Keep sharing good news without ads.
Sunday school from February 12th, 2017
Let us pray Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning grant that we may so hear your word read mark inwardly digested that by patience and the comfort of your holy word we may embrace and Ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. Warning today's Sunday school lesson is going to be controversial. It shouldn't be it shouldn't be but it's going to be kind of it's going to be very controversial and The reason for this is actually quite simple it's due to the fact that what I am about to say in this church is what God's Word says and We've come to the point in our society where what God's Word says in this regard literally has Become completely out of sync with what the cultural agenda is out there.
We're gonna ask a question. We're gonna ask a question in light of Exodus 20 verse 3. You shall have no other gods before me. That's the commandment. Here's the question. Are you ready? Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?
Okay, they don't. I Agree but I think we're going to have to flesh out what scripture teaches. Regarding this now in order to help us. I'm going to tell you a five-year-old story five years ago on February 26 2012.
Five years ago. I think I was making my first trip to Kongsvinger at this time of the year and this story broke in The Orange County Register. The Orange County Register is the main Newspaper in Southern California in the Orange County region outside of Los Angeles County and Here's what the story said.
February 26 2012 headline. Rick Warren builds bridge to Muslims. The Reverend Rick Warren pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and one of America's most Influential Christian leaders has embarked on an effort to heal divisions between evangelical Christians and Muslims by partnering with Southern California mosques and proposing a set of theological principles that includes.
Acknowledging that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. The effort informally dubbed Kings way Caps years of outreach between Warren and Muslims. Warren has broken Ramadan fasts at a Mission Viejo Mosque.
Met Muslim leaders abroad and addressed 8 ,000 Muslims at a national convention in Washington DC. Saddleback worshippers have invited Muslims to Christmas dinner and Played interfaith soccer at a picnic in Irvine attended by more than 300 people.
The game pitted pastors and imams against teens from both faiths the teens one. Does anyone see a problem? That pastors need to improve their soccer skills, right. Now when this story broke it went viral.
It went viral. The same day that it broke I emailed Rick Warren and I heard back from him the same day asked him if it was true he in the private email that he sent me said that the that he was a victim of liberal mainstream media bad reporting.
Okay, that's what he said. Now. We're just kind of this is chapter one. We're gonna just kind of I'm putting this out here. The reason why this is not a theoretical question. This is not a theoretical question the predominant view in our society is a view called pluralism.
Pluralism. It's this idea that all religions Ultimately lead to God. It doesn't matter Which God you worship what the important thing is is that you have a God that you worship? This is the view of pluralism.
This is also being taught in many liberal churches and one of the driving theologians behind this view is of theologian by the name of Jurgen Moltmann and his interpreter is a gal by the name of Daniel Schreier and The best way I can describe this theology is it goes something like this is that back?
Back back in the ancient misty fog of sandy Middle-eastern history there was a very very small group of people who were in the circle of God's love and that as revelation continued and ultimately culminated in the death resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
God's circle of love expanded and it continues to expand today. So much so that there will be a time in the future when there is nobody outside of the expansive concentric circles of God's love. Doesn't that sound wonderful?
Uh-huh makes me want to go and hug somebody but Here's the issue. Did I just give you a theology that's taught in Scripture? No, I didn't. Oh. It's taught in Scripture. Yeah, it's taught negatively in Scripture, yeah, I didn't give you a theology that's taught in Scripture.
I gave you a theology taught by a human being and Embraced by a lot of people who call themselves Christians and that's the problem. When it comes to this question of you will have no other gods before me.
I don't get to give you my opinion. I Don't need I don't have the freedom as a pastor to concoct a theology that well Goes with the flow of the general culture and the general belief in the culture is that the differences between Muslims and Christians need to be underplayed and Their common ground needs to be really brought to the forefront in order for there to be peace in society.
The idea here is we want all of these religions working for the common good and in order for that to happen. We need Christians to shut up. About the differences. That's kind of the problem so the general agenda in the society as a whole right now as it relates to Christianity and Islam is.
We need to figure out how to get them all to the campfire and sing kumbaya together. But the problem is this. Who do you fear the most and ask the question? Do you fear men or do you fear God? In order to rightly understand this and I'm going to come back to this story because the story doesn't end here.
I actually spent quite a bit of time speaking with the gentleman who wrote this article for the Orange County register and I believe he made one fundamental error. But Rick Warren and the gang they did something kind of nefarious and I'll explain that in a minute.
All right, they they went into spin control mode and cover their assets mode. So that's we'll talk about that in a minute so you kind of have like that. So this is a this is something that's relevant.
This is something that's here. It's right now. And so the question before us when we look at Scripture, you will have no other gods before me. Is there any precedent in Scripture given? That would lead us to believe that God somehow considers worship of a false god an idol as proxy worship of him.
