Freedoms in Christ

OK, let's pray. Heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, we come before you in humble awe. You are the one true God, and there is none other like you. Come, we pray, and bless our hearts and our minds as we study your word.

Send your Holy Spirit into our lives so that we may grow in love and grace and that we may go forth into all the world, proclaiming your gospel so that others may learn of your saving grace. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen. All right, questions regarding the sermon?

Yes.

Right.

Right.

But does the Bible have a stand?

Christian Freedom, Drunkenness, and Stewardship of the Body

So drunkenness is really the complete losing of your faculties. That's, you know, you are not capable of controlling yourself. You have lost ability to function properly. And so the idea, then, is this.

As Christians, we must recognize that the privilege to drive on a road is not a right. That's a privilege granted by the government. And the government says that your blood alcohol level must be below a certain standard.

And we as Christians recognize the government's right to regulate the highways and things like this. So as Christians, then, if we are at a party or, you know, we're enjoying an adult beverage with somebody, we're going to monitor ourselves properly so that we do not engage in the sin of drunkenness, which is a sin, and also that we do not break the law when we drive home.

That our blood alcohol level will not impair our ability to drive our cars properly because to not drive your car properly could cause your death, destruction of somebody else's property, or the death or injury of your neighbor.

And so in love for a neighbor, we will always use God's gift responsibly, you know, and use it in a way that does not commit sin or would cause damage to anybody else. So that's the idea.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You're going to have to steward this gift of life that God has given you. And so... Yeah, exactly.

Mm-hmm.

Yep. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no, we would recognize gluttony as a sin. The seven deadly sins also include sloth, you know, which is kind of an interesting thing. But coming back to your question, though, Michael, so the context of the sermon has to do with self-made religion.

So let's keep that distinction in its proper place. So what's ruled out explicitly is for you to judge or to deem somebody to be less Christian or not a Christian because they eat bacon, lobster, or enjoy a good wine.

All right?

That's off the table. So as we come to church, as we worship the one true God, we do not judge others in these matters. For some, their freedom makes it so they enjoy regular hearty steaks and red meat and other things like that.

For others, in their freedom, they have chosen to go a healthier route. Now, I'll give you a terrible example, though, is that we make these decisions because we want to steward our lives and things like that.

But even that's not a guarantee of anything. My grandmother, no joke, from the time she was 15 years old until she died in her mid -90s, every single day of her life from 15 to her death, she smoked two to three packs a day of filterless Camel cigarettes.

I don't know how.

I have no idea how she outlived my grandfather. I don't get it. My grandfather, he never smoked. He only drank in moderation. He was a fairly healthy guy. He had a very physical job that he did. And so he was actually pretty muscular.

And he dies in his mid -60s. And she just, go figure. So the idea then, that's not to say don't steward yourself, but the idea is the decisions that you make for yourself, in your freedom, you are free to make them.

Don't impose then the decisions you made on yourself on somebody else in their freedom. So we do not say because you drink and because you smoke, therefore you are less than. You are not a Christian. You are a subpar Christian of some kind.

There's no way to make a distinction like that because now we're dealing with a set of man-made morals that are informed more by today's science and other things than we are by what Scripture. Keep in mind, God totally permits and says, if you want to buy wine and strong drink to celebrate the tithe when you arrive in Jerusalem, go for it.

And that Jesus himself drank, and the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. So the kingdom of God has a lot to do with something different.

And so what I find is that the person who sets up these self-righteous man-made laws, they are absolutely using this as a mask and a cover for their egregious breaking of the real commandments. In their love for themselves and their own self-righteousness, they will say, look how holy I am.

And all the while, they are just terrible people to be around. And again, I say this because I was one of them. Absolutely thinking I was better than. Me and Jesus were tight. And you, because you're drinking and smoking, you obviously are not even going to go to heaven.

My first impression of Rod Rosenblatt. This is a guy who from time to time in college class at Christ College Irvine would let a colorful word fly during a lecture. And then as soon as he was done, no joke, it was like clockwork.

He finishes his lecture. You've got five minutes to kind of ask him questions. And as soon as the questions are done, people coming up and asking him questions, he's bolting out the door, and he's off on the balcony lighting up a cigarette.

And I thought, there's no way he can be saved. There's no way. He's not even trying. And so I was judging his relationship with Christ based upon whether or not he was having a cigarette. This is absolutely forbidden.

Absolutely.

Yeah, concerning Mike's question, it seems like choosing to do something that's destructive to your body, smoke and eat pork, or be a stuntman or something.

Yeah, at this point...

It's unwise, but I don't know if it's a sin.

Right.

For me, it would be a sin because it would be suicide.

