All posts for the month January, 2023

Mark 1:1-20 – Sermon Manuscript

PLEASE NOTE: these are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube video.

-After 2.5 years together, it’s time to walk through one of the Gospel accounts! Mark, more than any other Gospel emphasizes the implications of Jesus’ call to follow Him.

-Also turns people’s expectation of the role of the Messiah (Christ) on their head. They expected a warrior king and got a suffering servant, which also has some strong implications for us today. As I look at our cultural landscape, we as Christians have become overly accustomed to recognition and prestige, but how do we respond when we’re marginalized and ostracized from those who have power today? Mark will encourage us to remain faithful.

-One of the unique characteristics of Mark’s Gospel is how quickly things move. Where John elaborates and expands on robust theology and implications of Jesus’ message, Mark keeps things brief and succinct quickly moving from one scene to the next.

-One thing to note about writing in the 1^st century is they had very different approaches than we do today, which if you think about it makes sense, right? Who here had to read Romeo & Juliet in school?

-“But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she. It is my lady, O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were! She speaks, yet she says nothing: what of that?” Today: she’s lit.

-Don’t impose our 21^st century ideas onto a 1^st century book! We think linearly and subsequently, but that’s not how the Gospel writers are to be interpreted. Instead of writing chronologically they wrote thematically and theologically. They’re trying to communicate truths about who God is as they write. Additionally, Mark uses a lot of repetition as this book was meant to be read aloud so he’s trying to help people be able to easily remember the story.

-With that in mind, who wrote this Gospel? Why do we call it “Mark”?

-As these 4 Gospels started being spread to the early church, they very early on were labeled “The Gospel according to ____” The earliest manuscripts we have of Mark are labeled with that name on them. So who was Mark?

-The earliest church tradition points to the person named John Mark who traveled with Peter and Paul during the spread of the church.

-He’s first mentioned in Acts 12:12, (Peter getting out of prison from an angel) which may mean he was someone who was financially well off. The early church met in homes that could accommodate large groups, it seems that John Mark’s mother’s home was one of those homes!

-One of the most well-known aspects of John Mark is the relational split he had with Paul, causing Paul and Barnabas to go their separate ways. Thankfully, at some point in the future Paul and John Mark were reconciled and Paul eventually asks Timothy to bring John Mark with him to visit because he’s “very useful to me.”

-One other line of evidence pointing to Mark’s authorship comes from an early Church Father Eusebius, who quotes from another Church Father names Papias who was discipled by the Apostle John (who wrote the Gospel according to John, 1-3 John, and Revelation) Papias lived from 60-130 AD and wrote books that have been lost, but are quoted from in other Church Fathers. So Eusebius quotes one of these books from Papias who said:

-While it’s not chronological, there is a broad overview to Mark’s letter (and like any biblical idea, there’s debate and discussion about how best to outline this book!)

-It seems that Mark thought of this book like a good screenwriter as a story in 3 parts categorized by location: beginning in Galilee, turning to Jerusalem (which hinges on Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ), and finally Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem which culminates in His death and resurrection.

-Part of the reason I think this is a good outline is because it follows Peter’s summary of Jesus’ life in Acts 10.

-Since Mark was Peter’s disciple, it would make sense that Mark would catalogue the story of Jesus in a similar order.

-3 keys to understanding the book/emphasis:

-Lots of debate about how to categorize the Gospels. Biography? Theology? Best summary: extended passion narrative. Mark flies through the preliminary stuff and then the last week of Jesus’ life takes up half the book!

-First: Who is Jesus?

-The most important question for anyone who has ever lived. Mark is bookended with this theme. Look at the first verse, and then at the very end a Roman guard utters the same phrase.

-A subset of this question is: because Jesus is the Christ, why did he suffer? Most likely written during an intense persecution from Nero, therefore it serves as a reminder that Jesus suffered too. This leads us to:

-Second: What does it mean to follow Him?

-AKA what does it mean to be a disciple? Just as Jesus was the suffering servant, in order to follow Him means we too will face suffering and persecution.

-But we also see a wide variety of responses to Jesus, and surprisingly the ones who get it aren’t his disciples. The book ends by describing the disciples as afraid and trembling. An appropriate response to a resurrected Savior! But it intentionally leaves the story unresolved, forcing the hearer to ask how will I respond to this good news?

-Third: Immediately. Count how many times Mark says it! I counted 4 in just today’s text! Like someone who tells a rambling story that you’re just waiting for them to pause so you can interject, but they won’t! “and then…”

READ/PRAY (488)

The Preparation (1-8)

-This first verse is loaded with massive implications, and also requires our careful attention to understand what Mark is drawing our attention to, as well as how it sets up the theme of the rest of the book. Let’s start at the beginning, which appropriately enough is the same place Mark begins!

-Mark doesn’t begin in the same place as John’s Gospel, Mark would rather dispense with the pleasantries and get directly into the important stuff! But this also is a reminder that God is doing something new in human history here. Just as in the beginning of the world God was working, here in the beginning of the salvation of the world, God is starting a new beginning.

-This beginning is about the gospel, literally the good news. Because this was written to a Roman audience that would have perked up their ears.

