God Gives Us the Commandments

Introduction
This is a series I'm preaching to help my church get ready for Vacation Bible School June 26-29.  The lessons are good for all of us--not just kids.  Today we will look at the lesson for Day 2 – God Gives the Commandments.  Our theme is: MY LOVING GOD GIVES DIRECTION.

Exodus 19:18-19
¹⁸ All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. ¹⁹ As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. ²⁰ The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

Exodus 20:1-21
¹ Then God gave the people all these instructions:

² “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
³ “You must not have any other god but me.

⁴ “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. ⁵ You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. ⁶ But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

⁷ “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

⁸ “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ You have six days each week for your ordinary work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

¹² “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You must not murder.

¹⁴ “You must not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You must not steal.

¹⁶ “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

¹⁹ And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”

²⁰ “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

²¹ As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

Our God is an Awesome God
This is an awesome and frightening scene.  It's a big contrast from the image of God we see portrayed in Jesus in the New Testament.  Jesus is kind and patient and merciful and full of compassion and mercy.  The image of God at Mount Sanai reminds us to never forget that our God is an awesome God and He is serious about sin.  He means business when He commands us to obey His commands.  

In verse 20, Moses tells why God appeared in this way on Mount Sanai.  He said, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

There were 2 teachers in my school when I was in the 5th grade.  Everyone said you wanted to have Mrs. Sanders because she was nice and Mrs. Garland was really mean.  I had Mrs. Sanders for 5 of my periods, but Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Garland switched for one period.  I went to Mrs. Garlands class for math and her class came to Mrs. Sanders for English.  I thought, "Oh no!  Mrs. Garland is going to be so mean!"  Well, for the first week of school, Mrs. Garland was very stern.  She made it clear that she would not put up with any foolishness in her class and we all knew we better not get out of line. On the other hand, Mrs. Sanders was so friendly and pleasant that everyone took advantage of her.  She was nice that no one paid any attention to her.  Everyone talked and cut up and caused all kinds of disruptions in her class.  I felt sorry for Mrs. Sanders and her class was not that good.  Mrs. Garland, who everyone said was so mean, was actually quite nice and everyone learned and enjoyed her class.  Everything was orderly and pleasant and no one acted up.  Mrs. Garland was never mean, but if anyone tested her, the consequences were swift and final.  So no one broke her rules.

I guess sometimes you've got to put forth a mean face to scare people straight and make sure they know you mean business and the rules are the rules and you better follow them.  That's what God is showing us in this passage from Exodus.  God is love, but He is also holy and His power awesome and frightening.  He is serious when He gives these commandments. You better follow them.

God’s Rules are for Our Good
Sometimes, people don’t like rules.  Why should someone be able to tell me what I can/can’t do? Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.  It’s my body!  Don’t tell me how to spend my money.  It’s my money!  Don’t tell me how to live my life.  It’s my life!  (Actually, according to the Bible, it’s not your body.  It’s not your money.  It’s not your life.  But that's another sermon for another day.)

It's a good thing we don’t hear the same kinds of arguments made by many people above about traffic lights.  No one is arguing they should be exempt from stopping at red lights.  Without those lights, millions of people would die!  Rules are for our own good.

If you want to get a drivers license, you have to study and learn the rules of the road.  The rules ae for our safety.  It's the same with God Commandments.  The fact that God gives us rules shows He cares. 

He understands our weakness and our confusions.  He knows sin has clouded our judgment.  He wants us to be safe.  He wants us to holy so we can have a good relationship with Him.  So He gives us rules.  The 10 Commandments are the most basic rules of God. 

Do you know them?  If you’re a Christian you should know the Lord’s rules.  I challenge you to memorize them.  Here's a paraphrase of the 10 commandments that I've used to help many people memorize them.

The Ten Commandments

1.     Do not worship any god except the Lord.

2.     Do not make idols of any kind.

3.     Do not misuse God’s name.

4.     Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.

Commandments 1 - 4 are about our relationship with God.  These come first in the list because your relationship with God must be right first or your relationship with people will remain messed up.  A lot of people who don't believe in God still try to encourage good behavior with people.  It always falls short because the question behind everything is "Why should I behave well with people if there's no God?"  You see, if there's no Higher Power, then we're just animals and it's survival of the fittest.  Atheist have yet to come up with reasonable foundational values for why people should behave well in the absence of God.  If there's no God, who makes the rules?  People.  And the most influenceial, strongest, powerful people are the ones who make the rules, which are relative and can be changed to suit one group over another.  But since Christians believe there is a God, there are reasons we follow the rules--chief among them is because God is sovereign and has the authority to require certain behavior from His people.  