So...

Just, you know, there's different ways of committing suicide. But, you know, you're going to know it then. Because what you're searching for right now is a standard. If we're going to say this is okay and this isn't based upon this standard, then all of a sudden, a whole lot of other stuff's on the table.

Twinkies are on the table. Okay, I'm telling you, Twinkies are on the table. Those caramel macchiatos at Starbucks, they're on the table now.

Okay.

And don't forget, it's now getting to be fall season. Pumpkin spice lattes. Okay. If we're going to use this, if we're going to use that standard, then now, all of a sudden, the question is, am I sinning against God if I have a Venti pumpkin spice latte next Thursday?

My answer is no. I will be praising and worshiping God with each sip from this cup that has fallen from heaven. But that's a different story.

Okay.

There's another aspect that's true of my sin.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

No, I mean, we had a joke when I was a Nazarene. The joke was, how can you tell the Nazarenes in the liquor store? They're the ones who never make eye contact with anybody. It was the Lutherans. Oh, hey, how's it going?

Do you have anything you recommend or whatever? The Nazarenes, you know. But you're right. The binging part of this comes as a result of it. In European countries where this is not an issue, this type of preaching and kind of Finneyite revivalism that ran through America and Christianity here and really thickened pietism, you don't really have the problem of binge drinking and alcoholism in young adults.

And these are kids who, from the time they're wee high to a grasshopper, they're having a glass of wine with their parents at the dinner table. And so they just don't have the problems that we have because when you say, if you do this, this is the thing that makes or breaks you as a Christian.

And now going to a party, that has spiritual ramifications. And well, if I've failed here and I'm no longer a Christian, I might as well just go live like the devil.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yep.

So the idea then is this. As Christians, we have an objective, clearly defined standard that dictates what is and isn't sin. And then we have a clear text from Romans 4 .15 where there is no law, there is no sin.

And so the idea then is that I'm not going to judge you and your walk with Christ based upon your freedom. Now, if your freedom turns into something that you are enslaved to, now we can talk. Now we can talk.

So if you take the good gift that God has given us in fine, wonderful, varietal wines, and all of a sudden you cannot function in the day unless you've had several stiff drinks, now we have a different problem.

You're enslaved to alcohol. That's drunkenness. That's an enslavement. And that's not compatible with Christianity. So we have to have a talk. But, you know, have any of you seen the movie Darkest Hour?

The recent one about Winston Churchill?

Yeah.

There was a hilarious line in there. So Winston Churchill's having lunch with the king. He'd just been recently made prime minister. And the king is, like, shocked because, you know, at lunch he'd already knocked back two scotches, and it's not even noon.

And the king asks Churchill, he says, how are you able to drink so much alcohol before the middle of the day? He says, practice. Yeah, and then I have other research that shows that, like, two glasses a day prevents heart disease.

You know, have you noticed that, like, you know, all of these different studies have us go this way, and then they say, no, no, no, no, no, and then we go that way, and then, you know. There's no study, by the way, on whether or not having a glass of wine with dinner impacts your relationship with Jesus.

I'd like scientists to do that. Have you ever watched the documentary How Beer Saved the World?

Okay.

Yes, I'm answering your question. There's a documentary to watch, How Beer Saved the World. Strange documentary, but actually quite fascinating. In the ancient world, drinking water could kill you.

Yeah, yeah.

That was the only safe thing to drink, and people drank it from, you know, wee little tykes. You were weaned from breast milk to beer. And drinking water could potentially kill you. It was a very unsafe thing, and they didn't understand how bacteria works or microbes or things like this.

So the whole documentary, How Beer Saved the World, I mean, there was a constant drinking of alcohol, and it wasn't very potent. It was just enough to kill the bacteria. And the beers of the ancient world, especially the Egyptians, it doesn't quite taste the same.

It doesn't have the potency of our modern-day craft beers and things like that. So drinking wine and beer, that was a survival tactic. And then you think about the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy in one of his pastoral epistles.

Paul's in prison. He's shortly to have his head taken off of him by Nero. And he's writing to Timothy, and Timothy was a pastor in Ephesus, and Timothy had regular stomach problems. And Paul's all, well, have some wine, you know, so that you don't have all these secret, you know, these constant chronic problems with your digestive tract.

That's the Roseboro paraphrase, but that's in one of the pastoral epistles. So again, now in our time, this is real simple. As long as you're not enslaved to the thing you have freedom to do,.

Great.

And as long as you're not judging somebody based upon what they're doing in their freedom. That's what we're called to do. Our standard is the Ten Commandments. And that thing calls us to love God and love each other.

And love each other. Well.

Very well.

