Pastor Rick Flowers
First Baptist Church of Flushing
The word Relevant means “Logically connected with and important to the matter in hand; appropriate, germane, pertinent.”
To some the Word of God and the Church of Jesus Christ do not always seem “Logically connected” or “important to the matter in hand.” They may be logical to the believer, but not to the unbeliever. Consider Isaiah’s words in 55:6-11:
Isaiah 55:6-11
6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
In the January, 1966 edition of an American journal called The Christian Century, the editor wrote of receiving a small “assemble it yourself” package by mail. After spending an hour in frustration trying to put the pieces together, he discovered in the box a message from the manufacturer. Printed on a neat, white card were the words, “If all else fails, follow the directions.”
Most in our generation today are puzzled, bewildered and confused, not knowing the way to worthwhile living. Now comes the question, “Whose directions are we to follow?” Men once took their directions from the Bible. However, over the past forty years, our nation has all but abandoned this trustworthy resource. As a result, we are still reaping the bitter fruits that come from neglecting God’s counsel!
- In the 1960s the Supreme Court ruled that prayer and Bible reading in public schools violated the Constitution.
- They prohibited the teaching of Creationism and replaced it with the theory of evolution.
- They removed God’s standard of truth and instead gave children the responsibility of determining right and wrong on their own.
- To determine whether the Bible is relevant, one need only look back over the last 40 years of our nation’s history.
- If people don’t believe the Bible is relevant today, it isn’t because we tried it and it failed, but because we have ignored it and have virtually destroyed the morality of the last generation!
As we enter week #2 of the “What If It’s True” series, we will address the question, “Are The Bible And Church Relevant Today?” Let’s read 2 Timothy 3:10-17:
2 Timothy 3:10-17 - 10 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Any church that is founded upon the sound teaching of the Word of God is as relevant today as the Bible is. The church is a place where we learn 1) what God’s Word says and 2) how to appropriate those biblical principles in our lives.
The problem today is that most come to church for the music, rather than the message. We’ve become more concerned about programs than we are about progress in our spiritual lives. We welcome comfort and convenience, rather than conviction and confession. People would rather have their “ears tickles”, than to be confronted with the truth of the Scriptures. The problem lies not in the Content of the Word of God, but in the Complacency of our society!
When the Holy Spirit begins to convict of sin, they start looking for another, more compassionate church to attend… usually a place with a watered down message. If that’s what you’re looking for this morning, I just want to go on record as saying that you are in the wrong place! When it comes to communicating God’s Word, my prayer is two-fold: 1) That we will always speak the truth in love and 2) that we will always speak the truth!
With no more time than we have to address this important issue this morning, we will only touch the tip of the iceberg. It is somewhat difficult to find a starting place:
So Let’s begin by looking at "Four Reasons Why People Do Not Think The Bible and The Church Are Relevant Today."
I. Regard Worldly Philosophy As Being Superior To God’s Word
· The world denies the existence of God and the importance of God’s Word.
· They disregard the necessity of having a personal relationship with God and faith in Jesus Christ.
· As a result, our society has established temporal means to pursue what they hope will produce lasting fulfillment:
- Secular Education (Denies the existence of God - Knowledge puffs up)
- Shallow Relationships
- Sexual promiscuity
- Drugs and Alcohol
- Money
- Power
- Possessions
1. None of these can give lasting joy, peace and happiness!
2. They only leave a God shaped void in their lives!
II. We Have Disregarded The Ten Commandments
These Were Never Intended To Be "The Ten Suggestions")
Consider Some of Them:
- Have No Other God’s Before Me/Worship Any Graven Image - The gods of our day are materialism, gratification, education, entertainment and pleasure. Our jobs often become our god. Be careful not to give good things priority over God in your life. (Not to mention various religions and cults that vary from the clear teaching of Scripture.) Must be careful not to put other things before God in our lives.
- Shall Not Take God’s Name In Vain
1. Can’t watch television program or movie that doesn’t blaspheme or mock God.
2. Listen to how people speak in the workplace or even within our families.
3. Our Nation has no Fear of God, nor Respect for God!
- You Shall Honor Your Father And Mother
1. First problem is that we have gotten away from God’s word concerning Husband/Wife relationships and that has affected Parent/Child relationships.
2. I speak from experience from both sides of our families that it has become increasingly difficult for kids to respect parents.
3. Many parents are, either too busy, too selfish or too ignorant about their parental responsibilities to be good parents.
4. In addition, children are taught to disrespect authority today. They are told to take their parents to court or have them arrested.
5. It doesn’t "Take a Village" to effectively raise a child. It takes a father and mother committed to raising their children with the love and discipline outlined in the Word of God.
- You Shall Not Kill
1. People kill people everyday and for no good reason.
2. Politics, possessions, disagreements, some just for sick fun!
3. This can be linked to many things.
4. No value of human life, no fear of God, No concern for eternal retribution, people are plain evil and wicked.
5. All can be traced to the fact that they have been taught there is no God, that they came from animals and that they will simply die and go to the grave.