Now already I can think of some stories in the Old Testament that would definitely work against that the issue is that many people they do not know how to connect the Old Testament and the New Testament and there's this Weird view and the weird weird view goes like this God in the Old Testament is kind of grumpy and kind of really.
He has a bad mood. Okay, and he's like yeah hadn't has coffee yet and so, you know. It's like I'm gonna wipe this people out and kill these people over here and and so but now that Jesus has come, you know, he's in a better mood and and so they somehow kind of really weirdly Portrayed the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament is to completely deities or as one deity who has clearly Bipolar personality disorder something's wrong here.
This is not a right reading of Scripture. So we're gonna start in a weird place. We're gonna start in the book of Acts in the New Testament and we're going to note the preaching of the Apostle Peter. So open up to Acts chapter 3.
We're then going to go back into the Old Testament. I could kind of go two ways on this. I'm you know by way of demonstration and then we're going to go exclusively back into the New Testament and note a few things and I need to warn you that there is one passage in particular in 1st Corinthians 10 that is gonna hang it out there.
It's not politically correct. But we need to understand the truth of where these other religions come from. So we are in Acts chapter 3 and This is a wonderful passage of Scripture and I don't know what the heading in your Bible says but it should say no good deed goes unpunished.
That's the name of the heading that should be here. But let me read out the story and I want to give it to you in its context. Peter and John. Were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, you know.
This is immediately after the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit has fallen people are being baptized for the forgiveness of sins at this point. The church is growing. So they're going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, which is the ninth hour.
That's three in the afternoon and a man lame from birth was being carried whom they laid daily At the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple.
He asked to receive alms. Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said look at us. He fixed his attention on them expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said I have no silver and gold but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and He took him by the right hand raised him up and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong and Leaping up he stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them walking and leaping praising God and all the people saw him walking and praising God and recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking for alms and they were filled with Wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
So there's your context of what sparks. What's coming next now from there Peter gives a wonderful sermon? Where he preaches Christ and him crucified and raised from the grave and He gives all the glory for the healing to Christ and he calls the people to repentance.
We're gonna fast forward though. We're not we're gonna skip his sermon and I want you to see the next part of it chapter 4 so Peter's out there preaching Jesus and Here's what it says as they were speaking to the people the priests.
The captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them. That's important information for our studies today. Who are these fellows that came are they church leaders? Yeah, I know in a way you can say that's the right way of describing them.
These are religious people. So Peter is going to be speaking certain words to people who already have a religion so these people the chief priests the captain of the temple guard the Sadducees they were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and Proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
So they arrested them put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed in the number of men came to about 5 ,000. On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family.
Religious people yes or no? Yes, and when they had set them in the midst they inquired by what power or by what name? Did you do this? Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers of the people and elders if we're being examined today concerning a good deed.
Done to a crippled man by what means this man has been healed. Well, let it be known to all of you and to all of the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth Whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead by him.
This man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you the builders. Which has become the cornerstone and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven.
Given among men by which we must be saved is Peter speaking in a way That would say you guys just keep doing what you're doing. Worshipping the way you're worshiping denying Jesus the way you're denying him.
It's no big deal all roads lead to Jesus you're within his concentric circles of his love. Or is he saying you need to repent and you need to believe in Jesus and there is salvation apart from there is no salvation Apart from him.
It's the second one, isn't it? So you'll notice that the preaching of the cross the preaching of Christ is an exclusive proposition. Does any pastor in Christ's Church then have the freedom to say other than this no, I Have no freedom whatsoever.
My I'm just a herald. I get to tell you something that's given to me to tell you I have not been given the message to tell you about these Ever-expanding concentric circles and that we need to sing kumbaya with the Muslims.
I Am supposed to tell you that there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved. And this is a New Testament concept not an old. But this New Testament concept is utterly Consistent with the Old Testament.
Now when we go into the Old Testament The you shall have no other gods before me. We see in the historical narratives over and over and over again, the collision between those who refuse to bend the knee to a false God and those who worship idols.
Even if one of the gods they worship is Yahweh. Let me give you an example fun story. It's been a while since I've actually Taught this one. So let's go over to Daniel chapter 3. But it's important to note.
I have a lot of stories to pick from here. I could pick the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel and the prophets of all. I could pick the story of Gideon and How he was told to destroy? The Assyria poles and the false gods of his father.
By God himself. There's many stories that I can go to. This one's a particularly fun one because it shows Gentlemen who are believers in the one true God. Who are commanded by the state? Commanded by the state to bend the knee to a false God.