And so when we follow commands 1 through 4, we are now ready for rules 5 through 10 that deal with human relationships.

5.     Honor your father and mother.

6.     Do not murder.

7.     Do not commit adultery.

8.     Do not steal.

9.     Do not testify falsely.

10.  Do not covet.

God Law Shows We’re Broken | God’s Love Saves Us
Now one thing these commandments show us is where we fall short.  Every time we sin, we tear our heart apart.  Have you ever broken any of these commandments?  Of course you have.  We all have.  

At some point or another, we’ve all told a lie.  Maybe we've said, “No Honey!  Those jeans don’t make your butt look big,” when you know darn well they do make her butt look fat.  

If you’ve only ever stolen a paper clip, then you’ve broken the 8^th commandment--do not steal.  And who among us has never, ever wanted something our neighbor had:  “Man, I sure wish I had ‘a car like theirs’ or ‘a house like that’ or a ‘a new cell phone’ or something.

You may never have murdered someone but Jesus said in Matthew 5:21, “If you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

You may never have committed adultery but Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

So you see, we’ve all fallen short of God’s glorious standards and broken His Commandments.  And every time we sin, our hearts are torn apart.  But the amazing thing is, even though we’ve sinned, God doesn’t stop loving us!  In Jesus Christ, we see that God’s love and grace are greater than all our sins!

God loves us so much, He sent Jesus, His son.  Jesus never sinned.  He never broke the Commandments—not even in His heart.  Jesus paid for our sin on the cross and rose again.  Because of Jesus, we can be forgiven! 

Conclusion
If you want to be forgiven and make a fresh start, it’s time to repent of your sin and turn to Jesus.  Jesus welcomes anyone who sincerely decides to turn away from sin and follow Him as Lord.  And for all that decide to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps them live in love. 

And when we follow Jesus, He gives us a brand new heart.  Do you want a new heart, one that can love God and love your neighbor, a heart that knows you are loved and can feel God’s love and people’s love for you?  Why don’t you decide to follow Jesus today?

Pray:
Loving God, thank You fo the direction You give us in Your Ten Commandments. We are sorry fo the times we sin against You and break Your rules. Thank you for forgiving us!  We would be completely lost without Jesus, who leads us to You.  Please help us to remember the Commandments, and give us power through the Holy Spirit to obey.  In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

God Rescues Noah

Introduction
My church is preparing for Vacation Bible School in a few weeks so I want to look at the 5 famous Bible stories we will be covering during the 5 days of VBS.  In this blog, I'll share the story for the first day – God Rescues Noah, God keeps His promises.

Genesis 6:17-22
¹⁷ “Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die. ¹⁸ But I will confirm my covenant with you. So enter the boat—you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁹ Bring a pair of every kind of animal—a male and a female—into the boat with you to keep them alive during the flood. ²⁰ Pairs of every kind of bird, and every kind of animal, and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ And be sure to take on board enough food for your family and for all the animals.”

²² So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

Was There Really a Worldwide Flood?
There is ample evidence, even outside the Bible, of a tremendous flood that devastated the Biblical world sometime in the ancient past.  Scientists describe the earth at the end of the last major ice age as a time of great flooding.  Geological evidence confirms it.  Glaciers melted and caused the oceans to rise some 400 feet.  (Look up… Football field… 40 story building…)

The Black Sea, once a freshwater lake, was flooded by sea water after the last ice age. 
It is now sat water.  The ruins of hundreds of villages now lie beneath water in the Black Sea,
the Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, and in many other places around the world—including Japan, China, and Thailand.

Flooding at the dawn of human civilization was terrible and catastrophic and survives in the memories of hundreds of cultures all around the world—The Epic of Gilgamesh from Ancient Mesopotamia, the ancient Greeks had a flood story, the Hindus have a deluge tale in India, as well as flood stories by the Aztecs in Mexico, and Native Americans.  These stories have all striking similarities to the Noah story in the Bible—including boats, birds, animals, and heroes interacting with gods.  If that many cultures from around the world remember a great flood, it's worth taking it serious. 

