I watched an Easter church service last night that was posted online from my new son-in-law's church in Modesto, California. Pastor Glen Berteau gave a remarkable and quite animated sermon (complete with appropriate backdrops and props) about what Easter truly means to us Christians; about just what it was that Jesus both paid for and conquered for us on the cross. I will never again read the scripture about Satan being "publicly shamed and humiliated" without recalling the visual of this sermon. It was powerful.
The dramatic effects help to bring the truth of the message home to Christians; especially those who might be struggling with sin, or who have never been able to quite grasp the significance of Christ's work on the cross for us. I hope you will find time to watch this video before it is replaced with the next sermon: http://thehousemodesto.com/live/. You can watch the entire church service with announcements and worship songs (quite long) or you can move the cursor to approximately 47 minutes into the video at which point the sermon begins. The ending is worth waiting for. [This is the same church that hosted Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke last year.]
One particular point stood out to me above all others during this sermon because I began to think of it in a different way than I ever had before: the significance of the two trees that are named in scripture. One is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The other is called the Tree of Life. The first tree, the one that Adam and Eve were told not to eat from, signifies the fruit of man's opinions. The fruit of the Tree of Life, on the other hand, the one that we have a choice to eat from even now, signifies God's opinion which is TRUTH.
Today, we still have the choice of which tree we choose to eat from. And we are given that choice multiple times in each and every day.
We can go our own way (thinking that our own opinions and our knowledge are more pertinent to us today than God's never-changing TRUTH) or we can go God's way (choosing to live according to His thoughts and choosing His knowledge as superior to our own). The way that we choose determines which tree we have chosen to eat from. That particular sin did not cease in the Garden; we are each only one choice away from that same sin.
Our flesh, clamoring for ease of whatever current distress we might be facing, often leads us to choose from the wrong tree. It is when we resist our flesh's cry for comfort and deny ourselves certain "rights and privileges" (as Jesus denied Himself in order to be obedient above all else to the Father) that we know we are going God's Way.
Something to think about as we continue along in this study: when all is said and done and decisions are made regarding current marriages or future spouses, which tree will we choose from?
Let's quickly review what we have discussed thus far regardng marriage and in light of the significance of the two trees:
1) As a pre-cursor to potential marriages, we can choose to date only one who has been "born-again" into the knowledge of Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, thereby being equally yoked if we ourselves have also been "born again" according to John 3:3; this is God's desire for us and His explicit instructions to us. Or we can choose to date because of attraction alone, and marry simply because we are "in love" in which case we allow our flesh to choose for us, giving our fleshly emotions preeminence over God's Word, and choosing to go our own way rather than walk in accordance to God's instructions to us.
2) Marriage is an everlasting covenant according to God's TRUTH whose covenant terms end only upon the death of one of the two parties involved; in man's view it can be merely a social agreement, easily dissolved on a whim, or when it appears to be providing no "gain" to the spouse who then chooses to divorce. Once more, in many cases,
3) The church is to encourage and govern in matters of marriage (and divorce when there is no other recourse); the courts of the land are to place a legal ruling only on that which the church has first ruled on. Most folks today sidestep God at every turn, and especially do not want to hear from Him when it comes to their own reasons for divorcing, even among those who call themselves Christians but do not choose from the right tree. But churches must also step up to the hard tasks of rightly discerning where problems are in marriages, not being quick to judge on the surface or exterior appearance (even spiritual) of each party, but taking the time to investigate concerns of spouses who come to them with their troubles. If the church elders take the easy way out in order to avoid unpleasantness or to avoid conflicts, then they have failed in their God-given duties and will fail those who God has given them to govern over in spiritual matters.
Next, we will move on to what a Christ-centered marriage will look like. Following that, we will discuss in a bit more detail what biblical remedies are available to Christians who don't appear to have Christ-centered marriages.
The dramatic effects help to bring the truth of the message home to Christians; especially those who might be struggling with sin, or who have never been able to quite grasp the significance of Christ's work on the cross for us. I hope you will find time to watch this video before it is replaced with the next sermon: http://thehousemodesto.com/live/. You can watch the entire church service with announcements and worship songs (quite long) or you can move the cursor to approximately 47 minutes into the video at which point the sermon begins. The ending is worth waiting for. [This is the same church that hosted Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke last year.]
