The 500th Anniversary Of The Reformation

LUTHER’S LEGACY

October 31st is Reformation Day. This year’s Reformation Day is doubly significant for those who identify themselves as ‘Evangelical’ because it marks the 500th anniversary of what was to become the moment when the Reformation began. This was when a German monk and Professor of Theology, Martin Luther, nailed 95 objections (called ‘Theses’) to the door of the University of Wittenberg in the customary manner for commencing an academic dialogue. But that nail into the door of Wittenberg’s academy did much more than start a debate among academics and priests. It was quite literally the moment that changed the world.  

The first of many biographical sermons which F.W. Boreham preached in his 126 sermon series (and later published in the five volume series Texts That Made History), was on the life of Martin Luther and the text of Scripture which changed his soul. He notes-

Carlyle has a stirring and dramatic chapter in which he shows that every nation under heaven stood or fell according to the attitude that it assumed towards Martin Luther, ‘I call this Luther a true Great Man,’ he exclaims. ‘He is great in intellect, great in courage, great in affection and integrity; one of our most lovable and gracious men. He is great, not as a hewn obelisk is great, but as an Alpine mountain is great ; so simple, honest, spontaneous; not setting himself up to be great, but there for quite another purpose than the purpose of being great!’ ‘A mighty man,’ he says again; what were all emperors, popes and potentates in comparison? His light was to flame as a beacon over long centuries and epochs of the world ; the whole world and its history was waiting for this man !’
F.W. Boreham, ‘Martin Luther’s Text‘, “A BUNCH OF EVERLASTINGS“, Epworth Press, 1920 

Martin Luther preaching against the false teaching that salvation could be bought with money and that salvation was only attainable by faith in Christ and His finished work on the Cross.

Martin Luther became aware that the Roman Catholic Church was teaching something about salvation which directly and violently contradicted the Scriptures. He objected to the superstitious and unbiblical practice of Roman Catholic priests selling ‘indulgences’ to deliver dead family members out of ‘Purgatory’ (a place where dead souls went to be purged from their sins and thereby become fit for heaven). Indulgences were certificates issued by the Catholic Church granting release from Purgatory. In reality, these certificates were a pathetic attempt by the Pope to elicit vast sums of money, largely from those least able to afford it and least in a position to know otherwise! Luther confronted the central teaching of the Roman Catholic Church head on – that salvation from sin is only available through the ministrations of the Roman Catholic Church, with the Biblical truth – that salvation from sin is only available through faith in Christ and His substitutionary and atoning death on the Cross. 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

Martin Luther objected to this obscene notion of Purgatory and the sale of Indulgences. He taught what the Scriptures taught about the sufficiency of Christ and His work for our salvation. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

Little wonder those inspired by Luther became known as ‘Protestants’. Martin Luther had protested against the teaching of the Roman Church that salvation could be merited by adoration of relics (supposed artefacts of dead holy people). In fact, Luther protested against any teaching which taught that salvation could be derived from any means other than Christ and Christ alone. Later, those supportive of Luther would coin the ‘Five Solas’ (the Reformation’s foundational statements of belief), with Sola Fidé – ‘Faith Alone’, Sola Scriptura – ‘Scripture alone’, Solus Christus  – ‘Christ alone’, Sola Gratia – ‘Grace alone’, Soli Deo Gloria – ‘Glory to God alone’.

Originally, Luther and the original Protestants became known as ‘Gospellers’ or Evangelicals (the Greek word for ‘Gospel’ is transliterated into English as, evangel). His attempt to reform the Church failed, but the result of his efforts was a newly formed church, or a re-formed church. This movement of churches would be founded on the Five Solas. It would soon give rise to several gifted Protestant leaders who led Protestants from all over Europe into various communities of Christians which would become known as denominations – which perhaps in the wisdom of God has prevented a repeat of the abuses of another ‘Universal’ Church. These Reformers helped to organise and structure the church communities they led in different ways. But each were committed to the Biblical revelation that Christ is the Head – not any man appointed by men – and the only ‘Vicar’ (vicar means ‘substitute’) of the true Catholic (“universal”) Church. 