God Keeps His Promises
But what does God want us to get from the story in the Holy Bible?  A major theme from the Noah and the flood story is God keeps His promises. The sign of God’s faithfulness is the rainbow.

A lot of people ask, “How could a good God do something so terrible as flood the whole earth?  You could ask the same thing of a doctor who amputates a person’s leg.  Why would they do such a horrible thing as cutting off a leg?  Well, if the leg was so badly injured or infected that keeping it would jeopardize the whole body, then the most caring thing a doctor could do would be to cut off the leg.  And that’s what God saw when He looked at His world.  Creation was so evil, the best thing to do was destroy what was too far gone and preserve what was salvageable:  Noah, his family, and the animals on the Ark. 

Despite humanity’s sin, which corrupted God’s beautiful creation and broke our relationship with God, God didn’t give up on us.  He promised to save the world and He kept His promise.  And God started with Noah and his family.  And God also saved the animals. God is always working to save us.  And God keeps His promises.  But we must trust God and obey

Noah had to trust God.  God told Noah to build an ark. If Noah didn’t do it, he couldn’t be saved.  But Noah trusted God and obeyed and he was saved.  Noah’s obedience also saved his family and the animals. When we trust God and obey, it doesn’t just change our lives; it has the potential to change our family, our community, and even the environment around us.  But we have to trust God to keep His promises and we have to obey.

The Dove
There’s another important symbol in the story—the dove.  In Genesis 8, we learn the flood was so great the water covered the earth for 5 months.  Then the Ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, but only mountain peaks were visible for another 2.5 months.  How would Noah know when it was safe to leave the Ark?  He couldn’t see far enough to know.

Eventually, Noah opened a window and released 2 birds.  Do you know what they were?  He released a raven and a dove.  I don’t know why Noah released a raven.  I need to research that.  I'm sure the Bible says that for a reason.  One reason may be that ravens eat carrion, and there would have been a lot of dead carcasses floating around.  The Bible doesn't tell us anything else about the raven, but that tantalizing mention of it makes me want to know more.

On the other hand, we know why the dove was released.  A dove prefers to walk on dry land.  The dove could fly around and see things Noah and his family couldn’t see and if it didn't find a dry place to land, it would return to the Ark.  Genesis 8:9 says, “The dove could find no place to land because the water still covered the ground. So it returned to the boat.”  Seven days later, Noah released the dove again and it returned with an olive branch.  It had found something, but not enough to live on.  So Noah waited seven more days and released the dove again.  This time the dove did not return.  That meant there was dry land outside for the bird to walk on. 

In the New Testament, the dove represents the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus was baptized, a dove descended upon Jesus and God said, “This is my beloved Son, who brings me great joy.” (Matthew 3:16-17)  And the gospels indicate the dove was the Holy Spirit. 

Did you know that every Christian who follows Jesus as their Lord has the Holy Spirit of God living inside them?  In John 14:15-17, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.”  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.  The Holy Spirit guides us.  And 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit."

Finding Our Way
Do you ever feel lost?  I mean, we just can’t see what the future holds.  We don’t know what’s up ahead.  There might be a flood in our future or some sickness, or another pandemic.  We don’t know, but Christians have an asset the rest of the world doesn’t.  We have the Holy Spirit to show us the way.  

When we pray and ask God to lead us into the unknown future, it’s like a window and releasing a dove.  The Holy Spirit, who sees what we can’t see, tells us what to do.  But we’ve got to be in tune.  We’ve got to be listening.  We do that through daily prayer and walking with God. When we walk with Jesus daily, and practice reading the Scriptures, praying, fasting, worshiping, then we grow more accustomed to hearing the Spirit’s voice and following where He leads. 

And just like Noah, we have to trust God and obey.  If the Spirit says build an ark. Build and ark.  If the Spirit says, get off the boat, get off the boat.  If the Spirit says, talk to that person over there.  Talk to them.  If the Spirit says, help with VBS.  You better help!  

Now, when the Spirit says do something, you may not understand why.  It may seem like the silliest thing in the world.  You may even think, “I’m not gonna do that!  That doesn't make any sense.”  But you can’t see what the Holy Spirit sees.  So you better just trust the Spirit and obey. 

Closing
Noah trusted God and was saved—he and his whole family and all the animals.  After it was all over, they all left the boat.  And Noah built and altar and worshiped the Lord.  And the Lord was pleased and made a covenant (a divine agreement) with Noah and his family.  

