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REAL Christianity - Part 1 - Sermon Manuscript How to represent Jesus in a divided world
I think all of us would agree that we live in a divided world. Here in the states we’re constantly reminded of that every 4 years. But our division goes beyond politics.
Last Tuesday evening I asked our Church Board [the ‘Elders’ of Refton Church] for their thoughts on why the world is divided. They gave several good reasons, but I thought it was interesting that all of their responses boiled down to whether or not absolute truth exists.
Absolute truth is when something is true across all time periods and cultures… it’s always true. But many in our world today argue that absolute truth is a myth. They might ask questions like: What is truth?
Or maybe you’ve heard it said that my truth can be different from your truth? That’s called truth relativism - where truth is relative to whoever believes it.
As Christians, we would have to agree that absolute truth exists because we believe in an unchanging God who created time and cultures. But as our Church Board noted: It’s not surprising that the world is divided when people can’t get on board with the fact that some things are just always true no matter what.
So, we know that we live in a divided world, but what about the Church?
Some say that the Church is just as divided as the world. They see the many different Christian denominations around the world and think: There you go… you preach unity and yet you’re divided amongst yourselves!
To some extent, they’re not wrong. Even here in Lancaster County we have dozens of Christian denominations. Lancasterpa.com lists 17 different Christian denominations, with an 18th category that lists several other denominations.
Now, I have to say, denominations aren’t a bad idea. Christian denominations exist because there are differences of opinions on secondary issues… 2
Secondary issues are things like what kind of worship music we sing, or what our preferred method of baptism is.
But all REAL Christian denominations agree on the main issues that all stem from the gospel message of Jesus. Main issues for the Church are things like: Jesus’ life, death and resurrection; or that it’s only by faith in Jesus that we can have a relationship with God, because Jesus is God. These are primary teachings (or doctrines) of true Christian churches.
But still, there are churches out there that are teaching something other than what I just said. They’re teaching false gospels, and yet they’re labeled as ‘Christian.’ And that leads to all kinds of discussion because, again, we live in a divided world.
So, I’m not surprised that it’s sometimes confusing when we try to recognize REAL Christianity vs. Imitation (false) Christianity.
I’ve dealt with this kind of confusion from Christians and non-Christians quite a few times over the past several months. For instance, there was one conversation I had with someone where I felt that I was actually lumped into the same group that attacked the White House because this person blamed Christianity. I was stunned!
Now, I believe this person meant no disrespect, but still. It baffled me that people can equate Christianity with violent modern extremist groups! I’m sure you can understand that this is the kind of conversation that can get political real quick...
Well, it’s not my desire to get political on you this morning, but the reality is that, like most other churches, Refton Church has people on all sides of the political arena.
I feel like I have to say this: It’s okay that we have different political opinions within our Church family! But what’s not okay is when we allow our faith in Jesus to be defined by this world.
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The world would have you believe that there are many different forms of Christianity and we should be accepting of them all. But according to Scripture, there is only one REAL Christianity.
And this REAL Christianity can span across different denominations because REAL Christianity hinges on Jesus and His message. The problem that the world doesn’t seem to understand is that, not everyone who claims Christianity as their religion is actually a Christian.
Unfortunately, there are false Christians and Christian groups. In fact, there’s been imitation Christian groups ever since the gospel message of Jesus first went into the world - It’s talked about all over the New Testament!
But the truth is that REAL Christianity is always defined by God’s Word and never by the world’s idealism. REAL Christianity can only be grounded in the core, absolute biblical truths. REAL Christianity seeks to represent Jesus and His gospel message above anything else, even in a divided world!
But how do we do that? How do we represent Jesus and His message in a divisive world?
Well for that, we need to go to the Source of Truth - God Himself and His Word! And when we do, we find that…
We represent Jesus in a divisive world by allowing ourselves to be shaped by God’s character. Another way I’ve said this in previous sermons is that we were created to be imagers of God and His heart (character). But, we can only know His heart if we actually read His Word.
So that’s exactly what we’re going to do with this sermon series. We’re going to take a closer look at God’s character, and as we do, I’m hoping that our character will begin to reflect more of Him.
In the Bible there’s this instance where God’s character is described for the first time - Exodus 34:6-7. It’s interesting that the first time God is described in the Bible, is when He tells us about Himself. But before we turn there, let’s watch a video from the Bible Project to see just how important these two verses are… 4
Bible Project Video
So, as I already said, this series will take a closer look at God’s character. And as you just saw, many of His character traits are listed in Exodus 34:6-7. We’re not going to cover all of God’s character traits today… We’re just going to start with the question:
Is God’s character divisive?