One particular point stood out to me above all others during this sermon because I began to think of it in a different way than I ever had before: the significance of the two trees that are named in scripture. One is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The other is called the Tree of Life. The first tree, the one that Adam and Eve were told not to eat from, signifies the fruit of man's opinions. The fruit of the Tree of Life, on the other hand, the one that we have a choice to eat from even now, signifies God's opinion which is TRUTH.
Today, we still have the choice of which tree we choose to eat from. And we are given that choice multiple times in each and every day.
We can go our own way (thinking that our own opinions and our knowledge are more pertinent to us today than God's never-changing TRUTH) or we can go God's way (choosing to live according to His thoughts and choosing His knowledge as superior to our own). The way that we choose determines which tree we have chosen to eat from. That particular sin did not cease in the Garden; we are each only one choice away from that same sin.
Our flesh, clamoring for ease of whatever current distress we might be facing, often leads us to choose from the wrong tree. It is when we resist our flesh's cry for comfort and deny ourselves certain "rights and privileges" (as Jesus denied Himself in order to be obedient above all else to the Father) that we know we are going God's Way.
Something to think about as we continue along in this study: when all is said and done and decisions are made regarding current marriages or future spouses, which tree will we choose from?
Let's quickly review what we have discussed thus far regardng marriage and in light of the significance of the two trees:
1) As a pre-cursor to potential marriages, we can choose to date only one who has been "born-again" into the knowledge of Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, thereby being equally yoked if we ourselves have also been "born again" according to John 3:3; this is God's desire for us and His explicit instructions to us. Or we can choose to date because of attraction alone, and marry simply because we are "in love" in which case we allow our flesh to choose for us, giving our fleshly emotions preeminence over God's Word, and choosing to go our own way rather than walk in accordance to God's instructions to us.
2) Marriage is an everlasting covenant according to God's TRUTH whose covenant terms end only upon the death of one of the two parties involved; in man's view it can be merely a social agreement, easily dissolved on a whim, or when it appears to be providing no "gain" to the spouse who then chooses to divorce. Once more, in many cases,
3) The church is to encourage and govern in matters of marriage (and divorce when there is no other recourse); the courts of the land are to place a legal ruling only on that which the church has first ruled on. Most folks today sidestep God at every turn, and especially do not want to hear from Him when it comes to their own reasons for divorcing, even among those who call themselves Christians but do not choose from the right tree. But churches must also step up to the hard tasks of rightly discerning where problems are in marriages, not being quick to judge on the surface or exterior appearance (even spiritual) of each party, but taking the time to investigate concerns of spouses who come to them with their troubles. If the church elders take the easy way out in order to avoid unpleasantness or to avoid conflicts, then they have failed in their God-given duties and will fail those who God has given them to govern over in spiritual matters.
Next, we will move on to what a Christ-centered marriage will look like. Following that, we will discuss in a bit more detail what biblical remedies are available to Christians who don't appear to have Christ-centered marriages.
2 comments:
In the past and currently I have heard of numerous marriage seminars announced for couples that are promoted as preemptive opportunities to "build" a good marriage versus waiting until matters become more serious. In other instances, some ministers will not marry a couple or let their church be used for non-member weddings. This because they do not know their spiritual background. It appears some church ministers and elders do not want to fully comply with the shepherd role for their flocks. After all, the actual work of a shepherd requires long hours of careful perseverance and observation. MDW
So often churches today follow the example of those leaders in the church who went before them, rather than following what scripture says to do. It is called following "traditions". Paul tells us to follow the traditions he was an example of; but just as happens in that game where one person tells the next and he tells the next one and so on down the line, and by the time it reaches the last person in line it has changed completely, so have church traditions changed from those that Paul taught from scripture. We can no longer go simply by tradition because those traditions have seen man's changes through the centuries. Instead, we must know for ourselves what scripture says and see to it that we are following it...it is only as we follow scripture that we are following Paul's traditions. Otherwise, we are only following man, not God. You are right, much is required of shepherds today, just as was required of Moses in the wilderness as he sat to judge matters that affected personal relationships. Reading Exodus 18:13-23 shows what was done to remedy the weight of this effort on Moses. The type of trustworthy men whom Moses chose are today called elders in the church. Just as Moses was careful in his selection of capable trustworthy men, so should our churches be careful in selecting the same kind of men who will be able to help the shepherd govern in the church.
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