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By Rankin Wilbourne, Lead Pastor
It’s become so common the accusation is predictable, “Christians pick and choose which parts of the Bible to obey.” And it can be confusing.
“Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing of two kinds of material,” (Leviticus 19:19).
One cheeky letter puts a sharp edge to the question:
“Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s law… I need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the specific laws and how to follow them:
• I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I obligated to kill him myself?
• A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is clearly listed as an “abomination” (Leviticus 11:10) that it is a lesser “abomination” than homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22). Please advise.
• Leviticus 21:20 states that I am not to approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20?
• Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Leviticus 19:27.
• I know from Leviticus 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football? Do I need to wear gloves?
I know you have studied extensively. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.”
Sarcasm aside, it can be baffling – all the regulations about mildew, food laws, skin diseases, cooking a young goat in his mother’s milk. Most Christians don’t know how to respond when confronted with questions like these.
First, a plea for reasonable dialogue
None of us likes to be interrupted. None of us likes our comments to be wrenched out of context. None of us likes to be misrepresented toward others. In any fair debate, each side simply asks that it be given an opportunity to state its case and not be dismissed out of hand with straw-man caricatures. While it’s true that Christians haven’t always been the best models of reasonable or respectful dialogue, that doesn’t negate the very fair expectation for reasonable dialogue.
“I don’t understand. Why do Christians abide by some Old Testament precepts and reject others out of hand?” Very fair question.
Second, a short course in Old Testament Mosaic Law
Continued next week…
Review Week: Take some time today to review the scripture passages for this month: Psalm 88:10-11, Matthew 25:40, and Philippians 4:4-7.
Click here to learn more about our scripture memory challenge.
By Rankin Wilbourne, Lead Pastor
My little boy, Jack, has an imaginary friend, Mr. Noodle, who comes to visit with him, usually while Jack is sleeping. Thankfully, these nocturnal visits are almost always non-threatening, even kind.
So last week, early one morning when Jack and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating Trader O’s, I asked him, “Did Mr. Noodle come to see you last night? Did he talk to you?”
Jack said, “No, Jesus did.”
“Jesus did? What did He say?” I replied.
And my little boy responded, “He said, ‘I love you, Jack.’”
“Yes He does. Let’s go wake up Mommy and tell her. That will make her so happy.”
The Bible says that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5.5). Though there are different means God has given through which we might experience or appropriate His love for us, each of us is just as dependent as a sleeping child to be assured by our Father, “I love you.”
And He does.
Review Week: Take some time today to review the scripture passages for this month: Psalm 88:10-11, Matthew 25:40, and Philippians 4:4-7.
Click here to learn more about our scripture memory challenge.
By Alex Chung, Director of Evangelism
As Christians, we have seen and tasted that God is good, and we want others to experience the same joy and peace that we have now. But sometimes we don’t know where or how to start. Sharing the Gospel can be a challenge in spite of the fact that we know how high the stakes are – indeed, God came to rescue us from His wrath – and how immensely satisfying it is to be united with Christ.
We get caught up in worry over this-or-that detail, as if the salvation of our neighbor depended strictly on our abilities, our well-honed techniques. Yes, we should exercise discernment and be equipped to share the Gospel, but such preparation will be of little use unless we rest in and remember who God is, how He saves, and what He’s called us to do. We must daily speak God’s truth into our own lives so that we might be able to speak it into the lives of others. And when we do so, we become people who are bold, patient, and prayerful in our evangelism.
Boldness
God is sovereign. Nothing, not even Satan, can frustrate His will. Look to the cross. What was meant for evil, the Lord meant for good. Look to your own life. Look to St. Paul’s. God softens the hardest of hearts. Therefore, take heart. Do not think that you need perfect techniques, theological expertise, or ideal conditions to share the good news. Our God raises the dead.
Patience
We desire to win people to Christ, and when our efforts fall on deaf ears, we may be tempted to give up or shirk future opportunities. Whenever we tire over our evangelistic efforts, we must rest in the fact that God saves in His own time. Though one should exercise discernment and not “cast pearls before swine” (Matthew 7:6), one must nevertheless persevere for the sake of one’s own sanctification and the salvation of others.
Prayer
Prayer is a confession of our dependence on God to do what we cannot do ourselves. It is to ask the Holy Spirit to open blind eyes to the light of the glory of Christ in the Gospel. It is to ask the Spirit to speak through us and give us boldness and patience. Just as God is sovereign over the ends, He is sovereign over the means of His grace, and what a privilege it is that we can pray to God and petition Him to send His Spirit to work salvation in the hearts of our neighbors (Romans 10:1)!
All Christians are given the unique privilege to behold God and magnify His name in obedience to His good and perfect will. And in this sense, we are all evangelists.
This Saturday, August 18, Crossroads is hosting an Evangelism Training Class. For more info, click here.
Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ.
Selected by Jessica Mitchell, Sunday Worship and Operations Manager. Her thoughts:
“These verses remind me of the joy and peace we find through our freedom in Christ. Jesus wants to hear our every thought and prayer, and I look forward to getting to a place of communion with God where I can give all my prayer requests with thanksgiving. I also feel immense comfort in these verses, as my departed mother recited ‘be anxious for nothing’ at least once a week during my childhood. If I set my mind on Christ, my concerns don’t even compare. They fade away.”
