When faith takes a wrong turn A one-way dead end 1/31/16

When faith takes a wrong turn

A one-way dead end

1/31/16

One night, a couple of years ago, I was coming home from Cedar Rapids on Highway 30 where it is still 4-lane divided highway in Linn County. Suddenly something up ahead didn’t look right. There was an eastbound car coming at me on the westbound side of the highway. I saw him coming, so I just pulled off the road as far as I could and let him pass. I will tell you; even though it turned out ok, it scared the living daylights out of me.

Have you ever turned the wrong way on a one-way street? In the old days, it was an easy to mistake with a map in one hand and the steering wheel in the other in a strange town. Today with GPS, you might think we would be safe, but it still happens and you get things like this.

 <<<VIDEO>>>

It’s not funny because sometimes the results can be tragic.

But what do you do with a sign like this? 

Or how about this one…  you might have to think about that one a minute….

I chose this as the road sign for this sermon in the “when belief takes a wrong turn” series because in theology, just about any time we believe that there is only one-way, one answer, or one truth, or one side to an argument, we run in to a dead end.

 So much of theology is paradoxical, which might be represented with this road sign. A paradox is when we have to hold two seemingly opposite truths together in order to reach a greater truth.

This week I want to talk about two heresies or wrong turns in belief are on opposite ends of the spectrum. We have to hold them together in paradox if we are to avoid the pitfalls of either extreme.

 On the one end is “works righteousness” or “legalism.” You recognize those terms. You know that except for hypocrites, Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for Pharisees who believed that they could please God by doing all the right things… specifically following all 613 commandments.

Works Righteousness is the idea that good works are enough to save us. In other words in the extreme we can essentially save ourselves by doing enough good deeds.

There are three popular ways that people take the wrong turn down the  one-way dead end of works righteousness today.

•        One of them I mentioned last week. “Oh, I live a good life that’s enough.” or “I am spiritual but not religious.” “I serve on this board, and volunteer here and there, and visit my homebound neighbor, so surely God is happy with that.” I am sure that those behaviors do please God, but salvation is not finding a way to appease an angry God. It is coming to God helplessly knowing that we can not save ourselves, and acepting God’s gracious gift of forgiveness and salvation. Thinking that we are “good enough” is just a wrong tirn down the  one-way dead end of works righteousness.

o        Salvation is not a merit badge that we can earn by doing the correct number of good deeds.

o        We cannot make up for our sins by turning around and doing something good to balance it out.

o        There is no amount of money we can give to charity, no number of terms we can serve on a church committee, no number of funeral dinners we can serve, no number of visits we can make to the nursing home, no amount of anything that we can DO; that will make us righteous in God’s eyes.

•        The second way people today take a wrong turn down the dead end street of works righteousness is thinking “I was baptized”, or “I belong to the church. So I am OK with God.”

Bapitm is a sign gift from a gracious God, who wants us to know how much we are loved. When baptism becomes a hoop to jump through in order to achieve salvation, it becomes a sacrament of the God of works righteousness.

When church membership becomes the deciding factor in salvation we make the institution the savior, rather than Jesus christ. I’d much rather put my salvation in the hands of a loving God, rather than the human instiution of the church.

Neither baptism nor membership are a magic key to the kingdom of God. That is just another wrong turn down a  one-way dead end of works righteousness.

•        The final way that works righteousness is expressed today is in the concept of Karma. The popular idea behind Karma might be summarized as “what goes around comes around.” In actuality it is the Hindu or Budhist idea that the balance of a person’s actions in this life and all their previous lives determine their fate in their next life. .In other words, we add up all the good deeds and subtract all the bad deeds and as long as we come up with a positive number we are saved. Life is not a ledger of rights and wrongs it is a journey toward wholeness and salvation in Jesus Christ.

Jesus says explicityly “Without me you can do nothing.” Why is that so hard for us to understand? Perhaps it is our american pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality, except this was happening long before our country was founded. Apparently human beings are just so egotistical that we think that with a few good deeds can accomplish the same thing as the incarnation, suffering, death and resurectin of Jesus Christ.