In Genesis 9:12-16, God said, “¹² I am giving you a sign of my covenant with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come. ¹³ I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. ¹⁴ When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, ¹⁵ and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life. ¹⁶ When I see the rainbow in the clouds, I will remember the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth.”

God made a covenant with Noah and the sign was the rainbow.  Then later, Jesus came to make a New Covenant with people.  John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  The sign of the New Covenant is Holy Communion, which represents the body and blood of Christ offered for us on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  If you trust Christ, repent of your sins, and follow Jesus as Lord, you will be forgiven and saved for eternal life.  So repent of your sins, believe in Jesus, and decide to follow Him today, because God keeps His promises.

Welcome to the First Day of the Rest of Your life

Introduction
Today, we celebrate our graduates.  I had each one on my mind as I planned this sermon.  

I thought about the Walker, who used to come sit in my office and ask such interesting questions—whom I had the honor of sponsoring to attend Chrysalis last summer.  

Grace, Amy’s niece, who is always so sweet and kind and faithful to attend youth and Sunday worship.  I loved seeing her volunteering at the Miracle Field in April.

Henry, Big Mama’s grandson, who I first met in VBS. He lives in another town, but has so often visited our church and I’ve prayed for him many times.
And our college graduates. 

Kate, who has such a sweet, sweet spirit and I can see in Kate a deep love of Christ and a desire to serve Him in our community.

Then there’s sweet Sydney, who started out as part of our youth program, then in Sunday worship, and has remained active in our church throughout college.

And I remember JC as a young girl in our children’s program and visiting her assemblies over at Christian Heritage—now all grown up and graduating college.

But I thought of all the people in my church too and even Christians who don't attend my church.  The title of the message is: Welcome to the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.  And that’s true not only for graduates, but for all of us. Through Christ, we can always make a fresh start.  And so each day is like we just graduated.

For this message, God gave me 1 Timothy 3:1-7 to preach.  It’s not the scripture I would have chosen for this occasion.  And even though I tried to choose another topic and scripture instead, God kept leading me back to this one.  So, I believe it’s the one God chose.  In it, the Apostle Paul writes to his young apprentice Timothy about the organization of the Church and the different roles in it.  In particular, Paul gives Timothy the qualifications of a Bishop.

1 Timothy 3:1-7
¹ This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honorable position.” 

Right off the bat, let me clarify, the Greek word the New Living Translation renders as “church leader” is Episkypos.  It’s where we get the English word Episcopal, like the Episcopal Church.  What Paul is talking about here is not just the average run of the mill church leader.  He’s talking about Bishops.  The NRSV and KJV actually translate it as Bishop.  “Whoever aspires to the office of bishop…”

² So a church leader [bishop] must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. ³ He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. ⁴ He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. ⁵ For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?

⁶ A church leader [bishop] must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. ⁷ Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap.

Bishops are Leaders
Bishops are leaders in the church.  As the early church in New Testament times grew and expanded rapidly, they organized like this.  A group of new Christian believers would gather weekly—usually in somebody's home—to pray, worship, study Scripture, and celebrate Holy Communion. They also worked together to make new disciples, feed the hungry, and help the poor.  They usually didn't have a church building at this stage (Christians didn't have money for extra buildings and their meetings were often outlawed).

Each house church had a pastor and there might be numerous houses of Christian worship in an area.  (Remember, most people at that time had to walk to church.  So their church had to be within walking distance.)

Each area had a Bishop to oversee all the many house churches in the area.  That's literally what Episkypos (Bishop) means.  It literally means overseer. This is how most Christian denominations are still organized today. 

And this is how the United Methodist Church is organized.  We group local churches together in a larger area and a Bishop is appointed to oversee them.  We break areas down even further into districts & have district superintendents help the Bishop.

So in the early Church, the Bishop was the top leader in the church.  Not that they were more important. Paul makes it abundantly clear in other passages that no person in the Church is more important than another.  No office or role is more important than any other.  The Body of Christ needs all its many parts.  It’s just that the Bishops are leaders.

As the leaders of a large area of Christians, Bishops need to understand Christian doctrine.  They help keep the various local churches on the right track, teaching the right things. They keep churches moving in the right direction fulfilling Christ’s mission to make disciples.

