Palm Sunday 2024 - "The March Up to Jerusalem"

 Usually when we talk about Palm Sunday, we looked to passages like Luke 19:28-40, or Mark 11:1-11, or Matthew 21:1-11, and we tend to focus on the triumphal entry with the shouts of Hosanna, and Blessed be the Son of David. 

But the journey to Jerusalem, to the Triumphal entry, begins much earlier. There’s a lot going on from the time Jesus starts his journey towards Jerusalem, to when he calls it a night on the first day of Holy Week. Today we’re going to walk through the Gospel of Luke starting in chapter 13, verse 22, and follow the moments that Jesus walked as he made his way to Jerusalem. 

So let’s start at the beginning of the trek as Jesus set his sights on the holy city. Luke 13:22, tells us, “He went on his way through towns and villages teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.” Jesus’ mind was set on the cross that he came to bear. Though he continued his teaching, every step from this moment where we turned his journey towards Jerusalem, had one destination in mind, the cross. 

In Luke 13:32, Jesus speaks to the Pharisees who came with death threats from King Herod, "32 And he said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox, “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”’”

So Jesus turns his attention to the cross and begins his trek towards it. And he begins to teach of the lostness of humanity, with images like sheep, coins, and sons. It wouldn’t be until chapter 17, verse 11, that we would again be reminded that Jesus’ focus is on Jerusalem. 

Here in Luke 17:11, we’re told, “On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” It was in this area that ten lepers came out to be healed. Jesus sent them away to be examined by the priests, and as they went, they were healed, but only one returned to praise God. This one was an outsider, a Samaritan ,and sets a pattern that we will continued to see, as Jesus comes closer and closer to his finished work. 

Everything that Luke records from this point on, shows us what makes the Triumphal entry so grand. 

From the ten lepers, and the returning of the one, we immediately hear about the kingdom of God and how it’s greater than anything that we could value in our lives. When it comes, it will come quick, but if a person is paying attention, they will see signs of it’s arrival. 

It’s following this teaching on the kingdom that we’re given two parables. The parable of the Persistent Widow, and the the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector. The Persistent Widow focuses on seeking justice from a wicked judge by bothering him until he concedes. Jesus’ point is that, we are to seek the Kingdom like this, except our Judge wants to bring justice. 

The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector quickly follows and focuses on how a self-righteous person points to others and compares themselves to them, while those that God counts as righteous recognize their sin and seek the Lord’s mercy. 

Put these together and God’s kingdom is for those who recognize God’s work, who seek it as greater than their own lives in such a persistent way that they recognize their own failings and throw themselves on the grace and mercy of God.

It’s here that we get two back-to-back real world examples. Children are brought to Jesus for a blessing. They are rejected by the disciples, but embraced by Jesus, who tells his followers that they must be like little children if they want to enter the kingdom. Children are those who are joyful when blessed, they seek greater things outside themselves, they are persistent in their desires, and they are weak and in need of help. 

This is contrasted with the Rich Ruler, who comes to Jesus thinking he has done everything needed to gain eternal life. But though he has done the religious work and he has made the money so he is seemingly blessed by God, his heart is in rebellion against God. He walks away from eternal life, to embrace the possessions he has made his idol and his god. 

It’s at this heartbreaking moment, as the man leaves Jesus to enter his eternal death, that Jesus speaks of his own death. It’s for the lost, those headed to hell, that Jesus comes to die. It is our sin, our desire for self, our desire to do what God says to abstain from, that brings us into eternal death. 

Therefore Jesus turns his disciples’ attention again to where his focus is. Luke 18:31 reads, “And taking the twelve, he said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’” 

Though Jesus tells his disciples about his death and resurrection, they couldn’t comprehend it. But that didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if we comprehend what Jesus had to do, to bring us salvation, what matters is that we trust Jesus as he moves to accomplish what needs to happen to bring life to those who would embrace it.

Jerusalem is now on the horizon. Jesus has walked over 86 miles at this point from where we first read that he was headed to Jerusalem. 

