3/16/2003

Let's bow,

Father we know that is often times the case in every aspect of our life we are kind of hot and cold at different times. There are times when we need to have You light the fire in us. For each person that is a different thing, it might be just an event, might be a moment, might be a need, might be a blessing, might be an indication of Your love for us. We don't always know what it might be, but Father, we ask that You would do the thing in our heart that will fan that flame of devotion and love for You again. So we can return to that first love. Remember You said in Revelation, one of the churches was lukewarm and had kind of lost that first love, they didn't have that desire to be with You like they used to have. You said go back and do the things that you did at the first, do the things that you used to do when you were first a Christian. So Father, help us to remember those things. To go back and read the word, and study the word, and to pray, and to do the things that just as a matter of discipline even, that need to bring us back to You. Father, we also ask You to give us a special moment in our life when you remind us again just how much You love us, how much You think of us, and how much we think of You. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen

Now,what is the difference between Franklin Graham and Billy Graham? Billy Graham is, of course, the Dad and Franklin Graham is the son. What is the difference between Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell? Well, they aren't related for one thing, except in Christ. But if you know the perception people have, at least the news media has of Jerry Falwell, it is very different than the perception they have of Billy Graham, isn't it? Billy Graham is a mild mannered gentlemanly evangelist that everybody loves and who loves everybody. Jerry Falwell is a man who is viewed by much of the media and many people in the world as being the hard line dogmatic hard to like and loves nobody kind of guy who says this is what we aught to be doing. Kind of a prophetic where Billy Graham is the evangelist encourager.

Very interesting as we look at the aspect that we want to talk about this morning. But they are pretty good examples of what happens when you have doctrine without relationships, or relationships without doctrine. Because both are necessary and both of those gentleman kind of epitomize the two different sides of it. One of the things that we know about our world right now and it is not new, by the way. If you are studying with us on Sunday evenings in the Book of Romans, you will find out that the Roman world was very similar to this world. There are many religions that people could believe in, they could chose almost any religion that they saw out there and our historians now days, sociologist I guess, call this culture post Christian, because the generation that I was born into, the baby boomers, up until about 1951 or so, the ones born about then or before give or take a few years, have some understanding of the Bible, some understanding of Jesus, some understanding of Easter, and Christmas. When people talked about Christmas vacation they know it has to do with Christmas not just winter break. And they know that spring break is not spring break, it is Easter vacation. There are those of us who say, No, call it like it is, it is Easter vacation. It is not spring break. But the ones after that have less and less knowledge, less and less history with Christianity.

They begin now to see things very secular. So we live now in what is called the post Christian world, where we no longer think in terms of what the Bible would say. There is not a great respect for the scriptural view on anything, there is not a great respect for religion in general. I shouldn't say religion, Christianity, for religion there is, because many people are spiritual they want to worship something, but they are not necessarily aiming towards Christian things. So, we are living in a decidedly post Christian nation. What has happened is we have not done very well in passing along our faith to our children. It is kind of expected, it is sort of understood. You grow up in a Christian home, therefore, you become a Christian. Well, that may be , but you also may become a very nominal Christian, whose life is not truly affected by your faith. And that has been a cycle of history, not just the United States, but especially we are experiencing it now where this generation, give or take about 40 years of people really, do not know much about the Bible. They do not know much about Christmas, they do not know much about the stories of Christmas, they do not have any particular regard for the Bible. And we as the generation before have not deliberately taught our children to understand and revere those things. We have personally, but our children have kind of seen it in us, but have not had that personal experience, and the personal discipline to do so for themselves. Some have, some haven't. But as a nation we have found ourselves finding that the word God is now under some disrepute. The 9th Circuit Court out in California says now the Pledge of Allegiance under God, because the phrase is in there under God is now no longer constitutional. Because that establishes a religion and we can't do that. So God has been taken from the schools, of course. The Bible can't be in schools, and prayer is supposedly is removed, although I know a lot of prayer goes on before tests. But there is not organized prayer. So God has been officially removed from our culture. And yet most of us as Christians, as Americans actually, believe strongly in God and if we are to define God, we define Him as the Bible describes Him. But that is just kind of part of our heritage, not because we have done a deliberate study as to what the Bible says about God. So what we are finding is that people now do not naturally have an understanding.