And so note that the list that Jesus kicks out, these are the things that defile you. Sexual immorality, slander, murder, theft, coveting. All of these things go straight back to the commandments, and this is the objective standard.

So when we break those commandments, we not only sin against God, we sin against each other. And so God wills, God wills for properly established authorities to be honored and respected. God wills that you protect yourself and your neighbor regarding his property and the things that he needs for the sustaining of his life.

God wills that the marriage bed be kept undefiled. God wills that your neighbor's reputation not be taken from him without due process, which is why bearing false witness and slander is absolutely forbidden.

And then coveting your neighbor's stuff. That's a big motivator, by the way, for a lot of the other sins. You covet your neighbor's wife, so you commit sexual immorality. You covet your neighbor's property.

You covet his tractor, his car, his hair, his abs. Everybody covets mine. So you covet the talents that he has. And so as a way of taking, it's almost like this weird vengeance that goes on. That person has what I want, so I'm going to take it or I'm going to tear them down because that coveting thing is just awful.

Competition, Coveting, and Stewardship in Marriage

Okay, so competition. All right? It's a good question because not all competition necessarily is bad. And so you'll note that the best companies in the world, we'll put it in the world of the business realm, the best companies in the world are the ones who have found a specific need or a solution and they craft that and market it so that people can benefit from it.

And always and again when somebody comes up with an idea, a competitor will arise. Sometimes competitors arise because they just want to jump on the bandwagon and milk part of that bazillion-dollar industry and their products are usually garbage.

The people who do that. And they're not around for very long. And other competitors, they rise up and say, you know what, I like what they've done, but I think we can do it better. And that's okay, too.

That's okay, too. But, okay, competition as far as keeping up with the Joneses. So your next-door neighbor just bought a 30-foot-long Winnebago, so you've got to go and get one, too. No, that falls under coveting.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Now, the better idea is you and your spouse sitting down and looking at your budget and your finances and saying, you know what, honey, I think it would be great if we would be able to spend our recreation time doing this thing or that thing and staying within your means and then finding a way of doing it.

And your neighbors don't even factor in on it. The question is, we being in marriage together and loving each other, how can we, you know, how can we use our collective resources for the purpose of taking care of our sanity and things like that?

But, you know, I lived in Southern California. That is the land of the coveting. I mean, everything that you purchase is designed to send some kind of a status statement. And the crass way I used to describe Southern California, especially the part where we lived, it was full of boob jobs and beamers.

And that's the only way I can describe it because those are the only things that really mattered. Do you have the trophy wife who has the right plastic surgery and are you driving the right car and wearing the right watches?

That's the love of money like you wouldn't believe. And ultimately, that's the love of yourself. So everybody, the pecking order was based upon the clothes you wore, the watch you wore, the car you drove, and how hot your wife was.

Of course.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, mm-hmm. So a lot of people put themselves in huge financial straits trying to impress everybody. And it's just ridiculous. It's so crass and wrong. That's a different topic. All right, back to Exodus, Exodus 24.

Exodus 24, the Covenant Meal, and the Writing of Scripture

So there's the children of Israel at the base of Mount Sinai. God has given the Ten Commandments. The people have heard the voice of God and were freaked out by it. There were further commandments that were also given.

And now it is time for the elders of Israel and God to have a meal together, which is kind of fascinating. You'll note that having a meal with God is kind of a recurring theme in Scripture. And so this is an example of, well, that.

Moses, God said to Moses, come up to Yahweh, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the 70 of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Notice this isn't a face-to-face, true face-to-face meeting.

You can come, let's have a meal together, but you guys need to keep your distance. And there's a reason for that, because they are sinners and God is holy. You worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to Yahweh, and he's the one who has found favor in God's sight.

We'll talk about that in more detail in a few chapters. But the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him. So Moses came, told the people all the words of Yahweh, and all the rules, and all the people answered with one voice, and said, all the words that Yahweh has spoken, we will do.

Beware of taking oaths that you are not able to keep. So Moses wrote down all the words of Yahweh. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the foot of the mountain, twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

He sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And I showed you this site a few weeks ago on my phone. This is actually at the base of a mountain that's in Saudi Arabia, which is exactly where the book of Galatians says it should be.

Moses took half the blood, put it in basins. Half the blood, threw it against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, all that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.

And Moses took the blood, threw it on the people, and said, behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with these words. So then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy of the elders went up, and they saw the God of Israel.

There was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heavens for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. They beheld God and ate and drank.

Interesting. So, worshipping from afar, they can kind of see, they can see that God's feet are on something that looks very clear and very peaceful. Now, a little bit of a note here. You're going to note that already by Exodus 24, that Moses had begun taking the very words that he had heard God speak on Mount Sinai and write them down.