And as he enters the city of Jericho, a blind beggar hears of his coming, and begins to shout out for Jesus. And like the disciples who rebuked the children for being brought to Jesus, the people along the road rebuke the blind man, but like the persistent widow, this man doesn’t let the rebuke of others stop him from seeking Jesus. And like the children that Jesus embraced, he also embraces this man in his need, and heals him. 

This is followed up with the tax collector Zacchaeus. Except this time, it’s the Lord who reaches out to call the sinner to himself. It’s at Zacchaeus’ house that Jesus desired to eat and rest. It’s here, through Jesus’ ministry that Zacchaeus repents of his defrauding of others. This repentant tax collector is the real world example of Jesus’ parable. Zacchaeus gives up his wealth is also the antithesis of the Rich Ruler who idolized his. 

It’s here in chapter 19 verse 9 Jesus proclaims, “…Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

There’s that purpose of Jesus of seeking the lost, popping up once again. Now this statement done in front of the Pharisees who had been grumbling to themselves about Jesus eating with such a sinner. So Jesus makes this statement and then has a parable for them. 

Jesus gives the Parable of the Ten Minas. In it, three servants are each given one mina, which is equivalent today to about $62,000 (one mina = 11,200lbs of grain; as of 3/20/24 new crop wheat is going for about $6 a lb). One servant takes it and produces 10x, one who produces 5x, one produces nothing and accuses the master of improper acts.

The faithful servant in the kingdom of God is the one who does the work God has called them too. The unfaithful one is the one that makes excuses and accuses God. The Pharisees are in that moment accusing God of eating with sinners, and therefore showing themselves unfaithful.

All of this sets up Palm Sunday. From the moment Jesus turned his full attention to Jerusalem, to his trek through Samaria and the ten lepers, as he made his way through Jericho and ate with Zacchaeus, Jesus’ focus was on Jerusalem. 

So as he enters in on the young donkey, and the people praise God for him, and the Pharisees become upset with the whole procession, Jesus’ focus is on the cross set before him. And as Jesus tops the hill, he says these words about his destination, Jerusalem, in Luke 19:42, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

There’s no stoping what was about to happen. Jesus wouldn’t stop it, because he knows what’s ahead. And what’s ahead is what Hebrews 12:2 tells us, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

 

And as Jesus entered Jerusalem, with his joy of saving the lost through the cross just a few days ahead, he went to the temple. A place where his very pre-incarnate presence had filled when Solomon had finished his prayer in 2nd Chronicles 7:1. It’s here that Jesus speaks these words, in chapter 19, verse 46, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he begins to teach in the temple everyday of his final week, as he draws ever closer to the cross. 

The march of Jesus to Palm Sunday, is a march of determination for the lostness of humanity. We are his prize, we are his joy, and the shame and pain of the cross is but a small momentary loss for his great desire. 

As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, to the triumphal entry, the call for his disciples to be found by the Savior, to seek the kingdom, and to walk humbly and faithful, is the call that is upon our lives today. 

We must make sure that we are found by our Savior. That means we need to recognize our sin, and repent of it like Zacchaeus did. When we experience the salvation that comes through that repentance, we must turn to the Lord in praise, as the leper did. We must walk humbly as a child, seeking our Savior, as a child seeks their parent. And we must be faithful with the gifts, time, and life that we have, that we would honor God with it all. 

When we do, the temple that he has built in our lives will be cleansed by the Holy Spirit’s work, and our lives will no longer be a den of robbers, but a holy dwelling for the Spirit of the Risen Savior. 

Palm Sunday is a day to recognize our King as he comes into Jerusalem. And as we celebrate Palm Sunday, we must also recognize why his march towards it, is so important. It’s because of us. It’s because we are his desire, that no person would perish without the work of the Savior to save them from sin, being accomplished (2 Peter 3:9). And Jesus is still at work, through his Church, to bring about the witness to his great triumph through the cross and shown to be true by the resurrection. 

