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Engaging Believers - The Blueprint Series
43 Plays2 months ago
In this sermon, Ridley Barron preached about engaging unbelievers and the importance of a Christian worldview. He highlighted the necessity of theological clarity, explaining that becoming a child of God is through adoption via Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Barron touched on the effectiveness of the Socratic method for spiritual conversations, the significance of the Areopagus in early Christian thought, and the conflicting philosophies of Epicureans and Stoics. Addressing contemporary worldviews, he emphasized how a coherent Christian perspective can realign beliefs and guide moral understanding. Through practical advice on avoiding judgment, identifying idols, and embracing righteous anger, Barron urged believers to engage others with scripture, reason, and humility. He concluded with reflections on God's sovereignty, urging personal relationship-building with the Creator and assuring support for those grappling with their faith journey.
Timestamps:
00:00 Paul distressed by idols, debates in Athens.
05:44 Paul's departure, conversions, and discussing worldviews, Christianity.
07:23 Divine self-revelation shapes our perceptions and beliefs.
09:52 Keep opinions off social media; church's reputation matters.
13:37 Identify personal idols and help others too.
16:18 Balance justice and compassion with righteous anger.
19:21 We're God's children by Christ's sacrifice only.
25:04 Bringing piecemeal beliefs together undermines true worldview.
26:09 Discussing God’s existence and character; atheists' irony.
29:22 Jesus maintains everything; seek Him amid chaos.
32:25 Invite God into your life wholeheartedly.
36:25 Jesus lived, died, rose for our salvation.
38:52 Believing life accidental devalues human life's sanctity.
42:28 Foundational teachings, important questions, certainty in faith.
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Transcript
Introduction to Acts 17
00:00:02
Speaker
Good morning. If you want to go ahead and open your Bibles to Acts chapter 17, we are continuing our journey through the book of Acts. And as Kelly said, we still have people coming in and looking for seats. So if you've got any, if you could slide over and make room for them, that would be fantastic. If not, we'll give your seat away next week.
Paul's Missionary Journey Recap
00:00:23
Speaker
Just kidding. So Acts chapter 17, if you were not here last week, let me kind of catch you up where we are in the story. Paul is on his second missionary journey. He's going through the towns of Thessalonica and Berea, and this is commonly the case. He is immediately met with opposition, thrown out of the town, run out of the town. And in this case, he left Berea, went to Athens, the town of Athens, and um he is there waiting on Timothy and Silas to come join him. They have stayed behind in Berea to encourage the new congregation that is there.
00:00:55
Speaker
Now, what's interesting about this is that, as you know, most of the towns that Paul has visited on his journeys have been at least open to Judaism.
Religious Landscape of Athens
00:01:05
Speaker
They've had synagogues there. There's been conversations about specifically religions around the one true God. And so most of those places, even though he met opposition, there was at least an initial conversation that could be had. Athens is an entirely different story. Athens is a very large city in Greece.
00:01:23
Speaker
I think at the time was the second largest city in Greece um filled with all kinds of religious stuff, whether it was the Jews who did have a presence there, gods and goddesses of the Greek variety, some Roman gods and goddesses that had worked their way in. As you're going to hear, there's even a statue to the unknown god. It's like they wanted to make sure they covered all the bases and so they just throw up an idol to something out there that they aren't aware of.
00:01:50
Speaker
And that's important to recognize and to note. So we're gonna jump right into the story.
Paul's Distress and Reasoning
00:01:55
Speaker
um And I think as God is always prone to do, this comes at a timely moment for us, a timely juncture as a congregation and as a community. And I think you'll understand a little bit more as we go. Acts chapter 17 beginning in verse 16, it says, while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols.
00:02:18
Speaker
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, what is this ignorant show off trying to say? I think that's what some of y'all say when y'all walk out of here on Sunday morning.
00:02:37
Speaker
ah
00:02:41
Speaker
ah Others replied, duly noted. Others replied, he seems to be a preacher of foreign deities because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. They took him and brought him to the Areopagus and said, may we learn about this new teaching you are presenting? Because what you say sounds strange to us and we want to know what these things mean.
00:03:03
Speaker
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new. Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, people of Athens, I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed to an unknown God. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
Unity of Humanity Under God
00:03:30
Speaker
The God who made the world and everything in it, he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives every gives everyone life and breath and all things. From one man he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. I want you to note something right there.
00:03:58
Speaker
really, really important related to one of the issues that plagues our world today. From one man, he made every nationality. Just so you're clear on that, there is no races. There's only a race. It's the human race.
