No, I do not think we cannot seek justice or there should not be consequences to action.
Just like I don’t think Wheaton College is being unloving in firing someone who is teaching in opposition to what this private and distinctively Christian college believes and teaches.
But even while we can hold people accountable and seek justice in love, I think we need to be cautious in our communication as well.
We need to ask questions about the things we say or how we say them or what we post on social media. Be careful of espousing hatred toward people instead of asking and seeking to answer how can I truly love people and act in love toward enemies while speaking and living the truth of Christianity.
Loving people certainly does not mean letting people do whatever they want and not seeking justice, but it certainly also does not mean hating and condemning people, even evil people.
So we need to be wrestling with this question of
How do we really live loving people, even our enemies and not act in hate?
This is the question that in all honesty, I believe that Larycia Hawkins has been wrestling with. But we need to wrestle with it with a firm understanding and knowledge of truth because when we don’t have a clear understanding of what we say we believe, we may seek to act in what we believe is a loving way, but really we are doing eternal harm to people without even knowing it because we fail to know truth.
So please understand this teaching of Jesus and be thinking through this. It is imperative that we are loving people, even people who are acting hateful and are wrong. We are going to seek to wrestle with the how of loving people in truth as we go through this series.
Secondly, in this age of terrorism and heated rhetoric, when the world can be a scary place, we see that
Christians are not to live in fear
Slide
Luke 12:4-7
4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
As a Christian, we do not need to be afraid of those who believe differently.
We do not need to live in fear of offending others when we lovingly share Christ.
And we do not need to be afraid of people killing us who believe differently.
Realize that God is in control and we do not need to fear men, but instead have a healthy reverence for the Lord.
We can live in peace as we draw close to God, as we know Him more, as we realize His eternal purpose for our lives. We do not need to fear death. We need to respect and honor life, but we can trust the Lord who is in control and have peace and not live in fear as we grow closer to Him.
If we live in fear, we will tend not to love our enemies and we will be more apt to conduct ourselves with human wisdom rather than godly wisdom.
If you are living in fear, draw closer to the Lord.
Transition
Now, sometimes, people believe that loving our enemies and not living in fear means we are to become pacifists, or that we never engage in conflict or that we should protect ourselves or others, but I don’t think that is in accord with Biblical teaching either. I believe that the Bible teaches that
Christians have responsibility to protect and preserve life
Slide
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 talks about our physical bodies being a temple and that we are not our own.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.
Now I understand the context of this passage is speaking about not being sexually immoral, but I also recognize the broader truth that your bodies and your life matter, and the bodies and the lives of others matter because God has given humankind life and Jesus died to save our eternal lives.
So we are to value our bodies and our lives and protect them.
But this is not only for ourselves, but we have responsibility to protect others as we can.
Psalm 82:4
Slide
Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
So I believe while we need to love our enemies, not live in fear of others or even death, and that we need to value and protect life generally and the lives of others that are within our power, and that may at times mean using force to protect the lives that are threatened by evil.
Transition
Now this is just a very short teaching and certainly not all encompassing, but living with these things in mind and praying about how we conduct ourselves in this world with these things in mind will do us well, especially as we go through this series.
Transition
Understanding and Communicating Biblical Christianity
Slide
Now with that in mind, it is imperative for us to also be able to understand and communicate Biblical Christianity.
People need to know and understand what they believe and what those beliefs really mean if they are going to be able to truly live and worship in truth.
So I am going to give a very brief teaching on the essential truths of Christianity, and spend a little more time on some of the implications of those essential truths to help us gain a deeper understanding of Biblical Christianity.
You can turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:1-6
Slide
In this text, Paul gives us in a very concise form, the gospel message, the absolute essentials of the Christian faith.
He says
Slide
1 Corinthians 15:1-6
15 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
Ok, so he says that what he is about to say, brings salvation to you if you truly believe it, so this is important. He goes on and says…
Slide
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
Ok, he gives us 3 essential beliefs for anyone to believe in and receive Jesus as their Savior.
First,
Christians believe that Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh
Slide
Secondly,
Christians believe that Jesus died for their sins
Slide
And finally,
Christians believe that Jesus resurrected from the dead
Slide
Those are the absolutely essential beliefs of Christianity.
Now I talk about this a lot and I close in this 90% of the time when I give a message.