My challenge for you this week is to take the palm leaf in your bulletin, doll it up as you are led, and to post at your house where you can see it. Seek to praise Jesus for the march into Jerusalem, and the cross that he bore for you’re salvation, and then seek to serve him as he deserves. That we would be faithful children of the Living God.

Let us be the people of God, who are saved, and serving on this Palm Sunday. Amen.

Mining God’s Word

  As this winter season is coming to a close, God has pressed onto me to share with you how I study the Scriptures, so that you can go deeper into understanding God’s Word. As I’ve talked with people about studying the Bible, what I have seen is that most people read the Bible and just think about it. They might then read a commentary, either one from their study Bible notes at the bottom of the page, or from a commentary series. 

Today, I want to challenge you to go deeper; to begin to see the Scriptures as not only God inspired, but truly Holy Spirit illuminated. There is a general revealing that God does, that we call the Faith, last week we talked about the narrow path and how it’s defined by tier 1 theology, those are what we corporately understand about God, and yet, the Holy Spirit treats us on an individual relational level. 

We have different preferences, we have different gifts, we have different ministries as we are all led by the Holy Spirit. It’s why I error on the side of God’s relationship with his people, rather than on a strict set of do’s, and don’ts. Where the Scriptures give room for freedom, I try to follow that same standard. Understanding the Scriptures through the leading of the Holy Spirit’s illuminating work, is also why I’ll say things like, you don’t need a pastor to understand God. But undisciplined, this can lead into misunderstanding Scripture, which can lead into all sorts of crazy things, like cults. 

So I want to give you the skeletal structure of how to approach the Scriptures to mine God’s word by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Step One, always approach the Bible by realizing our own thoughts can taint our interpretation of Scripture. It’s easy for us to read our 21st century mindset back into the Bible. So we need to realize that we can do this and work to mediate the impact of our modern eyes, as much as possible. We accomplish this by seeking God in prayer to keep our mind from adding the modern us, to his past revelation. Having this in the forefront of our minds will help immensely.

In addition to that, we need to know two words that you might have heard before. Exegesis and Eisegesis. Exegesis literally means “Draw meaning out of.” It’s defined as the process of seeking to understand what a text means or communicates on it’s own. This is what we want. God spoke to specific people, in specific times, for specific purposes, so we want to understand those people, times and purposes as God intended us to. That means we have to remove our 2024 western glasses and traditions as much as possible, before the application of God’s word to our 2024 world.

Not removing our traditions, ideologies, and thoughts is called eisegesis, which means “Reading meaning into.” Eidegesis is a term used to designate the practice of imposing a preconceived or foreign meaning onto a text, even if that meaning could not have been originally intended at the time of its writing. An example of this, is Jesus giving the religious leaders the sign of Jonah, where the Son of man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40). To our modern ears that would mean Jesus would raise on the fourth day to have three complete days and nights in the ground. Which when then mean he would have raised on the Tuesday not Sunday. But understanding that the phraseology that Jesus uses, is a common saying in his time, helps us understand the passage as being fulfilled in the time it’s revealed in the Gospels. In our study of the Bible, we want to be exegetical as much as possible, so that the word of God speaks as God intended it to speak.

Now that we have it in our mind to always approach the Bible with being proactive in not letting our own thoughts taint our study, we can move on to the how of studying.

Step two, is, first know the big picture of what we’re studying. This is called by a lot of words, Panoramic and Macro-scope are two that I use. 

If we’re at the beginning of studying a book of the Bible, we need to start by researching everything about the book we can. I have seven questions that need to be answered before we even dive into the book. In order to answer these, most Bibles, especially study Bibles, have an introduction to each book. These questions can usually be answered in those introductions. But be careful because depending on who translated your version, they might have an agenda of their own. To remedy this, try multiple commentary intros to the book you want to study. That way you have a larger pool of information. 