Back when I was young, younger I should say. I grew up in a Pastor's home and we would have evangelists come to our church. They would come for a day, or two days, or three days, sometimes a week, sometimes two weeks at a time. And they would hold what we called evangelistic or revival services. Those services began way back in the 1800, the 19th century when electricity began. Because often times the only place in town that had electricity instead of gas lights was in the church. So on Sunday evening the church would be a great gathering place. People would come in there because this was kind of neat and so he would have a ready made audience of people who already had some regard for God, understood sin and salvation things, and so the preacher could say, You need to get saved, you need to follow Christ, you need to do these things.

And he would nod and say, I already knew that. I am ready to do that now. I am ready to commit my life to Christ. And so those are very effective for probably a hundred years. Since about 1950 or so they are not nearly as effective because we find people don't have that background anymore. Now people need to be taught, need to understand who Jesus is. They need to understand that there is a God. They need to understand that the God of the Bible is the true God. And that all the other choices out there are fallacious. And so we find that in this culture, we need to be able to help people understand true doctrine. So we also know that people really don't care what your doctrine is if you don't love them.

You know Jesus was asked, what is the greatest commandment? Do you know what that one was? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second commandment he said is, Love you neighbor as yourself. It is very interesting that he said you definitely have to love and know God, but we need to love our neighbor as our self. Because what happens is we have to have sound understanding of God, we have to have love for the people around us, because love is what allows us to have a hearing for our doctrine.

I ask a few minutes ago what is our view of Jerry Falwell verses Billy Graham. Billy Graham very seldom takes a position that is very controversial. Down through the years he has been the Chaplin, as it were, to the President. All the way from as long as he has ever been around just about, he has been invited to the White House to have prayer with whatever President has been in the office. And when people ask him what he thinks about this President, or this President, or this President, his answer is always the same. He says, I support the President, because he is God's man in this office. I pray for you every day. He will never make a political statement one way or the other. We wouldn't know whether he is conservative or liberal, or democrat or republican. We can guess maybe on some of the positions that some take, but with Dr. Graham, he very seldom makes a judgmental statement about anything.

If you have been reading anything about his son, Franklin Graham, he is not quite so careful with his words. He says, here is what I think about this. In fact I read an article a few weeks ago, a month ago now, about the Muslim faith. What do you think about the Muslim faith? He said, Well I have been serving in 31 countries down through the last 40 years and he says almost all of them are run by Muslims. And he said the Muslim religion is not only a false religion, it is an evil, and it is dangerous. He used some really strong words. How can you say that? He said, because I have been there. I have been involved with them for 40 years, I know exactly what their religion says and how its practices go. I know what it is. So therefore he is not afraid to take a stand. Very controversial, he got some real feedback on that one, very negative feed back from the press, of course. But he said, I have been there, I do the Samaritans Purse and we work with Franklin Graham's ministry in the Samaritans Purse. He does medical missions all over the whole world. Recently we saw him on an interview, I think it was on Handy and Combs, and he said 15 years ago in the hospitals that we run in these countries aids was never even a subject. Now 60 to 70 % of all the patients in our hospitals in that part of the world are aids patients in Africa. So he says we have seen a great change. They ask him a few more questions, but he said, I have been there, I have seen it. I know what I am talking about. So he makes a very strong statement because of his experience. But if you only heard the strong statements without knowing the man, you might reject him because of the strength of his comments. But if you know the love that he also has in his heart for these very people that he serves in these 31 countries, you would say this man has a heart for them even though he knows that they are bound upon a false religion. Now Billy Graham makes no judgmental statements of any kind. He loves everybody, everybody loves him. Jerry Falwell makes very strong statements too, doesn't he? We have seen him down through the years and I have seen him many times and people tend to only see him as a man who comes across as having strong dogmatic views. Most people don't know that his church in Lynchburg, Virginia has hundreds of ministries that serve the poor and feed the poor. They have missions, they have all kinds of

TURN THE TAPE

Often times we spout doctrine rather than show love. The reason I believe is this, I believe that in Christian teaching, the Biblical teachings, we have a real understanding of sin and righteousness. Because our salvation is based upon the fact of recognizing the sin in our lives, and the danger of it, and the pain of it, and the results of it. And Jesus provides salvation by removing that sin and giving us His righteousness. So we have a finely tuned understanding of sin and righteousness. So we know the danger, the pain, the result of sin. And so when we see sin in our lives we should do something about it. When we see sin in somebody else' s life we know that they are causing great destruction. Often times we may say, you need to get this out of your life if you realize how bad that is. But if they don't know us as people who love them first, we may just come across as judgmental. We may see ourselves as being helpful.