Now if you know the story from Daniel chapter 2 I think it gives us the context for this in Daniel chapter 2. King Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. The king who was raised up to punish Israel for their idolatry who destroyed 90 literally killed 90 of the inhabitants of Judea.
10 of them were then taken in captivity back to Babylon and they're living in captivity there and we learn about Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. These were princely men. Well educated and they become part of The kind of the ruling class there in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.
And remember a few weeks back when we talked about the Magi, you know. They Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and he asked his Magi to tell him the dream and its interpretation and they said nobody can do that and Nebuchadnezzar who was prone to having.
Let's just say temper tantrums. We're gonna see him have a temper tantrum here in a minute. He basically ordered that all of the wise men of Babylon be executed and Daniel asked for time had his he and his buddies pray to God for mercy and God showed him what the dream was and its interpretation.
And if you remember the dream was about a large image a large statue gold and silver and bronze and iron and clay. Mixed with iron each of the different parts. Well that kind of gives us the context here because in the interpretation Daniel gives Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar that he and his kingdom is the gold in that image.
Yeah, he's the king of kings and that there'll be a kingdoms after him that come. But this the interpretation doesn't end there. It ends with this rock that is not hewn by human hands coming and smashing this.
This statue and then growing into a great mountain and filling the whole earth. But Nebuchadnezzar liked the part about him being the gold and the you know part of the image. So he comes up with this wonderful idea.
He's gonna take that image that he saw in his dream and turn it into an idol. Daniel chapter 3. King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold whose height was 60 cubits its breadth 6 cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent together the stairs the prefects the governor's the counselors the Treasurer's the Justice's the Magistrate's and all the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up then to say traps the prefects the governor's the counselors the treasurer's and the Justices and the Magistrate and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up and the herald proclaimed now a herald again. Remember somebody who's been given a message. And when I would read this to my kids I would always like to use a funny voice for this fellow.
Okay you have to see everybody's there and so this guy stands up you are commanded. Oh people's nations and languages that when you hear the sound of the horn the pipe the lyre the trigon the heart the bagpipe and every kind of music you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
Now I like to imagine that at that point he gives a little bit of a pause kind of a pregnant pause and then says. And of course whoever does not fall down and worship does this. Right. Shall he be cast into a burning fiery furnace.
And on cue. There's no coercion going on here is there. Right. None whatsoever. Now I always like to tell the story that when faith yes it's hard to believe that she was actually four or five when she was a little girl what we used to do we would after dinner when dinner was finished before we took the dishes off the table I'd open up the family Bible and read and so there we were.
And oh it's still in my mind there we were. I was reading the story out and she was just gripped by the story. And when I talked about the fiery furnace you're gonna be thrown in the fire. Oh no you know.
So she's gripped. So therefore as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn the pipe the lyre the trigon the harp the bagpipe in every kind of music all the peoples the nations the languages fell down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Yeah that's what we call free will worship. Right there. Right. Yeah. So therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and they maliciously accused the Jews they declared to King Nebuchadnezzar Oh King may you live forever.
You Oh King have made a decree and every man who hears the sound of the horn the pipe the lyre the trigon the harp the bagpipe and every kind of music shall fall down and worship the golden image. And whoever does not fall down well there's that fiery furnace out there.
Well there are certain Jews whom you've appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. You know these guys these men. Oh King they pay no attention to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.
And here's the fun part then Nebuchadnezzar in a furious rage you just see his top the volcano erupts and I'm sure that when he's speaking at this point there's spit flying out of his mouth. Right. Yeah.
He commanded that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego be brought immediately. So they brought these men before the king and you can see himself. He's probably pulled himself back just a little bit you know.
So he's at a seething kind of boil at this point. Right. Is it true Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up now. I'm a reasonable fellow.
I'm a little upset right now. But I'm reasonable if you're ready when you hear the sound of the horn the pipe the lyre the trigon the harp the bagpipe and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made.
Well well and good you get to leave here alive. Right. But if you do not worship you will immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands. So here we've got this problem.
Shadrach Meshach and Abednego they believe and trust in Yahweh. Yahweh has said you will have no other gods before me. They have just seen 90 of their whole nation killed by God in judgment for their refusal to repent of their idolatry.
And now they are in a situation where you will either engage in idolatry and worship a false God or die. What do you do. Who do you fear. Now here's the irony of all of this. They were told they had to do the wrong thing in order to avoid the fiery furnace.
They had to despise God and his word and avoid the fiery furnace. But the reality of this situation is to despise God and worship a false God makes you in danger of the real fiery furnace which is hell.
So your choice at this point is be burned alive and live. Or live and be burnt in the fires of hell for eternity. That's kind of what's at stake here. Right. That's your real option. But you only know this from Revelation from the book of Scripture.