The first of these questions is, where is the book found in the Canon of Scripture? Each book is purposefully placed by the Holy Spirit. Is the book in the Old or New Testament? Where in those testaments is it located? Let’s say we are studying the Gospel of Matthew. God has placed it as a transition from the Old Testament to the New. Matthew presents Jesus as the answer to the Old Testament’s prophetic word about the Messiah. This sets Matthew’s Gospel in it’s proper interpretation as we study it.

Next, who is the author? The Holy Spirit inspired the writing, but God used a specific person to pen it, who then is that author. In Matthew’s case, he is Levi, the tax collector, and core disciple of Jesus’ ministry, who’s name Jesus changed.

Thirdly, when was the book written? Matthew was written between 50-55 AD, because he dies around 60 AD. This is important because the timing of the Gospel’s writing helps us understating it’s place within other historical events. The most important one for us when studying the New Testament, being the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD.

Our fourth question is, where was it written? Paul wrote on the road as he did his missionary journeys, but he also wrote shackled to a Roman guard. This type of information gives us insight into the imagery, language, and issues that are addressed in the book.

The fourth question usually leads us into the fifth question, which is, what is the purpose of the writing? Sometimes this comes at the beginning and sometimes it comes at the end. In the Gospel of John chapter 20, in the last two verses of the book, John writes, “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The purpose, then helps us understand the reasons behind including some things and excluding other things. 

Our sixth question is then, who is the intended audience? Paul’s books are usually clues to who he writes to, Romans, Ephesians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Other books are not so easy, 1 Peter, Jude, 1st-3rd John. Knowing who the writer wrote the book for, helps us understand the Spirit’s intention to them and to us.

The final question we ask in step two is, what is the cultural setting? Is it thirteenth century Israel? Is it the Babylonia exile? Is it a 1st century Jewish context, or 1st century Greek city? This will help us understand language, and imagery in our interpretation. 

Once we have a macro-view of the book we are studying, the nitty-gritty of the chapters and verses can now be examined. This third step is called the microscopic view.

In the microscopic study of the book, we have three parts of examination. We start with singular verses, then we build upon them to passages of thought, and finally understanding them in their chapters of context.

The reason we start with the singular verse is so we can help keep ourselves away from assumptions. Every verse is first treated as a unique thought and therefore examined as such. The questions we were taught in school of “who, what, when, where, and how, are the questions we use to examine the verse. Take the verse John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Some of the questions we might have are: What beginning? When was this beginning?  Is it the beginning of the book or the world? What does “Word” mean and why is it capitalized? What does it mean that the “Word” was with God? How can the “Word” be God?

You might say, well I know all of the answers to these questions, but that’s not the point. The point is to approach the Scriptures as if you don’t know. As if you’re opening up the Bible for the first time. 

And so, once we ask all the questions we can of the verse, without answering any of them. We may then give our observations that can only be gleaned from the verse itself. An example of this might be: It seems at some beginning, there was a unique entity called the “Word,” who is both distinct from God, yet considered God.

After our questions and our observations, we leave that verse and move onto the next, without answering our questions, repeating the question and observation cycle. We continue this until we have studied at least thirty verses. Once those thirty verses are done, we can then go back and answer the questions. This is because, we have given space for the text of Scripture to interpret itself. If we did this for John 1:1-30, we can then go back to our first series of questions about the “Word,” and thanks to verse 14 we know that the “Word” becomes flesh, and thanks to verse 17, we known that this was Jesus.

By being so meticulous, we’ll find that Scripture explains itself to us, without us, assuming we know what it is talking about. 

This verse by verse study, then leads us into entire thoughts, that can carry from chapter to chapter, and then helps us better understand the book as a whole, and it’s place in the canon of Scripture.

 

Notice, that I haven’t told you to answer these questions by looking them up in things like commentaries. Commentaries are good, if you run into a wall you can’t get past. To answer these wall issues, I would suggest prayer first, and commentaries that are first and foremost historical and non-ideological. Meaning you want commentaries that will give you the facts, instead of interpretation. And if you use ideological commentaries, then you must have them from multiple perspectives. In my library, I have Calvinistic and Armenian. I have dispensational and non-dispensational. I have Alliance, Wesleyan, and Reformed. I even have a commentary with three views next to each other to make the research easier.