Thus, to be a ‘Reformed’ church is to be a church of Christ-followers committed to the Gospel of Christ which declares that God alone saves sinners by the merit of Christ alone. This Reformation Day, a day when some are pre-occupied with tricking or treating, spare a thought for Martin Luther and his legacy – a legacy which we are a part of.  

Pastor Andrew

That Jesus Doesn't Sound Like Jesus

I love technology. Sort of. But I don’t love everything it has done to us. Far from always making our lives better, the evidence seems to show that it has in many instances made us lazy. Its negative physical effects are well known, even its intellectual effects have been noted (largely by those who have cause to criticise bloggers for their unsubstantiated claims). But what is not talked about as much is its increasingly negative spiritual effect. This should specifically concern Christ followers.  

THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY       

Christianity has one outstanding characteristic. It has been said that other religions have also have outstanding characteristics. Hinduism’s outstanding characteristic is that it is diverse. Islam’s outstanding characteristic is that it is muscular. Buddhism’s outstanding characteristic is that it is peaceful. And Christianity’s outstanding characteristic is that it is true.

Followers of Christ worship the God of Truth.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

The God of Christianity declared Himself to be the embodiment of truth (John 14:6). When accused of claiming to be The Son of God (Prov. 30:4; Matt. 26:63; John 19:7) and thereby co-equal with The Father God, He stood before Pontius Pilate as the Truth. 

Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” ¶ After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him.”
John 18:38

When Jesus was charged with wrong-doing, He challenged His accusers to find Him guilty of any sin, which they could not do.

Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
John 8:46

Thus, the heart of Christianity – its centre-piece – is Jesus Christ and His identity (the eternal, divinely co-equal Son of God), His nature (born as a human without sin and lived without ever sinning), and His atoning/redeeming work through the Cross and His resurrection. This centre-piece of Christianity is without negotiation. No Christ: no Christianity!

¶ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
First Corinthians 15:3-5

THERE IS NO OTHER JESUS   

Despite the Bible being so clear about the place of this, and only this, understanding of who Jesus is, to Christianity, there are some Church leaders who are now teaching another Jesus than the One presented in the Bible. Rather than Christ being the eternally begotten (uncreated, yet always been the) Son of God, who was conceived in a virgin, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, and rose from the dead three days later, they teach that Christ was born a sinful human, who sinned just like us, and was eventually put to death. For example, “Dr. Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian bishop in the United Methodist Church, recently offered this message to her flock:

“Too many folks want to box Jesus in,” she wrote, “carve him in stone, create an idol out of him. [But] the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting one, prince of peace, was as human as you and me. Like you and me, he didn’t have his life figured out.” Jesus had “bigotries and prejudices,” she added, even sins which He had to learn to overcome.
BreakPoint

This is an appalling distortion of who Christ is. As disgraceful as this is, it is becoming an increasingly popular view. One confused talk-back caller called into an apologist to ask, “Did Jesus ever sin?” He went on to say that his daughter told him that  while he was in ‘big’ church, and she was in Sunday School, she was taught that since Jesus had contact with the dead (when raised several of them from the dead) He had ‘broken the Law of Moses’ and thereby, “sinned”. The caller’s daughter was quite confused by this and questioned her father about it. She went on to tell her father that the Sunday School teacher told her that Jesus was right to sin because He loved people more than He loved the Law of God. 

This girl, and her father, had every right to be confused. Jesus did not break any law of Moses let alone sin! And He certainly did not regard it justified to break the Law of God if He thought it was ‘unloving’. In fact, it was Jesus who prescribed every law in the Law of Moses!

¶ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17

I can understand someone in Dr. Oliveto’s position needing Jesus to be a ‘sinner’ who was blighted by ‘bigotries and prejudices‘. But Jesus does not bend to our sinful proclivities. He will not be shaped into our image. A Jesus who says ‘sin is OK’, or had ‘prejudices’ is a Jesus different from the One who walked the shores of Galilee, or the One who was nailed to the Cross of Atonement! This makes Pope Francis’s statement about Jesus needing to “beg forgiveness from his parents” just as bewildering!