By no means! A turn toward works righteousness is a wrong turn down a  one-way dead end street.

 The other end of this spectrum says exactly the opposite. These folks take the idea that we can do nothing without Christ and they push it until it breaks. Antinomianism says if there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, then our behavior does not matter. If good works don’t get us into heaven, then neither will bad works keep us out. Paul battled this in the book of Romans. Apparently, a group of antinomians were saying that every time God forgives me it is a testimony to God’s love and grace. God’s love and grace bring glory to God. Therefore, we should sin again and again so that God will forgive us again and again, God will be glorified again and again.

I will say it is an ingenious argument, but very twisted theology. Paul says “By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” (Ro 6:2) Of course, we can’t.

There have been antinomians throughout all the church’s history. Folks who said, I am free from the Jewish law, so I can do what I want. The folks who said, if I am free, I shouldn’t have to receive the sign of circumcision. (They won by the way) Folks who said, I can be forgiven for anything, so eat, drink and be merry. All the way up to folks today who say, as long as I am saved, my behavior does not matter. Let me just say…of course it does!

 This wrong turn is like being on a diet and saying at one extreme if I exercise, I can eat whatever I want, or at the other extreme   if I eat right I never have to get up off the couch. No, it talks both good diet and exercise to keep ourselves healthy.

 It is like saying on the one hand, I’m sick, I’m going to die anyway so I am not going to take the medicine.   Or on the other if a little medicine is good for me a lot would be better.

 It is like saying on the one hand all of our problems are your fault, and on the other,  beating yourself up saying all the problems are my fault.

Dr Phil would have a hay day with these folks. None of this is healthy… none of that is rational… none of that is clear thinking… and none of it is good theology.

No- the truth lies in holding both of these paradoxical truths together.

James says “14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.”(James 2:14-18)

Faith, by itself if it has no works is dead. Works by themselves, if there is no faith, are empty. It takes both faith and works… belief and action… devotion and deed. Christian discipleship is both building a relationship with God, and sharing the fruits of that relationship in ministry to others.

Paul affirms this basic truth as well. This morning we read in Galatians , “the only thing that counts is faith working through love.” (Gal 5:6) Not the only thing that counts is faith… and not the only thing that counts is behavior. If we have faith, and experience the love of God in our lives, we can’t help but carry that love into our relationship with others and our ministry to the world. Faith works by love.

That is what discipleship is about. Faith put to work by love.

In the Christian life..... faith and works go together like inhaling and exhaling. .. Like inhaling… and exhaling.

Billy Graham said it this way: Faith is taking the Gospel in;...... works is taking the Gospel out." Faith is taking the Gospel in;...... works is taking the Gospel out."

Inhaling and Exhaling!

Inhaling without exhaling is fatal. Exhaling without inhaling is lethal. The difference between lethal and terminal, however, is kind of a silly argument. Either way we are dead.

Believing that a personal relationship with Jesus is all we need is terminal to our spirit.

Believing that loving others is all that matters is lethal for our souls.

Let me say that another way.

Faith that only happens inside our hearts or our sanctuary is crippled because it has no hands or feet.

Faith that only happens in actions outside the church is dead because it has no heart.

 If we think about our ministry statement to focus on know and grow at the expense of love and go is to cut off our hands and feet.

 On the other hand, to focus on love and go to the exclusion of Know and Grow cuts the heart out of who we are.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God, and the second is to love others. The greatest is to have faith. The second is to show love. Each and every one of us has a faith to live. Each and every one of us has love to give.

Hmmm… every person in ministry… where have I heard that before. That is one of our goals this year. Every person having both faith and works.

You know what? English needs a different form of the word faith. In English, faith is a noun. We need to think of faith as a verb. Let’s make it up. The verb would be “to faith.” We could say we are “Faithing.”

          That works for me. “Faithing.” The best part is a verb means there is action… we are doing something.

