Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text Juan Antonio Monroy
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Abilene Christian University Digital Commons @ ACU Lectureship Books Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events 1983 1983: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text Juan Antonio Monroy Glenn Owen Carl Brecheen Joe R. Barnett William J. Teague See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man Recommended Citation Monroy, Juan Antonio; Owen, Glenn; Brecheen, Carl; Barnett, Joe R.; Teague, William J.; Evans, Jack; Davis, John Caleb Jr.; Kearley, F. Furman; Lewis, Marilyn; Lewis, Phillip V.; and Sharp, Eddie Leon Jr., "1983: Abilene Christian College Bible Lectures - Full Text" (1983). Lectureship Books. Paper 40. http://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/40 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Lectureship, Summit, and Ministry Events at Digital Commons @ ACU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Lectureship Books by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ACU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Juan Antonio Monroy, Glenn Owen, Carl Brecheen, Joe R. Barnett, William J. Teague, Jack Evans, John Caleb Davis Jr., F. Furman Kearley, Marilyn Lewis, Phillip V. Lewis, and Eddie Leon Sharp Jr. This book is available at Digital Commons @ ACU: http://digitalcommons.acu.edu/sumlec_man/40 T Tf 't I TTi l Liui! 1 o A WORI D DARKNESS LIGHTS IN A WORLD OF DARKNESS being the ********************************************************* Abilene Christian University Annual Bible Lectures 1983 Published by Abilene Christian University Book Store ACU Station Abilene, Texas 79699 COPYRIGHT, 1983 Abilene Christian University TABLE OF CONTENTS Main Speeches Moral Leadership For A Modern World, Juan Antonio Monroy ..11 Morality In the Market Place, Glenn Owen 36 Morality In the Home, Carl Brecheen 50 Television and Morality, Joe R. Barnett 65 Morality In Education, William J. Teague 79 The Christian In An Immoral World, Jack Evans 90 Afternoon Sessions Jesus’Teaching About the Law in Matthew 5:17-20, John Caleb Davis, Jr Ill The Middle East Crisis In Biblical Perspective, F. Furman Kearley 13 1 Featured Classes Unraveling the Tangles of Family Communication, Marilyn Lewis 163 Christian Ethics In the World of Business, Phillip V. Lewis 21B Life-Style Evangelism - Back to the Basics, Eddie Leon Sharp, Jr. 274 PREFACE If a person is not a Christian everywhere he goes, he is not a Christian anywhere he goes. It is not enough that we practice a selective Christianity: Christian at church and in our families, but worldly at other times. Yet this is the pattern of many who call themselves followers of our Lord. The Lectureship Committee wanted this year’s pro- gram to focus on the Christian in his various relation- ships beyond the church building. How can we instruct and train every Christian to practice Kingdom principles in every circumstance of life and in every relationship? Moses gathered the children of Israel together just before they entered the Promised Land and spoke to them the words recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. The gist of what he says to them is this: “You are about to enter a special land and a special time in your life. Remember who you are. You are the People of God. That knowledge will shape the way you live.” In I Peter 2, Peter uses five different images of the People of God in New Testament times. Each is design- ed to say to the Christian: “Remember who you are.” Each generation of Christians must be sure that the next generation develops this sense of identity as part of “the People of God.” This identity does not begin with Jesus. It goes all the way back to Adam, and through him to Abraham and a special promise. Christians are “seed of Abraham” in Christ (Gal. 3:29). This sense of identity with their forefathers and that special relationship with Jehovah that is part of that identity, shapes the Christian’s life, and controls every relationship. Thus we say to our children as they grow up and begin to take their place in the world: “Remember who you are. You are a child of God. Be careful that you live like a Prince. Here (the Bible) are your instructions for what that means.” It is the hope of the Lectureship Committee that the messages of the Lectureship itself and those contained in this book wiil help us to be more nearly what God is calling us to be: “Lights In A World of Darkness.” CARL BRECHEEN Lectureship Director Main Speeches Moral Leadership For A Modern World Juan Antonio Monroy Address: Apartado 2.029, Box 229, Madrid 2, Spain. Family: Wife: the former Mercedes Her- rero. They have four daughters: Yolanda, Loida, Monica, and Zoraida. Education: Began studies in Morocco, specializing in jour- nalism; studied English in London, 1961; Theological Defenders Seminary, Puerto Rico (Doctor of Divinities). Ministry: Juan Monroy was baptized as an infant into the