Even in the days of the Apostle Paul, there were people misrepresenting Jesus.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
Second Corinthians 11:4

And the Apostle’s response to those who were distorting who Jesus was, was to re-assert the truth about Jesus. (He particularly did so in his epistle to the Colossians.) If we would like to avoid the eternally perilous misrepresenting of Jesus, we would be well advised to learn from the Bereans, who are referred to Acts 17, who listened to the Apostle Paul then sought the Scriptures to see if what he said was true. If this same practice was applied to Dr. Oliveto’s statement about Jesus, or that Sunday School teacher, or even Pope Francis’s statement about Jesus, we would be prevented from believing lies about Jesus and in the process come to discover that the truth about Jesus is more beautiful than most realise.

Pastor Andrew

Do Your Best

Do Your Best

It’s almost unbelievable who Christ entrusted with His mission to save the world! This motley bunch of original disciples were the most unlikely candidates for being the founding agents of global redemption. Yet they did it! And along the way, they stumbled, faltered, and probably let Christ down. But they did it! And this should give us, who stumble and falter, great hope, that Christ knows what He’s doing when He chose us! 

There are some churches around the world that are world’s best practice. Their music is world-class. Their ‘customer’ service is second to none. Their preachers are more inspirational than the best TED talkers. Their facilities are better than the best Westfield shopping centre. They hold international conferences which attract thousands of delegates. As far as churches go, these are the best. But they only comprise less than 1% of all churches around the world. For the rest of us in the 99% of churches around the world, we may not be among the best, but we are generally comprised of those who are doing their best. And it seems that Jesus is still entrusting His mission to people like us – people who stumble and falter.

At Legana we are blessed. We recently opened our new worship centre. Many people have told us that it is among the best in our State. It is a beautiful centre with plenty of room for growth. But it can cause us confuse being the best with doing our best. And this is one of the greatest dangers any church can face because it can lead to an overwhelming sense failure and even despair.

Paul’s Last Letter

The last letter the Apostle Paul wrote, that we know of, was his Second Epistle to Timothy. In it, he uses the expression “do your best” three times to his young protégé.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Second Timothy 2:15

Being the best requires making comparisons. Doing your best simply means working with your availability, abilities, training, experience, and use of available resources. Sometimes each of these qualifiers (time, talent, training, experience, and resources) are limited. In the 99% of local churches scattered around the world, there are usually 20% of the people doing 80% of the work. I wonder if this is because the 80% who sit back don’t feel good enough to be able to serve? Paul’s injunction to young Timothy was to do your best to present yourself to God as a pastor of God’s people whose primary task was teach the Word of God to his congregation. When we do our best, we have need to be ashamed. 

Shortly after I began pastoring Legana I was nearly overcome with a sense of inadequacy as a preacher. Each Sunday morning before I went to church I would go on a prayer walk and cry out to God for His help. I asked and asked and asked that He might use me more effectively to teach His Word. I begged Him to make me into the kind of preacher who cared deeply for those I ministered to. I pleaded with Him to mould me into a persuasive preacher to rescue those who were wrestling with doubts and to enable me to deliver the antidote to doubt – the truth – in the power of the Holy Spirit. I sought Him for the insight to be able to convince the hardest sceptics and cynics to turn to Christ based on the evidence for the God of the Bible (shortly after this praying I was to discover F.W. Boreham). I have continued to surrender to Him prayerfully asking that He would help me to grow as a pastor, a preacher and a teacher – and I would value your occasional prayer for this as well. I have tried to do my best.

“That’s all any of us can do – our best.”

We may never be the best at anything, but we can do our best in everything. This is why, must to the surprise of many, I’m relatively relaxed about how we are doing as a church. We have an extraordinary percentage of our church who serve and give support. I am deeply grateful for everyone who volunteers to help in the various things that need doing in our church. I am grateful for you who offer yourselves to the Lord and prayerfully ask God to help you to do your best in however you serve. I have noticed that many of our young people have been doing this and have volunteered to help out in various roles. What I am also noticing is that there must be people asking God to help them to do their best. Because, when I began to earnestly seek God those few years back to help me to do my best as a preacher I became hungrier to learn and to grow. My openness to instruction and training increased. And I am seeing a similar thing happen among many in our church.