But understand this, commentaries are the last step after all we’ve talked about so far. If we jump from reading a passage, straight into a commentator’s interpretation, we have jumped from the Holy Spirit’s lead to man’s lead, and that’s not what God wants and that’s not what we should want either.

Commentaries with scholarly and theological work are good resources, but that’s what they are, resources. If we rely on someone else’s interpretation of Scripture as being our go to, then we become less led by the Spirit. But when we seek the Holy Spirit in deep study of the Scriptures, we join the Psalmist when they write, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (119:11).”

And that leads us into the challenge this week. I want to challenge you to study John 1:1-34 the way in which we approached it. By praying that your preconceived ideas, and western mind would be checked at the door by the Holy Spirit. Then looking at the macro-view of the Gospel of John, to understand why it’s where it is and the purpose of God behind the whole book. Then meticulously going verse-by-verse, simply asking questions of the verses as if they were stand alone sentences by God. Then, interpreting the verse by allowing it to speak for itself. And after all that, share with someone any insights that you may have.

This will be a long work if you take this challenge, but understand this, every time I stand in front of you, this is the approach I take. And if you think I have insight, it’s simply because I take the time for the Holy Spirit to speak as he intends to speak. Let’s all be seeking God’s interpretation, for God’s glory. Amen.

“Ecumenism in Biblical Unity”

 One of the most influential sermons I ever heard, was one given by one of my fellow college students. He spoke on the disciples calling on Jesus to tell the man who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name to stop. Jesus responded with, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us (Mark 9:39b-40).”

This past week I received two emails and a phone call concerning an upcoming event. All I know is the person’s first name, and if they attend this congregation, I cannot place the name with a face, nor have they talked with me in person. I have responded, to the email, but the response I received showed me that it would not be a fruitful exchange. 

This issue about the event is who was to be leading the said event. As I spent time in prayer before responding, and time after the person’s response to me, I was led by the Holy Spirit to share with you today’s topic. 

See, I have said it in the past that the unity of the Church is the highest call on the Christian’s life. In Jesus’ last public prayer before the crucifixion, which is called his high priestly prayer, Jesus says these words in John 17:20-21, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” The unity of the Church is a testimony to the truth of the Gospel, because it’s one way in which the world may know that Jesus was sent from the Father. 

This unity was challenged in the early Church in Acts 15, when Jewish-Christians were trying to put the Gentile-Christians under the law. The unity of the Church was challenged again in 325 AD, when the council of Nicaea had to wrestle with the heresy of Arianism that put forth that Jesus wasn’t the same divine nature as the Father, but rather a lesser created divine being.

With the conclusion of Nicaea, it was thought that the Church was reunified around the Nicene Creed. Yet, as the Church became more accepted by the Roman government, it’s unity suffered. By about 450 AD, two groups had splintered off from the Church, the Church of the East and the Oriental Church. By 1095, the unity of the Church saw it’s biggest hit when the Roman Catholic in the west and the Orthodox in the east split from each other in the Great Schism. Following our heritage in the west, the Roman Catholic Church would then see another great schism in 1517 with the Reformation and the Protestant movement. Today there are thousands of denominations of various sizes, holding to various beliefs.

These fractures of unity, began to see a different movement of God happening in the the 1700s and into the 1800s. The Great Awaking evangelistic movements were a call to Gospel transformation, and made inroads into these fractures. Then in the late 1800s we began to see some of these fractures begin to heal, with groups like the Alliance. This healing happened with a great focus on the Gospel, and less on what would eventually be referred to as secondary doctrine. 

In 1908, a modern movement of unity was began, a movement that would be called the Ecumenical Movement, or Ecumenism. This modern movement saw 32 smaller groups come together to from the Federal Council of Churches in the U.S., which is now called the National Council of Churches.  