00:04:14
Speaker
Now you may have more melanin or less melanin than me and my skin, but our blood is all the same. It all goes back to one person. His name is Adam. It's all the way back to him that we are all one people. We are the ones who created the classes, the divisions, the nationalities, those kinds of things as a result of our own sinful choices. So make no mistake about it. I'm your brother and you can't do a doggone thing about it. There we go. All right.
00:04:41
Speaker
Verse 27, he did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.
00:04:57
Speaker
Since then, we are God's offspring, we shouldn't think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands who? All people everywhere. All people everywhere to repent. Because he has set a day when he's going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. Who's gonna judge the world?
00:05:26
Speaker
Look, pressure's off, you don't have to judge anybody.
00:05:32
Speaker
Thank you. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, we'd like to hear from you again about this. So Paul left their presence. However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
00:05:55
Speaker
I wanna talk to you a little bit about your worldview this morning. your worldview. um Paul, addressing a bunch of people from a
Christian Worldview Significance
00:06:05
Speaker
variety of religious backgrounds, and every one of them, very devout in their thinking, had to address this issue with him because he had to find some kind of ground from which he could approach things. Make no mistake about it, all of us have a worldview. The question is, do you have a Christian worldview, the worldview that God wants you to have?
00:06:26
Speaker
You see, a worldview is what helps begin to be to put a framework together for us to answer questions like, what is the origin of man? What is the meaning and purpose of mankind? Questions about morality and destiny. All these things that kind of plague us as humans that we think about, a worldview helps to begin to answer those questions for us. When we begin to follow Christ, truly, really follow Christ, it changes our perspective on everything.
00:06:55
Speaker
Now, not overnight, to be sure, that's part of the sanctification process. Sanctification means God begins to align our mind to think the way he thinks, to see the world the way he sees the world. So the Bible shapes our beliefs about God, about creation, about humanity, about sin and redemption, and, of course, how his kingdom operates.
00:07:20
Speaker
We view creation differently, we view money differently, we view sex and marriage differently, we view food and drink and even death differently because of God's self-revelation. Now God has revealed Himself to us in three different ways. The first is creation.
00:07:37
Speaker
Paul in Romans chapter 1 as you heard just a minute ago said that every man is without excuse because everywhere you look is the evidence you need to
God's Revelation
00:07:45
Speaker
believe there is a God. Last night if you were had the opportunity to be with us out on our office ah land out here back there with ending the worship time that we had the prayer 24 hours of prayer incredible incredible experience sitting under the stars worshiping the God of heaven and earth.
00:08:02
Speaker
Man, you can talk about all you want to, the greatest cathedral ever created God put together with His hands. It would do some of you good to turn off the TV and go out and enjoy it. to be out there and just just see the evidence of God all around you. You can't get away from it. The second way He's revealed Himself is through the Scriptures. This divine book, inspired by God Himself, the Holy Spirit, given to us so that we can learn more about who God is, how He thinks, what His character is like. We're going to get into that deep today.
00:08:33
Speaker
And then the third way He's revealed Himself is, of course, through Jesus Himself. Jesus is God in the flesh. It is Him acting and moving and breathing and doing all those things in a way that God would want us to act. And so when we see the life of Jesus as it's recorded for us in the Gospels, what it does is it reveals to us the kind of relationship we can have with God the Father if we align our hearts to be obedient to His.
00:09:01
Speaker
Now, this morning I had thought all kinds of different illustrations about some of these categories. Creation, sin, humanity. I was trying to think of a really good one, had several of them, but this week's events in our town have caused me to think there's one better than any other.
00:09:16
Speaker
um
Addressing Poor Decisions: A Call for Compassion
00:09:20
Speaker
Earlier this week, it was revealed that were some stupid decisions made. Very stupid decisions, okay? ah Some kids at the school made stupid decisions. If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, good, stay ignorant, okay? um Really very poor choices. um I say all that to say this, aren't you glad you've never done anything stupid? No, what I am thankful for is that there wasn't social media when I was a teenager.
00:09:47
Speaker
because we've put these kids on trial in public when we shouldn't. So my encouragement to you is this, all of us have an opinion about what's going on, okay? And your opinion and your perspective, whatever is your opinion, stay off of social media with it. It's not your place to trial these children. It's not your place to judge anybody ever. It is not your place to carry out this in public.
00:10:15
Speaker
And this is considered to be your fair warning from your shepherd, because if I see you on there doing it, attacking people, threatening people, calling people names, me or an elder will be calling you to have a conversation about your behavior. Because the reputation of this church is far more important than your opinion being expressed in public, okay? um Feel free to turn off your social media and go outside and enjoy God's Cathedral. There's your encouragement.
