Christians Practice Spiritual Disciplines. Amen!

Introduction
The Bible is the Word of God and contains everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation.  The Bible teaches that Jesus Saves us from sin when we have faith.  The Bible also teaches that faith without good deeds is dead. Today, I want to explain some of the spiritual disciplines the Bible teaches Christians to practice.

1 Timothy 4:7-8
⁷ Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Instead, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

Explanation
First of all, this Scripture warns Christians: “Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales.”  The Bible is a fascinating book full of intriguing stories.  There are a lot of things that are hard to understand.  There are even many things that have caused people to scratch their head and speculate what the original writers meant.  There are stories about giants and even angels having intercourse with the daughters of the earth.  We wonder:  How did Noah fit all those animals on the Ark? Could Jonah really survive living in the stomach of a giant fish for three days?  These are interesting ideas that capture our imaginations and people love to speculate on them.

However, a quote often attributed to Mark Twain says, “It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”  It may be “fun” to speculate about the intriguing parts of the Bible, but Paul writes to Timothy (and us), “Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales.  Instead, train yourself to be godly.”

Living a godly life takes work.  It’s hard enough work that we don’t need to waste our time on unfruitful speculations.  Paul writes:  “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

We all know the benefits of exercise.  In our comfortable and prosperous world, we eat too much and don’t exercise enough.  This leads to all kinds of health problems.  People who exercise regularly, tend to be healthier, happier, more energetic, and productive.  We know the physical benefits of exercise.

But Paul says, “training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”  No matter how much we exercise, our physical bodies are eventually going to wear out and die.  This Ash Wednesday we remembered how our physical bodies will be buried and return to dust: “Remember, you came from dust and to dust you shall return.  Repent and believe in the Gospel!”  We will be given new and perfect bodies for eternal life.   The gains of physical exercise are for this temporary lifetime, but the gains of spiritual exercise are for eternity.

Spiritual Disciplines
Spiritual disciplines are spiritual exercises found in Scripture that promote spiritual growth and health.  Just as physical exercise develops your body and muscles, spiritual disciplines develop your spirit so you become more like Christ.  Spiritual disciplines nurture the growth God wants to give us. 

It is not enough to know about the spiritual disciplines.  We must actually practice them in order to experience the benefits God wants us to have.  There are many spiritual disciplines, but I want to mention just seven for your today, and challenge you to practice them between now and Easter.

First, there is prayer.  Prayer the most basic element of Christian living.  Prayer is like breathing for the Christian.  Some people say, praying is talking to God, but it is even more basic than that.  Last night, Kelly and I went to see the movie “The Jesus Revolution.” It’s a wonderful movie.  Of course, we didn’t talk during the movie.  That would be rude.  We sat and held hands and watched the movie together.  Even though no words were spoken, we chose to be together.

Prayer can be like that. Prayer is spending time with God.  There are many different ways to pray.  You can ask God for help for yourself or people you care about.  Other times, prayer is just sitting quietly with God on purpose.  Sometimes prayer is listening to God while you read Scripture.  Sometimes prayer is writing a prayer or reading someone else’s prayer or even reciting a prayer you have memorized—like the Lord’s Prayer.  Whatever way you pray, you should pray.  It is the most important Spiritual Exercise for Christians.  Prayer is an essential part of all the other spiritual disciplines.

Another spiritual discipline is fasting.  Fasting is voluntarily giving up food (or something else) for a time as a way to humble yourself before God. Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life. Most often, fasting is associated with going without food.  (Jesus fasted for 40 days before he officially began his earthly ministry.)  Many Christians give up something for Lent—like chocolate or coffee.  Fasting could also be giving up TV or social media or something else for a time.  Anything you give up is meant to help you focus more on God and less on yourself.  Fasting and prayer go together.  Fasting amplifies your prayers.  It turns every fiber of your being into a prayer.  As you long for the thing you are without, your longing becomes an unconscious prayer of longing for God.

Next to prayer, study is one of the most essential ways the Holy Spirit changes us.  Our mind is the center of our thoughts and our thoughts lead to our actions.  When we study the Holy Bible, we allow God to transform our minds.  The Bible is the Living Word of God.  If you want to hear God’s voice—the Voice that gives Life—you must study the Bible.  Study can also include reading other books, attending classes, or other forms of study.  All these can be beneficial.  However, studying the Bible is the most essential form of study.

