The Plowman

Our Politically Incorrect Gospel [ 37:21 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (42)

Our Politically Incorrect Gospel: 1 John #13

An exposition of 1 John 5:6-13. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 24, 2016.

Intro:

There was this seminary president, this Jewish rabbi and a Messianic Jew together in a television studio…I know it sounds like a bad joke but it was the setting for an episode of the Donahue Show on MSNBC back in August of 2002.  Al Mohler from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Shmuley Boteach – the rabbi, and Michael Brown were on the program to “discuss” whether Jews were “going to heaven” or if they needed to be converted to Christianity.  I was pleased that Mohler and Brown were the two representing our point of view because both are intelligent, articulate and gracious.  Traits that were definitely needed given that the program quickly degenerated into an attack on historic Christianity.  Mohler laid the ground work by saying, “Christians believe that all persons can go to heaven who come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no discrimination on the basis of ethnic or racial or national issues…it is those who are in Christ.  The defining issue is faith in Christ.”  He later said that all people are sinners and in need of a savior.  He declared Jesus Christ as the sole mediator between God and man.  He also pointed out that the Gospel is first to the Jew and then to the gentiles.

That position was said to be, “The cause of anti-Semitism; that it reeks of prejudice and stirs the soul to evil behavior.”  The Christian Church was accused of, “Trying to spiritually annihilate Jews by removing every last Jew on the face of the earth and converting them to Christianity and Jesus.”  Those who believe this Gospel were declared to be “spiritual Neanderthals with repulsive, revolting views.”  Evangelism was equated with “spiritual terrorism.”  But that was just in the opening moments of the program.  Things went downhill after that!

My point is we are living in a society that has already openly asked, “What does Christ have to do with Christmas?”  Our culture has done its best to remove any hint of spirituality from the Christmas season.  What is of greater concern to me is that an increasing number of folks seem to be asking, “What does Christ have to do with Christianity?”  The biblical Gospel, the historic message of the Christian church is not only questioned, it is openly denied and despised!  What is the church to do?  How are we to respond to the growing animosity?

Thesis: Our pluralistic culture, with its multiple paths to glory, demands that the church clearly, plainly and uncompromisingly set forth the biblical Gospel.

Text: 1 John 5:6-13

The problem in our culture is there are those who want to gut the content of the Christian faith but then live according to its ethic and that is not possible.  The ethic is based on the content!  In John’s day there were those who had “moved beyond” the simple truths of the Gospel to so called greater truths.  They had moved on to a higher truth, into a secret knowledge.  John was writing to confused believers assuring them of life in Christ.  John has three distinct purposes in writing:

• he wanted to encourage their sagging faith
• he wanted to stress the historical groundings of the Christian faith
• he wanted to expound upon Christ’s new commandment – the need to love one another.

The bulk of the letter is taken up with the issue of assurance.  But, as with the three tests, we discover these three purposes are not isolated, they naturally and of necessity enter-twine.  They are woven together as part of the same fabric.

In our text he addresses the historical context and makes some bold pronouncements about the Gospel.  Truths that we must boldly proclaim today.

1. John identifies Jesus as the one true Redeemer.  (5:6-8)
   John is identifying who Jesus is.
   He is of divine origin – “this is he who came…”
   He is identified with man  – “this is he who came by water…”
   He is the Redeemer – “this is he who came by water and blood…”
2. John sets forth the testimony that must be believed.  (5:9-11)
3. John unapologetically proclaims that Jesus Christ as the only means of being made right with God.  (5:12)

The Comprehensive Exam [ 28:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (39)

The Comprehensive Exam: 1 John #12

This is an exposition of 1 John 5:1-5. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 17, 2016.

Intro:

I loved school!  I’m one of those folks who just loved “being on campus.”  Now don’t get confused – I didn’t say, “I love academics.”  I said, “I loved school.”  There is a difference.  I enjoyed the study.  I enjoyed the people.  I enjoyed interacting with students and faculty.  I found the give and take of debate stimulating.  I enjoyed sitting around the student center and solving the problems of the world.  It’s just a shame we didn’t have control the world back when we had all the answers.  Today I’m not sure if I even know what the questions are – then I was confident I knew everything.  What I didn’t like was the end of the semester.  I didn’t like it because this might be one of those crazy professors who thought it was a good thing to give a “comprehensive exam.”  You know an exam that actually covers the entire semester’s work?  What a nutty idea to see if you’ve actually mastered the material you where supposed to have mastered!  I remember the final exam for the first semester of western civilization.  We walked in and took a seat.  Two hours had been set aside for this exam.  I was anxious for the teacher to hand out the exam so I could get started.  “I hope there some matching and some multiple choice.”  He pointed to the chalkboard and said, “There is the question.  You’ve got two hours.  Good luck.”  “Beginning with the year 600, trace the development of this concept through to the dawn of the enlightenment using the major literary works and leading historical figures.”  Nothing leaves you quite as exposed and vulnerable as a comprehensive exam.