In western Europe, four conferences were held from 1910 to 1927, which led to the formation of the World Council of Churches in 1937. 

In 1943, as a response to the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals was formed.

Finally in 1962, the Roman Catholic Church created it’s Secretariat to begin to heal the rifts between itself and the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Great Schism. With this, the Orthodox Church created their own Pan-Orthodox Conference to bring unity to the Orthodox sects. 

This brings us to where we are now in 2024. The question we should ask now is, is Ecumenical Movement a good or a bad thing? Well, it’s a good thing in the sense that Jesus has called us to be unified as he and the Father are united. The bad thing comes in what we’re unifying over. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said, “13 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

The way of Jesus is a hard narrow one. It’s not hard in the sense of work, because we are justified by faith and not of works (Galatians 2:16); it’s hard in the sense that the narrowness of it makes it hard to follow. If it were the wide path, everyone could do it. The Hindu who believes in his 300,000+ gods would be on the same path as the Muslim who believes in only one god. But Jesus states that his path is narrow, so narrow in fact that in John 14:6b, Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus makes his path narrow and therefore hard. And it’s this narrowness that both unites and divides us. 

Jesus’ narrow path starts with the question, how much theology does it take to gain salvation? In his book, “Don't Stop Believing,” Micheal E. Wittmer gives a three tier ring to answer this question. At the heart of these three rings, is what he says we “Must Believe.” This is all the theology a person must have at the time they are justified. They must realize they’re a sinner and call on the Lord Jesus to save them. It doesn’t take much to move from eternal death to eternal life, just a life that accepts their need and the Savior’s gift. 

But from there on out we need to grow in our knowledge and understanding of God. Wittmer says we “Must Not Reject” that God is Trinity, that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and the “historical truth and significance of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and return.” Moving on from there, Wittmer comments that we should believe, that God is perfect, that humans are made in the image of God, that the Bible is God’s word, that the Church is Jesus’ body, and that biblical story of creation, the fall, redemption, and consummation of all things.

It’s these second and third rings that we begin to get into what people call the tiers of theology. If all it takes to enter into salvation is, “I’m a sinner, Jesus save me,” what does it mean then to be Christian? This is where the tiers of theology help us. It’s here that we begin to see what we are to unify and divide on, and what makes the narrow road, narrow.

There are usually about three tiers of theology that are talked about. One scholarly group says of the first one, that “First-level issues are most central and essential to Christianity. You can’t deny these teachings and still be a Christian in any meaningful sense (https://www.logos.com/grow/3-categories-every-christian-should-know-to-understand-theological-issues/).” This congregation is a part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which is a part of the National Association of Evangelicals, which is a group of about thirty-eight different denominations in the U.S. The Statement of Faith that the NAE states that they unify on is:

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

I would agree with these as a way to express the core of what it means to be Christian. As we grow in our understanding of who God is, these are what historical Christianity has taught across the whole history of the Church. 

This is the core that every professing Christian should say “Amen” to. If calling out to Jesus alone as Savior begins one’s path on the narrow road, it’s this tier that defines what God teaches on that path.

Therefore if we deny that Bible is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative word of God, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. If we deny the oneness of God eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. If we deny the deity of Jesus, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his miracles, his atoning death, his bodily resurrection, his ascension and his personal return, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. If we deny the need for salvation due to humanity being in sin, and it’s need to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. If we deny the indwelling of the Holy Spirit’s work, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. If we deny the resurrection of both the saved to eternal life and the unsaved to eternal death, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians. And if we deny the spiritual unity of believers in Jesus, we cannot rightly call ourselves Christians.