00:10:39
Speaker
um I just felt like I had to say that because here's the reality a Christian worldview tells us that the only proper response to what's going on in our community is humility to say there but for the grace of God go I. I would love to tell you I don't do anything stupid. My wife reminds me that's not the case.
00:11:03
Speaker
i I would love to tell you that our deacons are the most perfect men in the world. They're not. I would love to tell you our elders have never done anything crazy. They have. We all, Romans 3 23, you can translate it however you want to, but it all says the same thing. We have all sinned, been stupid, done dumb things, been a teenager. We have all done wrong and we all need a savior.
00:11:29
Speaker
And if you're sitting there going, I don't think I ever have, let me take you to lunch. And I'll be glad to point out the fact that every single one of us in this room had broken every one of the 10 commandments. So, and enough said about that. Again, if you're ignorant of what's going on, feel blessed. I know you you're gonna walk out of here and you're gonna be asking questions. What's going on, what's going on? It's about politics, okay? um Just tell yourself that.
00:11:58
Speaker
Underneath every sin problem, this is what the Christian world perspective tells us, underneath a sin problem, every sin problem, whether it's relational, financial, physical, emotional, is a worship problem.
00:12:13
Speaker
it's It's because of who or what you
Modern Idolatry Warnings
00:12:16
Speaker
worship. Martin Luther, the great reformer said this, if a person gets the first commandment right, do not have other gods besides me. Obeying the others will follow because everything follows the fundamental issue of worship. So one of the things that a Christian worldview teaches us is this. We have a problem with idols. We have a problem with idols. Say this with me, anything.
00:12:43
Speaker
Okay, just so there's no confusion, the Hebrew word for anything, the Greek word for anything, the English word for anything, and the Tennessee word for anything all mean the same thing. They mean anything, anything. Idols are anything that takes the place that only God deserves in your life. Okay, so again, just to make sure there's no confusion, I thought of a few examples for you.
00:13:13
Speaker
the need for approval from others. You see, when you need when you live for a need for approval from others, it's easy to compromise on your values in order to get that approval. And that becomes an idol in your life. A relentless pursuit of success and money. In other words, you're in a dog-eat-dog world and you're willing to do whatever it takes to get to the top. Pleasure can be an idol.
00:13:38
Speaker
This next one pains me to say this time of the year, but an all-consuming allegiance to a sport or a team can be an idol.
00:13:49
Speaker
an obsession with any individual can be an idol. You see, our responsibility as Christians by using a Christian worldview is first to identify the idols in our own life, but also to lovingly help others identify the idols they have in their life so that they can be removed as obstacles to a relationship with God. An opportunity to look at a brother and sister and say, hey, you know what? you've kind of been You've kind of been sacrificing your relationship with God in order to have more, be more, go more, do more.
00:14:20
Speaker
And so it's really easy, very easy to let idols kind of slip in. Now the passage we read this morning says that when Paul walked into Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw the city full of idols. That Greek word there, when it was translated into the Old Testament, was the same Greek phrase that was used to describe God's feeling towards the Hebrew people the night that they made the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai.
00:14:46
Speaker
So what it's saying is that God had a righteous anger towards what they were doing. So let me kind of explain to you what righteous anger is. Righteous anger is anger mixed with a deep abiding love. It's anger mixed with a deep abiding love. Ever been mad at your children for something?
00:15:08
Speaker
Ever been angry at them? You don't stop loving them. In fact, your anger is provoked because of your love for them. And the anger isn't directed necessarily at them as much as it is as their behavior, their choices, their decision making. You love them enough to say, I'm gonna speak up because where you're headed is wrong. What you're doing is not right. It's not good for you. And so Paul is deeply distressed and he has a righteous anger towards these people.
00:15:37
Speaker
And instead of letting it turn into rage or unhealthy anger towards them, he does what all godly people should do. He engages them with a loving conversation and begins to talk to them. This is a lesson for every single one of us as we are engaging the world around us. If your life doesn't reflect sweetness and thunder,
00:16:01
Speaker
If you have a hard time mixing compassion with justice, then you are going to lean unnecessarily the wrong way all the time. And you can go to two extremes. You see, if you're too compassionate, then you compromise. You tolerate what Jesus would have never tolerated. So you can't be too compassionate without having the thunder, the justice. But at the other extreme, if you are all justice, all thunder, all righteousness without any kindness and compassion, then you'll end up being too demanding and you will drive people from the faith. So you've got to have what is known as righteous anger. And the only way to have righteous anger is to go to the foot of the cross where righteousness was displayed its best.