You’ve probably heard or maybe thought at one point that God seems really angry in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament He’s all about love. Well, even in these Exodus verses, the Bible Project guys were right when they pointed out that there seems to be this tension between God’s mercy and His anger.
In one breath God says that He’s slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiveness. But in another breath He says that He doesn’t leave the guilty unpunished.
So this leaves the reader to wonder: How can God’s character be forgiving and yet wrathful at the same time? Isn’t God just a loving God who wants to forgive everybody? Well, to answer that question, we need to start with Exodus 32 verse 1. So go ahead and turn there with me… Exodus 32:1. And as you get there...
Picture this… Moses is up on top of a mountain and all of God’s people are camped out near the base of the mountain, along with his brother Aaron who was sort of Moses’ co-leader of the Israelites. Moses went up the mountain to talk with God and to get the 10 commandments. But he was up for a long time and the people back at base camp were getting worried… check out what happened...
Exodus 32:1 - When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
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2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
There’s some debate as to how many “gods” they made, but we know that Aaron made one. Regardless, when you make a statue (idol), it’s supposed to represent whatever god you worship. These statues usually just represented a particular god, but sometimes it was believed that the god actually lived in the statue (idol).
Now, we know that back then the reason for making idols was so that the people could control the god they worshiped. They wanted to manipulate the deity into doing what they wanted, and they would do that by offering sacrifices to it. They would try to make the god happy so that it would do what they wanted (like produce rain).
But what they were doing was actually a direct offense against Yahweh God. He had already told them… in very clear words… that they were not to make any idols for themselves. And yet after everything Yahweh God had done for them, they went ahead and did it anyway.
Listen how God reacts to this…
7 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” 6
God is clearly angry! They’ve sinned against Him in such a way that warranted their destruction. When they made their idols, they basically said, “God, we’re going to do this our way, and You’re going to listen to us!” Do you see the problem?
The created were trying to rise above the Creator.
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ”
Moses is appealing to God’s promises… which, remember, God never goes back on His promises...
14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Don’t miss this… God withheld His anger because of His love and compassion. So here’s a key takeaway from all this…
“God’s anger is not a primary attribute. [God’s anger] a divine reaction to selfish and destructive human decisions, [so His anger is] rooted in His love … God’s core character is one of generous love that created the world and longs for its restoration from human evil.” (Bible Project, Exodus 34:6-7 Notes)
You see, whether we realize it or not, we are the cause of God’s divine anger. It’s our consistent disloyalty and hardened hearts that cause His anger to burn.
And you might think, “Wait a second… that’s not fair, is it? Shouldn’t God just love us anyway?” Well, yes… God loves His children. But, His children are 7 people who actually believe in Him. If you don’t believe in Jesus, you’re not adopted into the family of God. You’re not a child of God.
But for the Israelites, it wasn’t a matter of just believing if God existed or not. They already knew God existed! They’ve seen what He can do! So, there really wasn’t much excuse for them when they turned away from God and put their loyalty in themselves and maybe even other gods in our Exodus 32 passage.
When they turned their backs on God, after everything He had done for them, that aroused His anger. But we need to understand that God’s anger isn’t like our anger. His anger is an anger that comes out of pure intentions. It’s a righteous anger that’s rooted in love.
So again, there is a tension between God’s anger and His mercy, but remember, there is such a thing as righteous anger.
So, if we’re to try and model ourselves after God’s character, what would a righteous anger look like for us? Well, it would look like one that’s rooted in love, and it would be one that’s fuled for the sake of the gospel message of Jesus.
Let’s check out an example before we end today. It’s in 2 Corinthians 11:1-4; I’ll have it up on the screen. 2 Corinthians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the churches in Corinth, probably in the fall of the year 56 AD.
The churches in Corinth had many issues, but the core issue was that they had a lot of imitation Christians who were selling them a false Jesus… and the church was falling for it. Check out how Paul responds…
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 - I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you 8
receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.
Okay, so again, Paul is upset with the churches in Corinth because they’re allowing themselves to be led away from REAL Christianity. They’re falling for all kinds of false teachings that are leading them away from the REAL Jesus.
So, Paul says this line…
“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.”
What does he mean by this? What is a ‘godly jealousy’?
Well, unfortunately our minds automatically lean toward the negative. Jealousy in our culture is seen as a bad thing. Why?
Because today we understand that jealousy is something that’s motivated by our own selfish desires. But there’s another kind of jealousy: A “godly jealousy”.
A godly jealousy is one that’s motivated by the truth of Jesus’ message. A godly jealousy has no room for selfish intentions. It’s the kind of jealousy that seeks to honor God in every way. It’s the kind of jealousy that says, “No… I’m not going to cross that line because it goes against my faith in Jesus.”