          Let’s make this year, the year that faith becomes a verb in our church. Let’s put our faith into action. Loving God and loving others. Faith and works. Let’s get faithing.

When belief takes a wrong turn: “good enough street” Reinbeck UMC 1/24/16

When belief takes a wrong turn: “good enough street”

Reinbeck UMC

1/24/16

Play “the good-o-meter” video- then go to first slide 

“The good-O-meter”… That’s more than just a cute little video… it is a hard pill for many to swallow.

It is human nature to think we would pass the good o meter test. It is very common because many people think that they live on   “Good Enough Street.” But you think you live on: Good Enough Street” you have a wrong turn somewhere.

Actually, we get that message from a lot of different places. There is a whole secular religion built on,   “You’re good enough.” “You deserve it.” “You are OK just the way you are.” And “I’m OK you’re OK.”

Worshipping at the altar of “I’m OK You’re OK” has brought us to the point of

•           every child getting a trophy whether they win or lose,

•           permissive parenting,

•           grade free schools,

•           every yahoo thinking that their life is important enough to publish to the world on face book, and

•           Religiously it has come to 1 out of 3 unchurched, and one out of 5 Americans saying, “I am spiritual but not religious” The sad thing is that they think that is good enough. Good Enough Street is a very crowded place these days.

People were living on Good Enough Street long before 1967 when Thomas Harris wrote his bestselling book, “I’m OK You’re OK.”

 It was even invented before Pelagius defended his view that there is no original sin, humans are innately good, and live on Good Enough Street which caused Pope Zosimus to condemn him as a heretic and excommunicate him in 418 AD. That is why we call this the heresy of Pelagianism.

 It was even invented before the Pharisees who believed that God would have favor on them because they were good enough to follow all 613 laws of the Talmud and they lived on Good Enough Street.

 I think Good Enough Street was first built in the story of the Tower of Babel. That’s the story Genesis 11 in which the people say, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves”  The address of the tower of Babel must have been #1 Good Enough Street, because basically they were arguing that they didn’t need God, they could get to heaven under their own ingenuity. They were good enough all by themselves.

Ever since the Tower Of Babel, people have tried to do it without God. People have argued that they are good enough without God’s help. People have argued that they don’t need God.

 In Psalm 14, which we used for our call to worship, the Psalmist says,

Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”

  They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;

  there is no one who does good.

2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind

  to see if there are any who are wise,

  who seek after God.

3 They have all gone astray, they are all perverse;

  there is no one who does good,

  no, not one.

“There is no one who is good. No not one”. Which reflects today’s scripture reading from Romans. “There is no one who is righteous, no not even one.”

Paul’s scriptural argument in chapter 3 of

Romans is a composite of scriptures from Exodus, the Psalms, and Isaiah. We might call it proof texting, but it was a common rabbinic teaching technique in Paul’s day.

Paul is arguing against the Pharisees who believed that salvation came through following the law. He is saying that the law does not bring salvation. It only brings the knowledge of sin. It only points out that none of us lives on Good Enough Street. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is the key. Sin is not just breaking the law; sin is why we break the law. Sin is not being all that God created us to be. Goodness is not measured by keeping the law. It is not measured by keeping the rules, or going to church, or wearing a cross. We are created in the image of God, and for those who fall short of reflecting the fullness of God’s love and grace, there is no Good Enough Street. Humanity’s “good enough” is not good enough for God.

So what does this wrong turn look like today?

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by saying “I am spiritual but not religious.” Well that is their prerogative, whatever that means to them. But usually it means they believe in God, but their lives are just fine without God. Maybe they have a participation trophy, but the prize is not theirs.

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by saying “I can be a good a Christian outside the church.” Good for them, but salvation is not being good. It is about being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t say, “Be good” but “pick up your cross and follow me.”

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by saying, “I see God in nature. The camp ground is my sanctuary.” OK, but is the campground going to suffer and be raised from death in order to save them from their sins?