Human beings were designed to worship.  Worship means to show reverence and adoration for God.  It centers on God, not ourselves or our feelings or our own particular preferences.  When we worship God, we point our spirit toward God in worship, we begin to see, hear, feel, and experience God at a deeper level.  We must worship in spirit (heartfelt, intimate closeness, and submission to God) and in truth (based on right understanding).  Worship works best when we prepare properly.  If you expect to get the most out of Sunday morning worship, be sure to get enough seep the night before and prepare for worship on Sunday morning by praying on Sunday morning before worship for God to make worship meaningful.  Come hungry for the Lord and with the expectation that something important will happen.

Christian meditation is listening for God’s voice so we can obey His Word.  In meditation, we use our imagination to spend time with God in the Scripture.  We look for God to come to us and fill our minds with His feelings, His ideas, and His insights and welcome Him to transform our wills.  We are not so much searching for God as letting Him find us as we watch, listen, and wait patiently.  Often it is helpful to read a passage from the Bible, pray for God to speak to you through it, and then just meditate on the passage for a time, letting God speak to you.

One of my favorite spiritual disciplines is solitude.  To practice solitude is to step away from the world for a little while to focus on interacting only with God.  You silence the inner turmoil of your anxious mind and cease striving to control people and situations by your own force of will.  You learn to trust God to work things out according to His plan and His timing.  For introverts like me, it doesn't take much convincing to get us to seek alone time.  We need it!  But when you are alone, make sure to intentionally focus on God's presence with your.  If you are an extrovert who loves to be with people, being alone can be way out of your comfort zone.  But I encourage you to try it regularly.  It may be even more important for you to get away from people occasionally and to only rely on God's presence to to fill you.

Service is helping others.  Jesus said in Matthew 23:11, “The greatest among you must be a servant.”  Service is a spiritual discipline that is good for both you and for others.  Service is really about recognizing we are servants.  We let go of our right to choose who and how we will serve.  Instead, we learn humility as we shift our focus from ourselves and onto others.   This is the main way Jesus taught his Disciples in the Bible.  Instead of sending them off to Bible college to get trained, Jesus gave them on the job training.  And He wants to do the same for you.  You may not feel qualified to serve.  But Jesus may invite you to serve anyway.  He will teach and equip you to serve as you serve.  You have to trust Him and answer the call when He asks you to serve--even if you don't feel ready.

I Challenge You to Practice Spiritual Disciplines
I’ve been giving you challenges throughout this series.  First, I challenged you to read Genesis and Matthew before Easter arrives.  Then, I said focus on one category of good deeds (see the list here).  Today, I challenge you to practice these 7 spiritual disciplines.  There are 42 days until Easter. Let’s get busy.

Faith Without Good Deeds Is Dead. Amen!

Introductions
The Bible is the Word of God and contains everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation.  The Bible teaches that Jesus Saves us from sin when we have faith.  The Bible also teaches that faith without good deeds is dead. 

James 2:14-20
¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? ¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, ¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. 

¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

¹⁹ You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. ²⁰ How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Explanation
The Apostle James wrote these words to remind Christians that faith in Jesus in not merely an intellectual matter.  You can’t just say, “Sure, I believe Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave.  I believe that actually happened.”  It’s not even enough to say, “I believe Jesus is God’s Son and that He is Lord of all the earth.”  The kind of faith that saves us is a living faith that changes the way you behave.

You know, you can say, “I believe it’s safe to fly in an airplane.”  Saying it is one thing, but you don’t really believe it unless you get in the plane and fly somewhere.  

The kind of faith Jesus wants from His followers, the kind of faith that actually saves us, compels us  to act.  When we say, “Jesus is Lord!” then we actually live as though He is Lord of our lives; following Him is the most important priority in our life and we follow His commands.  When we truly believe Jesus rose from the dead, we live like we have nothing to lose because we know we have eternal life too.  Living faith—the kind of faith that saves you—compels us to do good deeds.