So who will deliver you. Who will deliver you out of my hands. Which God will. Shadrach Meshach and Abednego answered and said to the king Oh Nebuchadnezzar we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If this be so our God whom we serve he is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace. Now notice he has not promised to do that. They know he is able. But that doesn't mean they assume that he will.
He is able to save us and he will deliver us out of your hand. O king if not be it known to you O king that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. You think it matters to Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who they worship.
Yeah yeah. That matters a lot. Do they see worshiping this golden image as proxy worship of God. None. No not at all. And here's the best part about this is we know by what happens next that God vindicates them.
He vindicates them. So Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury. The expression on his face was changed against Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated.
He ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach Meshach and Abednego and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. These men were bound in their cloaks their tunics their hats and their other garments and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace.
And as I was reading this out when faith was a little girl. Oh daddy they're gonna die. Do you want me to keep reading. Okay. Because the king's order was urgent and the furnace was overheated the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach Meshach and Abednego.
These three men Shadrach Meshach and Abednego fell bound into the fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and he rose up in haste. And he declared to his counselors did we not cast three men bound into the fire.
They answered instead to the king true oh king. And he answered and said but I see four men unbound walking in the midst of the fire and they are not hurt. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
As soon as I read that out faith jumped up from her seat. Jesus came to save them. And he did. He did. King Nebuchadnezzar came so close son of the gods. No it was the Son of God who came to save them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace. He declared Shadrach Meshach and Abednego servants of the Most High God come out come here. Then Shadrach Meshach and Abednego came out from the fire and the state traps and the prefects and the governors and the king's counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over their bodies or those men.
The hair of their heads was not singed their cloaks were not harmed no smell of fire had come upon them. Nebuchadnezzar answered them and said blessed be the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who has sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him and set aside the king's command and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any God except for their own God.
Therefore I make a decree any people nation or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses laid in ruins for there is no other God who's able to rescue in this way.
And then the king promoted Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Vindication. That's what that is. Who was right. Who was wrong. Nebuchadnezzar was wrong and he's beginning to see the light.
He's not quite there yet but it's starting to come into focus. And so here we see that Christ himself shows up and he vindicates his servants as an example to us to say to us you may face this same quandary do I live or do I suffer loss for speaking the truth and refusing to bend the knee to a false God or to acknowledge that that false God is true.
You see in our day we're not to the point where they're saying worship this God or die which is what Islam says submit or die. That's not the law of our land. Cultural Sharia right now says keep your head down mouth shut.
We're going to tell everybody you worship the same God so that we can keep you guys from bickering and fighting because we want peace and stability in our society. And don't you dare let the cat out of the bag.
And if you do you're going to lose your job. We're going to sue you. We're going to do all kinds of things to you and tarnish your name and make your life miserable for daring to undo our agenda. That's what the day we live in.
Let's go back to our internet story. So there was the story February 26 2012 Rick Warren blamed that he was somehow a victim of the liberal media and they ended up coming up with their own kind of explanation and Saddleback responded to false allegations or accusations.
Dear Saddleback family they wrote. A week ago reporter published an article in the Orange County Register about Saddleback Church that contained many errors and false assumptions. It erroneously stated that we have a partnership with the local Muslim mosque.
That's false. It erroneously reported that we had agreed to not evangelize with Muslims. That is false. It erroneously reported that we believe Saddleback and Muslims worship the same God. That is false.
It erroneously used a picture of our Peace Center as the example of a program of cooperation with Muslims. That is false. And it erroneously reported that our church had agreed to a theological document with Muslims.
That is false. Who was to blame bloggers. Yeah usually we try to ignore these false statements made by the media especially irresponsible bloggers because one reacting to every false report would take up most of our time.
It is almost impossible to undo errors damage once it's been on the internet and God knows the truth. And he's the one that we must please. So he was a victim of bloggers and he was a victim of well bad reporting on the part of the media because all these false statements.
But here's the problem. This thing that they put out was filled with falsehoods. See when the story broke I had contacted Rick Warren and I knew what he said. Immediately following its publication I reached out to the Islamic Center of Los Angeles and I spoke with the gentleman there by the name of Jihad Turk.
He was. He was one of the Muslim leaders that were working with Saddleback. He pointed me to their website and on their website before it was taken down. He wanted me to see this thing on their website the Islamic Center of Southern California Islamic Center of California co-authors historic interfaith document.
This was published in December of 2011 and Saddleback after the story broke demanded that they take this off their website. I took screenshots to make sure it wouldn't get lost. Last Sunday historic event took place at Saddleback Church in Orange County California.
Saddleback is known for its famous pastor Rick Warren who delivered the prayer President Obama's inauguration ceremony. The church hosted a number of Muslim communities based in Southern California for its second annual celebration of Jesus.