It is the same teaching that Paul gives in Romans 10:9
Slide
if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Jesus is the Lord, God in the flesh, He died for our sins and resurrected from the dead.
I am not going to really expand on that part today but to say that as a Christian, you need to know that and be able to communicate that.
Transition
But I do want to talk a little more about the implications of these essential beliefs, especially the belief that Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, because this is a defining difference between many faith systems and this is where confusion can arise if we don’t understand the fullness of this belief.
Like Larycia Hawkins believes that Jesus is God, but (I am making an assumption based on her public statements) it also appears as if she believes that Muslims are worshiping God as well even though they don’t believe that Jesus is God, and it appears that she doesn’t have any problem holding both of those views, and it appears that many people don’t have a problem with that view, even though the God’s described by different religions are different.
Who is God according to Biblical Christianity?
Slide
So I think it is important for Christians to understand who God is according to Biblical Christianity so we can better understand the differences we face between those who believe in “a god” and think it is the same God as Christians believe in, but just call him by a different name.
So, who is God according to the Bible?
Well, to begin with
God is One – Christians believe in Monotheism
Slide
The teaching of the entire Bible is clear. There is only one God.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment in the gospel of Mark, he began by quoting Deuteronomy 6:4.
Mark 12:29-30
29 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength
There is only One God.
Isaiah 44:6 - "This is what the Lord says — Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”
Christians believe in only one God.
Some might say, “Well Jews and Muslims believe in only one God. Why can’t that be the same God we believe in, but just call him a different name?”
Transition
Well, God is not only one, but
God is Trinity – Christians believe in One God in Three Persons
Slide
This is a difficult concept, but it is taught throughout Scripture
From the Old Testament in
Genesis 1:26 when God created man saying "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…
To the New Testament when we see all the member of the Trinity at the baptism of Jesus.
Matthew 3:16-17
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven [The Father] said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
And we also see the Trinity being invoked in how Jesus tells us to baptize in the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…
The Deity of Jesus
Slide
We also see the recognition of the deity of Jesus in John 1, where we read
John 1:1, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
And in John 10:30 where Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.”
Jesus is God.
The Deity of the Holy Spirit
Slide
And we see confirmation of the deity of the Holy Spirit when Jesus talks about the only unforgiveable sin in
Luke 12:10 - anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
The Father, the Son – Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all God and there is only One God.
Thus the doctrine and belief in the Trinity is an absolutely essential and distinguishing mark of Christianity versus any other religion.
So when a person says they worship “god,” but that God is not the Trinity, when that God has not revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, when that God , by the Holy Spirit, does not indwell you solely upon your belief in Jesus Christ as the God who became man, then that person is not worshipping the True and only God there is.
It is a different god, who is no god at all.
So an essential understanding of God in Biblical Christianity includes the acknowledgement that God is Trinity.
Transition
Another distinguishing characteristic of who God is in Christianity is the fact that
God is Gracious – Christians believe in a Gracious God
who gives salvation as a free gift
Slide
Ephesians 2:8-9 says
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
What this means, and is an essential aspect of understanding and knowing God, is that we do not deserve salvation, we cannot earn salvation, we are sinners through and through, but God is gracious, and has made a way for all of mankind to experience eternal life, real life, through offering us this gift of salvation purely as an act of His grace to all who will believe in Jesus as the Christ, God in the flesh, who died in your place, for your sins, and resurrected from the dead.
You don’t have to work for it, because you can’t
You don’t have to be good enough, because you never will.
You don’t have to be just a little bit better than half the population, because you fall far, far short.
So God extends to mankind the free gift of salvation by His Grace because The God of Christianity is a Gracious God.
Conclusion
The God of Biblical Christianity is the One True God.
Slide
This isn’t true because I believe it.
This is true because the Bible is God’s revelation about Himself to us and it tells us these things.
If you don’t believe the Bible or know if you believe it, then come to our next Back to Basics Seminar where we talk about why you can believe the Bible is God’s word.
Slide
God is a good and gracious God who has revealed Himself to us in the Person of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, in our place, and resurrected from the dead, so we could have eternal life.
If you are here today and have been believing that Jesus is just one way among many or that the gods of other faith systems are just as good as the God of Biblical Christianity, realize that there is no God but the God who has revealed Himself through Jesus and that Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is our only hope for salvation and then turn and do what God’s word tells us –
in Romans 10:9
Slide
confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Let’s pray