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by saying “I am a good member of the church even though I never step foot in the building.” They volunteer here and there, and they serve on this and that. And all that community service is great, if it is an outgrowth of our relationship with God. But it is not a replacement for worshipping the one true God.

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by saying, “I am a good person. I don’t hurt anyone. I don’t steel or lie.” They may in fact behave better than some Christians, but they lack one thing… faith in someone outside themselves, namely Jesus.

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by showing up on Sunday and saying, “That’s good enough.” Or put in their dollar a week and say, “That’s good enough.” It may satisfy their expectations, but it does not impress God.

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by rejecting the idea of original sin; the idea that we have in us a natural propensity to sin. They claim that people are basically good. In a George Barna poll, more than seventy percent of “professing evangelical Christians” in America expressed the belief that people are basically good. That would be great if it were true. Look around you. Let’s watch the news together and then try to convince me that people are fundamentally good. Yes, we were created in God’s image to be good, but something went very wrong, and we call that something original sin.

•           There are folks who make a wrong turn down Good Enough Street by saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” In fact, 80 % of Christians agree with that statement. It isn’t in the Bible and the initiative never lies with us. ALL have sinned and fallen short… We are unable to help ourselves. It is not we who first reach out to God. It is God who first reached out to us in Jesus Christ.

One time we were leaving Chicago following the GPS and it told me to take the next right which made sense, but then it told me to take the next right which on a cover leaf put me going back to Chicago, That was bad enough, but I looked at the screen and it had me going right again and again. We got the map and headed home, but if the GPS had its way, I would still be going around and around that cloverleaf. I would have put a lot of miles on, but would I be getting where I want to go? NO.

That’s the way it is living on Good Enough Street. People spin their wheels year after year under the illusion that they are good enough, when “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” There is nothing we can do to be good enough. Not one single thing.

They sing the song of the three year old, “I can do it myself. I can do it myself.”

On the contrary, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

This wrong turn says we are like a person who can’t swim, who falls overboard in a raging sea, and God throws us a life preserver. Unless we take hold of the life preserver, we will drown. We take hold of that life preserver by doing the right things, saying the right things, and generally being good enough. But if we are not good enough, we will surely perish.

This wrong turn says we are like a person who is desperately ill, sick unto death, lying in our hospital bed with a disease that is fatal. God has the cure and walks into the room with the medicine. God pours it on the spoon. God has to lean over and open up our mouth for us. God has to bring the spoon to our lips, but we still have to swallow it.

You might say that sounds right. But you would be on the cloverleaf spinning your wheels. We aren’t going under for the third time; without God, we are stone cold dead at the bottom of the ocean. That’s where you once were when you were dead in sin and trespasses and walked according to your ways, on Good Enough Street.  And while you were dead, God in Christ dove to the bottom of the sea retrieved your lifeless corpse and breathed into it the breath of his life, raising you from the dead.

Again, it’s not that you were dying in a hospital bed of a certain illness, but rather, that you were stillborn in sin, dead before you ever lived, and it is only by God’s work on the cross, God’s grace, and God’s love in Jesus Christ that you are able to live at all.

All have sinned… none are good enough! No not one!

Good enough street? I wouldn’t go down there if I were you.

“When belief takes a wrong turn: down Any Street” RUMCJanuary 10, 2016

“When belief takes a wrong turn: down Any Street”

RUMCJanuary 10, 2016

One time we were on vacation in Colorado. We went up to Cripple Creek to ride the train. Perhaps you have been there. We took the highway up, but as I looked at the map, there was a road that looked like a shortcut back to Colorado Springs. I’m always up for new scenery so we went that way. Let me tell you it got us there, but we had to ford some shallow mountain streams, there were times I was sure the road was not wide enough to get both of my tires between the steep cliff on one side and the steep drop-off on the other. Oh, it was a beautiful drive, but it was clearly the wrong road to take.