This is what we unite and divide on. And there are groups who call themselves Christians who deny one or more of these, and to them we have to say, I cannot fellowship with you. I cannot have Christian fellowship with those who would teach that the Bible is in error. I cannot have Christian fellowship with those who would teach that Jesus isn’t the only way. I cannot have Christian fellowship with those that teach Jesus sinned. I cannot have Christian fellowship with those who would teach that we are not sinners in need of a Savior. And I do not say this as if I’m saying it in a self-righteous way, but rather with a heart that is broken because Jesus sets the standard of the narrow way, and it cannot be unified with the wide path. 

But if you say “Amen” to the core of the Christian faith, I embrace you as my brother and sister in Christ. These are the things I teach on, they’re the things that I focus on, because I desire God’s heart and that’s his Church to be unified around what he has called us to be unified on. 

Tier Two then is defined as, “Second-level issues create reasonable boundaries between Christians, such as different denominations and local churches. These issues will have a bearing on what sort of church you are part of.” It’s what makes Christ’s expression of his people different depending on the congregation and denomination. We have open communion, but another might have closed. One is Armenian another is Calvinistic. One is liturgical and another isn’t. These matter in a sense of personal conviction, and preference, but not in the eternal scope of things. If you hold to tier one, and we differ on tier two, we are still family in Christ. It’s these tier two issues that you might encounter in this congregation, but they’re not something we focus on, and rarely teach on from the pulpit.

Tier Three is defined as, “Third-level issues are disputable matters (also called matters of indifference or matters of conscience). They might involve how you interpret particular passages of the Bible.” This is where we struggle together, we debate, and grow as Christ’s body, as we work through harder passages that have been wrestled with since they were first penned by the work of the Holy Spirit. These can be debated on the larger scale of the Church, or in small congregations. When is the rapture, what will our bodies look like, will our pets be in heaven. We can discuss and debate, all while knowing we won’t know until we’re on the side of eternity, and all the while in Christian fellowship.

In our town, we fellowship with the Assemblies of God, Community Bible, First Baptist, Isaiah 58 and the Southern Baptist regularly, because, though we express our faith in different ways, we are Christians who hold to first tier issues. Therefore any proclaiming Christians that hold to first their issues, I stand in front of you today, and tell you I will have Christian Fellowship with them. And those that don’t hold to tier one issues, I will seek to share the Gospel with. 

What I won’t do, is seek to create a non-biblical litmus test for people, where second and third tier issues are used to divide. I want the world to know that Jesus was sent by the Father for the salvation of sinners, and so I will work within the parameters that Jesus himself gave me to accomplish his will in this area. To all others, it is the Gospel on my lips that I will share, that those on the wide path, even those who say they are Christian, will hear the message of Jesus and will not have an excuse.

My challenge for you this week is twofold: First, seek to understand the core of the Christian faith. On our, “Who We Are” and in our “Bylaws,” both of which are on our information table, it gives you a summary and a detailed Statement of Faith, that you can use to understand first tier theology. Secondly, seek to be unified with believers on these first tier issues and give grace to everything else. The way I have done this, is by not testing people to by a litmus test. If they say I’m a Christian, I believe them until they reject a first tier issue.

As an example of this, which I have shared before, a few years back I had a gentleman come to my office, wanting to use our facilities for an Al-Anon group. This man had been attending this congregation for several months and I wanted to get to know him. As we were talking, some of things he said were not lining up with first tier theology, so I asked him straightly, “Do you believe Jesus is the only way of salvation.” The reason I asked is because it’s my job as the lead elder and pastor of this congregation to make sure what is being taught lines up with the core of Christianity. If you don’t teach theology that’s one thing, but once you cross into the theological realm, this facility is for the Lord’s work and will be utilized in that way. For the next half hour, we went around in circles, with him avoiding answering the question. I finally got frustrated after our two hour long talk and told him, that he could not use the facility and that he needed to leave, because I had other matters to attend to.

I still think about that man and pray for him to come to a point where his claim of being saved by Jesus, is matched with Jesus’ narrow way of salvation. Let each of us be people who are not out to define the narrow road of Jesus through our own understanding, but seek to fellowship with those who are walking by our side as we moved closer to Jesus and his return. Amen.