As John comes to 1 John 5 of his 1st epistle, he pulls together the three tests revealed earlier in the letter.  He was writing to a confused bunch as some false teachers had come into the church and perverted the Gospel.  False teachers with “super truths” and “secret knowledge” had caused division and strife within the fellowship.  Some had left the church.  Those who remained were wavering.  Uncertain.  Hesitant.  John intended to encourage them and strengthen their sagging faith.  He said, “I am writing that you may know that you have eternal life.”  His goal was that they would be certain of their being “in the faith.”  In seeking to encourage he gave a series of tests.

• The test of righteousness – are you growing in holiness?  Is there an increase in desire for the things of God?  Are you progressing in godliness?
• The text of love – is your love increasing?  Love for God and love for your fellow man?
• The text of truth – have you grown in your understanding of doctrine?  Is there an increase in your appetite for the truth of God’s Word?

These are ways of measuring your spiritual life.  They are a means of determining whether you are in fact “in the faith.”  Now these three are brought together in our text found in 1 John 5.

Text: 1 John 4:20-5:5

Thesis: In our text John lovingly and yet forcefully sets forth the characteristics of a genuine believer.

We discover that these tests are not isolated truths.  They do not stand alone.
Rather they naturally and of necessity blend together.  Here John, with the exactness of a surgeon and the compassion of a pastor, applies these three tests.  These things are true of the children of God.

If you are “in the family” this is true of you.  If these are not true – you’re not “in the family.”

There are three things I want us to note:

1. John proclaims the absolute necessity of the new birth.  (4:20-5:1)
2. John defines love as obedience.  (5:2-3)
3. John declares that faith assures victory.  (5:4-5)Conclusion:
   It’s exam time.  Time to apply the three test.
   How are you doing?

• The test of righteousness
• The test of love
• The test of truth

There’s nothing that leaves you so exposed or so vulnerable – but this is an exam you must take.

The Love of God [ 38:50 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (40)

The Love of God: 1 John #11

This is an exposition of 1 John 4:7-21. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 10, 2016.

Intro:
We’ve come through the holiday season.  We’ve seen the annual push for folks to demonstrate how compassionate and caring they really are.  People who haven’t spoken to their neighbor for the past six years dropped off a turkey at John 3:16 so that a total stranger could know they are loved, and the one who bought the turkey could soothe his conscience.  Meanwhile his cold shoulder insures that his neighbor knows he has not forgotten.  Thousands of dollars along with coats, toys, food and other gifts have once again proved that we are a loving and caring people at least from late November through December.  Meanwhile, we hear daily of shootings and other violent crimes.

But all of this is just a symptom of a larger problem.  We really don’t know what love is.  When you listen to popular music – vile, vulgar lyrics speak of perversion rather than love.  These kids today have no concept of real love.  Why in my day we had “great” love songs, with lyrics like, “Hello.  I love you.  Won’t you tell me your name?”  We were talking about that deep, meaningful kind of love.  We could talk about Hollywood and their role in perverting love and reducing it to animal passion.  But we must not overlook our role in all of this.  The church is no innocent bystander in this culture war.  To tell you the truth, when I first saw the footage of Ferguson – I wasn’t sure if it was a riot or a Baptist business meeting!  For too long the church has settled for a sappy, sentimental understanding of love.  What is love?  What does it mean to love one another?  Our text this morning is found in the 4th chapter of 1 John.

Text: 1 John 4:7-21

John is writing to encourage a people he dearly loves.
His pastor’s heart is breaking over the confusion and harm that has come to the church.
False teachers have perverted the Gospel.
They have distorted the message of Christ.
The result is hurt and confusion in the hearts of genuine believers.
John says he is writing that they might know that they know.
That they might be certain that they are “in the faith.”
He has set forth three tests:
The moral – the test of righteousness
The social – the test of love
The doctrinal – the test of truth
In our text this morning he is expanding on the social test – the test of love.

This word was important for the believers in John’s day and it is vitally important to believers today.  This is a message our culture needs to hear.  Because I’m convinced that:

Thesis: In a world saturated with a simplistic, sentimental and wholly inadequate understanding of love, believers must faithfully and consistently demonstrate the love of God.