Being Good vs. Doing Good Deeds
Maybe this is too elementary, but I think it might be important to review what is a good deed.  I say this because sometimes Christians confuse being good with doing good deeds.  In Methodism we call one works of piety and the other works of mercy.  

A Work of Piety is being good inwardly through religious devotion.  Works of Piety are things like praying, fasting, reading your Bible, Holy Communion, and going to church weekly for worship.  These are all good religious devotions that help you be a better person.  You’re not primarily doing them to help other people.  You’re doing them to help yourself.  The point is, you can't say: "I did my good did for the week; I went to church."  Going to church or reading your Bible is not a good deed.  

A Work of Mercy is a good deed, something you do for the betterment of another person or society as a whole.  Reading your Bible or praying are not “Good Deeds”.  They are definitely good things to do., but they are good things you do for yourself, not others.  A Good Deed—something living faith compels you to do—is something good you do for others.

In the Methodist tradition, we further break good deeds down into 2 broad categories.  Corporal Works of Mercy", which concern the physical needs of others, and Spiritual Works of Mercy, which concern the spiritual needs of others.

Corporal Works of Mercy
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25 about sheep and goats.  In the story, He tells how the Son of Man comes back at the End of Time and separate people into two categories--sheep and goats.  

The sheep are rewarded and the goats are punished because they have or have not done certain works of mercy.  Matthew 25:34-36 says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.”

From this, we get 6 works of mercy:  1) Feed the hungry, 2) Give water to the thirsty, 3) Clothe the naked, 4) Shelter the homeless, 5) Visit the sick, 6) Visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive.  And to this we can add a 7^th) Bury the dead.  Basically, these are good things you do to help others with physical needs.  

There’s another important distinction Jesus always adds when he teaches his followers to do good deeds.  He says in Matthew 25:40, “When you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”  In other words, this is not a matter of doing good things for people who do good things for us.  This is not, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine."  There’s no spiritual reward in that.  No, we are supposed to do good things for people who can’t do anything for us.  Jesus even said in Luke  6:35, “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.”

People have physical (corporal) needs.  It doesn’t make much sense to focus on a person's spiritual needs without first tending to their physical needs.  If someone is starving to death, they don’t need you to teach them about Jesus. Give them food!

Spiritual Works of Mercy
However, once a person’s physical needs are met, it’s important to also offer people spiritual food.  In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commanded his followers: “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”

And that’s where a second set of good deeds comes in—Spiritual Works of Mercy: 1) Instruct the ignorant, 2) Counsel the doubtful, 3) Admonish the sinners, 4) Bear patiently those who wrong us, 5) Forgive offenses, 6) Comfort the afflicted, and 7) Pray for the living and the dead.

Do you see all the ways a true Christian has to do Good Deeds?  There are seven Corporal Works of
Mercy to tend to people’s physical needs and seven Spiritual Works of Mercy to tend to people’s spiritual needs.  That at least fourteen ways to do good deeds!

That's why James 2:18c says, “I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”

Challenge
I’d like to close  with a challenge.  First of all, if you’re not a Christian (if you've never put your faith in Jesus Christ) then decided to trust Jesus today.  Pray and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and make a commitment to follow Jesus as your Lord from this day forward.  And do just say it; do it.

Second, I challenge you to do good.  If you say you’re a Christian (that you have faith in Jesus), then show your faith through good deeds.  Choose one good deed you’re going to focus on between now and Easter on April 9^th.

There are fourteen options:  

1. Feed the hungry.
2. Give water to the thirsty.
3. Clothe the naked.
4. Shelter the homeless.
5. Visit the sick.
6. Visit the imprisoned or ransom the captive.
7. Bury the dead. (Attend funerals, even for a few people you don't know.)
8. Instruct the ignorant.
9. Counsel the doubtful.
10. Admonish the sinners.
11. Bear patiently those who wrong us.
12. Forgive offenses.
13. Comfort the afflicted.
14. Pray for the living and the dead

Jesus Saves Us From Sin. Amen!

Introduction
The Bible is the Word of God and contains everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation. Today, want to talk about sin and salvation because the Bible says sin and salvation are two basic elements of the Christian faith.  The Bible teaches that Jesus saves us from sin.  