Paul had a godly jealousy for the Christians in Corinth because their faith in Jesus was in danger! And that’s something that Paul couldn’t ignore. He had a righteous anger against the false gospels.
Paul’s desire was that their worship would be exclusive to the real Jesus. If they were falling for imitation Christianity, He couldn’t just sit back and watch what happened… because their eternal destiny was on the line!
Now, I want you to notice that Paul’s godly jealousy completely goes against the grain of today’s truth relativism. Paul is absolutely certain that the Jesus he serves is not only the true Jesus, but His message is rooted in absolute truth because Jesus is God. 9
But you know, this certainty, this godly jealousy that we have for the gospel, can actually be divisive in our world today. I mean, I think it’s ironic that a godly jealousy for the real gospel isn’t tolerated by a world that seeks tolerance from everyone. Instead, our godly jealousy is cast in a negative light, because “how dare we say that what we believe is absolutely true no matter what anyone else believes.”
But that’s just it - God’s existence isn’t dependent on what people believe. He exists; He’s given us His Word; and He lets us know right out of the gate that He is a loving AND just God, and He’s a God who we can trust with a godly jealousy.
But here’s the thing... A godly jealousy might be divisive in our world today, but it’s essential to REAL Christianity because it’s always for the sake of the gospel.
So, what kinds of situations warrant our godly jealousy today? Let me illustrate - If you’ve ever heard of Tim Keller… he’s a famous pastor and author… he tells the…
“story about how his wife, Kathy, got his attention to prioritize their family. Tim had promised her that it would take three years of long hours to establish their new church in New York, but then things would slow down.
[Tim says…] But the three-year mark came and went, and Kathy asked me, as we agreed, to cut back on my work hours. “Just a couple more months, I said. “I have this and that commitment that I have to see through.…” I kept saying that.…
One day I came home from work. It was a nice day outside and I notice that the door to our apartment’s balcony was open. Just as I was taking off my jacket I heard a smashing noise coming from the balcony. In another couple of seconds I heard another one. I walked out onto the balcony and to my surprise saw Kathy sitting on the floor. She had a hammer, and next to her was a stack of our wedding china. On the ground were the shards of two smashed saucers.
“What are you doing?” I asked. 10
She looked up and said, “You aren’t listening to me. You don’t realize that if you keep working these hours you are going to destroy this famly.… You aren’t seeing how serious this is. This is what you are doing,” and she brought the hammer down on a third saucer.
Kathy’s [...] demonstration got Tim’s attention [that] led to an important conversation. He admitted: “I was addicted to the level of productivity I had achieved. I had to do something. She saw me listening for the first time and we hugged.”1
Tim’s wife wasn’t some crazy woman. She didn’t lose it one day and decided to break the dishes that represented their wedding day. Her actions actually went beyond her selfish desires. She was concerned because Tim’s addiction to productivity in his job was affecting the health of their family, and he wasn’t seeing it.
The godly jealousy that she had for her family was warranted because it’s more than just a selfish desire. It’s a desire that seeks to honor God and His design of marriage and family.
So, how do we represent Jesus in a divisive world?
We take a stand for the gospel. We don’t compromise our faith. God is a jealous God… He does want all of us to Himself. And rightfully so! Because His Word speaks truth.
So, as Christians, we can have a godly jealousy about our relationship with Jesus and the authority that His Word has for our lives; We can have a godly jealousy for our marriage and our family. There are many things that we can have a godly jealousy about as long as it reflects the heart of God and goes back to being motivated by the gospel and not our own selfish desires.
That’s REAL Christianity.
1 Hubbard, Moyer V. 2 Corinthians. Ed. Mark L. Strauss. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2017. Print. Teach the Text Commentary Series. 11
How do we recognize REAL Christianity in a divisive world? Well, we just ask ourselves: Is what I’m seeing right now selfless? Is what I’m seeing motivated by the gospel message of Jesus? Is what I’m seeing something that reflects the heart of God? Would Jesus could get behind you in this and say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’?
And if we don’t know the answers to those questions, we need to go back and search the Scriptures. And when we do, we’ll find that...
REAL Christianity is selfless. It’s all about glorifying God and not our own ideals or political agendas. REAL Christianity is not about me. It’s about Jesus and what He’s done for us. It’s about carrying our cross and not our comforts. It’s about the fact that we are incapable of being called God’s children, unless of course we place our believing loyalty, our complete trust, in Him.
When we put our trust in Jesus, He is quick to forgive us out of His compassion, His grace and His loyal love.
Let’s Pray