This event is significant because Saddleback is a large evangelical church with over 22 ,000 members. Although only a select number of individuals were invited to this dinner it demonstrates the new theological position of Saddleback at the celebration.
A document one year in the making was presented which encourages Christians and Muslims to appreciate the similarities of our faith that was published by the Muslims. Now I want you to note here. This is a photograph taken at the event.
This is Abraham Muhlenberg who is now a former pastor at Saddleback. This gentleman is the gentleman I spoke with on the phone Jihad Turk. And you'll notice it's Christmas. This is in one of the buildings in Saddleback.
And here's a PowerPoint slide. Let me read this slide to you. Kingsway. Kingsway describes a path to end the fourteen hundred years of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians by consulting the texts we each call sacred in order to form a basis that allows us the privilege to serve the needs in our communities together.
You see the reason why we're not getting along with the Muslims is because of misunderstandings. Uh-huh. So here we've got a problem. Saddleback in their official communication to their members of their church said it is erroneously reported that our church had agreed to a theological document with Muslims.
Jihad Turk and the Islamic Center of Southern California actually talk about this historic document that doesn't exist that it was one year in the making. It was unveiled at this historic second annual thing in December of 2011.
Well it turns out that through some snooping and somebody doing their homework the the journalist for the Orange County Register was able to surreptitiously get a copy of this document that doesn't exist.
And here are excerpts that which were published on the Orange County Register's website. This document the Kingsway document was put together an attempt to improve our values of loving neighbor and cooperation.
We acknowledge that we may not agree on everything and some words might have different meanings. However there are sufficient similarities to come to a common word on common ground in order to serve the common good together.
So big point number one who we notice as we believe in one God. Point under it. God is one mark 1229 Muhammad 4719 God is the creator. Genesis 1 Al Shura 42 11. You see what they're doing there. They're taking all of these things that supposedly are the same and saying that we collectively believe these things together.
And both of our holy books say these things. Therefore we can put an end to the 1400 years of misunderstanding between Christianity and Islam. Sneaky. Isn't it article even the same God. But God should have had more than one son Jesus being a son of God.
And we follow Jesus preaching. They follow another son preaching. That's where everything got. Well here's the issue. The Quran explicitly states that Allah does not have a son. It explicitly says that.
And they Islam believes Jesus is a prophet but he's a prophet of Allah. And and they believe that Jesus prophesied Mohammed. Now this is real simple. Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Know.
You want to prove it. You want to get right down to it. It's real simple. Ask a Muslim this. I worship this God. The God I worship was is the son of God. He was born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified for our sins was buried and rose again on the third day.
That's the God I worship. Is that the God you worship. No we don't worship the same God. They would never agree to that ever. So we don't worship the same God. You shall have no other gods before me. Allah is not a true God.
And Easter which is their name for Jesus is not the biblical Jesus. Totally different Jesus. Alright. So you kind of see the idea here we dealing. We're dealing with this on a big scale because Saddleback is a major mover and shaker and thought leader within the evangelical movement.
Well they when this got blown up on the Internet Abraham Muhlenberg disappeared. And all this talk of this common word between them and the Muslims all went under by the wayside. They started to tow the line.
But Rick Warren to this day still gets accused of teaching what is called Chris long. You know Christianity. Islam squish together. He can't seem to shake it. I think the right way of understanding the document.
The document was put together in order to find the common ground between Muslims and Christians in order for the common good of society to stop bickering and things like that. I think that's the right way of understanding the document.
The problem is the way the document is written. The average person reading it would come to the conclusion all on their own that this document is saying that Christians and Muslims worship the same God when they don't.
Here's the super controversial part. Please open your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 10. What I am about to read is politically incorrect but it is biblically correct. What is the proper way of understanding theologically the origin of every religion on planet Earth with the exception of Christianity.
Well say it's workspace. But let's talk about its origin. This text tells us. Here's what it says. 1st Corinthians 1014. Therefore my beloved Paul's writing to Christians. Flee idolatry. Run away from it.
Flee it. I speak as to sensible people. Judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless. Is it not a participation in the blood of Christ. We say. Of course yes it is. This is my blood the bread that we break.
Is this not a participation in the body of Christ. Indeed it is. This is my body broken for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Because there is one bread. We who are many are one body. For we all partake of the one bread.
Consider the people of Israel are not those who eat the sacrifices percent participants in the altar. What do I imply then that food offered to an idol is anything. Or that an idol is anything. No. I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.
I do not want you to be to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy.
Are we stronger than he. What is the origin of all the other religions on the planet. The demonic that includes Islam. And if you know the history of Islam is the religion that begins with Muhammad claiming that he was visited by an angel and angel revealed to him the doctrines of Islam.