Ephesians 2:8-9
⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Explanation
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Christians living in Ephesus—an important Greek settlement in what is now modern day Turkey.  Paul started out life as a Pharisee whose goal was to earn salvation by obeying the letter of God Law perfectly.  But Jesus appeared to Paul from heaven and Paul became a Christian.  As a Christian, Paul realized that there was no hope of salvation through living a strict, sinless life because no one can do it.  It is only by grace you are saved when you believe in Jesus.

And so Paul writes to the Ephesians: “God saved you by his grace when you believed.”
We see three words in that statement we must understand:  Saved.  Grace.  Believed.

First there is the word saved.  I think everyone understands the concept of being saved.  If you are trapped in a burning building and a firefighter rescues you, you might say, “You saved my life!”  In that instance, you might feel tremendous gratitude to the firefighter that risked their life to save yours.

But what does it mean when Paul says, “God saved you?” Do you feel like you need to be saved?  The Bible says we should.

Romans 1:20-23
In Romans 1:20-23 Paul wrote: “…ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God…  …but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused…  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.  So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.”

We chose to worship idols and false gods instead of God.  We may not bow down to a golden statue, but we are so prone to give our primary focus to other things when we should focus on God first.  Anytime we serve something or give our resources to something or seek fulfillment from something or try to find security in something when we out to seek these from God we are worshiping an idol or false god.  And we do it all the time.  It's is a sad reality of our fallen human nature.

And so, Romans says, "God abandoned [us] to do whatever shameful things [our] hearts desired."  And this is indeed what we see in our world.  Even animals understand sexual identity, but humans have abandoned the natural order of things.  What should be common sense has become ridiculous to us.  We think we can redefine male and female and God's design for human intimacy.  And people think they are heroic and wise when they follow these crazy ideas.  But who is really wise?  God or people?

Sin Infects All Humanity
Throughout history, there have been self-righteous people who believe everyone else but them is guilty.  Paul started out life that way.  He thought because his was a Jew who strictly follow the Law, he was safe.  But Jesus knocked him on his butt and made him realize he was a fool and a sinner as much as anyone else.  And God tells us this in the Bible.

Romans 3:10-18, 23
“No one is righteous—not even one.  ¹¹ No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.  ¹² All have turned away; all have become useless.  No one does good, not a single one.”  ¹³ “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.  Their tongues are filled with lies.”  “Snake venom drips from their lips.”  ¹⁴ “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”  ¹⁵ “They rush to commit murder.  ¹⁶ Destruction and misery always follow them.  ¹⁷ They don’t know where to find peace.”¹⁸ “They have no fear of God at all.” 

And Romans 3:23 sums it all up: “²³ For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Wow!  That's pretty harsh!  No one likes a preacher to tell them how sinful they are, but it's the only way to help people see how desperately we need Jesus to save us.  Unless you're facing some terrible crisis, you may not feel like you need to be saved.  Romans helps open our spiritual eyes to see that (figuratively) the walls are on fire around us and we're trapped and Jesus is our only hope!

The Truth of the Human condition according to The Word of God is pretty dark.  And when we are tempted to excuse ourselves, the news from around the world condemns us.  How many times have you heard the most awful stories of human depravity?  We hear the stories of the awful things people do—often people we thought were good, admirable people—and then we find out despicable things they've done when they thought no one was watching.

And if we try to say, “Well, I’m not like that!”  A small voice in our own conscious convicts us.  "Yes you are."  If we’re honest, we know there is darkness in us too. Even if we haven’t acted upon it, there is evil in our hearts.  And God’s standards are holiness and perfection.  He made us perfect.  But we are far from perfect now.  And so we know God’s Word is true in Romans 3:23.  “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

That's the bad news.  But grace is the good news we find in Romans 6:23.

Romans 6:23
²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is why we need to be saved.  We have all sinned.  We all deserve death.  And that’s where Grace comes in.  Grace is God’s free gift of divine help, even though we don’t deserve it.  We deserve death, but instead, God gives us the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.   