Click here to learn more about our scripture memory challenge.
By Jeremy Weese, Pastor
As part of our series on Isaiah, we have looked at several of the Servant Songs in Isaiah 40-55.
There are four Servant Songs:
• Isaiah 42:1-8 (which Marshall and Paul preached about July 8)
• Isaiah 49:1-13 (which Paul and I preached about last Sunday)
• Isaiah 50:4-11 (which Marshall preached about July 29)
• Isaiah 52:13-53:12
We have studied the first three in our Isaiah sermon series, and today I wanted to finish our study of the Servant Songs by looking at the last one: Isaiah 52:13-53:12.
The First Three Servant Songs: A Summary
There is a trajectory through these songs as Isaiah unfolds the picture and mission of the Servant. Here’s a snapshot of what we have seen so far:
• The Servant is chosen and loved by God (Isaiah 42:1). He is shaped and prepared by God for his mission (Isaiah 49:1-2; 50:4-5). He is sustained and helped by God (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8; 50:7-9).
• The Servant embodies the mission and purpose of Israel, but he succeeds where Israel fails (Isaiah 41:8-9; 49:3, 5-6).
• The Servant is the one who will bring justice (42:1), but his justice is done with gentleness (42:3).
• The Servant will be a light to the whole world (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6).
• He will set prisoners free (Isaiah 42:7; 49:9). He will bring the exiles home (Isaiah 49:9-12).
• He is the sign of God’s covenant promises to the people (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8); and not just the people of Israel, but the whole world (Isaiah 42:6; 49:5-6).
• The Servant will experience suffering, persecution and rejection (Isaiah 49:4, 7; 50:6-9).
To sum up, the Servant is a figure who embodies God’s promises both to Israel and the world, to spread the light of God across the world, to bring justice, to set everything back in its rightful place, and he will accomplish this while experiencing suffering.
The Fourth Servant Song
Now we come to the fourth Servant Song: Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (click on or hover over the scripture reference to read the text – you can even have it read aloud to you!).
It is perhaps the most well-known passage in Isaiah, and one of the most beloved passages in the Bible.
Looking at the text, I want to make seven points:
First, notice that the Servant suffers. We saw hints of this in the earlier songs, but the suffering of the Servant is the central feature of the fourth song.
Second, that suffering is holistic – emotional, physical, spiritual. He is despised and rejected. He is acquainted with grief. He is pierced, and crushed, wounded. He is seen as punished by God (v. 10).
Third, his suffering was unjust. He was punished for others’ offenses; he suffered for other people’s sins. He was taken away by oppression, though he had done no violence and had no deceit. He was “the righteous one, My servant.”
Fourth, he suffered for us. He carried our griefs, our sorrows. It was for our sins, our transgressions, our iniquities that he suffered. This Servant suffered in our place – all we had done wrong, God put on his account.
Fifth, he suffered willingly. And I mean that in two ways. It was God’s will that the Servant should suffer (vs. 6, 10), and the Servant did not object; rather he walked knowingly and purposefully into that suffering.
Sixth, his suffering was purposeful. It accomplished something. He carried the punishment of the people so it was not put on them instead. The righteous one made many to be counted as righteous.
Seventh, his suffering was the means by which he accomplished his mission. The problem with God’s people, as well as with the whole world, was sin. We all turn away, go our own way. And until sin is dealt with, the rest of the mission – to be a light to the world, to set captives free, to bring home the exiles, to bring justice and set all things right – the rest of the mission can’t get off the ground. Sin was the thing that brought darkness, imprisonment, exile, and injustice into the world; until it is taken away, those things cannot be set right. But because the Servant has dealt with sin, God’s mission – and the Servant’s fuller mission – is able to be accomplished, as the rest of Isaiah will bear out.
So What?
Finally, we have to ask the question: so what? The picture of the Servant, ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, is at the very heart of the story of God’s rescue of us and the world.
The Servant Songs are a message from God to us that says that He sees all the problems in the world: the way we hurt each other, use each other, try to gain power over each other, and how all of that leads to oppression, abuse, fear, abandonment. He knows. But He has a plan. It is a delicate plan, one that seeks to save and preserve a people who are set on destroying themselves and each other. It is a plan that takes Him into the very center of the pain. This is the story of Jesus, of God Himself who refuses to hold on to His high position, but makes Himself nothing, taking the form of a Servant. And that Servant takes our place, and deals with the thing trying to destroy us – sin – and the consequences of it – death.
The gospel is the good news that you are free, free from your sins, free from guilt, free from shame; it says that you are now accounted as someone who is righteous. And it is the promise that that restoration will flow outwards, and that nothing can stop it until the whole world is set right once more. And the world will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
That is the story of the Servant, the one who stoops to conquer.
Matthew 25:40 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Selected by Jeff Newburg, Downtown Guest Coordinator. His thoughts:
“I can imagine Jesus thinking at the time, ‘If I say, “Think of the least as ME, treat them as you would ME, and consider the implications of how you deal with them on your eternal soul,” if I say it like that, they can’t ignore it.” But it seems I can ignore it.”