Another time, I remember coming to a detour in the highway and thinking that detour is going to take me the wrong direction completely. “I can find a better way.” I thought. You can probably guess, after dead ends, driving in circles, and a chorus of I told you so’s I had to find my way back to the detour to follow their silly signs. Clearly, the road I took was not going to get me where I wanted to go. It was the wrong road.

Obviously, there is such a thing as a wrong road when we are driving. Yet I have heard people … even some of you say that all religions are equal… all roads lead to God. There are no wrong roads in faith. Can that be true?

 First, let’s think about Christianity by itself. Christianity’s 2.2 billion faithful are divided among 33,820 denominations or organizations. That doesn’t include the 386 million believers in independent churches.

Each of those groups has a slightly different emphasis on the basic Christian message. As pluralistic United Methodists we say “In essentials unity.” as long as they accept the essential Christian beliefs in common, those found in the Apostle’s Creed, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.   Even if we disagree about the non-essential detours others may take, we are still brothers and sisters in Christ. “In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty.” That works within the Christian faith.

The United States was even founded on a similar philosophy, what matters is that we are united as fellow Americans. The language you speak or where your parents came from are not essential and are not supposed to be an issue. At various times in history, of course, that has worked better than others. “In essentials unity, in nonessentials liberty.”

We now live in a culture, however, which has whittled away at the essentials. We have come to the point where political correctness expects us to accept anything and everything that someone else may believe. We have become so afraid of offending anyone that we are afraid to say anything. We are told that all opinions and beliefs are equally valid and true. When Pluralism pushed to the breaking point, it is called relativism.

While understanding other perspectives and tolerating other beliefs is important to me, I have a problem with relativism and this extreme political correctness. I have an even bigger problem with it when it spills over into our religious beliefs.

So we go back to the unity and liberty. We have to understand that this is not an either or. This is not a multiple choice. It is a process. First, we establish that we share the core beliefs. As long as we share those core beliefs then the rest of it is just chicken feathers.  As long as we share those core beliefs, then we can say liberty in nonessentials.

 How many of you have heard someone say that all religions are the same? They all lead to the same God? They are all equally true, and equally valid? That every way is the right way. Have we all heard that at one time or another? Maybe you have even said it? I will admit it is tempting to say it just to sound tolerant and accepting of others.

The truth, however, is it is not as simple as saying, “live and let live.” While it is true I can get to California by going east on interstate 80, if Robyn is sitting next to me she will quickly tell me I went the wrong way. Not every road is the right way.

Let me say right off the bat I am unapologetically Christian and not a comparative religions expert. I do not pretend to be. If you want detailed information on different religions, I would suggest a good comparative religions textbook. Today, however, I am taking a two-forked approach: the authority of scripture and common sense. I am not criticizing any other religion or its adherents, but proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 I am assuming that the Bible is a significant source of authority for you as it is for me. Biblically the evidence is very clear.

•           Starting with the one and only God, not a pantheon of Gods creating the world.

•           We keep going through the decisive defeats of the Egyptian religion represented in the series of plagues brought on Egypt;

•           To the very first commandment, “no other God’s before me;”

•           To the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One;” 

•           Through Elijah’s defeat of the priests of Baal;

•           To the prophets who over and over condemned the people who either strayed from the one true God, or brought outside religious practices into their worship of God;

•           To today’s scripture in which Jesus declares that he is the “Way the truth and the life, and no one comes to the father except by me;”

•           To Paul’s dealings with the Roman world and defending the Christian faith from a whole pantheon on Gods, idols, mystery religions, cults, and strange ritual practices…

From the beginning to the end the Bible leaves no option but one God, “ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,  one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” 

That’s really all there is to say. The Bible is clear. We have to start with those core beliefs, those things essential to the faith: God, the commandments, Jesus, the cross and the tomb, the Holy Spirit, sanctification, and heaven. If another religion does not agree on those core essential things, then it is impossible to say that all religions are the same. Though you might find it distasteful, the Biblical message is not all religions are equally valid, and not all religious lead to the same place. Different religions are NOT just different paths to God. And there is only one way that leads to relationship with God, salvation, and eternal life.