Eternal life is more than just living forever.  You see, if you live forever in a broken world where there is still evil and darkness and suffering, well that's no blessing; that's a curse.  The eternal life we have in Jesus is absolute fulfillment.   It’s what we’re made for.  In Genesis, eternal life is described as the Garden of Eden that's a paradise where everything was good to eat and where Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with each other and God.  They were completely naked but felt no shame or vulnerability.  They had nothing to hide and felt completely safe.

Isaiah 11:6 says: “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.”  Revelation 21:4 says God will “wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Those who reject God’s free gift of grace will be cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But those who accept God’s gracious salvation through Jesus Christ will have eternal life.

And that’s where the third word comes in—Believe.

Romans 10:9
If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Believe in Jesus Christ.
Believe that He is Lord and don’t hide it.  
Declare it openly.  Live out your belief.
Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Believe it, not just as an idea, but as the Truth that guides your whole life—everything you do.

Declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.  And you will be saved.

Let me pray for you.
“Lord, I pray for everyone reading this today. 
Lord I pray You will guide them to search their hearts right now.
Lord I ask You to show everyone they desperately need to be saved.
We are all in danger of death—spiritual death, eternal death.
Help us to see how much You love us—unconditionally, completely, perfectly.
Help us all to see that You want to save us, and will save us if we believe.
Help everyone today to claim Jesus as our Lord—
to declare in everyway possible to the world that Jesus is our Lord.
Help us to truly believe in our hearts that You raised Jesus from the dead
and that You will raise us to eternal life because of our faith in Him.
Thank You, Lord, for saving us today. Amen.”

Doubt is Essential to Faith

The following blog is from a very special guest blogger, my 16-year-old daughter, Abigail Mullis.  Abigail shared this very honest and thought provoking message on Youth Sunday, and I share it with you today.  Do you ever doubt?  Read what Abigail has to say about faith and doubt.  Click Here to Watch Abigail's Message on YouTube

  This is your fair warning. First of all, this is a very scattered message if you can even call it that. I like to think of this more as a look into the teenage mind, or at least this teenage mind, that's what I’m calling it. Secondly, today I am going to be completely honest with you. I’m the kind of person who loves to sugar coat things, but recently I’ve felt like what I need is to be the complete opposite. So that's the warning. I’m not gonna go crazy, it's still me, but sometimes it is the most helpful to look at things from an … overwhelmingly… honest point of view. So here we go, and please bear with me.

Today, I want to focus on doubt. It's something I’ve experienced a lot. I have thousands of questions and very, very few answers. I want to read you something word for word that I wrote a while ago: “people often call this phase of life “typical teenage questioning” it’s just a phase. I hope so. Or they try to explain it away, but once it gets difficult it always falls on the flimsy shoulders of “Ask God when you get there. I guess we’ll never know. God works in mysterious ways.” I hate these phrases.” I still agree with that statement that I made over a year ago. At some points I’ve just decided that God isn’t real. Other times I’ve decided to put it away and stop wondering at all. Maybe it would be easier if I tried not to think about it. Doubt is a big struggle in my faith. So first of all, why do we have doubt at all? Here comes my first piece of brutal honesty. 

The Bible is literally insane. It starts out with an all powerful, all knowing God who has just … always been there? He created everything out of nothing. Weird. It ends with a magical man god who dies a brutal death and then rises from the dead, as not just a ghost, but a holy ghost. Then he goes up to heaven to sit at the right hand of his father, who is also him, but at the same time he is down here with us but in like air form. If you believe in this ghost guy then when you die you live in paradise, and if you don’t believe in him, when you die, you live in a fiery pit. Please don’t accuse me of blasphemy. I promise this all has a point. Do you realize how ridiculous that story sounded? But you know what else sounds ridiculous? Every other story of creation ever. Even the Big Bang is straight up bonkers. There was just space (which first of all how did space even get there in the first place?) and then boom there was literally the entire universe. It's all crazy. We are just a bunch of crazy humans trying to navigate a crazy existence. My favorite thing to say is “everything you can believe is crazy. It just depends what kind of crazy you believe in.” Even [Paul] admitted that. 2nd Corinthians 5:13 says “If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us.” I guess that kind of sums it up, huh. 