Click here to learn more about our scripture memory challenge.
By Dave Kleinknecht, Director of Hope for LA
This past Saturday, July 28, I and 1700 others helped out at local community projects as part of our annual event called Serve the City. Most volunteers only get to experience the one project they sign up for, but I got to drive around LA and see several different projects and volunteers in action. Here are some glimpses of those projects, the organizations we worked with and the ongoing needs of our city, as well as some lessons that I learned. I hope you’ll enjoy some of these snapshots from Serve the City:
Housing First
I started the day at 6:30 am, stopping by PATH Hollywood (People Assisting the Homeless), where 20 volunteers cooked and served breakfast to the men and women in transitional living. These volunteers made a great meal of scrambled eggs with peppers and mushrooms, tater tots, fruit, and juice. They served the meal (and seconds), then sat down with the residents to eat with them and chat before the residents got on with their day. PATH provides temporary housing and life-skills to the homeless, but like many organizations in LA, PATH is currently moving away from a large shelter mentality and more towards providing individual housing (like an apartment) to people experiencing homelessness – an initiative called Housing First. Once someone has housing, PATH will focus on providing needed care for that person, whether it’s drug rehab, employment, mental health help, or something else. Housing First is a bit of a radical idea, but it’s great to think of new ways to approach this issue that our city faces every day.
Worker Bees
After PATH, I drove Downtown to the LA Regional Food Bank, where I found an army of orange Serve the City shirts sorting and boxing a huge variety of donated food. It looked chaotic at first, but then it reminded me of a bee hive – everyone had their own task but with a larger goal in mind: to sort these donations. Volunteers grouped bottled water in one area, starchy foods in another, and canned vegetables in another. Whether from lack of resources or employment, there are people in LA struggling with hunger, and last year – through agencies like battered women’s shelters, senior centers, AIDS homes, and food pantries – the Food Bank distributed 60 million pounds of food to the hungry in our city.
Teach a Teen to Fish… or Build
Next I drove to the Boys and Girls Club in Watts, where Peace 4 Kids, a mentoring program for foster teens, had volunteers building tables, and each week the 100 kids in this program will be eating lunch on these tables. Peace 4 Kids used this Serve the City project as an opportunity to get their teens involved as well. Several teen girls worked alongside the volunteers to build these tables. What a great experience for teens with a lot stacked against them.
Christmas in July
Then I headed to South LA to stop by Christmas in July, a community party hosted by Faith In Christ Ministries, who we partner with year-round through their Say YES! after-school program. Faith In Christ Ministries held the party in their parking lot, and Serve the City volunteers helped put it on. The games, face painting, music, and food helped make this a very enjoyable time on a hot, summer day, giving parents from the neighborhood time to bring their kids and take a load off for a few hours. This was a great opportunity to show the surrounding community the love of Jesus and build ongoing relationships with parents. No one showed up in a Santa suit, but each kid received a gift bag.
Change the Park, Change the Community
My next stop was Lemon Grove Avenue Park in East Hollywood. In many under-resourced neighborhoods in our city, the local park is the hub of the community, so this Serve the City project was to pick up trash and clean the blocks around the park. They also threw a BBQ and basketball tournament that 12 teams signed up for! This project especially helped a local church continue to reach out to their neighborhood. While the volunteers were picking up trash, an older man from the community was so appreciative that he handed a volunteer a ten-dollar bill. The city also recognizes the value of parks, so much so that the city has instituted a Summer Night Lights Program, which keeps parks open after dark to reduce gang incidents. They’re so serious about the effectiveness of this program that they even provide dinner in the park for local residents. Anyone want to start a park outreach?
At the end of the day, I was tempted to think that I’ve somehow paid my dues for the year. I thought, “That’s enough serving for a while.” Even then I knew this was the wrong attitude, and I know that my motivation for approaching the needs around me will only last as long as I remember that God is the free giver of all my needs. I have to remind myself that Jesus did not just spend one day driving around to a half-dozen volunteer projects. No, He walked the hill to Calvary. For me.
As happy as we are about the success of this year’s Serve the City – our biggest yet – helping the poor and marginalized can’t be solved in one day. And as I learned from all my running around on Saturday, the organizations that we helped on July 28 can use our help throughout the year, as well.
I was encouraged by several volunteers who said to me, “We should do Serve the City every week!” Well, we don’t give out bright orange shirts every week, but Hope for LA’s partner organizations continually provide opportunities to serve the city, all year round.
For more information and a calendar of opportunities, visit HopeForLA.org.
Psalm 88:10-11 Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise You? Is Your steadfast love declared in the grave, or Your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Selected by Alex Chung, Director of Evangelism. His thoughts:
“Psalm 88 is my reality check psalm. It shows me the depths of human misery – which helps me be kinder to those who are suffering – and reminds me of Christ’s power and commitment to us, that He’s the ‘Yes!’ to the questions the psalmist asks in these verses.”
Click here to learn more about our scripture memory challenge.