If our world is to know anything about genuine love believers have to step up.  We have to demonstrate or model what real love is.  Because, as John makes clear, only those who know God, know what real love is.  Only those who’ve experience the genuine article are capable of showing it to others.

There are three great truths revealed in this text regarding the love of God.  These are essential to knowing and understanding what real love is all about.

1. The love of God flows from the essence of His being and is best demonstrated in the work of redemption.  (4:7-12)
2. The love of God combines truth and passion.  (4:13-16)
3. The love of God relieves our fears and enables our passion.  (4:17-21)

Discerning Believers [ 36:10 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (47)

Discerning Believers: 1 John #10

This is an exposition of 1 John 4:1-6. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 3, 2016.

Intro:

I really didn’t want to go but he was my friend and asked me to go with him.  So there I was in a room full of preachers – most of them were charismatic.  We had gathered for a “prayer meeting.”  I say, “prayer” in quotation marks because it wasn’t much of a prayer meeting.  Prayer time soon turned into “prophecy on parade.”  One after another they prophesied about everything from health issues to the economy to world affairs.  When we left the meeting my friend asked what I thought of the prayer meeting.  I said, “I wish I had the rock concession.”  He did not understand my Old Testament reference to the stoning of false prophets and when I explained it he didn’t appreciate it!

I’m often surprised by the “preachers” that people like.  I was asked at a pastor’s conference once about a certain television preacher.  “Do you listen to him?”  I said, “No, but I know who he is.”  My friend said, “I really like listening to him.  He is dynamic and he’s built a really large church.”  I said, “Do you listen to him?  Do you listen to what he is saying?  His teaching is far from orthodox.”  The conversation moved in another direction.

I was talking to an older evangelist once and he was telling me about an up and coming evangelist in our state.  He said to me, “He will go far because he says it well and he looks good saying it.”  Nothing about content.  Nothing about the truth of his message.  Just that he says it well and he looks good.  The sad thing is his words were prophetic.  The evangelist has done quite well.

I realize that we are living in the 21st century and we must not violate the new tolerance – but DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR!  Not everyone who claims to be speaking for God is speaking for God.  The test of authenticity is not found in how large the crowd, how passionate the following or how great the result  The proof is in the content and the spirit behind it.  I know many would say, “If you don’t like him don’t listen.”  Others would ask, “What harm is there in it?  Don’t bring division to the body of Christ.”  Well, should we go “heresy hunting?”  Does it really matter?

Matthew 7:15
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

It would seem to me Jesus considered false teacher to be real and to be a danger!

2 Timothy 4:3-4
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”

It seems to me that we have more than sufficient biblical warrant for exercising discernment in what we are willing to listen to and tolerate within the church of the Lord Jesus.  The problem is that when you begin to call some things into question there is the cry of “judge not lest you be judged.”  Usually followed by, “Touch not the Lord’s anointed.”

Of course most of the touch not the Lord’s anointed are found in 2 Samuel and have to do with the king not the prophet.  There is the passage in 1 Chronicles 16:22, repeated in Psalm 105:15 but that is about the physical well-being of God’s true prophet not protecting a false prophet as he lies in Jesus’ name!

We must be discerning in what we allow to feed our hearts and minds.  We cannot afford to be uncritical in our reading or listening.  John weighs in on this issue as he expands on his concept of a doctrinal test.  Our text this morning is found in 1 John Psalm 4.

Text: 1 John 4:1-6

John is writing to struggling believers so that they might know they are in the faith.
He sets out for them a series of tests:

• The moral – righteousness
• The social – love
• The doctrinal – truth

In our text he is going to expand on the idea of a doctrinal test.

His message is fundamental and yet often overlooked today:

Thesis: Genuine followers of Christ must reject error and embrace the truth.

The problem, as I see it, is that in today’s church there is widespread agreement that we should embrace truth but no cause for rejecting error!  This is due, in no small part, to the redefinition of truth.  “Truth is what you make it.”  “Whatever truth is to you.”  Rather than there being an objective truth out there apart from me, established by an authority.  Such thinking is totally foreign to John.

A common theme throughout John’s writing is the contrast between light and darkness; truth and error; God and the world.  As we explore our text I want to point three things out to you.

• Believers are obligated to exercise discernment.  (4:1)
• Believers are commanded to carefully examine what is taught.  (4:2-3)
• Believers must distinguish between truth and error: between God and the world.  (4:4-6)

Conclusion:
We are called to reject error and embrace the truth.
That will require us to exercise discernment;
Carefully examine what is taught;
And distinguish between truth and error.