We all experience doubt. God asks us to believe in a crazy story. Of course we will be skeptical. I’ve been reading Jerimiah lately. So far, I’ve seen that Jeremiah was going through a bit of a difficult time. That’s nowhere near an exaggeration. Jeremiah 20:18 says “Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.” That's definitely pretty hefty. In my notes beside that verse I wrote “Even Jeremiah had doubts. He questioned his purpose and miserable life.  He would have been better dead, but God used him. Even a prophet questioned.” That’s a pretty comforting thought to me. Maybe it's terrible, but my favorite quotes from the Bible always seem to be the depressing ones. I think it's because those are the quotes that show us humanity the most. For example, Ecclesiastes 1:8 (another depressing one) “Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.” I think this sums up doubt pretty beautifully. Everyone has experienced it. We will all continue to experience it. Why? Because we are humans. Because we will never be satisfied with not knowing.

 So, why did God give humans skeptical minds? Isn’t that why so many people turn away from him? Why would God do it? I’m not sure, and we will never know for sure. After all, even if we did, we wouldn’t be satisfied with the answer. But here’s a little hypothesis of my own. If you were forced to love someone, would you really love them? If you had never known any different, and you never questioned your love for that person or even thought about questioning your love, would you really love them? If there was no other option, if it was just a fact of life, would it really be love? Why did God put the apple in the garden? Why would he give the potential for something so awful to happen? Why didn’t he just not give humans the option to sin? I don’t know, but I’ve always thought that the apple was there because if it wasn’t, and if there was no other option, then Adam and Eve wouldn’t have really loved God. Love is a choice.

Romans 4:13-15 says “Clearly, God’s promise to the whole Earth and Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God's promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless. For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)” What’s important in Adam and Eve’s story was not the law they were breaking. It was their decision to not love and obey God. It was the idea that they could have faith and trust what God said about the apple, or they could disobey him and eat the apple. They could love God, or they could simply not. And if there is no law to break then what would show their faith? Adam and Eve had free will through the apple. 

Free will is tricky and that is what has always played on my doubt. It's so confusing to me because how can God be all knowing and still give me the option to choose him? Doesn’t he already know what I will do? When he creates someone does he not see their whole life? Does he not see that he is creating this person, and in the end they will go to hell because he knows exactly what will happen? How is that free will? I don’t know. God himself is incredibly confusing to me. Jeremiah 23:23-24 says “Am I a God who is only close at hand? Says the Lord. No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and the earth? Says the Lord.”  He is everything and nothing. Past and present and future. Kind and understanding, but still vengeful and angry. I mean after all, the whole book of Jeremiah is about God putting the Jewish people through horrendous things because they broke his laws. Then later, Jesus comes in, and as I cited earlier from Romans, he says that the laws aren’t really what matter. It’s all very confusing to me. I hope I’m not making you dizzy. 

A couple months ago, Amy asked us who Jesus was to us. This question comes from Luke 9:20 when Jesus asks his disciples “ ‘But who do you say I am?’.” This was a great question. It’s so great that I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. I started to wonder, if someone asked me why I believe in God, despite all the crazy stories in that Bible, what would I say? Would it be, I just always have? Would it be, that’s what is expected of me? Would it be, I’ve never thought of another option, or I never stopped and questioned it? Doubt is the apple in our garden. You can’t love God without having a reason. You can’t find a reason, without searching for an answer. You can't search for an answer if you don't have a doubt. Believing isn’t seeing, but believing certainly isn’t blind. It is calculated. It is a risk, and I wouldn’t take a risk if I didn’t have a reason. Why do I believe in God if I doubt him so much? I have seen his love. I have seen it in places you wouldn’t stop to think about. It is a different kind of love. God didn’t come down and give me a hug, but every friend I’ve ever had was there for a reason. Every bit of love I’ve felt was there for a reason. My existence is unexplainable and it has been filled with an unexplainable love. That’s what I choose to believe in. It's crazy, but so is everything else.