We know from this text that was not any old angel that was a fallen angel. That's why Paul says even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than the one you received. Let him be damned.
Now it's important to note this scriptures also very clear. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. It isn't so there isn't a single Muslim on this planet who is your enemy. They may think you're their enemy.
But there isn't a single Muslim on this planet who is your enemy. We love them for Christ's sake and we speak the truth to them for their sake. In other words they are many people in Islam. Well-meaning sincere believers that they're following God.
They do not see behind the facade to who's really pulling the levers. These are not people who are openly worshipping the devil. They are worshipping the devil disguised as an angel of light. Now here's the question I have for you.
We saw the story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. Here we just read that Paul says to flee idolatry. You will have no other gods before me. If we were to look at the preaching of the Apostle Paul when he went on his missionary journeys.
What was his attitude towards idolatry. How did he treat those who worshiped false gods. Did he treat them as brothers in Christ or as people who need to be spoken the truth to. And did he suffer a price for preaching the truth.
Yeah. Let's take a look at Acts 14. This falls again under the category of no good deed will go unpunished. This seems to happen a lot to Christians. So if it's happening to you you should not be thinking something strange is occurring to you.
Acts 14 8. Now at Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet. He was crippled from birth had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking and Paul looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well said in a loud voice stand upright on your feet and he sprang up and he began walking.
Hmm. Sounds a lot like what we just read in Acts 3. Right. Similar thing. And when the crowd saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voices saying in the Laconian language the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.
Barnabas. They called Zeus Paul Hermes because he he talked a lot all right. Here's a question I have for you atheists or very religious people. These are religious people. They believe in the pantheon of the Greco-Roman gods Zeus and Hermes and Aphrodite and Venus.
So the gods have come down to us. Barnabas. They called Zeus Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker and the priest of Zeus whose temple was at the entrance to the city brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.
But when the Apostles Paul and Barnabas heard it they tore their garments rushed out into the crowd saying men why are you doing these things. We also are men of like nature with you. We bring you good news that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.
In the past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without a witness. For he did good by giving you rains from heaven fruit and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
Even with these words they were. They scarcely restrained the people from offering sacrifice to them. So notice what's the preaching turn from these vain things to the living God. Paul doesn't sit there and say keep it up.
All roads lead to God right. By the way all roads do lead to God. They all lead to his judgment seat. After that there's a separation shall we say. Now watch what happens. So the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded the crowds they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead.
Well that ended. Well they healed a guy they were gonna offer sacrifices to them and they decided against it and they tried to kill him instead. Hmm one more passage Acts 17. We're going to begin at 16.
The Apostle Paul just so you know in the context went to Thessalonica and the Jews there really took issue with him and kind of he had to slink out of town. And he went to Berea preached the gospel to the Bereans.
They tested everything that he preached to them according to the written Word of God and they believed. But the Jews from the synagogue in Thessalonica showed up and gave them misery. And so Paul slinks out of town again and they sent him off to Athens to kind of get things back under control.
And here's what it says. While Paul is in the city of Athens. While Paul was waiting for them at Athens his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons in the marketplace every day and with those who happened to be there.
Now some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him and some said what does this Babbler wish to say. Others said well he seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus saying may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting for you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time and nothing except for telling or hearing something new. So Paul standing in the midst of the Areopagus said men of Athens I perceive that in every way you are very religious again religious people.
For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. Now notice Paul doesn't pick Zeus and say God's a lot like Zeus. He doesn't pick any of the known deities.
He picks the one that they don't know. Because you know what did what did these guys do. They were idolaters. They decided that we better hedge our bets in case we missed a deity. So we'll set up an altar to the one we missed.
We don't know his name or her name but hey to the unknown God. So I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. What therefore you worship is unknown. This I now proclaim to you the God who made the world and everything in it being the Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man.
Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all of mankind life and breath and everything he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all of the face of the earth.
Having determined a lot of periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he's actually not far from each of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.
And even as one of your own poets have said we are indeed his offspring. So being then God's offspring we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver stone an image formed by the art and the imagination of man.
The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world and righteousness by a man whom he appointed. And of this he is given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
So here we are in the New Testament era. Christ has bled and died for our sins risen from the grave bodily on the third day. And he's ascended to heaven. And Paul says God now commands all people everywhere to repent.
Does that include your Muslim neighbors. Does it includes your Buddhist neighbors. It includes everybody who worships a false God. That's the position of Christianity towards other religions. Stephen I was waiting for a little more enthusiasm on his part.
Oh yeah. I could have started jumping up and down um 1730 that that's a very interesting sentence. Times of ignorance. Yeah times of ignorance. God overlooked. Mm-hmm. But now he commands all people.