God is the only God. Jesus is the only begotten son of God. The only way to salvation is by God’s grace drawing us to faith in his incarnation, death, and resurrection. The story of God’s extreme love for all of humanity is the only way to reconciliation and relationship with God.

There are those who argue that it is egotistical and closed mined to say that Christianity is the only way. Let me quickly point out, those are not my words. It is Jesus, God’s son who said, “No one comes to the father except by me.”

 In spite of the accusations of the uneducated, Christianity is not the only religion that claims exclusivity? Christians say ours is the only way so we evangelize. We see from the Koran, that Muslims say theirs is the only way and they are to kill the infidels who will not accept Allah. Hinduism claims it is the only religion that was not invented by someone; it is the eternal way. In the Buddhist sacred text, The Baghavad Gita, Krishna emphatically instructs, “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear" 

As far as I know, just about any religion that doesn’t claim that it is the only way, goes to the opposite extreme and claims that religions are the same.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you are closed minded or bigoted for believing that Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only way to life. That’s not being egotistical or bigoted. That is being Biblical. That is being faithful to the teachings of Jesus.

  Second, some say, maybe the paths aren’t the same, but the God is the same. 

I say not so.

•           Buddhism is essentially atheistic. Christianity starts and ends with God.

•           Christianity says that there is one eternal God who created the universe. Hinduism says that everything is God. You are god. I am god. Jim’s piano is God.

•           Islam claims to be a cousin to Christianity. The tradition is that they came from Abraham’s first son, Ishmael who was driven into the desert with his mother Hagar to die. Judaism and Christianity come from Isaac, Abraham’s second son. That is the claim. But does this sound to you like the same God.

•           Mohamed says "I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"(Muslim 1:33)

o          Jesus says, "He who lives by the sword will die by the sword." (Matthew 26:52)

•           Allah says "If anyone transgresses the prohibition against you,  Transgress ye likewise against him" (Qur'an 2:194)

o          Jesus says, "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:39)

•           The Koran  says "Let not compassion move you from carrying out God's law..."(Qur'an 24:2)       

o          The Bible says, "Love is patient. Love is kind... It keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:4-5)

Do those really sound like the same God? Not in my observation. The hard truth is that not all religions worship the same God. The Bible would call the other religions idolaters. I would say they are pursuing a very warped view of God. Jesus simply said, “I am the only way.” 

  Finally, there are those who say that each religion may have its own road, but we are all going to the same place. 

Now, there is some common ground between many of the world’s religions, particularly concerning certain basic values and morality. But to say we are all headed to the same place is just wrong. You can’t say they lead to the same “mountain top” because they don’t agree on what the top of the “mountain” is.

•           For example, Buddhism and Hinduism teach that we don’t go to Heaven but rather are reincarnated over and over again on earth. Whether you come back as a stinkbug or the President of the United States depends on how you’ve lived your life.

•           Islam teaches that Heaven is a paradise of wine, women, and song. And the way to achieve this blissful paradise is ironically to abstain from these things in this world or to be a martyr.

•           Our faith teaches that Heaven is where we are with Jesus face to face for eternity, praising Him alongside other Christ-followers. Do you think a Muslim or a Hindu or a Jew would consider that paradise?

Different religions, you can see now, are not just different paths to the same goal, or the same goal. In fact, they are on contradictory paths. Logically, the” law of non contradiction” says that two contradictory statements cannot both be true.

Being unapologetically Christian I proclaim today, that Any Way is not the right way. Jesus is the only right road to God.  He is THE way THE truth and THE life, no one comes to God except by him.

Someone once noted that other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you many doors that lead to God,”

but Jesus says, “I am the door.”

 Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you how to become enlightened,”

but Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”

Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you how

to find truth,” but Jesus says, “I am the truth.”

Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you the way to salvation,” but

Jesus says, “I am the life.”

Do you see the difference? How can anyone say all religions are the same, all roads are the same, or all the mountaintops are the same? They just aren’t,

Jesus says, “So follow Me.”