Here is the last piece of scripture I will leave with you, not to make you feel all better, but to keep you thinking about this important aspect of faith. Luke 22:66-70 says “At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, and they said ‘Tell us, are you the messiah?’ But he replied, ‘If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on the Son Of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.’ They all shouted, ‘So you are claiming to be the Son Of God?’ And he replied, ‘You say that I am.’ ”  

I don’t know a lot of things, but I hate to let questions fall on flimsy shoulders, so I will try to put all of these doubts on something a little more solid. Maybe it’s not the best answer, and I know it certainly won’t satisfy me, but it's what I have to offer. Doubt doesn’t make us bad people. I think it makes us better. It makes us question who God is to us and why we want a relationship with him at all. Doubt makes us question our faith, but in the end, it will be the thing that strengthens it. Don’t blindly believe, always question. Search for answers and when you don’t find them, question why they aren’t there. Why do you believe in God? Why have you doubted him? What makes you CHOOSE to love him? 

So, thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you got as much out of this as I got writing it!

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The Bible is God's Word. Amen!

Introduction
Over the next couple months, I’m going to preach about the basics of what it means to be a Christian—and specifically, I’m gonna focus on the beliefs of Christians from a Methodist perspective.  We are a Methodist Church, after all.  Pleasant Grove began as a Methodist congregation over 170 years ago.  Before there was even a building, Christians were gathering under the Pleasant Grove of trees on this property to study God’s Word and worship Jesus Christ.  There were Baptists meeting in the area too.  In fact, the Baptists at Grove Level and the Methodist of Pleasant Grove worked together to establish Pleasant Grove Elementary School.  The Methodists and Baptist appreciated each other and cooperated on many projects, but they recognized there was a difference between Methodists and Baptists. Though both believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there is a need for two distinct denominations.  The spiritual ancestors who established our church were Methodists and we are Methodists.

Methodists believe the Bible is God’s Word.  If you believe that, say “Amen.”  Amen!

2 Timothy 3:14-17
¹⁴ But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. ¹⁵ You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. ¹⁷ God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

Meaning
Paul wrote these words to Timothy near the end of Paul’s life.  Timothy was a young Christian leader and Paul was his spiritual mentor.  By the time Paul wrote these words, Christianity had grown and spread across a vast empire.  What started out as the beliefs of a relatively small group of Jews in Palestine had spread south to Egypt, East to Parthia, north to Turkey, and West to Greece and Rome.  It was a religion rooted firmly in the traditions and Scriptures of Jewish faith, but it was also the fastest growing religion of non-Jews. Such diversity and rapid growth brought the danger of bad teachings—sometimes the results of inexperienced and uninformed teachers and sometimes cause by false teachers who hoped to use the new religion for their own personal gain.

Paul wrote to his young apprentice, Timothy, to warn him.  In 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul said, “You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times.”  He goes on to warn him about the evil attitudes of people creeping into the world and even false teachers corrupting the Church of Jesus Christ.  And Paul tells Timothy, to remain true to the Scriptures.

Today, we also must guard ourselves and the Church from going astray.  We must stay true to the Word of God that has been handed down to us.

The Bible
The Bible is the Word of God.  Paul says all Scripture is inspired by God.  The Greek word Paul used is theopneustos, which means “God-breathed.”  In other words, God breathed life and spirit and wisdom into the Holy Scriptures.

The breathe of God is sacred and powerful.  It breathes life into existence.  You may recall from Genesis 1, that God spoke the world into existence.  He said, "Let there be light..." and there was light.  He spoke and the sun, moon, and star came into existence.  And in the story in Genesis 2:7, God brought Adam to life by breathing into his nostrils.  In the same way, the words of Scripture are inspired by the breath of God.  Scripture is God’s words speaking to us, bringing truth and life when we have faith to hear. 

Originally, when Paul wrote this to Timothy, they only had the Jewish Bible—what we call the Old Testament.  It wasn’t until later that Christians came to include a few more writings from Christian sources into the authoritative collection of Holy, God-inspired Scripture.  The four Gospels, the letters of Paul, Peter, James, and John were accepted as God-breathed and authoritative, along with Revelation.  Thus, we now have the 66 books of the Holy Bible, which Methodists accept as the Old and New Testaments--the inspired Word of God.