Does that mean. What does that mean. What's the implications of that. Because there has to be an implication about that. I mean does that mean people that weren't Israelites. And what does that mean. I mean cuz I don't know if I'm drawing the wrong conclusion.
But it seems like it's tough to kind of tease it all out. Because first first you're gonna need cross references. So this is clearly referring to the time we'll just say from Noah until Christ's ascension.
We'll call that the time of ignorance. Does that sound like it brackets it properly. Okay. What was God doing during that time. The whole Old Testament's happening at that. So at that time God has separated a human people for himself.
He's brought them out of slavery brought them into the promised land and the Messiah is with them following that scarlet thread of the genealogy of Christ. And it's all culminating in this. Now is there salvation for those who are worshiping false gods at this time.
No. But it's the time of ignorance. And God is overlooking in that in a sense basically saying this is the way things were going up to this point. But now and see here's the but now what's the thing that's changed.
Christ has not only ascended he's now seated at the right hand of the Father. All authority in heaven on earth has been given to him. And the king has spoken the king of the universe to whom all authority has been given.
And the king says everybody everywhere repent. You went your own way in the past. No longer. You see this is where Kingdom theology starts to come into play. Christ is King. He's King of Kings. Yeah. They become.
They can become a law for themselves become a law for themselves. And I'm saying of course. But now he commands all people every to repent. I think there might be some evidence about the times of ignorance God overlooked.
I mean I don't know. It's very difficult because God Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Why don't you do some homework. I like like a five six page paper on this single-spaced. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
And use the Turabian system. For you know I know I think this would be. I think it'd be fun for you to you know sit down and kind of just see if you can tease this out a yeah. I think that I think in understanding this you have to pull some of the king the kingdom theology into play here because Paul is speaking as an emissary and an apostle of Christ and he's speaking really in an official capacity for him.
And he's delivering a message. God now is commanding you to repent. In the past you were not called to do this. Now you are because of the one who is because of Christ the man he's appointed who's going to judge the living and the dead.
And so the message has gone out of repentance. And so let me ask you this is this real quick. Has anything changed as far as the message that God wants preached that Christ wants preached between today and the time that Paul delivered this to the Areopagus.
No nothing. So let me say this. I understand that when it comes to disturbances within society it is not a good idea to provoke your neighbor to burn down your churches and have riots and things like that.
Or for you to constantly be at war with your neighbor for the sake of peace in society. These things are frowned upon. And we're not all called as Christians to wage jihad anyway. We're called as Christians to deliver a message and understand this that through the preaching of the gospel that God literally regenerates people brings them to penitent faith in Christ.
Some people are gonna hear it and say I want to kill you. Yeah. That happens to the Apostles. It happens to us too. Other people hearing the gospel are gonna say oh my goodness I'm a sinner I believe.
And we thank God for that. Right. We don't change the message. The Apostle Paul didn't sit there after he was stoned in Lystra and I'm not taught. He wasn't taking pot out. You know he got he actually got rocks thrown at him.
Right. You have to you have to make these distinctions nowadays. Right. But he didn't sit there and go. Yeah I got to rework the message here because you know I almost died there. You know that he doesn't do that at all.
He keeps preaching the same message and so understand this. You will have no other gods before me. This has huge implications regarding our posture and what we need to do even in the face of opposition.
Who are you going to fear Christ or these people. Paul didn't fear those people. He feared Christ and so he preached the truth and called people to repent even if it meant that he would have to lay down his life.
And he nearly laid it down several times. Ultimately Nero took his head off but he never changed the message. So this has real implications because we are now living in a day when we are told as a church to shut up stop talking like this.
There are prominent leaders who are trying to build bridges with Islam during the whole emergent church thing. Brian McLaren. Oh my goodness Brian McLaren wrote a book called a generous orthodoxy and he talked about people who were followers of Jesus in the way of a law.
And there's all this talk now of people being Christians but staying Muslim. It doesn't make any sense. And Brian McLaren along with Rick Warren both of them have gone on record and actually celebrated Ramadan fasts with Muslims and broke the fast with him at the same time.
Does that make any sense at all. Yeah they've. They're off in the weeds. But the problem is because they're popular published and people listen to them. And they listen and they think that they have a lot of sway.
People are then in churches like ours feel like maybe we shouldn't say anything. Maybe we should just keep our head down and our mouth shut and stop talking about Jesus as if he's the only way. Yeah this is this is a problem.
It's one thing. It's one thing for the church in mercy to meet the physical and bodily needs of those in need. It's that's one thing to say. I as a Christian see you as my neighbor and I see that you are in need.
But the idea is is that Jesus is very clear in the that we do our good works so that they would praise our God and so and understand this. You ultimately are not really doing Kingdom work. If all you're doing is giving somebody a sandwich or a coat.