-Think of hearing someone walk by you shouting “Extra, extra, read all about it!” You’d think there was some major world event that was taking place. In many cases, the good news was related to a victory in battle. The Roman Christians would have then been waiting to see how this victory took place, but Mark would go on to subvert their expectations and reveal that the victory only comes about through suffering

-Jesus is his first name, Christ isn’t his last name. Christ is the title “Anointed One” or “Messiah” the one who God has promised all the way back in Gen. 3. The serpent crusher who would redeem the world and provide a way to be brought back to God.

-Not only is He the Messiah, He’s also the Son of God.

-No one would have expected God Himself to come to earth and redeem a wicked humanity, but that’s exactly how God accomplished redemption. In order to have us brought back to God, we need a redeemer who is both God and man. Therefore God sent His one and only Son into the world.

-This phrasing became somewhat of a motto for the early church, and one of the ways they determined who was a believer and who was not was using a little symbol that looked like this. Now, there’s LOTS in the Gospels about fish (the primary meat of the day), Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen, Jesus divides the loaves and fishes, but do you know what this symbol is called? Icthus: Jesus (iyasou), Christ (Christou), God’s (theou) Son (uios), Savior (sotar)

-Unlike the other Gospels, Mark spends no time on the miraculous conception or Jesus’ genealogy. Instead this story begins with a prophecy.

-His Roman audience wouldn’t have cared who His Jewish ancestry was. For the Jews, ancestry mattered GREATLY (just read Galatians!), the Romans wouldn’t have cared. Just like we in America today is largely comprised of “mutts,” the Romans were comprised of people from all over the known world who were Roman first and foremost.

-But having a prophet speak an oracle would have mattered greatly to the Romans, especially if that oracle turned out to be true.

-This prophecy quotes from a few different OT passages. Malachi 3:1, Isaiah 40:3

-Malachi is a prophecy of judgment coming. God will judge the world, but not the way the Jews thought! And first was the coming of grace to provide salvation from the coming judgment.

-Then in Isaiah the prophecy addresses the coming of a shepherd-like God who will care for His sheep. There is overlap between these 2 texts that both show the precursor to the Messiah, the one who will prepare the way for Him. Who is that?

-John appeared (once again, no build up, no explanation of the family connection going on here) just skip all the preliminary information about him and jump to this prophet. John came doing 2 things: baptizing and proclaiming.

-Wilderness often serves as a place where people met God. Think of Moses and the burning bush, Elijah fleeing from Ahab, David fleeing from Saul, even in the NT after Paul is converted he goes to the wilderness for 2 years! Hold on to that thought

-He also proclaims that this baptism is connected to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance refers to a change of direction/orientation. Like when you turn down a dead-end street assuming it connected through.

-This ministry model (wilderness, baptism, proclaiming) was effective! “All the country” was coming, even those in the capital city of Jerusalem were being drawn to him!

-This is meant to be in contrast to the positions of power at the time. Living in opulence in the city. Remember what I talked about during Christmas where in Luke’s account, we read of Zechariah who came from the right lineage, was in the right profession, married to a woman who was in the right lineage, and was serving in Jerusalem. But he’s not the Messiah, and neither is John!

– The description of John’s and his lifestyle is intentional! The 1^st century Jewish audience would have picked up on this reference to camel’s hear and a leather belt.

-In 2 Kings 1:7-8 it describes a man who “wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” Then the text says “It is Elijah.”

-This was such a well-known image in the day, it would be like me showing this picture and asking you to guess who it represents.

-Notice that Elijah 2.0 recognizes what his role is. He’s (as Isaiah prophesied) preparing the way for someone even mightier than him! Which is where Jesus intersects with this new prophet.

The Commission (9-13)

-Remember, all this is referring to real events that happened in a real place within real human history. John’s ministry was meant to get people ready to hear Jesus’ message.

-Apart from vs. 1 (title), this is the first instance of Jesus being mentioned. Once again, scarce on the details of this event, almost in passing mentions that Jesus was one of the people baptized by John. But even that isn’t the point, the point is vs. 10-11.

-In the midst of Jesus’ baptism, heaven is torn open and the Spirit descends on Him. A couple things to note:

-This is a fulfillment of Isa. 64:1 “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.” Well guess what? He did! The request Isaiah asks has been granted in God made flesh.

-But let’s also think about the way the Spirit works through the OT. He comes down on people for a specific time and for a specific purpose, and then leaves. Not so with Jesus. Instead of leaving Jesus, after Jesus dies the Spirit is sent to live in the lives of Jesus’ followers, and once again He will never leave them.

-Finally, the Father speaks out about His one and only Son and quotes from 2 other prophecies from the OT: Psalm 2:7 and Isa. 42:1

–Psalm 2:7 “The Lord said to me ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

–Isa. 42:1 “Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”

-All 3 person of the Trinity, eternally existing in perfect union with each other are present in Jesus’ ministry. Church, don’t miss this reality, our faith is inherently Trinitarian! The Father plans salvation, the Son accomplishes salvation, the Spirit fulfills that salvation.

-Now notice who Jesus submits Himself to in His incarnation. He submits Himself to the Father by being sent, but now He submits Himself to the Spirit in vs. 12

-Season of prayer and preparation before He begins His ministry. How many times do we miss things because we don’t take enough time to pray and prepare, much less to submit ourselves to the Spirit?