00:16:51
Speaker
When you come from a perspective that says there but for the grace of God go I, then you begin to understand how you can be angry at someone's choices and still love them with a deep abiding love. Okay, so I wanna talk about two things as as we're digging further into this. Number one, I wanna talk about where Paul addressed these people, but then I wanna talk more specifically about one of the areas of a Christian worldview that probably is most fundamental and most important.
00:17:21
Speaker
ah Paul did this with the people there in Athens, and I think it's an important lesson for us. First, let's talk about where he evangelized these people. First of all, he went to the synagogue. We've talked about this over and over again. Paul reasoned with them from the Scriptures. He didn't debate them. He didn't argue with them. He didn't condemn them. He just simply had conversation with them.
00:17:39
Speaker
One of the things that we know, according to recent surveys coming off of our college campuses, is that today in America, more kids in America today don't even know there are two testaments in the Bible than those who do. but we Some of us are shaking our head going, wow, really? That's a basic thing that most people who have been exposed to the Bible know. College kids today don't even have that basic understanding of scripture.
00:18:05
Speaker
The reason I make that point as an illustration is to say this, every engagement we have with the world needs to be built around the gospel. We can never assume that people know what they may not know at all. And so we have to start conversations with them, um believing, believing that we can start at point A and take them on a journey that's gonna lead them closer with a greater understanding of what the gospel means. Our audience may know Christianese,
00:18:35
Speaker
They may speak the language very well. They might be very religious, but it doesn't mean they are Christian. I would say that today, shockingly, we don't have every Baptist as a Christian, and even here in this church, not every person who walks in these doors is a Christian, okay?
00:18:55
Speaker
ah A Christian has a Christian worldview, builds their life around the person of Jesus Christ and his character. And we can't, again, assume that people know. How many of you know where the verse is, the Lord helps those who help themselves in the scripture? Anybody know that one? Go ahead, I'm glad you didn't raise your hand because it's not in the Bible. It's actually anti-biblical. If the Lord doesn't help those who help themselves, the Lord helps us because we can't help ourselves.
00:19:24
Speaker
And he never relied on us to do that. How about this phrase? Any of you ever uttered this phrase? We're all just sons and daughters of God. Or we're all God's children. You ever uttered that one? Trying to be kind, trying to be considerate. We are all made in the image of God, but we are not all God's children. And when you say that, you confuse people's theology. The Bible says very clearly in the New Testament,
00:19:49
Speaker
The only way we are allowed to become sons and daughters of God are is by the cross of Jesus Christ, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It's only by receiving that that you are given the opportunity for adoption as sons and daughters. And if you're already as children, then why would you need to be adopted?
00:20:08
Speaker
So you have to be very careful about things you throw out there carelessly because it's a popular saying or it makes people feel good about themselves. um Second place he would go is the marketplace. Marketplace um is a reminder of this. Christianity was never intended to be a private faith.
00:20:29
Speaker
when When I have conversations with people about their relationship with God, sometimes I'll say, have you ever talked to me about Jesus? Oh, no. I have a private faith. It's kind of between me and God. And I love Kyle Hess to death. Kyle Hess is real good about this. He'll look at people and go, there's no such thing. There is no such thing as a private faith.
00:20:48
Speaker
The very command of Jesus was take your faith public. Go impact the marketplace. Take it to the whole world. Seems like Acts 1.8 comes up every week during this series, but there's essential teaching there. You will be my witnesses.
00:21:04
Speaker
Is it possible to be a witness by sitting still and sitting over in the corner and being private about what you believe? Absolutely not. So we are expected to kindly, lovingly take our life into the world so that the world can see who we are and what we believe. Paul started most of his conversations in Athens and other places using something called the Socratic method.
00:21:26
Speaker
The Socratic method. Now,
Socratic Method in Teaching
00:21:27
Speaker
don't worry, there's not gonna be a test on this later. You probably remember Socrates from your history classes. The Socratic method is very simple, a method whereby you teach people using questions. In other words, you guide them to answer the questions themselves to lead them on a place of self-discovery almost. You know who was the best at it? Jesus.
00:21:48
Speaker
read the gospels and watch how many times somebody would come up to Jesus and go, Rabbi, can you teach us such and such? And he would go, well, let me ask you this question. And because I know you're like me and I'm standing there in that scenario, I'm going, Jesus, would you please stop this? Can you just answer my question? Why do you keep answering my questions with questions? Your kids do that too. You know that?