- You Shall Not Commit Adultery, Steal, Bear False Witness or Covet
1. Adultery is rampant.
2. People steal from their employers, from the government, from strangers and from God. Shoplifter, embezzler, tax cheat, plagiarizer, Enron Executive… all steal.
3. People bear false witness, make false accusations, slander and lie.
4. Coveting is what leads to dissatisfaction and debt. We just have to have it, at any cost.
When you raise a generation people without regard to these eternal truths, is it any surprise that they grow up devoid of morals?
III. We Have Ignored The Sound Teaching Of Scripture
God’s Word Has Much To Say About Living In Today’s World!
Relationships: (According to Genesis, God created the family… could anyone else possibly know better how it should operate than the one who created it?)
- Husband & Wife – Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives Submit - Ephesians 5:22-24 - 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Husbands Love - Ephesians 5:25-28 - 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
Reciprocate - Ephesians 5:33 - Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Husbands should provide for family, love his wife and Wife submit to her husband.
Let Me Give You An All Too Familiar Scenario:
1. People think the Bible isn’t relevant, that it’s outdated for today.
2. They listen to the educational and feminist perspective on marriage.
3. Both mom and dad work outside of the home and kids are in daycare.
4. They work, not to meet the family needs, but to have what they think they need.
5. They borrow to the hilt and both have to work to make the payments.
6. They both come home tired and frazzled.
7. The kids get on their nerves, financial pressures on their shoulders.
8. This causes friction within the home and they soon look forward to going to work just to get a break.
9. At work they meet people of the opposite sex who are going through similar experiences in their homes. They seem to understand what the other is going through.
10. Soon they bond and enter into an adulterous relationship.
11. The families split and adults marry others, in most cases, only to start the vicious cycle all over again, often with the same results.
12. Children end up being the real victims.
Is God’s Word relevant? You better believe it is!
Feminists say, “No way!” But look at what has happened to the family since abandoning God’s way of doing things. The record speaks for itself!
- Parents & Children – Ephesians 6:1-4 - 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Children - Obey and respect your parents - You will be blessed.
Fathers - Don’t provoke to anger, but love them, encourage them, train them, discipline them.
- Self-Esteem - If you don’t know what the Bible says about you, you may not feel that your life is really worth very much! All human life is valuable to God!
Created in the image of God - Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Wonderfully Made - Psalm 139:14 - I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
You Are Valuable - Sent Christ to Die For You! - 1
John 4:10 - In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- Priorities - Earthly things are only temporary - Can’t take them with you!
Colossians 3:1-4 - 1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind (affection) on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Matthew 6:33 - But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
- Money and Possessions – Don’t waste your life in pursuit of these things!
Riches Take Wings And Fly Away - Proverbs 23:5 - Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
The Borrower Is Servant To The Lender - Proverbs 22:7 - The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.
Life Does Not Consist Of What We Possess - Luke 12:15 -And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Riches Can Be A Temptation And Snare - 1 Timothy 6:9 - But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Giving is the Way To Receive - Luke 6:33 - And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
What Good Are Things If You Lose Your Soul? - Mark 8:36 - For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
- Inner Peace – Things cannot give you peace - Only Christ can give you real peace!
John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 16:33 - These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Romans 5:1 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior? If you haven’t, you’ve never really known peace!
IV. We Are Reaping What We Have Sown
- Our society has rejected God, His Word and His Church, considering them Irrelevant for Today!
- Struggling Christians have neglected God’s Word.
- Victorious Christians have believed and obeyed God’s Word.
Each of these three groups will reap what they have sown.
America has kicked God out!
- Kick God out of your courts, you will get laws, lawmakers, judges and lawyers who will ultimately further victimize the victim, rather than bringing the offender to justice!
- Kick God out of our schools and you get children who don’t respect authority, teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Rampant drug and alcohol abuse, violence and killings in the schools and a record number of teenage suicides.
But hey… it would have been tragic to have promoted bible reading and prayer in those same classrooms… don’t you think? (Sarcasm)
- Kick God out of your society and you accept all sorts of sexual perversion as alternate lifestyles. You will have broken homes, rising crime rates, empty lives and the legalized slaughter of more than one million innocent babies every year!
Over the past 40 years, America has basically told God not to interfere with our legal system, the education of our children, with our government or our communities. We don’t want or need His blessing or His protection! Yet, when planes hit the WTC, it’s all His fault!
- When a nation’s says to God, "Leave us alone and let us live the way we want to," what do you expect?
KEY: We need to get back to recognizing the Bible and the Church as being not only relevant, but necessary if our society is to survive and thrive!
Invitation:
Unsaved - Will you believe the World or will you believe God?
Just look at the direction our nation has taken over the past 40 years.
Do you have real inner peace?
Will You Trust Christ as your personal Savior?
Christian - Are you living by faith?
Are you living according to God’s Word?
Are you living by the world’s standards and philosophies?
Will you be the kind of Christian that is relevant to eternity?