-Wilderness – place of the wild animals, not a safe place, dangerous, where God must sustain, otherwise death is immanent.

-This time in the wilderness also serves to signify that Jesus is a new Israel. Just as Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, so Jesus wanders in the wilderness for 40 days. Micah has preached an entire message on the temptation of Christ, go listen to that for more detail! But where Israel was found unworthy, Jesus is found worthy and moves to begin his ministry (after being ministered to by the angels)

-Jesus has been affirmed by His Father, tested in the wilderness (and unlike every person to go before, Adam & Eve, Israel) He remained faithful and refused to give in to the temptation, He has submitted Himself to the guidance of the Spirit, and only after that is it time to begin His ministry.

The Initiation (14-20)

-Waiting for John’s ministry to finish before starting His own. The time of preparation is done, the “kingdom of God is at hand.”

-Look at the difference between Jesus’ proclamation and John’s proclamation. One is just pointing to someone else, the other is saying I’m here!

-Kingdom of God is inaugurated by a person. Contrary to the way many people would assume it should be, instead of a place it’s a person.

-“Believe in the gospel” Believe in the good news? That’s different! Just as the kingdom of God is inaugurate by a person, so the gospel is the message of a person. Who are the first people to believe in this good news?

-2 sets of brothers, both fishermen

-Invitation to follow unlike most Rabbis at the time. Generally, the pupil would look at the available Rabbis and choose one, asking to become an apprentice. Jesus doesn’t leave it up to them, instead He pursues them.

-Following (Discipleship) is a call to follow, which demands/expects immediate obedience.

-As we close today, have you taken that step of obedience? Have you decided to follow Jesus and become a fisher of others? And if you have, are you submissive to the Spirit’s role in your life?

Foolish Generosity – Sermon Manuscript

-Micah did a great job over the past couple weeks with some very difficult topics

-As both he and I mentioned last week, the issues that he brought up cover a HUGE area, of which he covered a tiny little portion, which means there are things that were left out, intentionally. In Sermon Scraps he listed a few resources that were helpful for him if you want to study transgenderism further.

-I had a couple people grab me last week and call me a coward, so I thought we should deal with that issue head on this week! Micah volunteered to preach both of these messages, and if you couldn’t tell, mental health and gender issues are both topics he’s very passionate about and much more studied than I am. I consider it a privilege to have him on staff to help me think through these topics in a healthy and helpful way, and I hope you think similarly!

-But just to prove that I don’t give Micah all the difficult topics, I started thinking through what other issues are we facing today that are tricky to navigate or talk about. Since Micah talked about gender/sexuality, that leaves either money or politics as the things we’re not supposed to talk about. I’ll save politics for next year, so today we’re going to talk about money.

-As I was thinking about money this week, it struck me that from my perspective, money has become the issue we’re not supposed to talk about, at least in the church. When I was growing up, we weren’t supposed to talk about sex, but now it seems that money is the taboo topic in the church, and because it’s the taboo topic, many of us don’t have a good idea of how to engage or talk about it.

-I was thinking about some of this as we were preparing this sermon series, many of these topics are things we don’t hear about in church, but there the issues we most need to hear! If we don’t talk about it in the church then all we’ll have is ungodly and unbiblical answers to the questions we, or our friends and neighbors, are asking.

-As I read through the Gospels, it strikes me that nothing is too sacred or taboo for Jesus to talk about. Similarly, I think we far too often segment our lives in such a way that Jesus doesn’t transform everything, instead He’s relegated to a little “Sunday morning box” that only comes out to play Sunday, then we stick Him back in the box and live however we want the rest of the week. Unfortunately, that’s not what Jesus calls us to – He calls us to die, and that call is required for every little tiny part of our life, not just what we think of as the big stuff.

-I hadn’t made this connection until this week, but throughout the Gospels, Jesus connects sanctification (growth in holiness/godliness) to the way someone spends their money. Think of Matt. 6:21 “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Or one of my kid’s favorite stories Zacchaeus in Luke 19. What is the mark that salvation has come to Zacchaeus? Is it because he prayed the sinner’s prayer, or walked down the front to an altar call? No! He gives half of his goods to the poor, and restores everyone he’s defrauded 4-fold. He moves his treasure from earth to heaven!

-As we walk through this, I was highly influenced by a little book called The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. (in the library)

-Let’s read together first, pray, and then dig in. LOTS of texts to get through!

READ/PRAY (1 Tim. 6:6-19)

-I’m intentionally doing this sermon right now! We aren’t behind budget (THANK YOU!), we don’t have any major building projects right now (but as you heard this morning, we will have some big expenses coming up soon).

-Just as Micah had all sorts of caveats as he started, so I want to share with you that I hear all the comments: pastors only care about money, pastors are just trying to increase their salary, we talk about money all the time now. My salary is set! I’m not looking for a raise! I think it’s important to talk about this because Jesus talked about money more than heaven and hell combined. And I want to talk about this because I care about you and want you to experience life to the full (being obedient to God).

-Categorized this idea into 3 questions: what is a tithe, how do you measure your growth in godliness, and where is your treasure?