00:22:15
Speaker
They wanna ask a question and you go, will you tell me so and so? And they're going, stop, just answer the question, mom. The Socratic method was a great way to get people engaged in conversation and I would encourage you. It's a great way to lead people to think things out for themselves. One conversation I had with a lost guy one time, I just looked at him, I said, let me ask you something. He said, what is it? I said, what do you think happens to you after you die?
00:22:41
Speaker
It's a simple question, but everybody ponders it, everybody, especially the older you get, right? Because when you're getting out of bed on Monday morning, you go, oh, I'm dying. But we begin to think those questions, right?
00:22:55
Speaker
All right, the third place he went was a place called the Areopagus. There's different theories on where he where this Areopagus was in Athens. Most likely it was a hilltop near Athens where, as it says, they would come and gather and all day long just talk about theories and philosophies and teachings, okay? You gotta wonder what these people did for a living that they had nothing else to do but together and just have these conversations. Two specific ways of thinking are talked about here. I'm gonna briefly tell you what they are simply by way of saying this.
00:23:24
Speaker
These philosophies are still around today. We may not call them exactly what they call them, we may not refer some that way, but the the idea behind them still exists in people today. The first one is Epicurean. The Epicureans believe simply that the gods are indifferent to us. They they created us.
00:23:43
Speaker
They were created but they created us and then they kind of go do their thing, we're here to do our thing. But the best way that we can give them honor and imitate them is by living life to the fullest extent of pleasure.
00:23:56
Speaker
The fullest extent of pleasure. This gives birth to thinking and theories like you only live once or if it feels good, do it. That's kind of an Epicurean mentality. um We use the word Epicurean today to refer to things like really good food or really fine wine or to people who have very luxurious taste. And that mentality is just this. The only way to live life rightly is to enjoy it vastly.
00:24:26
Speaker
um The other one is the stoics. Now, stoics are basically basically pantheists, and that's just a fancy way of saying they believe that God is in everything. Trees, animals, humans, everything. And the same divine thing that's in you is in me, is in my dog, is in the tree out back. It's all over. And strangely enough, that divine spirit they called logos.
00:24:51
Speaker
which is the same word that's used to refer to Jesus in the Greek New Testament. So it's an interesting connection there, but obviously a much, much different approach to how you perceive who logos is. So again, the only reason I shared that with you is because as a culture, you every single day of your life are brushing up against different ways of thinking.
00:25:13
Speaker
different philosophies. You may come up against somebody who is spiritually ignorant, but that doesn't mean they don't already have a worldview. That worldview may have been pieced together for years over time with ah a coach who invested in you or a teacher or a professor or a neighbor who gave you certain ideas and Unfortunately, in our world today, what we do is we piecemeal it all together, kind of like a cafeteria meal. I'll take a little bit of this, a little bit of that, kind of put it all together. Have you ever met somebody who called themselves a Christian who believes in reincarnation?
00:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, sadly that that's the case. Some people believe and they call themselves Christian, but the truth is that is a a cafeteria approach to bringing all the best things of certain religions together.
00:26:00
Speaker
So the Christian worldview helps us to pull that apart and put everything back together in the right manner. And the last thing I
Exploring God's Existence and Character
00:26:10
Speaker
want to do here in talking to you is I want to talk to you a little bit about the existence of God and the character of God because it's one of the most foundational things that a Christian worldview gives you.
00:26:20
Speaker
Paul, in his last portion of scripture here in verses 24 through 31, addresses this through a sermon that he preaches to these people in Athens, okay? One of the most interesting things to me about atheists, if you've ever run into atheists, is that atheists sure do like to talk about God a lot, even though they don't believe in Him. You ever notice that?
00:26:39
Speaker
It's like they spend a lot of time trying to prove something that's not there, according to their mind and their way of thinking. In fact, C.S. Lewis, the great apologist, wrote this. He said, the atheist is really always just saying, there's no God and I sure do hate him. Some of you will get that at lunchtime.
00:26:55
Speaker
But that's that's kind of the mindset there. And here's why that's so interesting, because you may try to pretend like there's not a God out there, but something inside of all of us helps us to to be drawn towards something that we believe is a God. um we We may not declare him God, we may not call him by that name, we may call him by a thousand other things, but there's something inside the human psyche that draws us towards the existence of this higher being as people like to call him.
00:27:24
Speaker
So let's look at paul's Paul's arguments from his sermon. First of all, verse 24, he calls God the creator. He calls God the creator. The whole earth is God's theater. You ever been in one of those 3D theaters? Pretty cool experience for y'all. They don't work for me, I'm colorblind. so Seriously, it doesn't work. It still looks 2D to me. It just looks blurry 2D. But supposedly that's a grand experience. or Have you ever been in one of those big theaters that's like all the way around you so you can immerse yourself in the experience? Every single day of your life when you walk out of your house, you immerse yourself in the greatest theatrical exposure of anything in the world.