I have gotten in cars with people before or they have gotten in my car, driving down the road, my Dad has done this and others have done this and say, Man, you've got a wheel out of balance, haven't you? Well, thank you very much. I am glad you got in the car with me. And they say what is that awful noise, what is that awful smell, it is like wait a minute I didn't get you in here to insult me. People don't invite us into their lives to insult them. That is why Jesus said, love your neighbors as our self. How do we love people when we know the dangers of sin? Because we do. We know that sin leads to more unrighteousness. Unrighteousness leads to consequences, consequences leads to the wrath of God eventually according to Romans. So we know that sin leads to very bad things. It is bad in itself and it also leads to bad things. So in a loving manner we may say, do you realize how dangerous this is for you and how harmful it is for you? But until they have a relationship with us, and they know that we love them, they really don't care what our doctrine is. Our love opens a door, as it were. You have heard this before, people don't care how much you know until the know how much you care. Well if you look at it a little bit different way, people are not nearly as interested in what we think of God as they are in what we think of them. At first people are interested in knowing do you like me? Do you love me? Can we get along together? Rather than telling them what we think about their life, why don't we love them? That is why I believe that Billy Graham is loved by everybody, because he loves everybody and makes no judgmental statements ever. Jerry Falwell is disliked by many, because all they hear is judgmental statements. They don't get the relationship. So we see two kinds of extremes. We need to be lovers of people first, so that we have a hearing then for the God who gives us that love first of all.

Let me give you some practical ideas. How do you love people who are sinners? First of all, there is the thing called a golden rule. What does the golden rule say? Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, right? Ok, I have heard the golden rule as he who has the gold rules. I have heard it, do unto others before they do it you. Well, Jesus said, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The kind of way you would like to be treated by others, treat others the same way. That is a good rule of thumb. Would you like to be treated with good manners? With care and consideration, politeness and kindness? Sure we would. So treat people that way. No matter who they are. The Bible says that God demonstrated His love for us even while we were still sinners Christ died for us. So Jesus didn't wait until we cleaned up our act and then came to provide salvation. He said because we haven't got a clean act we need salvation so therefore He loved us first and provided the way. So we have to experience that the same. We have to treat others as we would like to be treated. Remember also, that we are not so hot either. We are not perfect either. In case you hadn't noticed that ask your spouse. Ok, ask your children if you are perfect. They will give you a pretty straight answer.

We have been getting some really interesting answers from our little granddaughters as they have been around lately. Some of those we would just as soon not repeat, but it is very interesting to hear what comments they have to say about life. But we are not sinless either. But we also have a conscience. The Bible says that the goal of our instructions in 1 Timothy says,

The goal of our instruction is a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere love.

So He says we have to have a good conscience, you have to understand right and wrong and deal with the wrongs in our life. But that also means we should not be quite of picky about other peoples sin. Because they have the right and responsibility to deal with there own, as we do. So we love them anyway. Because we are not so hot after all either.

Number three, remember that my righteousness is not my own. And your righteousness is not your own. The Bible says, all the sin comes short of the glory of God. There is nobody who is righteous in themselves, not one the Bible says. In fact, it says is Ephesians 2: 8-9,

We have been saved by grace through faith; it is not of ourselves, but a gift of God; not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There is nothing we did to earn salvation. God has given it to us a gift. His righteousness has been given to us as a gift. We have been justified from sin because of God's gift. It is all a gift we have all fell short of the glory of God and it says it is a gift of God, is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. There is a gift that has been given to us and the gift is undeserving in this case.

So we should not run around saying, I am more righteous than you so therefore I have the right to dislike you. No, God says hey by the way, you are imperfect, my Son died for you, the only reason you are righteous is because my Son died for you. We have righteousness not of our own. It is of God. So there is no way that we can boast about it. Remember also that our love for sinners is dependent upon your understanding of our own sin. If we have trouble loving people who sin, it is because we don't see ourselves as sinners and in need of forgiveness.

There is a story in Luke chapter 7 where Jesus comes into the man named Simon's house and he didn't give Him a kiss or greeting or wash His feet or anything and of course then you know the story. The lady came in and washed His feet with a basin and her tears and then with her hair wiped His feet. And Jesus said, Simon let me ask you a question because Simon was complaining about this. He said, Simon somebody owes somebody $50 another owes $500 and they are both forgiven. Which one is more grateful? And Simon says I guess the guy who is forgiven the more. He said, that is right. This woman has been forgiven greatly so therefore she loves greatly. Simon had been acknowledging only a little sin in his life or maybe none. So therefore he was not grateful at all, therefore he loved little.