Bishops are also spokespersons for the whole Church.  In the NT Times, Bishops were the ones city officials would talk to when they wanted to get a message to all the Christians in an area.  As representatives for the whole Church, Bishops needed to represent Christians well.  That’s why Paul said their lives must be beyond reproach.  They should be self-controlled, wise, have a good reputation, good at entertaining guests, able to teach, not drunks, not violent, gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy, good at managing their own family.

Obviously, it's a tall order and it takes a special person to be a Bishop.  But what does this have to do with graduates?  And what does this have to do with you? 

Practical Application
We all have an important roll to play in the Body of Christ.  No role is more important than another.  Graduates, as you graduate, you have completed an important part of your training.  Maybe part of that is so you can get a certain job and have a career, but I think it goes deeper.  More important than earning a living, you will make a difference in this world.  You will shape your family.  You will impact your community.  You will influence people.  How will you shape them?  What impact will you have?  Will your influence be positive or negative?  You decide by your character and how you choose to live.

Will you aspire to be a Bishop? (I’m not aware of any of our graduates or anyone from my church here who aspires to be a Bishop, but you could if God calls you to it and the Church recognizes it, more power to you!)  Whether or not you aspire to be a “Bishop”, the qualities Paul lays out are great aspirations for us all.

The characteristics of Bishops in the New Testament exemplify the qualities every Christian should aspire to.  Lives beyond reproach, self-controlled, wisdom, a good reputation, hospitality, able to teach, not getting drunk, not violent, gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy, good at managing you own family…

Those are good qualities for our graduates to shoot for.  They’re good aspirations for all of us.

1 Corinthians 12:18-21 – ¹⁸ But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. ¹⁹ How strange a body would be if it had only one part! ²⁰ Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. ²¹ The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”  And verse 27 – ²⁷ All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

I pray you will will aspire to have the very best qualities!

Closing
Let’s do something together.  This is for graduates.  This is for their parents and grandparents and everyone.  I want you to look at your feet.  Go ahead.  Do it…  Those are your feet.
Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!”
I hope you will use your feet to take you places to share the Good News of Jesus.

Look at your hands.  Do it…Those are your hands.
Ephesians 4:28 says, “use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.”
I hope you will use your hands to do good work (whatever it is) and that you will have generous hands that help the needy just like Jesus has helps you.

Now, put your hand over your heart.  Feel it beating…  That’s your heart beating.
Matthew 5:8 says, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.”
I hope you will let Jesus keep your heart pure so you sincere and honest.  Let everything you do flow from the purest of motives.

The truth is, we all fall short.  But the Good News is there is forgiveness and redemption in Jesus.  So if you need to make a fresh start, turn to Him today.  Whatever happened in the past prepared you for the future ahead.  But make a commitment today to follow Jesus into the future He wants for you.

We Are Family

Introduction
I’ve been reflecting a lot about my Mom and our relationship lately.  I guess because of Mother’s Day.  One thing I remember in particular is the day I left home to go off to college.  It was the day I “moved out” of my Mom’s house.

We went to eat lunch at the Texas Cattle Company in Macon.  I didn’t want orneed my Mom to go all the way up to Marietta to help me move in to college at Southern Tech.  Although she would have liked to, I felt I needed to do it on my own and she let me.

Even though I moved out of my Mom’s house, we remain connected. I visited every weekend and we talked often on the phone.  We were and are bound by love and always will be.  Regardless of whether we live in the same house, we will always be family.  I’m so thankful for all my Mom did for me—for her sacrifice, her love, her continued support—and for the legacy she passed on to me.

My relationship with my mom and my family are a good lead in to wwhat I want to share today.  I want to talk about family, but I want to broaden the concept of family beyond your biological family.  Jesus said family is deeper than blood relations. Jesus said in Matthew 12:50, “Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!”

The Church is a family. We are connected to each other. And I want to discuss this connectionism among the followers of Christ in the Church.

Acts 15:22-29 tells about a special council the early followers of Christ held in Jerusalem to deal with an important issue in the growing Family of Christ, the Church.  You see, Jesus was Jewish.  The first disciples were Jewish.  The earliest followers were Jewish.  They followed Jewish religious customs laid out in the Old Testament.  (You know things like: don’t eat pork.  Don’t work on the Sabbath day.  Celebrate Passover.  Etc.) 