00:28:10
Speaker
I'm told that starting at the end of this month for the next two months, is it two months, that the Earth's going to have a second moon for a little while. Pretty cool. I think when things like that happen, this guy going, here, let me just show off for a little bit. you're you're You're just too accustomed to everything else that's out there. Let me send a comment your way for a little while.
00:28:30
Speaker
um Very cool experience, just the the exposure we have to be in God's constant reminder these days. His fingerprints are all over everything. All over everything. You ever walked into a Walmart and picked up a nice piece of clothing and goes, oh I like that shirt. You don't even have to look. You know when you look at the tag, it's gonna say what? Made in China. It's an American made company. I mean, American owned company, American operated company. The offices are in Bentonville, Arkansas, but everything comes from China.
00:29:03
Speaker
That was bad Chinese, wasn't it? That was Tennessee Chinese. oh But the reality is, the reality is you don't even have to look, you know it's there. The same thing's true of creation. Let me make you a difference what you look at. You see the fingerprints of God all over everything. It's out there. Everything is stamped with His glory. The second thing He says is that um He is the sustainer of life, verse 25.
00:29:32
Speaker
Did you know that the book of Colossians tells us that everything in the world is held together by Jesus? Everything. The orbits, the waterfalls, the earth, the tides, your life. So if you ever wake up on a Monday morning and things just aren't going right and you're going, man, my world is just falling apart, be reminded it's not. And that should be a great reminder to go to the one who holds it all together for you.
00:30:01
Speaker
And to say, Jesus, my world feels a little crummy right now. I need you to help me keep it all together. Because that's who he is. He sustains it. He keeps it in place. He makes all things work according to his plan. Verse 26 says he's the ruler of the nations. One of the things you must understand about God is that he is completely independent of his creation. What that means is he doesn't need you.
00:30:29
Speaker
doesn't need me, he doesn't need any of us, which makes the fact that you and I exist that much more of an amazing fact. Because he doesn't need us, he created us for himself.
00:30:43
Speaker
And just because he's independent doesn't mean he's disengaged from us. He is very intimately, actively involved in the lives of all humans. He is sovereign over history. He is sovereign over geography. So here's some assurance for you this morning. What's going on in Palestine between the Israelis and the Hamas does not surprise God.
00:31:10
Speaker
In fact, if you read very carefully, much of it was prophesied 2000 years ago and longer by God's people, God's men who came along. What's going on behind the mystery shroud of North Korea right now that nobody can tell us? God knows every detail intimately. And for those of you who lie awake at night wondering, oh, what are we gonna do if the Chinese do X? Sleep peacefully for two reasons.
00:31:39
Speaker
Number one, you can't do anything about it. And number two, the one who can has you in his hands. And he's watching over all of life.
00:31:50
Speaker
verse um Number four, verse 27, Paul says he is knowable. He is knowable. God's purpose in creation was that we might seek him and get to know him. Here is the most incredible statement of the day.
00:32:06
Speaker
the incredibly powerful, all-knowing, all-wonderful, all-everything God wants you to know who he is in an intimate way. He is not detached. Again, he's not unengaged. He is very near.
00:32:23
Speaker
Now, I want you to understand something today. If you're here, and ah as I said earlier, as you're kind of kicking the tires on on religion or faith, and you're just trying to figure things out, God is right here. He's right here. But he's a very polite God. He will not force his way into your heart. He will patiently wait, patiently acknowledge you are there,
00:32:53
Speaker
give you as much grace and mercy as he can, but you must invite him. And here's the kicker. If
Seeking a Personal Relationship with God
00:33:01
Speaker
you don't invite God into your life, then he might as well be a million miles away. But in the very moment that you're ready to acknowledge him, you'll find he's right there waiting.
00:33:17
Speaker
Prophet Jeremiah said thousands of years ago, you will find me and seek me when you seek me with all of everything you've got, when you put your whole heart into it, that's when you'll find me. Verses 28, 29, he is the father of humanity. You notice how kids and tend to resemble their parents? I mean, if you've ever seen John Ballard and Baker Ballard, there's no doubt.
00:33:46
Speaker
There's no doubt who his dad is, both in looks and behavior.
00:33:53
Speaker
yeah oh It's true for just about everyone. In fact, many Sundays, it's funny for me, because I like to stand out here, obviously, and greet all of you as you come down the hallway, and you'll see kids running down the hallway, and then you'll see the mom or dad chasing, and I'm going, yep, they belong together. You can see it in their faces, you can see it in their mannerisms. We resemble the God we are created like.