¶ Do your best to come to me soon.
Second Timothy 4:9 (Also see v.21)

The Best Is Sometimes Just Being There

Paul’s plea for Timothy to come to him (in prison) soon is heart-warming. Paul goes on in this epistle to reveal that he knew he was about to die soon. Indeed, he would. Toward the end of 64AD, shortly after the Apostle Peter was crucified by order of Caesar Nero, the Apostle Paul would be beheaded by order of the same tyrant who executed Peter. His plea to Timothy reminds us that while we can each do our best, sometimes we can be the difference in someone’s life. At this lonely time for Paul, he longed to see Timothy, his son in the faith (1Tim. 1:2). None of us should dismiss the encouragement we are by just being there. Paul longed for Timothy to just be there with him in this trying hour. Coming to worship on Sundays, even if you don’t serve as a volunteer, is being an encouragement to others. Do your best to come to worship on Sundays.

Give Christ Your Best Shot

The beautiful thing about Church is that it is comprised mostly of people who are not the best and we know it. But with the help of the Holy Spirit we are each learning to improve and to spur one another on to even greater effectiveness for Christ. So don’t worry if you’re not as good as someone else, or that many others are better than you at whatever, just keep giving Christ your best shot. And somehow, I suspect, that just as He established the church with faltering, frail, and stumbling servants, He will probably culminate His church’s closing efforts with similarly weak and faltering servants like you and me.

    

Pastor Andrew.

Let's Do The Twist With The English Language

Spare a thought for our lexicographers at the moment. They have had to work an enormous amount of overtime lately. Lexicographers are those dear people who fuss about words and their meanings. They are the ones responsible for compiling our dictionaries. Generally they get to work at a leisurely pace and update our dictionaries every decade or so with the addition of those new words which have been adopted into our vocabularies. Of late, this has included such words as, “Google” which was originally added to our dictionaries as the name of a website (a proper noun) and then had to have another entry under it when it became a verb (‘I’ll Google it!”).

But in the last few years, these poor lexicographers have had to work their fingers to the bone trying to keep up. Their overtime hasn’t been devoted to the addition of a few new novel words such as ‘hashtag’ or ‘tweet’, but by overhauling of long-held definitions. Words which have universally been understood and thereby ensured the undemanding workload of lexicographers, have now come to mean something quite different from what they actually mean. This makes the lexicographer’s job very difficult as they flounder to make sense of it all as words now no longer mean what they mean. 

Here’s some examples that have now got lexicographers in a tizz.

Word	Lexicographical Meaning	Attempted Twisted Meaning
hate	verb: feel intense dislike for noun: feelings of hate and revenge	verb: when someone disagrees with you noun: differing point of view
discrimination	noun: the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex	noun: the suggestion that distinctions can be made on the basis of capacity, capability, or biology.
logical	adjective: of or according to the rules of logic or formal argument;  characterized by or capable of clear, sound reasoning	adjective: it agrees with my opinion
unfair	adjective: not based on or behaving according to the principles of equality and justice	adjective: when I don’t get what I want
gender	noun: either of the two sexes (male and female)	noun: whatever a person identifies as; this identity can be fluid and can include – homosexual male, lesbian female, bi-sexual male or female, transgendered male or female, man-boy attracted, to name a few.
marriage	noun:  the legally or formally recognized union of a man and woman voluntarily entered into for life to the exclusion of all others	noun: the legal union of any two people
gender-dysphoria	noun: the psychological disorder of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex.	noun: the feeling of being trapped in a body which does not correspond to the gender one wishes to identify with.
racism	noun: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior	noun: the unfair prejudicial treatment of a person based on their lifestyle choices
rainbow	noun: an arch of colours visible in the sky, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun’s light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere. The colours of the rainbow are generally said to be red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Identified in the Bible as a promise from God that He would never again flood the world of man.	noun: representing sexual attraction diversity
love	noun: a strong feeling of affection, a great interest and pleasure in something verb [with object]: to show deep affection, unwavering commitment to for another’s highest good	noun: a strong feeling of sexual attraction for someone verb: to act on feelings of sexual attraction, to eroticise
sexual-orientation	noun: a mid-twentieth century concept used to describe sexual attraction and grounded in one’s natural gender	noun: something which defines a person’s identity with which they are involuntarily assigned from birth. A key concept developed in the tactical book, After The Ball, where the authors proposed that if they could persuade society that there was such a thing, it would make same-sex attraction appear to be normal and natural.

