A New View (March 9)
[Phil Stout]
3 Comments
One of the balancing acts in preaching takes place when you want to open a truth without being too specific. Why don't you want to be specific? Well, because you want the truth to plant in different places. (Kind of like broadcasting instead of narrow casting.) The people in our congregation are so diverse when it comes to their spiritual journeys that a message like today's is incredibly challenging.
I spoke about allowing Christ to transform us by "the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:1-2). We're all at different points in the journey, so we all have different renewal needs. But I tried to emphasize that we all need that transformation. Even if we've been walking with Christ for decades, we need to be wide open to His Spirit so that He can change our minds -- change our way of viewing Him, ourselves and this world.
One of the most exciting things is to see a veteran believer have a paradigm shift. That can be unsettling, but it can also be so invigorating. It can liberate us from all kinds of stuff.
One thing I mentioned is my belief that the Christianity that most Americans subscribe to is not New Testament Christianity. The religion of many Americans is a hybrid of Christianity, Deism, Constantianism, and big doses of Nationalism. So it is easy to take American values and assume that all of them are Christian when, in fact, some of them are not.
Wow, does this ever pose challenges to the Christian! Discerning what is the "wisdom of this world" (1 Corinthians 3:19) can be very tough. But it is well worth the effort to discover the wisdom of God.
Jesus said repeatedly, "He who has ears, let him hear" (Matthew 11:16). I know that on a continuous basis I need to ask God for new ears and new eyes, so that I can take in a new view. Or as my friend, Dave Goodrich, puts it, I need to look through a new lens.
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Reader Comments (3)
Pastor Phil, Certainly there are times when the old shot gun will bring down the prey when the rifle will not. Often we who proclaim the truth fail to realize the how varied are the needs of the hearers.
Your view on the Christian is intresting but right on. I wish I could have been present for this message. Sounds like something that would open a new view for ministry and personal evaluation.
Ed, still believing in you.
My Brother, You start out by giving away one of your secrets! I know that when you are doing a sermon that it frequently seems like you're speaking directly to me. The message hits on something that I've been struggling with or thinking about.
All of this time I thought that you had some sort of secret power that allowed you to see inside me and speak directly to me. Now I know that the secret power is that you avoid being TOO specific so that you can reach all of us whereever we are and what ever we're going through.
It is so easy to fall prey to hybrid Christianity. One of the things that allowed me to stay away from the church for so long before becoming "new" in Christianity was hybrid Christians and the fall-out that accompanies their beliefs and actions.
And that applies not just to individuals, but denominations as well. So many of them add requirements and beliefs to those truly espoused by Christ and his apostles. These false rules, in my opinion, lead to increased hypocracy and do so exponentially. The more man made rules the greater the potential for hypocrisy. That hypocrisy can be a huge road block for people searching for, or actively avoiding, finding Christ.
I struggle with my own hypocrisies daily.
Harry
Thank you, Phil, for the books you suggested to me last year that helped make your sermon pill much easier to swallow, especially the "pill" of nationalism. Ouch! Seeing an American flag draped on or near the cross now makes me ill, and that coming from a former Ronald Reagan Young Republican. Praise God for His transforming power!