00:34:16
Speaker
So in the same way, we bear the likeness of God. Don't think physical things because our God is not physical. He's a spiritual being, but we resemble Him in the way we think, the way we act, the way we feel things, the love we have for one another. Even our work, we resemble God. We are an expression of His creation. We are made to know and worship Him. And as I said earlier in this message, that's the peace that's missing for many of us.
00:34:46
Speaker
if we If we get worship right, everything else just kind of logically falls into place. We begin to put our relationships in the right perspective. We begin to put money and success in the right perspective. It's harder for idols to slip into our lives when the one true God is the thing that we really, really worship.
00:35:07
Speaker
Paul says this is the reason why it's foolishness for us to build things with gold and silver and stone and pretend that they're gonna do anything because we are made in the image of God. Gold, silver, and stone will never satisfy us the way only God can. Lastly, verses 30 through 31, he is both judge and rescuer. Both judge and regular rescuer.
00:35:32
Speaker
Paul says in Romans chapter one very clearly, ignorance of God is not an excuse. Ignorance of God is not an excuse. You all today do not have an excuse for not acknowledging God for two reasons. Number one, every time you walk outside his calling card is everywhere around you. And number two, I spoiled it for you this morning. You've heard all about him this morning and you're responsible for everything you've heard.
00:36:04
Speaker
He is both judge and rescuer. Paul warns that there will be a judgment. He warns that salvation came through the second Adam. Adam, the first Adam is the way that sin entered the world, that he came into all of us. That's why we have a sinful human nature. But the second Adam, Jesus is the one who opened the door of salvation. He is the one who lived the life that we could not possibly live, died the death that we deserve to die,
00:36:31
Speaker
and rose on our behalf, defeating death in a way we never could. That's the Jesus that we trust in. And so God is the only one who rightfully has the place to judge, and ironically is also the only one who has the answer to our judgment. And it was given to us in Jesus' his son. So Paul starts with creation story. He works his way all the way through the Bible.
00:36:58
Speaker
This is important for us today again because many people many people in our day and age know nothing about the Bible, even right here in Middle Tennessee.
00:37:08
Speaker
So we have to start with the foundation, the basics. And you can't assume that when you walk into a church that the people around you are even going to believe the same way you do. I had a sweet lady in our congress congregation who ah messaged me earlier this week. She was having a conversation with, I think it was a lifelong friend who has become a pastor of a church. um Let me back up and qualify that statement. He is the pastor of a progressive church.
00:37:31
Speaker
um And in that conversation began to talk about some things that basic basic understandings basic things that every Christian should believe and I was amazed to hear how Twisted it had become in his mind that he actually was using stories from Scripture to back up his completely off-base Theories and philosophies out of respect for her and for him. I won't go into great detail I just want to tell you that Again, be like the Bereans from last week. Don't assume that everything I tell you is absolutely accurate and factual. I try to make it that way, but it's your responsibility to hold me accountable. And in order to do that, in order to know if I'm telling a lie, even if it's and unintentional, is you've got to know the truth yourself. You've got to be willing to study the word and be in the word. The time for us to continue making assumptions is over.
00:38:30
Speaker
it's It's over. We've got to do a better job of anchoring our teaching in the reality of creation um and the Bible
Importance of Believing in Intentional Creation
00:38:39
Speaker
story. And I keep coming back to creation because and I've said this to you before. Let me just say this and we'll be done. The story of creation is so critical because of what follows if you don't get it right.
00:38:52
Speaker
You see, if you don't believe in a God, a all-powerful God who created the heavens and the earth intentionally, if you believe it's all accidental, then the next logical step down the road is that everything is accidental, including us. Everything. And then the next logical step, which isn't that far removed, is if everything is accidental, then you and I are accidental. That means that what's inside a woman's stomach is an accident and therefore becomes an option.
00:39:22
Speaker
It becomes an option. Do you realize how evil and debased we have come as a culture? That we've made human life a choice that we get to make? Can I just be honest with you? Your choice was whether or not you had sex in the first place.
00:39:38
Speaker
That was your choice. Your choice was to compromise on your values and to do it in a way that God did not prescribe for you. That was your choice. But today we've made the choice, as as a result of our understanding of no creation, we made it a choice in such a manner that we go, oh, would you like paper or plastic? Would you like to supersize that meal? Would you like to keep that baby that's inside your stomach?