I mean that's nice. I mean the government does that all the time. It's called welfare and they're not building the kingdom. The kingdom is not built until people are brought to penitent faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.
And they abandon their false gods and their idols. And we all have to abandon them because we all have them. Yeah. Yeah this is it. Well I would say it adds to the entanglement because the government is all fine and dandy about Christians helping out as long as Christians stay quiet about who their Jesus is and don't tell anybody about it.
And that's a problem. You know that is a huge problem. Which is why you know I I like some of the bigger denominational social services groups that don't make those distinctions and permit Christians to actually share their faith with those whom they are helping.
Yeah. When did the mission field leave this area. I'd you know last time I checked with the churches aren't sitting there going. Oh my goodness we only have two pagans left. I want that when you can have the other one.
You know they're not doing that. Right. Yeah. The mission field begins the second you walk out the door. You see this is an embassy. We're we're in kingdom territory right now. As soon as you walk out the door you're back in Minnesota and heading back to North Dakota.
The mission fields there you're the mission fields just the person next door to you. It's your co-worker. It's the grocery store clerk. We have a little work to do. I think we have a little work to do.
But see now you kind of get this. What you know what's at stake. Christ has commanded that all people everywhere repent to believe in the Living God the one who has bled and died for them and he's coming again with glory to judge the living and the dead.
Times running out times running out. I don't. I don't know if you notice the day is far spent far spent when you feel the pressure to shut up and to not speak the truth to your neighbors whether they're Buddhist or Muslim Jewish or just atheist and agnostic or don't care.
Don't listen to those voices. Jesus has commanded all people everywhere to repent and to believe and trust in the Living God the one who is you belong to him. This is the message. Where to give. And will you suffer for it.
Yeah you might. Chances are getting better by the day you will. And when you do that's not nothing weird is happening to you. That's what we were told. What happened. Yeah you'll notice that the Apostle Paul planted churches all over the place and he never once set up a secret friendly service.
Never once had. I mean how did he do it. And so here's the idea that it works from a false assumption. And this is the idea is that the people who talk this way believe that the way somebody becomes a Christian is by making a free will decision to become a follower of Jesus.
That's not true. If the goal then is to get people to make free will decisions than marketing and having a confetti can and all this kind of stuff. Well that that would be the important thing to do. The important thing is to preach the gospel.
See the reason why the pagans don't come to church and why they worship at St. Mattress is because is because they are at war with God and they hate him. The reason that I guarantee you there are no pagans right now who are not at Kongsvinger today because we sing hymns the pastor preaches the word.
You know I wear a claret. None of them care about any of that stuff. The reason why they're not here is because they hate God and they love their sin. It's just the bottom line. So how do we get them to come here.
Oh this is real simple. The mission field begins as soon as you walk out that door. And when you come across those pagans who are worshiping at St. Mattress tell them about Jesus. Tell them tell them about Christ.
And then when some of them are brought to faith in Christ bring them here. We'll disciple. That's the idea. Oh yeah now just I want to do a little internal talk here. We have people here right now who were worshiping at St. Mattress a year ago.
And you know yeah you know what brought them here. A simple invitation. And you know what's keeping him here. The Word of God. Sometimes it's just as simple as I see you're struggling. Why don't you come to church with me.
I think God might have something to help you with. The biggest thing is like I've even talked to people in our culture and you talk to them and you're like you know you're a sinner and you know you're gonna go to hell if you don't repent you don't believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And then there are people that call themselves Christians that have the audacity to tell me. Oh I never I wasn't I didn't become a Christian because of people who talk like you. You know. And it's just like yeah culture is so backwards.
Now you're dealing with a different topic. Well and we're gonna end here because we've gone a little long let I've run into those similar situations. You know there are people out there within the church who are saying it's people like you when you talk about sin and that crucified dead guy and and people needing to repent.
It's people like you who are keeping people out of the church. And where are they standing when there's when they're talking to you like that inside the church. Here's the problem. You sit there and go you sound nothing like a Christian.
What do you think Christianity is again. What. What do you think the gospel is you got to push back on that person. Because here's the thing that's a person who has come in believing that somehow Christianity is all about finding their dream destiny or some nonsense like that.
Or going and having an experience where I get to sway in the winds of the spirit. And you whatever. Okay. Okay you know you know I was having a flashback there anyway. But yeah the issue there is you have a very if you have a Christian there at all he's poorly catechized and there's a good chance you're dealing with somebody who's never even actually heard the gospel.
In other words the reason why they say they're a Christian and they're at church has nothing to do with Jesus dying rising again for their sins. So that's a different story altogether. Alright we'll stop there pick it up next week.