Of course, these are just samples of some of the key words which have been distorted so severely that their recent usage is virtually the exact opposite of their actual meaning. Unfortunately, this propensity for twisting words into novel meanings is not just confined to our street-vocabulary. It is now increasingly occurring in how people understand the Bible.

Pivotal Bible words such as ‘sin’, ‘love’, ‘Jesus’, ‘God’, ‘Scriptures’, and ‘Hell’, have all been twisted beyond recognition from their actual meanings. Sin means to miss the mark of the acceptable standard (Rom. 3:10, 23). Yet, word-twisters would have us believe that it means acting contrary to our true feelings. This is despite the Bible declaring that our feelings are subject to corrupted inclinations which – if left untamed – will result in our harm and ultimate demise (Gen. 4:7; Gal. 5:16).

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
Romans 7:18

The word ‘God‘ has similarly been twisted from its actual meaning – the all-powerful, self-existent, omni-present, omniscient, unchanging, triune, creator of the universe, and final Judge of all mankind; to – a celestial-type being or force whose supreme existence is to ensure my happiness. 

WORDS HAVE POWER

It has been said that, “He who defines the words used in a debate has already won the debate!” Words have power. I remember when my father in-law died suddenly. I was devastated. I was asked to take the funeral. I wondered how on earth I could say anything to bring any measure of comfort. I found myself saying, “No words can make any difference” to which I felt the sharp and instantaneous rebuke of the Holy Spirit. “Never say that words can never make a difference! Words can heal. Words can comfort. Words can strengthen!” This is why it is so distressing to me to have to endure the butchering of language at the moment. Too many people are going unchallenged with their word twisting. For example, last Saturday night the ABC 7PM TV News reported that a lesbian Uniting Church minister from Goodwood Road, Adelaide, was displaying a rainbow flag with a “YES” across it. They reported that the minister was receiving much “hate mail” as a result. Of the two examples they presented (which had respondents pointing out that such a position was contrary to Scripture) neither expressed any hate whatsoever. But it seems under the twisted words regime being thrust upon us, their disagreement with the lady in question was deemed to be ‘hatred’. How bizarre.  

Little wonder then that the general public who are generally unaware of how language is meant to work has been lured into the trap of accepting that disagreement is hate. The other day, Karen Dickson announced on her Facebook Page that she had just voted “No” in the Same-Sex Marriage Postal survey. One her FB Friends commented on that post that they could no longer be her friend because of Karen’s differing views! How bizarre.

The current practice of word twisting is making any possibility of having a sensible debate virtually impossible. When logic, normally grounded in research and reason, is twisted to mean nice feelings, resulting in the acceptance of the nonsensical slogans such as “Love is love” we are in peril as a society. This is so concerning to those of us who understand that words which once meant something have now been kidnapped and held to ransom by word-twisters because this makes the unsuspecting general public susceptible to being willingly persuaded that black is white and night is day. Quite frankly, it’s enough to send any lexicographer around the twist!

I conclude with a comment from James Parker who knows a thing or two about words and their power:

Pastor Andrew

What Noah Webster Did Not Know!

Do you want to get more done? Would you like to achieve more in your day? Would you like to finish each day with a deep sense of fulfilment for your day’s efforts? I would! If you do as well, then we will both have to face one of the biggest challenges many of us will ever face. This challenge is often difficult to confront because it is so cleverly disguised. The biggest challenge that many of us will face (and embarrassingly, I speak from personal experience and five decades of observation) is how we can confront and overcome this. One of the reasons this is so difficult to deal with is due to its tricky use of disguises. It more often than not disguises itself as busyness. I am referring to laziness.

And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Matthew 5:41

Some of the busiest people I know are also the laziest. Laziness is often confused with idleness. Of course, it can be. But from my perspective, this is its rarest form. The laziness I am blighted with masquerades itself as highly active busyness. And although this will probably upset my fellow lazyites, one of the reasons we lazyites are so prone to laziness is that we rarely do nothing. Naturally, this revelation will confuse those outsiders who presume that laziness always means doing nothing. This is why some of the laziest people I’ve ever known have also been some of the busiest.