When faith takes a wrong turn: Easy street

When faith takes a wrong turn: Easy street

RUMC 1/3/16

 One night in 1988, I left the Garrison church in a full-blown blizzard. I should have stayed in town that night. Woulda- shoulda- coulda, right? You know what it is like when it is snowing and blowing so hard you can’t see the road, the centerline, the reflectors alongside the road, or anything but the snowflakes bowing horizontally across the bean of your headlights. It is easy to become disoriented. To make a very long drive short, on just this side of Dysart, I lost track of the centerline and before I knew it, we were stopped… in the ditch… on the LEFT hand side of the road. It didn’t take much of a wrong turn to get me off track and in trouble.

 That happens in our beliefs too. Sometimes we get distracted by something… Sometimes we want to believe something so bad… sometimes we are lead off the road by well meaning teachers or pastors. These belief accidents, or detours, are called HERESIES. The word heresy comes from the Latin “hae-re-sis,” meaning, "act of choosing." It refers to “choosing” our own beliefs, rather than following the Bible. Leaving town in the middle of a blizzard and ending up in the ditch was just stupid choice but it turned out OK. Taking a wrong turn with our beliefs can be much more serious.

 We need road signs, then, to help us stay on the right road and keep us going the right direction in our beliefs. That is why I am writing this series of six sermons I am calling “When belief takes a wrong turn. From the list of 13 heresies I originally made, I have chosen the six that I see most often. (Not in any particular order).

Let me be clear. I do this in love. If you discover that you have been led off, or veered off the road into one of these heresies, somewhere along the way, do not panic. Most likely, a little steering adjustment will bring you back in line with Biblical Christianity. I want you to consider these sermons, then as road signs to reassure you that your beliefs are headed in the right direction down the right road.

 (Start easy street video) Let’s start this week with a wrong turn onto “easy street.”

 Easy street. We all want life to be easy, don’t we? This wrong turn occurs when people believe that God paves the way by blessing us with material stuff, health, success, popularity, and a problem free life. Usually, in order to unlock these blessings we have to do something. It might be that we have to believe certain things, pray a certain way, belong to a certain church, or, most commonly, donate to a particular ministry. (Usually one from which the preacher directly benefits.) You might hear some refer to this as the “Prosperity Gospel,” the “Health and Wealth Gospel,” or the “Gospel of Success.”

Oral Roberts, TD Jakes, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin are some of the most prominent preachers who have taken this wrong turn. Let me play a clip of the most extreme, most offensive example of what happens when this heresy is taken to its natural conclusion. This is Creflo Dollar (Yes that seems to be his real name.) talking about what he would do with those who do not seek God’s blessings by giving generously to his ministry. This comes from about the same time he has a vision that God wanted people to give him $65 million for a new private jet for his ministry.   (((Video)))

 Isn’t that sickening? As I said that is the most extreme position I have ever heard. More often it is, “God wants to bless you, and God will do that if you just send your donation to me.” “God wants to make you rich, so you send me $10 and God will bless you with $100.” If you watch much religious television like Trinity Broadcasting, you will hear those kinds of things. Do not fall for it.

The other end if easy street is less opportunistic, but just as wrong. You may have friends who believe that being Christian makes life easy-peasy. God solves all of our problems protects us from any hardship, or pain, or sorrow, or depression, or sickness. These are the folks who tell us that we grieve because we don’t have enough faith, or we have depression because we don’t pray enough. I wish I could tell you differently, but the Christian life is not easy-peasy.

You may run into “Easy Street Christianity” in other places. They key is the belief that God is here to make our lives easy, comfortable, and if we are really faithful, God even makes us wealthy.

 Is it true that God wants to bless us? Absolutely, God wants more than anything to bless us. The first mistake easy street preachers make, however, is believing THAT MATERIAL WEALTH AND COMFORT ARE A SIGN OF GOD’S BLESSINGS.