-Micah: our culture has flipped gender and finances around, we act as if finances are stable and won’t change and gender is fluid, but the opposite is true. There are all sorts of stories about people who put their hope in money being disappointed at the end of their lives, one that I read in The Treasure Principle about John D. Rockefeller who at his peak controlled 2% of American GDP. His accountant was asked how much money he left behind when he died. The answer: all of it!

What is a “tithe”?

-Generally when churches talk about money, they talk about what is known as a tithe. But what is that? Why don’t we just call it a giving?

-Giving appears very, very early in the Bible. After Adam & Eve are banished from Eden, Moses tells us the story of Cain and Abel’s offerings. Gen. 4:3-7. We read that one offering is accepted and the other is not. All sorts of debate about why that is, does God only accept blood? Is Cain’s not the best, aka the “firstborn”? Lots of debate and conjecture, what I want you to notice is the giving reveals the heart of the person. Can’t distinguish the gift from the giver.

-First time the word “tithe” appears in the Bible is in everyone’s favorite book, Lev. 27:30. It’s literally just 1/10^th, that’s all it means. So anytime you come across it in the Bible, just mentally replace it with one-tenth. Here we see the tithe is God’s idea. This was put in place by God to provide for His work among the people. Now, when you really think about it, how much of this is the Lord’s? Yeah, all of it! He doesn’t need us to give Him anything, He literally created it all! This is where we see that the idea of a tithe isn’t for God, as if He needed anything from us, instead tithing is a way for us to be reminded that we’re merely stewards tasked by God with managing His resources.

-As you know, most of the OT follows the story of God’s people obeying, then disobeying leading to punishment, then being reminded of the truth they’re supposed to be living by, repenting and renewing their commitment to the Lord. In one of the periods of reform for God’s people, King Hezekiah leads the people to cut down all their idols and reestablishes the temple worship, meaning the people needed to start giving! Look at how the people responded in 2 Chron. 31:5. Later on the text says they had to go through “heaps” of the tithes the people gave to God’s work. That’s a good description of what God has provided to us: heaps of gifts! This leads us right into the next text:

-Prov. 3:9-10 here’s where this gets a little uncomfortable for us in the conservative theological stream. Isn’t this just prosperity gospel? Are we just giving to get something from God as if we can manipulate or coerce Him into fulfilling our wants/desires? Hold on to that thought, we’ll flesh it out more fully later, but this text seems to be telling us that if we are faithful in giving the “firstfruits” or the best to the Lord, He will bless us in return. But what happens if we don’t give God our best?

-Mal. 3:8-10 This seems to double down on what we saw in Proverbs! If we don’t give to God we’ll be cursed! So we have 2 options: give our tithes if we want to be blessed, or hold back our tithes if we want to be cursed.

-There are only 2 places in the NT where tithing is discussed, leading some to argue that tithing it no longer a required practice for new covenant Christians (us), which means I just wasted 15 min of your time by talking about it! I’m going to reverse the order of these from your notes and start with Hebrews before going to Matthew.

–Heb. 7:1-10 It’s a little confusing because the author is making a really big deal out of someone that Scripture doesn’t give us a lot of information about! We learn more information about Melchizedek here than we do in the OT. Once again we see that blessing comes from God because of the giving. Look at vs. 7. This is another way of saying God doesn’t need us to give Him anything, it’s already His, but by responding to His invitation by faith and reminding and demonstrating that we acknowledge His Lordship, it leads to God’s blessing of us.

-Finally, let’s look at the 1 thing Jesus said about tithing: Matt. 23:23-24. The religious leaders are called out because they’re being faithful in tithing, but forgetting to act with justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Does Jesus say they shouldn’t be tithing? No! Actually, when Jesus talks about OT ideas, He makes them even more difficult, doesn’t He? “You’ve heard it said you shall not murder, but I tell you…”

-No verse that says “all Christians must give a tithe” what you’ll find is that we’re supposed to give: generously, joyfully, and view giving as a gift.

-Have you ever thought about why God brings people from different socioeconomic backgrounds together? Even his early disciples were comprised of rich AND poor (tax collector and blue collar). I remember a few years ago stumbling across Luke 8 and feeling dumb for not noticing it before. How did Jesus survive during His ministry? People provided for Him and His disciples as they went about their ministry.

-Friends, giving isn’t a 21^st century idea. Giving isn’t done to pad the pocket of the church or the pastors. Giving is done because it’s a reminder that every good and perfect gift is from above, from a good Father in heaven who has given first to us. Then He allows us to join with Him and His body to demonstrate that His kingdom isn’t of this world. We’re not trying to build a holy huddle, but we are trying to take care of each other.

How do you measure your growth in godliness?

-We talked about discipleship being your whole life the past couple months. But did you know that also includes your money? In fact, one of the best ways to determine how much you’ve grown in your godliness is by how much you’re willing to live without for the sake of your brother or sister. Why is it that we act like it’s nobody’s business what we make as well as how much we give away? If Jesus is so willing to talk about money, and money is one of the ways we determine how much we’re growing, shouldn’t we ask for help, accountability, and support with money just like other areas God is making us more holy?