¶ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.
Colossians 4:5

Dictionaries are wonderful for learning how to spell words, but they are not always similarly helpful for defining words. Websters’ Dictionary defines “lazy” as:  

unwilling to work or use energy; characterized by lack of effort or activity.

Noah Webster mastered 26 ancient languages before writing his famous American-English dictionary

But (and maybe it was because Noah Webster was one of the hardest working and most diligent men who have ever lived) his definition of lazy only encompassed the above definition. If Dr. Noah Webster had ever met me, he would have had to add to his definition the following:

Laziness is not doing what should be done. 

I have found that when I have to do something that I don’t want to do, I yield too easily to the temptation to doing those things that really could wait but make me look too busy to do the very thing I should have been doing. 

This is why the most effective people are often those who have come to know they are extremely susceptible to laziness and have come to resist the temptation to regard busyness as an excuse for it. Thus, diligence is acting on a commitment to do what should be done – even when we don’t want to do it or even feel like doing it. And here’s the good news for people like me, and all my fellow lazyites- 

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Philippians 2:13

Sometimes I’m afraid to do what I should do. Sometimes I feel inadequate to do what I should do. Sometimes I don’t like to admit that I don’t know how to do what I should do. But as I behold Christ I see the answer (2Cor. 3:18). Jesus calls me to take up my cross and follow Him (Matt. 16:24). He calls me to do what I should do and promises to give me the strength and assistance to do it (1Peter 4:10-11). As I have prayed for God’s help in these moments of facing up to the should, I have noticed that God’s answer to my cry for help is to send people whom He has gifted and anointed to fill my lack – just as He uses me to fill up their lack in different ways.

You should commit to the House of God every Sunday. Don’t let busyness tell you otherwise. You should commit to loving those God places in your life. Don’t let busyness keep you from spending time with those you love. You should strive to grow as a follower of Christ by deepening your understanding of God’s Word, enriching your prayer time, and strengthening your fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. You shouldn’t rush off all the time. 

For all Noah Webster’s brilliance and his unparalleled command of language, I’m both amazed and not surprised that he didn’t really have a good understanding of just how cunning laziness can be. But fortunately for me and lazyite comrades, Jesus Christ most certainly does understand it and offers the power to overcome it. In fact, His entire mission is dependent upon it.   

Pastor Andrew

THE ANSWER TO EVERY 'HARD' SCRIPTURE

WHY THE SCRIPTURES WILL SEEM TO GET HARDER

 A ‘hard’ Scripture is a Biblical imperative that seems impossibly outdated, belonging to a by-gone and less-sophisticated era. These are the Scriptures which regulate gender roles, fashion, sexual expression, and respect for authority. 

After explaining the Gospel, the Apostle Paul begins its application in Romans 12. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-3

The Scriptures present the believer with a culture. We might call this, the Kingdom Culture. It is grounded in the teaching of Christ. It governs how we spend our time, use our money, apply our abilities, contribute, and relate to others. It directs us to live as a community of believers where we are taught, led, guarded, and cared for – and even commands us not to neglect this regular time together. It warns us not to be conformed into the thinking or ways of the world. And while I’m proud of our local church for how much we have improved in these Kingdom principles, I’m afraid that the big picture reveals we might be losing ground. 

..our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
Second 3:15b-16

The pressure from the world to conform to its godless standards is relentless. They target the lambs of the Kingdom first. Sometimes those who should be well-grounded in God’s Word and mature in Christ are only so by appearances. Those who succumb to this subtle pressure usually begin their compromising with the world by relegating the Scriptures down the list of their daily priorities. This becomes especially obvious when a Christian makes claims about what the Bible says – which even a novice Bible reader would know is not right. The Apostle Peter described this happening in his day and described it happening by people who were “ignorant and unstable” who were ‘twisting‘ the Scriptures ‘to their own destruction‘. I wonder what he would say today if he heard that some Christian ministers are advocating for what God expressly forbad? I wonder what he would say if he heard some Christians argue that Christ’s commands were only ever intended for Christians and do not apply to non-Christians?