Many times these folks turn to Galatians 3:14, which says to “the blessings of Abraham come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.” They say, “That’s us. God wants to bless us with health, wealth, and comfort.” Conveniently, however, they ignore the second 11 words of the verse: “so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” “The promise of the spirit through faith” does not sound like a promise for health, wealth, and comfort to me. That says to me that there are blessings much greater than a problem free life; blessings much greater than living on easy street.

In fact, Abraham lived WAY off easy street. He was tested by not having an heir until he was very, very old. He suffered through being asked to sacrifice Isaac. He accepted the hardship of leaving his home to go to, “God knows where!” None of that is easy-peasy.

These Easy Street preachers have been blinded by the bling, the shiny bobbles, the big toys, and the drive for prosperity-- and frankly the greed and manipulation-- that dominates our consumer culture. By selecting certain verses and parts of verses, they have created a God, in the image of the Madison Avenue advertisers.

 The second mistake in the Health and Wealth gospel is believing that WE GIVE IN ORDER TO RECEIVE. Robert Tilton referred to this as the “Law of Compensation.” He bases this on Mark 10:29 in which Jesus said, “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, 30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands.”

It is convenient that when they are raising funds they can say, you give me $10 and God will bless you with $1,000. It is also convenient that they leave out is the rest of the sentence. Listen to the whole thing. “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,

30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Using half of a truth is one of the marks of a wrong turn in belief.

Prosperity preachers teach people to give ---because they will be rewarded and become #1.But in Jesus economy, the first shall be last. Jesus taught his disciples to give like a servant, out of love and humility; expecting nothing in return. Luke 6:33 says “if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.” He taught,” If they take your coat give them your cloak also.” He taught if you show care to those who cannot pay you back because they are poor, or in prison, or hungry; you have done that for Jesus. Nowhere does Jesus tell us to give in order to receive.

 The third wrong turn they make is believing that FAITH CAN BE USED TO GET WHATEVER WE WANT. Ken Copeland writes in The Laws of Prosperity. “There are certain laws governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function.” In other words, faith is our key that unlocks all of God’s blessings for the believer.

Creflo Dollar writes, “When we pray, believing that we have already received what we are praying, God has no choice but to make our prayers come to pass.”

The truth is that we cannot manipulate, or blackmail or trick God in any way.

They say if I have enough faith and give enough to them that God will give me whatever I want. James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James. 4:3). Jesus didn’t pray, “Not thy will, but mine be done” did he? No, “Not my will but thine be done.”

 Let me be clear. I am not against having money. Jesus was not against having money, but he was adamantly against money having you.

•           Jesus warned against storing up treasures on earth (Matt. 6:19-24) and covetousness (Luke 12:15).

•           Jesus emphasized caring for the poor (Matt. 25:31-46).

•           James says, “Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5).

Along with Paul, I have grave concerns about those who preach this prosperity gospel, and anyone duped by them. Paul writes, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness. (1 Tim. 6:9-11).

In today’s scripture, Jesus is talking to a rich young man. It turns out that he has followed all the commandments to the letter. His behavior was right. There was only one thing standing in his way. It wasn’t his money that was in his way…  

It was either his love of material things, or his lack of love for the poor. Jesus perceived either that he loved money and stuff more than God, or he perceived that he loved his money and stuff more than other people. Either way the command was the same, “go sell all that you have and give the money to the poor.”

Not because money and material stuff is so bad, but because God is so good!

Jesus told him the road of Christian discipleship is not called easy street.

 The road to Christian discipleship is not called EASY STREET, but GENEROSITY STREET… as we learn to make our first instinct generosity rather than greed.

The road to Christian discipleship is not called EASY STREET, but TRUST STREET… as we learn to trust God for ALL that we need rather than depending on the crutch of our money and our stuff.

 Life is sometimes like a blizzard and it is easy to lose our way. Nevertheless, if we walk together down Discipleship Drive… if we walk together with God’s help we can get through life even if we don’t live on Easy street. AMEN