-Let’s look at a few passages that talk about this, first: Matt. 6:19-21. When I first graduated from college, I got a job as a contractor in the Cities teaching new hire nurses how to use healthcare software (good use of my Bible degree). The owner of the company was very wealthy, and would regularly give me financial advice (invest in gold, start your retirement account yesterday, stuff like that). That’s not terrible advice! And taking care of your family is required for those who are believers (1 Tim. 5:8), but the goal isn’t to become materially wealthy on earth because you can’t take it with you. Notice some of the phrasing here: “lay up for yourselves.” Don’t be selfish with your money on earth because it doesn’t last, and here’s where God subverts our thinking, if we want to be wealthy for eternity, pay more attention to what kind of wealth you’re storing up for eternity! And as I mentioned about discipleship earlier, your pocketbook reveals where your heart is, or where you’re placing your ultimate hope and focus. This is a similar idea that Jesus brings up in our next passage:

-Luke 16:10-13. As your kids grow up, you get to slowly increase their responsibilities. If they prove themselves incapable of handling one step of their growth you don’t skip that step and move on to the next one, you take time to work with them on the current issue so they’re ready to handle even bigger issues as they get older. This passage tells us that’s how God is with our finances. The way we handle God’s earthly possessions is a good test of how we’ll handle God’s eternal possessions.

-Here’s the crazy thing about this passage: Luke uses an Aramaic word in here to communicate a bigger truth about money than many of us are generally aware of, and he uses it twice in this section, vs. 11 and 13, first translated as “unrighteous wealth” and then “money.” That word is “Mammon” Often the NT writers would keep the Aramaic for names (NT written in Greek), this led the early church fathers to comment that Mammon is referring to a demonic power that seeks to use earthly possessions for power, comfort, and privilege leading to us putting our ultimate hope in Mammon, not God. And think about it: don’t many of us tend to view money through that lens? Money is what we think will guarantee comfort and ease, but what if it all disappears? Money (mammon) is a great tool and a terrible god. But with that in mind, what Jesus says here makes a lot more sense: You cannot serve God and Mammon (false god).

-This is another way of saying money has a tendency to become an idol. We look to money (Mammon) as our sense of worth, of satisfaction, security and comfort. Those are all good things, but the only way those will ever really be solved is by God!

-One last passage for this section is the reason some of us in this room make more money than others: Rom. 12:3-8. We’ve looked at this passage before in looking at the way we all need to be using our gifts to serve each other and to function as a healthy body, but let’s pay careful attention to the list of gifts here.

-Included are things we often think of in connection to church ministry: prophecy, service, teaching, but then what else is included in here? The one who’s gifted with contributing, or giving. Friends, the reason some people are gifted with making money is so that we can live out Acts 4:34 “there was not a needy person among them.” God knows exactly what each body needs and ensures that each body can function and be healthy., which includes giving generously. This is why, when we have a financial need we share it with you! Some of you are gifted with giving, so we’re trying to make you aware of a need. Just like we will ask for help with loving and teaching kids or joining in prayer, giving is a gift from God that we need people to be faithful in.

-This leads us to the last question:

Where is your treasure?

-ROI, I’m not a money guy, I know there’s some people that love spreadsheets and data, give me words! Lots and lots of words and I’m in my happy place! But let’s look at the return on investment we get by stewarding our money in a generous way.

–Matt. 19:29. I’ve been told that by investing in the stock market, I can expect at least a 3% return, if you knew that you were guaranteed a 100% return, would you take it? How much of your wealth would you put in to a 100% return? Would you sell everything you had in order to put your money in this account? I would! And that’s what God offers us (in fact there’s a parable like this about a man finding an incalculable treasure in a field). Not only do we get eternal life, we also get a hundredfold return on our investment. I don’t know about you, but I would go all in on a return like that!

-Why else do we invest our money in different ways than the world? 1 Cor. 9:24-25. We’re supposed to view our lives like an athlete. I’ve been working hard on this post-athlete body for a few years now, but back in the day I was athletic! In fact, I got a prize my Senior year that I still have. But do you know where this prize is going to end up? With all the other stuff I collect throughout my life: dumpster. This has sentimental value for me, but no one else. Unlike this “perishable wreath,” I’d rather put my time and energy into my hundredfold return.

-We have just a few more passages to look at, and these passages are more immediately applicable to us today. The norm throughout human history is that most of the world is poor, and a very small group of people is incredibly wealthy. That has changed over the previous 100ish years where there are way more wealthy people today than ever before in human history. But that means we are the wealthy ones compared to the rest of the world.

-2 Cor. 8:1-7. One of the reasons Paul went on one of his missionary journeys was to collect money for the church in Jerusalem who was experiencing persecution. This was an incredibly poor church, nothing to give, but how do they respond to a need? In their extreme poverty, they “overflowed in a wealth of generosity.”

-Isn’t it amazing how Mammon can blind us to our wealth? If any of you, like me, have had the privilege of going on mission’s trips to other parts of the world you’ve seen this happen. Those who have nothing pull out all the stops to share the best of the best with their visitors. We need those reminders regularly so we don’t become blind to the way Mammon was so influenced our lives.

-Just as we pursue growth in other areas of our life (faith, speech, knowledge) we should also pursue growth in being foolishly generous with our money. Remember: it’s not ours, we’re mere stewards entrusted with it for a small season of time, and it serves as a test of how well we’ll handle things of eternal value.