So if we have trouble loving other sinners, like us, it is because we see ourselves as having no need for forgiveness. Because our love is in proportion to our understanding of how much God has forgiven us. If we have little sense of forgiveness in our need for forgiveness, we have little love for sinners it is in proportion. That is why Jesus put it that way, $50 verses $500 or whatever they were.

Fourth, Fifth actually. Remember Job said and we agree that we came into the world with how much? Nothing, we leave the world with nothing. So how much to you own? Nothing, ok, so we are really not much. So what we have to give another person is our best. The best we can give another person is our love for them. The Bible says we love because God first loved us. So therefore we understand where we came from, where we are going, nothing to nothing, and so therefore in the process the best we can do is love a person as God has commanded us. It is the greatest commandment, love God first and love His people second.

Number six. Remember everyone of us; righteous, unrighteous, sinner, non-sinner, whoever we are, we are made in the image of God. Therefore we deserve respect. In the Book of James Chapter 3 says,

Can fresh water come and bitter water come out of the same opening? And he said, No it can't be.

Can't do that. It shouldn't be bitter and sweet out of the same thing. He says, you can't bless God and then curse the people that He has made, who He made in His own image. You can't do that. You can not do that. You can't say I love God and hate your brother. That is totally inconsistent. It can not be done, you can not do that. So therefore he says, we have to love and respect each other as people made in the very image of God. We may not reflect that image all that well. But we are to be respected as people in the image of God. He owns us, He created us, so therefore, we are His, therefore respect His things.

We are learning that at home now day with our little Granddaughters around. We are learning what things are my things, what things are your things. We agreed the other day that the toilet paper is not for the purpose of pulling it all off and putting it in the toilet. Ok. We agreed that the toilet paper is Grandma's things or our things. We are not sure, but it is not for the purpose of pulling the whole thing off and leaving half a roll and the rest of it the toilet. And Grandma's dustpan is not to be put in the garbage. We had to buy a new dustpan the other day because our helpful little Granddaughter put the thing right in the garbage with the dust. And so we are learning whose things are which.

So God has created us, He owns us. The Bible says, the earth is the Lord's and all it's fullness. We, collectively and individually, are owned by God. So we respect the things that are God's. We respect other people, whether we like them or not. We honor them, whether we like them or not, because God owns them. We take care of other peoples things. Just like we take care of our own. That is just common courtesy.

We also don't quit hoping in hope. We have heard the phrase, there but by the grace of God go I. That is about almost all of life. The fact that we have come to a place with salvation in Christ and have hope in Him, we have hope now but before we had that hope, we didn't have it. So there is a process that means there is hope available. And so a person who does not have hope now, doesn't mean they never have hope. A person who is not a Christian now doesn't mean they never will be. It just means that we are loving them to Christ. Everyone is a free Christian really. That is God's desire that everyone become a follower of Christ. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. And so God's desire is that every person in the whole world follow Him. So we are loving people, because they are living without hope possibly now, but the hope that they will have hope in Christ. And they see it hopefully in us.

Next, at the least love a person as your enemy. At the least, love a person as your enemy. How do you treat your enemies? Well, that is where you get lots of turn the other cheek, but only once. That kind of thing. I don't get mad, I get even. You have heard lots of those things. No, Paul says back in Proverbs it says,

If your enemy is hungry, feed them. Give them drink if they are thirsty.

Things like that. You care for them when it is when their need is before you and you can fill there need. You do so. Let God take vengeance upon their sin. Your job is to care for them as God's creation. And God's ownership.

Remember how grateful we must be to God for all that we have. And almost all that we have from God has come through a person, through another person. The thing that we can do as a skill or as some training, we are trained by somebody else. We were taught by Mom and Dad, we were shaped by siblings, we were taught and shaped by teachers. We have friends and family members who helped us become who we are. No person is truly a person on their own. No one is an island. No one is a self made person, nobody. We are here because God has used people to shape our lives. And this person is come into our life now that you never knew before. May not have a great deal of respect at first for, but may be part of the life that God uses to shape you. So there is a gratefulness aspect that God wants to have in everyone of us. That we are grateful to God for the people He brings into our lives.

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