As the years went by, more and more non-Jewish people became Christians and started asking a legitimate question: Do non-Jewish people need to follow all the Jewish religious rules in order to be Christians?  And a really important issue was about circumcision.  Most Jews are circumcised at birth.  But if you became a Jew as an adult, you would need to be circumcised then.  So this was a important (and potentially painful) issue for the male gentiles who wanted to follow Christ.  Did they need to be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws of the Old Testament to be Christians?  So the Church had a big conference to discuss the issue and make a decision. Let’s read what they decided.

Acts 15:22
²² Then the apostles and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders—Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas. 

Let’s pause here to consider.  The early Church felt it was important to speak as one body.
Christians are in connection.  Not individuals.  Not even individual congregations.  The early Christians wanted everyone across the whole church to believe and practice the same thing (as far as it was possible).  So they made a decision and sent representatives with the official decision in a letter.

Acts 15:23
²³ This is the letter they took with them:

“This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings!

It's important to recognize that the Jerusalem council represented church congregations that spanned across a geographical area roughly the size of the Southeastern United States.  This was the Church--a large body of believers made up of hundreds of small local congregations that spanned throughout the middle east.  And they were all expected to follow the same rules.

Acts 15:24
²⁴ “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them! 

In other words, some people have made proclamations that don't represent the official positions of the  connection/family.  They had no authority to say what they said.

Acts 15:25-27
²⁵ So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶ who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷ We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question.

This is the official ruling for the connection.  Everyone in this family will follow the following ruling.

Acts 15:28-29
²⁸ “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: ²⁹ You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”

The Take Aways for Today
There are 3 main take aways I want you to see today from this Scripture.  

1. The Church is Connectional
2. It’s not about rules. It’s about grace.
3. Christians have the simplest of rules.

Let's look at each of these.  First of all, the Church is connectional. Christianity is not an individualistic faith.  Contary to popular opinion in 21st century America, faith is not a private matter.  We are a community, a family.  What you do matters to me. And what I do affects you.  Thus, we live together, worship together, serve together, and make decisions together.  And here’s the hard part for most people in America.  Our connection even goes beyond our local church.

The Local Church
It’s easy to feel loyalty to your own local congregation.  It’s also easy to fall into a trap where all you care about is your own local congregation.  We may appreciate other churches in in our community, but we are tempted to see our own church as more important.  If we're not careful, we may even see other congregations as competition.  However, our local church is only one small part of God's great Church.  And each little part is important and we are all on the same team.  We are not competing against each other.  There are plenty of people in our community that aren't part of any church.  There's more than enough unchurched people to go around.  We need not fight over who goes to what church. Let us work to include those who are not going to any church. 

Our Household – The Denomination (The UMC???)
My local church is belongs to the United Methodist Church.  However, there are a lot of question marks in that affiliation for us right now because our congregation is preparing to vote on whether we wish to remain in the UMC.  Many feel the UMC is not follow the household rules anymore and we are finding it unbearable to remain in the same house.

Going back to the family analogy.  Did you ever hear parents say something like:  "If you're going to live in my house, you have to follow my rules.  If you don't like it, go get your own house."  And if your parents said that to you and you decided to move out, you might need to have a conversation about what you get to take with you.  Maybe your parents would say: "You can't take the care your driving.  That belongs to us!"  But you might argue back and say, "Hey!  I worked and earned the money for this car and bought it myself.  Just because the title is in your name doesn't mean it's fair for you to say it's yours."  And you might have to work out how to divide everything up.

Well that's sort of where we are in the UMC right now.  We can no longer agree to follow rules of the house. Many congregations are wanting to move out and into another house, but we have to decide what property we can take with us.  

My hope is that once people get to decide where they want to live (whether it's in the UMC or another denomination), we will all be able to get along better.  Because whether we are in the same household (denomination) or not, we are still family (relate by the blood of Christ).  We should be able to live together in peace and unity in our own household and be good neighbors to our extended Christian family outside our denomination.

Our Tribe – Methodist
The next level up on the Christian family tree is our tribe, which more me is Methodist (or you might even say Wesleyan).  There are numerous denominational families that belong to the Methodist tribe.  We all are strongly influenced by the theology of John Wesley. Our share Wesleyan theology includes things like Infant Baptism, an important emphasis on grace, and strong sacramental theology, among other distinctives.  The Methodist tribe--which includes the UMC, GMC, Salvation Army, The Nazarenes, Evangelical Methodist Church, Wesleyan Church, and many others--have a lot more in common with each other than we do with denominations in other tribes like the Baptist, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic tribes.