-Paul continues this line of thought in the next chapter. 2 Cor. 9:6-15. How big do you want your storehouse to be in heaven? If your stingy in your generosity here, God will be stingy in His reward of you in heaven.

-What is this “not reluctantly” if we’re supposed to tithe? Dear friends, unlike the OT, I can’t demand you do anything! But I do want what’s best for you, and because what’s best for you is what God has commanded, why would you sow sparingly when you’re guaranteed the best ROI you’ll ever find?

-Paul says this in vs. 11-12 too. In your generosity God will support you. I was listening to a podcast on the idea of Mammon yesterday with Andy Crouch, an author. He said they have decided as a family, to not just tithe on their regular income, but twice in the past decade they have liquated 10% of their entire assets and given it away. He said it hurts! But the joy and thanksgiving that comes out of that is worth far more than the money they’ve given away. Jesus quoted in Acts 20:35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

-And pay careful attention to the last verse here. Paul has been encouraging the Corinthians to give generously, but then who does he thank for this generosity? Not the church! He thanks God. Have you ever thought of God using, gifting, and equipping you to be ridiculously foolishly generous with the resources He’s given you?

-Paul summarizes everything we’ve been talking about in this message in another text, and our last text for the day! 1 Timothy 6:6-19.

-He begins with a good reminder: do you want great gain? The key is godliness + contentment. This from the guy who learned the secret to being content in everything! It’s not being content with stuff, you can’t take it with you.

-This idea continues with a verse I’m sure many of you have heard before: the love of money! But pay careful attention to the words here! Money is not THE root of all evil, it is A root of all KINDS of evil. Money itself isn’t evil. Money becoming Mammon, or your god, is where money can become evil. Putting money above everything else is how you can end up wandering away from the faith.

-As if that’s not enough, there’s this last exhortation to us. Remember, we’re the rich in this present age! We have food and cars. We had some delicious donuts as a snack this morning. That’s not wrong, but we need to make sure that we’re careful and faithful stewards! So let’s read this last verses carefully.

-Don’t be haughty, full of yourself, expecting special treatment because you have money. Riches will fail you either here or in heaven. Instead, put your hope, trust, and confidence in God who does richly provide us with everything (and often it’s through each other!)

-Additionally, we should do good, be rich in good works (be kind, considerate, look for ways to help and serve others), do all of this generously, and be ready to come alongside and share. That’s how you make deposits into your heavenly retirement account! And don’t stop doing it! It’s going to be much better for you to spend your money on bring foolishly generous with your money now because you don’t know how long it’s going to last.

-If someone got a hold of you bank statement, or credit card account, would you be proud or embarrassed about how you’re spending your money?

What’s the Big Deal About the Bible? – Sermon Manuscript

PLEASE NOTE: these are the notes I use to preach from, if you would like to hear them in context, please watch our YouTube video.

-Can anyone finish this phrase: “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect ______.” Where does that come from?

-Constitution of the USA. One of the most well-known documents, something many of us had to study in school or potentially even memorize. Serves as the written foundation of our country even down to today.

-Did you know that England has no such document? Closest they come is the Magna Carta, enacted in 1215 to prevent the King from tyrannical rule.

-For the past 800 years England has been forced to change, adapt, and tweak their governmental structure, but instead of writing them down in a formal document they rely on an abstract understanding of rules and laws that have evolved over a long period of time. Makes it slightly easier to make changes, but who’s to say the changes are in the positive or negative direction? How do they know which direction they’re moving?

-Just as it helps the USA to have a written constitution by which all subsequent laws are based or judged (then amended as necessary), we need to have some standard by which we can measure our spiritual selves, as well as provide an understanding of where the world around us is moving.

-That’s where the Bible comes into play for those of us who believers today (but thankfully it doesn’t need amendments, nor will it ever be changed!)

-I love the way our SOF summarizes what we believe about the Bible.

READ/PRAY (2 Tim. 3:14-4:4)

-As we think through the importance and significance of the Bible today, I want to remind us that Christianity isn’t unique in having a sacred text that we look to for our highest source of authority. I feel like the Bible gets the most scrutiny, but we need to remember that:

-Every major world religion has some sort of sacred text used to define how one is obedient to a deity or way of living. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism (that covers 78% of the world, the other are “unaffiliated”/“irreligious” or “folk religion”)

-Islam has the Koran (Muhammed was visited by an Gabriel and told to write words down that were the fulfillment of all of god’s previous revelations) No one else to back up his claims, as well as debate about the originals said

-Hindus have “The Vedas” (meaning knowledge) which contain hymns, incantations, and rituals that were spoken to an ancient seer. Doesn’t really speak much to the real world, can’t test it against what happens around us (although looking at the Indian caste system I would hate to be forced to adopt that way of living!)

-Buddhists have memories of the saying of the Buddha, as well as rules for monastic life and philosophical texts. People today are questioning if “the Buddha” ever lived!

-Jews have the same Bible we have, but without the NT. Remember, I made a big deal at Christmas Eve about the 400 years of silence, Jews have been waiting for 2,400 years!