And now, a little bit of a note here. So, at this point you can say that the writing of the Bible has begun. Now, very shortly Moses is going to go up Mount Sinai and God is going to give him the Ten Commandments on stone.

What were the very first words that Moses wrote down in this book? The very things that he heard. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. So, you're going to note that at this point the beginning of the writing of the Bible has begun and God's going to kind of back it up just a little bit and give us the foundation stones of the Bible, which are the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them.

So, Moses, hearing God's words, hearing these commands, he's got scribes or himself, he's quickly writing this stuff down so it's not forgotten. When God speaks, you capture those things. That's the idea.

And so, this is the beginning of the writing of Scripture and the foundation stones will be those stone tablets that God will give to Moses because the first thing that Moses is writing down is the Ten Commandments that he heard.

So, you can see the beginning of the writing of the Bible here. We see the blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And then we get this picture, the sapphire stone, clearness, under his feet were a pavement, you know, all this kind of interesting stuff.

Some of this imagery, then, you can actually pick up and see some of these elements picked up and developed further, like in the book of Revelation and in other places in Scripture. There's a consistency with the visible manifestations of God in this way, in his glory.

So, the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and wait there that I may give you the tablets of stone with which the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction. So, note here, Moses is already starting to capture these words.

God said, Come up here, I'm going to give you tablets of stone. Again, a good way to think, whenever you see the stone tablets, with the ten commandments on it, ever represented, that's the foundation stone of the Bible itself.

The first words of the Bible that were written were not, Barashit bara Elohim, in the beginning, God, that he created. No, those were not the first words of the Bible. The first words of the Bible that were written down were, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.

You will have no other gods before me. Those were the first words of Scripture that were written down. And so, you'll note, it's written out of order. But that's kind of a fascinating thing. So, Moses rose with his assistant Joshua.

Moses went up into the mountain of God and he said to the elders, Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let them go to them. So Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain.

The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai and the glory and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Six days, so it's a Sabbath day. Interesting.

Now, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Huh.

That number forty. How many days did it rain during the flood?

Forty days.

Forty nights. How many days was Jesus tempted in the wilderness.

By the devil? Forty days.

How many years were the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness?

Forty years.

So you know, that number forty, when it shows up, there seems to be a consistent theme there. As far as, you know, sojourning with God or sojourning through, you know, disaster and things like that. It's a very fascinating number itself.

And so the fact that Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days in the wilderness, not an accident. That is very specific. Chapter 25. So the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the people of Israel that they take from me a contribution from every man whose heart moves him.

You shall receive the contribution for me. Now, here's what's going to happen. And we need to do a little bit of the theology in this as well. Moses is going to spend forty days on the top of Mount Sinai with God in his presence.

And God is going to reveal to him the instructions for the creation of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the very first temple of Judaism. And it was a movable temple. And we learn from the book of Hebrews and also from God's instructions here in Exodus that Moses is to follow the pattern explicitly because the tabernacle that was created was a copy.

It was a copy of the real thing. And the real thing is the tabernacle in the heavenly kingdom. The real tabernacle with the real Ark of the Covenant with the real mercy seat is the real place where the real blood of Christ that was, you know, after it was shed was poured onto that mercy seat for the forgiveness of all of our sins.

Kind of a fascinating thing. And so God is going to give explicit instructions. It's got to be made this long, this way with these features and these things and they are to go in these different places for all of this stuff.

And so what God is establishing then with the creation of the tabernacle will become the worship rituals and practices of the Mosaic Covenant. And you're going to note God, as we read through this section of Scripture and we get into other parts of the journey to the Promised Land that God does not allow innovation when it comes to the worship of Him.

Those who innovate get themselves in a lot of trouble really quick and become dead very fast. And so the idea then here is that how are we to worship God? Answer the way God tells us to worship Him. We don't get to just make anything up.

He gives explicit instructions on how this is done and He Himself sets up all of the mechanisms by which the central worship life of the people of Israel is put in place. Does that make sense? And we'll see, especially as we get to the end of Exodus and into Leviticus that God Himself puts His stamp of approval on these religious worship practices whereas everything else, there is no stamp of approval.

And that's kind of an important thing. So if I were to invent my own version of Christianity it would be a lot of fun, by the way, if I did because I like to have fun. But if I were to say something to the effect of I am 100 convinced that God really wants us as a church every Sunday to do the Macarena.

Right?

Hey Macarena!

Okay.

You'd all be looking at me like are you sure God wants us to do this? Well it makes sense, it makes me feel good, right? After a while, after the fun wore off and it became a drudgery you'd be asking the question how do we know God wants us to do the Macarena?