The Church Universal 
The final level that includes every Christian, throughout all time, in every place, and in every denomination is the universal Church.  The rules for who belongs in this broadest category are very simple.  The chief requirement is that you repent of your sins and follow Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  All who do this are part of the extended Christian family we call the Catholic Church (AKA the Church Universal).  We can respect, appreciate, and work with all Christians—regardless of denomination--and we should.  We are all followers of the same Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior. 

It’s Not About Rules.  It’s All About Grace.
Following Jesus is not about rules; it’s all about God's grace.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”

The Jerusalem Council rejected legalism that tried to say Christians needed to follow Jewish religious laws in order to be saved.  The Christian Church clarified that following Christ is not about rules; it's about receiving God's grace through Jesus Christ.

There are still people today who will try to say you’ve got to do certain things in order to be a real Christian.  Some Pentecostals (not all but some) say you must speak in tongues in order to show you are really a Christian.  Some Baptists (not all but some) say you must be fully immersed in a believers baptism in order to be a real Christian.  Some Seventh Day Adventists (not all by some) say true Christians worship on Saturday (the seventh day) and eat the kinds of food the Old Testaments says we should eat.  The Jerusalem Council settled this in Acts 15.  It’s not about rules.  It’s about God’s grace received thru Jesus Christ. 

And in order that Christians may all live together in unity and peace, the Jerusalem Council laid out the simplest of rules for early Christians to follow:

1. Don’t eat meat sacrificed to idols.
2. Don’t eat blood.
3. Don’t eat meat from strangled animals.
4. Abstain from sexual immorality.

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 have to do with maintaining connections with Jewish Christians and not being a stumbling block to anyone.  The Apostle Paul clarified this in 1 Corinthians 8, 9, and 10.  Meat in the first century was almost always butchered as part of a religious sacrifice.  Jews could only eat kosher meat sacrificed to Yahweh.  But most meat sold in gentile meat markets had been sacrificed to idols or pagan gods.  Jews found such meat to be abhorrent to their faith.  Thus, Paul said, Christians should avoid eating meat sacrificed to pagan gods because it might lead someone to think Christians believed in and were honor false gods.  Paul's reasoning was that false gods don't really exist so meat sacrificed to them was not polluted in any way, but it was the conscious of the people who knew about the meat that mattered.  Even if a Christian knew there was nothing wrong with eating the meat, they should protect the consciousness of others who might think it mattered.

In 21st century America, we don't have to worry that meat was sacrificed to an idol or false god.  Although, we might need to pray about and consider other issues, like whether the meat was processed in an ethical way or by a business that treats their workers fairly or one that is a good steward of the environment.

The fourth rule of the Jerusalem council deals with actual sin that is abhorrent to God and destructive to people, relationships, and communities.  The Jerusalem council instructs Christians to abstain from sexual immorality.  Jesus, The Apostle Paul, and the letter of Jude all agree Christians should abstain from sexual immorality.  No where in the Bible does it allow for the faithful to be sexually immoral.

So really, you could say there are just 2 broad rules all Christians should follow.  So from 613 Jewish laws in the Old Testament, Christians come down to just 2:

1. Don’t be a stumbling block.
2. Don’t be sexually immoral.

Of course, we understand that living faithfully for Jesus requires wisdom.  We must let the Holy Spirit guide us to discern what is the right thing to do in any situation.  But it really is simple. And God is full of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Conclusion
Because of the Jerusalem Council’s decision, Gentile believers were welcomed into the Church.  They joined in droves.  Within a few years, there were more Gentile Christians than Jewish ones.

Have you joined the Church?  What does that mean?  First of all it means to repent of your sin and give your life to Christ.  Turn away from your own selfish way of living and turn to Jesus.  Let Him be Lord of your life.  Follow Him and He will save you.  

Second, be baptized. Baptism doesn't save you, but it is the outward and visible sign Jesus commanded His followers to use to initiate new believers into the household of God.  God imparts grace to us through baptism to help us live as He wants us to live.  

Third, when you join a local congregation, you promise to support the church with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.  Using the family analogy, joining a local church is like getting married.  You stand before God and witnesses and promise to be faithful to the church.  You declaration makes it possible to move into a deeper relationship with the family of God because everyone knows you are truly committed.

If you’ve already done all these, take some time to reflect what it means for you and if you’re being faithful to the family.  

If you need to do any of these, I can help. I would love to talk with you help welcome you into the family of God.