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
Second Timothy 4:3

WHICH SCRIPTURES WILL SEEM TO GET HARDER

The Bible is not an alternate view of reality, rather, it is a clear view of it. It reveals the hard truth about the human condition: that we are rebellious toward our Maker and treacherously self-deifing. This makes our fascination with God quite tense. On the one hand, we each want to know the answers to the great mysteries of life (How did the universe begin? How did we get here? Who am I? What is God like? What happens to me after I die?), while simultaneously objecting to any notion that God can demand our exclusive worship and thereby our utter obedience.

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
John 3:19

The Scriptures which will increasing seem ‘hard’ for those believers who have not embraced the culture of Christ’s Kingdom pertain to sexual conduct, gender roles, authority, and the role of the church. 

SEXUAL CONDUCT: 

The culture of the world is that sexual conduct is a recreational activity. Any resultant unwanted pregnancies should be medically terminated. Any moral boundaries attributed to sexual conduct are purely artificially constructed by a prudish society.

The culture of the Kingdom upholds marriage between a man and a woman as the only legitimate basis for sexual intimacy. God designed for the maximum sexual fulfilment for anyone to only be found in a loving, covenant of exclusive union with someone of the opposite sex. Sexual activity without this exclusive covenant is identified as fornication, and sexual activity beyond marriage is identified as adultery.

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Hebrews 13:4

GENDER ROLES: 

The culture of the world is that gender roles are not actually assigned and that biology plays no role in a person’s gender. In recent times, attempts have been made to invent novel gender identities along the lines of sexual attraction. This has led to the notion of ‘gender fluidity’ where a person’s perception of their gender (not restricted to either male or female) becomes the standard for how they are to be gender identified.

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The culture of Christ’s Kingdom maintains that men and women are equal in worth, value, and divine access, but distinct in their roles. Men and women are different. They are at least physically (biologically) different. Men are called, and enabled by God, to assume certain roles within society, and especially their family, of protector, provider, and pastor. While many women often show greater competence than many men in these and other areas, women are generally called and enabled by God to nurture, support and administer. 

¶ Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
First Peter 3:7

AUTHORITY

The culture of the world is that any authority a person has is bestowed upon them by society. This authority is often bestowed on the basis of popularity rather than competence. Therefore it is often legitimate, according to the culture of the world, to be cynical toward those in authority and show them very little respect.

The culture of the Kingdom is that God appoints people to authority and their position should be respected. The introduction to divinely appointed authority is the home. In Kingdom culture, authority is not about power as it is about responsibility. God has ordained parents, pastors, politicians, and police. This is why it is doubly egregious when someone in such a position betrays the trust shown in them by those they are responsible for. 

¶ Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 13:17

THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH

The culture of the world regards the church as irrelevant. Its views are inadmissible in the public square due to the principle of ‘separation of church and state’. While it may do some good in providing some social welfare administration, it generally financially extorts people, and often preys upon the vulnerable.

The culture of the Kingdom is that Church is called by God to be the salt and light (Matt. 5:13-14) of society as well the pillar and ground of truth for society (1Tim. 3:15). The Church is called by God to be a prophetic voice to the world (Matt. 28:18-19). It is designed by Christ to reveal His glory to the world. As such, all believers are called to make the weekly assembling together as the church for worship and attention to God’s Word, their highest priority (Heb. 10:24-25).

¶ Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

THE BEST WAY TO APPROACH HARD SCRIPTURES IS WITH A SOFT HEART

If you want to live in the Kingdom of Christ, then start by adopting its culture. This can only be done as you become familiar with God’s Word. Read it daily to be spiritually renewed. Study it regularly to better behold Christ, its Author (2Cor. 3:18). Worship God with it in the midst of your assembled local church by paying heed to the preached Word. Teach it to others to promote it. Take courses from qualified Bible teachers to enrich your understanding of it. And seek God prayerfully for the power to live it out. By doing this, you will be softening your heart and discovering that rather than the Scriptures being ‘hard’, they are in fact the gentle instrument of your strengthening in the midst of a world that strives to weary us of God and His ways.

Amen.

Pastor Andrew.