What if He wants us to do it Gangnam style instead?

Gangnam style.

Right?

What?

Or the Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey. I mean, you know, so you come up with in our worship we need to be doing these things, right? How would you know if God is pleased with them or not? Let me ask another question.

Mike, you spend some time in Rome, right?

Okay.

How do you know as a Roman Catholic that the Virgin Mary hears our prayers? That's what you were told. Who told you? Who told them?

Okay.

So the Pope got a message from God. Was it a voicemail?

Okay.

So, sheet mail.

Got it. Got it.

At the end of the day as a Roman Catholic are you confident that Mary's hearing your prayers? You're thinking that, but do you know with certainty that she is?

Right.

Okay, there you go.

Okay.

So you got all these prayers ascending to Mary. I mean, her email box is full every morning, right? How do you know she's hearing these prayers? How do you know praying to her is a good work? How do you know that praying to her is what God wants us to do?

At the end of the day if you don't have a clear teaching in the Word of God that says this there's no way for you to know. And if you don't know then how do you know you're just not deceived in offering prayers to a person who we were never told to pray to?

And see, that's kind of the dividing line. You have to understand, when it comes to true worship of the true God I know what a good work is because Scripture tells me what a good work is. And it never in Scripture says that going to Rome on a pilgrimage is a good work.

It might be a nice vacation, by the way. But it doesn't say that going there is a good work or that I'll earn a plenary indulgence if I do. There's no biblical text that says that. And without that Word of God I can't say whether God approves of it or not.

In fact, chances are He probably doesn't. This is why Sola Scriptura is so important because it tells us not only what a good work is but it also informs us as to what true Christian worship is that is pleasing to God.

And the idea then is that God is the one who tells us how to worship and pray. And in the old Mosaic covenant there is a mechanism for that and innovation is punishable by death. God Himself performing the executions.

And in the New Testament there is a revelation as to what true worship is and prayer is. And this is the apostolic teaching. And I can say, I know these things are approved by God. But all this other stuff, I don't know.

And now if you tell me that I'm not a Christian unless I pray to the Virgin Mary,.

Now we've got a problem.

Yes.

Yes, there's a lot in common with the Pope and John Wesley's mom. Can you believe that that's the standard? John Wesley's mom is the standard for Christian piety in the Nazarene sect. So here's the idea now.

God's going to reveal these things and He's going to tell us how we are to worship, how we are to pray. And in this sense, this is the Mosaic covenant, this is the children of Israel. This is how it is set up.

Is it any wonder then that Christian worship builds off of and modifies now what we see in the Old Testament? In fact, the Christian church service, historically, the liturgy, that has a lot in common with the ancient liturgy of Israel and the ancient worship practices of Israel.

As it should be. Because we know that when God has revealed that these are the ways in which He is worshipped and in which we are to pray and that these are the good works, it makes sense then that it would build off of that because that's the foundation for everything.

Now, another thing. You're going to note here is that God is giving explicit instructions to Moses regarding how the funds and the materials are to arrive for the building of this tabernacle. And you're going to note this.

There is no tax implemented. Nobody is obligated to give a thing to the building of the tabernacle. Everybody who gives, gives freely from their heart as they desire. Which, by the way, is the Christian practice regarding the collection plate that goes around.

When people impose a tithe, the tithe was the Old Covenant tax. 2 Corinthians makes this clear. Let me pull up the text. 2 Corinthians 9, 2 Cor 9, verse 6. It points this. Whoever sows sparingly, reaps sparingly.

Whoever sows bountifully, reaps bountifully. So each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. So you note, in the four plus years that I've been here, never once have you heard me railing from the pulpit, you've got to give a tithe.

I'm looking at your tithing envelopes and I'm calculating how much you're making on a monthly basis and I'm not seeing the connection here.

You know.

Sorry. Sorry, I slipped into my Baptist ideas.

Sure.

Yes.

We are wrong. We are right. You know, everybody has a God and each church has the God. The God or however you want to say it. So as we're going through this, it's like, well they believe this and that's not right because it doesn't come from the Bible.

We believe this because it comes from the Bible. But yet we're supposed to love our neighbor, respect our neighbor, and accept our neighbor.

To a degree.

And forgive our neighbor.

Well, yes, absolutely.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

I'm going to answer your question first by focusing in on the love aspect. We're going to have to properly define love. Love is not the just turning a blind eye to when somebody is teaching something wrong.

All right, so. Well, love is about, love would dictate that we need to confront somebody. Now this doesn't sound very loving, but actually it is. Let me explain. I'll start with Titus. Titus chapter 1.