-“unaffiliated” have (I would argue) a different trinity than we do: “science,” “social philosophy” and, themselves. They believe “science” can provide answers to everything, that “social philosophy” can bring true and lasting meaning to a person’s life, and that they are their highest source of authority. Often read history through a modern-day lens and view culture as a long march toward “progress.”

-All that to say, Christianity isn’t unique in having a sacred text that we look to as our source of ultimate authority. Everyone has something or someone that they use as their source of authority

-It would make sense why people would then push back against the Bible in a culture that values expressing my wants and desires as a higher priority than anything else. “That’s just your opinion” or “I need to share MY truth.” Into that culture, we stand here holding a book written (at least) 1,933 years ago and claim that this is unlike any other writing out there, and needs to serve as the authority for everyone and everything. And we do it unapologetically! Let’s see why:

The Bible is God’s Very Word (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

-There’s a lot in just these few verses of 2 Timothy for us to unpack BRIEFLY! Because we’ve got lots of other things to cover.

-There is something wonderful about being able to look back and remember things fondly from your childhood. Favorite movies, favorite foods, favorite vacations. For those of you who grew up in the church, you have a beautiful foundation that you’re building on that you should not let go to waste!

-And for those who aren’t yet adults here, this is why your parents will bring you here on Sunday mornings, even when it’s hard to wake up and get out of bed, God is working here even when you don’t want to pay attention, because His Word is being shared! We’ll see this at the end, so wait for it, but one of the truths we believe about the Bible is that it is effective. Anytime God’s Word is spoken or read, it is doing something.

-This is what we saw in the discipleship series. The content of discipleship is God’s Word because it always accomplishes what God wants it to accomplish. This is why we need to know enough about God’s Word to speak into every situation we find ourselves. Trust it and rely on it.

-“All Scripture is God-breathed”

– Θεόπνευστος “the Holy Spirit superintended the biblical authors as they composed their writings, the Word of God.” Gregg Allison

-This doesn’t mean that the authors had some out of body experience, then woke up and suddenly the text was in front of them, instead God used a wide variety of people, a wide variety of situations, and a wide variety of writing styles to record His revelation and His will for the world.

–Heb. 1:1-2. Think of all the ways the Bible was written.

–Gen. 1 says “In the beginning” before anything or anyone was created. Who was there to give the eyewitness account of creation? God was. Tradition helps us understand that Moses wrote the first 5 books, Moses had many conversations with God on a mountain over a period of 40 days.

–Ex. 34:27, Jer. 30:2 – God commands people to write things down

–Ex. 31:18 – God literally writes things

–Jeremiah 1:1-2 – God speaks to people

–John 14:26 – Spirit assisted memories

–Luke 1:1-4, 1 Kings – people do historical research

-Today we have the fulfilment of all the things God was talking about and planning throughout the Bible, Jesus! Jesus is the centering point around which the whole Bible points. The OT points forward to Jesus, the NT points back to Jesus and talks about the implications of His first coming and how to live in light of His second coming.

-What is considered “Scripture”?

-39 books in the OT, starting at the very beginning, recounting the history of God’s people as well as pointing to how true lasting deliverance was going to come about. It began with God telling Moses to write down the law, and continued down until about 475 BC, where God continued telling people to write things down, but this is when the last prophecy was given. The OT has remained the same since then.

-God’s speaking changed in the NT when Jesus came! Then there was new writings to explain how Jesus fulfilled all of God’s promises and what it means to be a follower of God today. The litmus test for the books of the NT were books written or authorized by an apostle. Look at the universal recognition of these books.

-What about the Apocrypha (RCC)?

-Jesus and His followers quote from the OT regularly, but never from the Apocrypha as God speaking. Jerome, who added the books into his Latin translation of the Bible described them as “books of the church” but not divine. In fact, the RCC didn’t recognize them as Scriptures until the Council of Trent in 1546 (anyone remember when the Reformation started)

-Tradition vs. tradition. One of the reasons we trust the Bible we have is true is because of the 2000 years of tradition that accompany it. Tradition isn’t the same level as the Bible (unlike RCC), but it provides guardrails or guides to help us ensure we’re staying on the right path.

-Ensures we’re not participating in “chronological snobbery.” The world isn’t always getting better all the time. If you go to Rome you’ll see 2,000 year old roads that are still used! I don’t think roads in MN last more than 2,000 minutes!

-Because the Bible is God’s very word, and we can trust the Bible that we have in our hands, it also means:

The Bible is Truthful (John 17:17)

-Because it’s God’s very words, we need to know some things about God to understand how it is truthful. Num. 23:19, Heb. 6:18

-Our first point was this is God’s very word. All of it is what God wanted us to have, it contains everything we need for growth in godliness and understanding who God is and how He’s worked throughout human history. But because it’s God’s very Word, what comes out from God is truthful because God cannot lie.

-Need to do some logic, if God cannot lie, what does that mean about every word he says? Not going to lie, which means it will be truthful! Which is exactly what we saw from Jesus in John 17.

-This has 2 components to it: truthfulness means it describes reality, but it also means that the Bible will truly accomplish what God intends it to do.

-These are known as the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility, you’ll often hear me say those things when I pray on Sunday mornings! Means not liable to error and not liable to failure. (Isa. 55)

-There has been some debate/discussion about these issues today. I first started becoming passionate/concerned about these doctrines when I had a friend who said he didn’t believe everything Paul said was true. And again when another friend said he didn’t believe Jonah contained a factual account of real events.