00:40:05
Speaker
The Bible is very, very clear that God created not only the heavens and the earth, but that before he formed you in the womb, he knew who you were. Before he formed you, not eight days after, who cares about the heartbeat, the heartbeat's God's, he controls that. Not six months, not five months, not nine months, not one month, God formed you and he knew you before he formed you. And that gives value to every life.
00:40:37
Speaker
So Christian worldview is important for us. I wanna close by asking you to just bow your head and close your eyes. I wanna ask you a couple questions and then I'm gonna pray for you, okay?
00:40:51
Speaker
So question number one, if you would say that these conversations today about a Christian worldview have challenged you a little bit in your thinking,
00:41:04
Speaker
And you would say, you know what, I i have to admit I don't have a well-developed Christian worldview. I don't. I think there's some things I probably need to study a little more, examine a little more. I need more information so God can continue his transformation of who I am.
00:41:23
Speaker
If that's you, I would just invite you to raise your hand so I can pray for you. We're not gonna call anybody up, not gonna change anything that we do normally around here. I just wanna pray for you because um to me that signifies a willingness to look more into these things and I wanna honor that. So thank you for your honesty. Anybody else? Yeah, okay, amen, yeah. Others, awesome. Anybody else, just say, hey, man,
00:41:51
Speaker
Will you pray for me as I continue on a journey to dig in a little bit deeper and to learn a little bit more? Thank you, awesome.
00:42:01
Speaker
Now I'm gonna pray for you in just a second, but can I encourage you that at our church, we don't run from questions at all. No question is outside of the limit that we are willing to address. If you're looking for a way to get in a little bit more, dig a little bit more, come talk to John or myself or any of the other staff. If we can't answer the question for you, we'd be happy to help dig into it a little bit more. um we We give resources. John's been doing a great class on foundational teachings in the Wednesday nights, he's been opening some eyes for some people.
00:42:35
Speaker
Our podcast lately has been really, really grounded around some of these really important and difficult questions. How does a Christian see these events going on in the world? um so So I'm gonna pray for you, but think about those things. And again, feel free to ask any of us, what are some resources where I can go a little bit further? The second question is this. Do you know Jesus? Do you know that you know that you know?
00:43:00
Speaker
that you have a relationship with him. You see, if there's any doubt in your heart at all, then there's a good chance you may not, because the scripture says very clearly, we've been given things to give us certainty.
00:43:11
Speaker
that we don't have to doubt, we don't have to question. So if there's anybody here today that's saying, you know what, i I still feel like there's a little bit of doubt. Again, we're not gonna call anybody out, not gonna embarrass anybody. I just simply wanna pray for you because I love the fact that you're here. I love the fact that you're still searching and digging and and trying to get those answers. And we just wanna not only pray for you, but offer ourselves to you to say, hey, can we can we sit down and have a conversation about what's next?
00:43:38
Speaker
So raise your hand if there's anybody at all that would just say, I just need a little prayer in that area. I'm not real sure about my relationship with Jesus. And I would love someone to encourage me. Amen. Thank you for your honesty. Anybody else? Anybody else to say, I just, I'm closer. I'm closer than I was, but I'm just not really really sure I'm there yet. Awesome, thank you.
00:44:09
Speaker
All right, let me pray for you and then we will end our time together by singing the song of response. Father God,
Closing Prayer and Reflection
00:44:16
Speaker
you're so good, and so kind, so compassionate, so merciful. The fact that you and all your power and holiness desire to be intimate with people like us is astounding. And despite what some people in the world wanna tell us,
00:44:34
Speaker
your first inclination is not to judge us, your first inclination is to rescue us. That's the reason you sent Jesus.
00:44:45
Speaker
And so today as ah as a group of believers who are pursuing you, our hearts cry is, God will you show us how to be completely aligned with you. To have our minds transformed in such a way that we
00:45:01
Speaker
We think like you. We feel like you. We respond to life events like you. For those who lifted their hands and said, we just need a little bit of help. we we We want to know more. We want to study more. We want to feel more confident in what we do know. I just pray that you would honor those requests and that you would help us to help them as they continue this journey towards holiness.
00:45:29
Speaker
And for the two or three that raised their hand and said, you know what, I'm not real sure that I even really know Jesus personally.
00:45:38
Speaker
I pray that you would help them to see clearly the difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus. And that with courage, they would be able to take whatever next steps are required to go the full length until they have those answers.
00:45:54
Speaker
Father, we praise you for this morning, our time of worship in this place. We believe that your spirit has been guiding us into some great truths lately. And because of that, we are a different people. So now as we respond to what you have said, as we go into this week, I pray that you would help us to live that way. As in Jesus' name I pray.