Catholic Church, was raised in early years as a Catholic, and became a fervent atheist as a young teenager. In 1951 he was converted to New Testament Christianity, and since then has devoted himself to preaching and teaching throughout the world. He has been instrumental in get- ting the Herald of Truth radio program broadcast over 20 stations in Spain. He currently preaches for an 12 Abilene Christian University Lectures active, 300-member congregation in Madrid, which he worked to establish. When he moved to Spain in 1965, there were six congregations in that country. Today there are thirty, with a total membership of approx- imately 2,000. Other Fields of Special interest: Monroy started Restauración magazine (1966) and First Light children’s magazine (1972); is director of the Christian Bookstore (opened 1968); is President of the Defense Commission in Spain (inter-denominational committee devoted to defense of religious freedom); is member of many organizations, including the Evangelical Press and Literature Associations, both in Spain; is listed in the International Biographical Dictionary; has received awards from Pepperdine University and Abilene Chris- tian University’s Communication Dept. Monroy has written 16 books in Spanish and translated six from English into Spanish, and four from French into Spanish. Two books are published in English: Men of Fire and Strong As Death. He has travelled through 53 countries, including North, Central and South America, France, England, Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Africa. He has spent a month in communist China, and travelled to Russia three times, including Siberia the summer of 1982. (Acts 17:16-34) Under the title of this lecture three basic elements readily stand out: The content, the hearer and the Moral Leadership For A Modern World 13 communicator. The content is Christian morality directed to a world in crisis and communicated by responsible leaders. The order is perfectly logical. The leader cannot exist without a program, and the program must have a receiver. I have chosen as a Bible basis the sermon delivered by the apostle Paul in Athens because it contains the three basic elements suggested under this title: A leader who communicates, a rich theological content as a program and a specific world of persons who receive the message. There is one slight exception here: The program that Paul presents to the Greek philosophers is not exactly of moral content, understanding the word “moral” to refer to an arrangement of human actions aimed toward the common welfare. Beyond mere human morality directed toward the general welfare, Paul speaks in Athens abput Christian morality, divine morality that deals with tfje existence, the attributes and the revelation of God. Before that group of worldly-wise Greeks the apostle presents in an outstanding manner the Biblical, the Christian concept of Divinity. Such a treatment of the word “moral” does not deviate from the purpose of those who have arranged this Lectureship, because the moral principles of races are determined by their concept of the divine transcendency. The concept that people have of God determines their ethical behavior and influences their ideas of religion! 14 Abilene Christian University Lectures and society, and even shapes their political and economic theories. To the old maxim, “Tell me with whom you walk and I will tell you who you are,” we need to add: “Tell me in whom you believe and I will tell you how you live.” Morality is influenced by faith. We Christians are not different because we are Americans or Spaniards and not Russians or Chinese; we are different because our concept of God is different from that of other peoples and religions. We are different because our Holy Book, divinely inspired, is different from all the other books in the world. We are different because the Church of which we are a part is a divine institution, different from human institutions. Paul has this clearly in mind when he confronts the Greek philosophers. He does not speak to them of human morality but of divine moral standards. He is not trying to modify their ethical behavior; what he wants them to change is their faith. Paul knows that if they abandon their idolatry and are converted to the God of Christianity, their life style will change as a natural result. Therefore the whole emphasis of his sermon is on the Person of the true and living God. At the Areopagus, that famous Greek high court just opposite the acropolis, Paul delivered a majestic and profound discourse. Even today his teachings continue to illuminate the darkness of our decadent and almost atheistic Western culture. For Paul, God moves in a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference cannot be found anywhere. Moral Leadership For A Modern World 15 I Christianity’s God 1. The Existence of God “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him Í declare unto you.” (Acts 17:23) Paul is not trying to prove God’s existence.