-This is why both of these words are important! They aren’t stuck in academy, they have implications for you and I today! Let’s think about this again (put on your thinking caps with me!) If the Bible has things that aren’t true, what would that do to our faith? How would we know which parts are true and which are false? Not only that, what would that say about God? Or if the Bible was ineffective in accomplishing what we saw in 2 Tim. 3, that we could never be “complete” we would always be needing looking for something else.

-Some of you may be thinking this sounds like “circular reasoning” just using the Bible to make claims about itself.

-While that’s true in one sense, that doesn’t make it wrong! If the Bible is the highest source of truth, then it needs to be the measuring stick we use for everything else, otherwise whatever else we’re using becomes the higher authority (usually it ends up being my own reasoning, which isn’t the best source of truth!)

-But it’s not just the Bible we appeal to in order to validate it as true:

-What other book is as tested and proven as the Bible?

-Think of The Book of Mormon (which LDS use as their inspired text). There are all sorts of historical claims in the book (like Jesus resurrected and then came to the USA, no evidence for it). Honestly, when you dig into some of the claims of other world religions it becomes laughable! Do you know how demeaning LDS is to women? When a Mormon couple marries, man taken behind curtain and given a secret name for his wife that only he knows so that when he’s in heaven he can decide if he wants to call out his wife’s name to have her join him.

-Or think of Buddhism, which says everything is an illusion and nothing matters. What do you think would happen if you were stole all their money? Would they let you get away with it or would they cry for justice? But if nothing matters, why shouldn’t I do anything I want to achieve my own sense of happiness?

-What I’ve found in talking to people from other faiths is there’s a tendency to make yourself the center of the world, then look for the best idea that will allow that to continue. However, God doesn’t let you get away with that, instead He says you need to die to yourself if you really want to live!

-Unlike that, the Bible has yet to be proven false by any archaeological find. Just this past year, they believe they uncovered the home of the apostle Peter, and uncovered curses from Mount Ebal that says “cursed by the God YHW” dated from 1200-1400 BC. I’ve shared before the little piece of pottery that says “bayt David” in Hebrew, validating the existence of King David.

-The longer we go the more historical and textual evidence we have for the Bible being corresponding to reality. And if the Bible truly describes the world around us, shouldn’t we also trust it for the things it describes that we can’t see?

-Because the Bible is true, it also means that it is:

The Bible is Necessary (Psalm 19:7-11)

-Let’s looks briefly at Psalm 19, I say briefly because I preached a whole sermon on this last summer! Look at all the words used to describe the Bible, as well as the implications for following them.

-law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, rules

-reviving, wisdom, rejoicing, enlightening, enduring, righteous, great reward

-If you want a full, content, blessed life, live how God has commanded us.

-Let’s see what else God through Paul says Scripture does in the same place we started today, 2 Timothy:

-teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness. Doesn’t this sound similar to what we saw in Psalm 19? It’s almost as if there’s 1 main point behind this whole book! 1 Divine Author speaking the same message through dozens of people over thousands of years.

-Look where it finds its fulfilment: Leads to being complete (accomplishing God’s intent, infallible).

-But notice where Paul also goes after this:

-Preach the Word! Use it to: reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

-It’s hard in the church, because many people today are described in vs. 3. You can hear exactly what you want to hear 6.5 days of the week! Your social media feeds will cater to your specific preferences, you can even listen to your favorite preacher from the comfort of your living. However, that doesn’t allow us to live in community with others, and when we gather together we’re supposed to be challenged, stretched, pushed outside our comfort zones because we’re coming face to face with the living God as He’s revealed Himself to us!

-So, if you want to know how you can become a complete person:

-Begins by trusting in God as your Savior and Lord. But that’s just the first step. We saw in our last series that God’s command is to make disciples BY teaching people to observe everything God commanded.

-Requires regular studying of God’s Word. One of my favorite parts of preaching is that I get to spend intentional time each week digging into God’s Word pretty deeply, and it transforms me! You will NEVER become an expert on this book. You can spend a lifetime studying, restudying but you’ll never have the whole thing down.

-Let me encourage you, with it being the start of a new year, how can you take 1 step closer to Christ in your reading/studying of the Bible?

-Maybe you can start by reading 1 verse a day! Grow from there, but that’s a great starting place.

-Maybe you need an intentional plan to help you read through it, I printed off a number of copies of my favorite plan (5 Day Plan)

-Maybe you need to start studying it! Get a good study Bible (NIV, ESV) and read through the notes as well as the Bible

-Maybe your next step is memorizing and meditating (Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”). The OSB memorizes a new passage each month, if you want to know the verse we’re memorizing that month let me know!

-Find some way of growing 1 step closer to Christ through His Word this year, whatever it is! Share it with others who can encourage you and help you grow in that, and let the Bible begin to transform you and make you more like Jesus!

Pastor Mike's Musings

All posts for the month January, 2023

Mark 1:1-20 – Sermon Manuscript

Foolish Generosity – Sermon Manuscript

What’s the Big Deal About the Bible? – Sermon Manuscript

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