The United Methodist official Book of Discipline says, “Scripture is the primary source and criterion for Christian doctrine. Through Scripture the living Christ meets us in the experience of redeeming grace…  Our standards affirm the Bible as the source of all that is “necessary” and “sufficient” unto salvation (Articles of Religion) and “is to be received through the Holy Spirit as the true rule and guide for faith and practice” (Confession of Faith).” [i]

So, we believe that both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible are the inspired Word of God that contain everything necessary and sufficient for our salvation.  This is a sacred book that God preserved for us and uses to speak to us and lead us into truth and salvation through Jesus Christ.  The Bible is the final word for everything we do as a Church and as Christians.

No book has changed the world so much as the Christian Bible.  The very act of reading and writing has been propelled by the Bible.  The ancient Hebrews lived in a time when only a tiny minority of people in the world could read and write.  Yet because the Hebrews revered the written word of God and wanted everyone to be able to read it, it was a priority for them to teach their children to read and write.  Scribes were employed to copy Scripture from decaying manuscripts to the Word could be preserved.  Later in the 15th century, the printing press was invented so make affordable copies of the Bible available to everyone.  The Bible propelled the printing process that makes all kinds of books available to us today. And study and learning have been valued by Christians through the century because we want people to be able to read and understand God's Word.  So education has become the expectation of the modern world.

The Word of God has shaped our modern world.  It has instilled Christian ideals in everyone--even those who are not Christians.  The idea that sacrificial love is a virtue and that people should love their enemies and pay for those who curse them came from Christ and were preserved in the Word.  The idea in the Word of God that all people are created in the image of God has led us to a revolutionary view that we are all equal.  Women and men should be treated as equals and no race should be mistreated or enslaved.  These values came through the Word of God and have changed our world.

We Must Read the Bible with Wisdom and Humility
God gave us the Bible, but God also gave us a brain.  One of the things I love about Methodist Christians is we are encouraged to use our God-given intelligence to understand Scripture.  When we read a Scripture that really challenges us, we ask questions.  “What is this really saying?”  It can be tempting to just accept the passage at face value.  However, Methodists refuse to be lazy about the Bible.  We realize these Scriptures are over 2,000 years old.  They were written to a specific audience on specific occasions.  The poetic Psalms are a different genre than the history books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles.  Thus, different genres must be read and understood differently.  The letters of Paul were written to specific groups of people to address very specific problems.  So, we must take these things into account.  We don’t just read the Bible uncritically.

Furthermore, the Bible is not a weapon we use to prove we are right and everyone else is wrong.  At its core, the 2 Timothy 3:16 says the Holy Bible is “useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”  It's so much more comfortable to avoid looking at our own problems by pointing fingers at everyone else.  And that's what we often want to use the Bible for.  However, Jesus said, "First remove the log from your own eye, then you can see clearly to remove the speck of dust from your neighbor's eye."  We must allow the Bible to convict us first and foremost.

So you see, we must be willing to humble ourselves before the Word of God.  The natural, rebellious state of the human heart always wants to justify itself.  We will either look for a verse in the Bible to prove we are right or we will disregard the Bible and say it’s outdated and no longer relevant to our modern lives.  The Methodist way must be the middle way. It takes Scripture seriously, because it is the Holy Word of God. however, taking the Bible seriously also means studying it and delving into it to really understand critically what God is saying to us today.  Taking it seriously also means humbling ourselves before God and obeying His Word, even when it runs counter to the mainstream opinions of our culture.

It was Scripture that led Martin Luther King, Jr. to fight for civil rights even though it went against popular opinion.  He was arrested, beaten, and ultimately killed for his work.  King would not turn away from the Word of God.  This is just one example from 2,000 years of Christian history.

People are prone to be ignorant and what society finds acceptable changes all the time.  God’s people shouldn't follow the edicts of society.  We build our lives upon the solid rock of God’s Holy Word. 

Closing
I want to close today with a challenge.  I challenge you to read your Bible everyday.  You need a challenge to get you started.  So I want to be specific.  There are 12 weeks between today and Easter.  I challenge you to read the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of Matthew.  That’s 50 chapters in Genesis plus 28 chapters in Matthew.  That equals 78 chapters in 84 days between now and Easter.  (That leaves a few skip days.)  Read Genesis and Matthew and listen for God’s Word to you.  Listen and ask the questions:  "What do I need to change?  What do I need to do?"

Will you accept this challenge?

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[i] https://www.umc.org/en/content/theological-guidelines-scripture