One, two, three, or more

How many Gospels are there? Again, this blog was inspired by a recent sermon at our Ft Myers church.  In fact, it was the Easter Sunday service.  Again, this blog is my thoughts and reflections on that sermon.  The sermon focused  primarily on two statements made by Paul, one to the Ephesians:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.

And one to the Galatians:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

The Galatians were practicing a “different gospel”, one of works, requiring the Gentiles to follow the Jewish laws under the Old Testament Abrahamic covenant, including particularly circumcision.  Paul rebuked them and warned them that if salvation is dependent on observing Jewish laws, it was not by grace, but by works.  And, if it is by works, we are all headed for Hell along with the person preaching it.  The word at the end of Paul’s statement to the Galatians, “curse” is only used 5 times in the New Testament. It can also be translated anathema. One of those times is in 1 Corinthians 16:22:

If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord !

What happens to the person who does not love the Lord?  Hell

Now most people are thinking, “Well, I don’t believe that or our church does not believe that” or “We don’t preach a different gospel”.  Let’s examine ourselves.  If we teach that God loves us more because of what we do or that if we don’t do “X”, you are not a faithful Christian, we are very close to preaching different gospel, if not there already.  If we act or think that our works make us more pleasing to God or make Him love us more, have we not added a works requirement.  If anything is added to the Gospel of Grace, it is no longer a Gospel of Grace.

Some believe that baptism is necessary to wash away sins or is required in order to insure salvation, thereby, salvation by works.  What about tithing?  Many believe or require tithing.  Tithing was mandated in the Old Testament law.  In fact, it’s requirement post-dates circumcision. The Galatians required that the Gentiles be circumcised.  Paul tells them if they do that, they are then “debtor(s) to do the whole law”.  Requiring tithing is part of the same law that required circumcision.  If tithing is required, something has been added.  It was and is part of the Old Covenant.

Are there other areas that we practice different gospel?  Some teach, in effect, that there is a pre-Pentecost gospel, a post-Pentecost apostolic gospel and a post apostolic gospel.  How do I say this?  Is the gospel preached by the twelve apostles and the Seventy, while Jesus was on earth, the same as the gospel that the apostles and evangelist preached after Pentecost?  Is there a third gospel preached after the apostolic period.  In spite of their denial, in essence, this is what is taught in many churches today. 

When Jesus sent out the 12 in Luke 9, Luke records”

“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick…. So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”

When Jesus sent out the 72 in Luke 10, He said:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. …. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, The kingdom of God has come near to you…I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

Just prior to His ascension, Jesus charged those present at His ascension:

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

What had Jesus taught them?  What had He commanded them?  What was the gospel Jesus taught?  What gospel did they preach in the early church in Acts?  What gospel did they practice in Acts?  What happened when they preached that gospel? 

They went forth , and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following .

Did God stop “confirming His Word”?  Or is it that we are preaching different gospel?

Paul instructed Timothy:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come . For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  Traitors, heady, highminded , lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;  Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away .  For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,  Ever learning , and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Then Paul charged Timothy:

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

There are many who believe, teach and/or act as if the gifts and manifestations of God ceased when the apostolic period ended.  How foolish to think that the gospel that Jesus charged the 12 and the 72, somehow, somewhere, sometime, changed when the last apostle died. 

These same people use Jesus’ words to the 72:

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

to send out missionaries, but ignore, or worse deny the remainder of Jesus’ charge:

Heal the sick who are there and tell them, the kingdom of God has come near to you…I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”

 Sounds like different gospel to me!

Does that mean that these people are cursed like the Galatians preaching a false gospel?  I hope not and think not.  The “different gospel” of the Galatians was false in that it taught a “works” gospel as a means to salvation.  The “different gospel” that I hear too often today, is not a “works” gospel.  It is an “incomplete gospel” Today’s “gospel” means something different than the “true gospel.  Call it a “diminished gospel”.  The “means” to  the gospel is still faith; but the “gospel” has taken on a different or diminished meaning. I personally know many brothers and sisters in Christ, who truly love the Lord, who are saved; but, who have short changed God’s grace in their beliefs regarding the totality of what Christ purchased for us on the cross.  In doing so they are diminishing the goodness and grace offered to the body and to the lost.  The author of Romans asks the reader:

“do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

By diminishing the accomplishments of Christ’s atonement that are available to use through faith, we are a stumbling block to the body; but, more so to the lost.  In a few weeks we will celebrate Pentecost; when Christ poured out on His body, the church, the Holy Spirit, filling the body with His power.  The word used for “power” in Acts 1:8 is in Greek, “dunamis”.  It’s is the word from which we get the word dynamite.  The Holy Spirit fills the body of Christ with dynamite power, miraculous power, abundant power, mighty power.  He did it on Pentecost and still does it today! It’s still available.  We, the body of Christ, need to use it.  Instead, we are walking around like we have a fire cracker, rather than a stick of dynamite.  Will we have to give account of our misuse, disuse, and diminishment of the gifts given to the church?  I think so! Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men”

May we pray that it is never said of us.  May Christ never say in reference to your church, my church, His church:

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

“You want me to do what?”

Have you ever had your boss ask you to do something that seemed unreasonable?  Well, as I have read the Bible, I have come across some of those moments? The first one was when God told Noah to build an ark.  Consider for a moment, scripture suggests that there was no rain before the flood.  The first rainbow occurred after the flood.  There was a sun since creation.  If there were rain and sun, there should have been a rainbow unless God changed the behavior of light at the time of the flood.  Now, God could have done that.  I don’t know.  Nevertheless, God told Noah to build the ark and put in all the animals.  First of all, how did Noah know what an ark was.  Then, from the time God told him to build it until the time Noah entered the ark, was at least 100 years.  Do you think he might have had a few doubts along the way?  A few skeptical neighbors?  How about a skeptical wife?

Last summer, Linda and I roughed in a 1000 square foot addition and 2 ½ stall garage onto our son’s house as an “in-law” suite for ourselves.  Apart from hiring out the concrete, we, me and her, did all of it with about 10 hours of help from our sons.  I mean nailing, screwing, roofing, siding, hanging garage door, just the two of us.  Linda was on the roof nailing shingles with an air nailer.  We had doubters.  Jared, our youngest said, “Dad, do you think you might be a little old for this?”  It took us 3 months.  This summer we plan on finishing the inside.  Now God did not tell me to do this, and there were times Linda was more than a little skeptical; but I’ll bet nothing like Noah’s wife.

What about when God told Abraham that he was going to have a son. This was sometime before Abraham was 86 years old because Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86, and Ishmael was Sarah and Abraham's way of trying to help God.  At 99, still no child.  Then God tells Abraham to circumcise every male among his household.  Now that would have caused me many questions, like “what is circumcision?”  “Will you repeat that again, I think I misheard you”.  Now I have heard of guys getting drunk and doing crazy stuff; but, never anything like this.  Can you imagine the looks on his servant's faces when Abraham told them.  First of “how”, then “why”.  Who went first?  Who volunteered to be the first?  Can you imagine the pain and blood.  No anesthetic.  No scalpels. Now you know why Abraham is listed as a hero of faith!  If I was Abraham I would have said, for over ten years we have been waiting for a son and now you want me to do what?

Then when Isaac was a young man God told Abraham to sacrifice him.  Think for a moment, how many of these “You want me to do what?” moments Abraham had.  There was the first asking him to pick up everything and move, not even knowing where.  The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah had to be another.

Look at the heroes of faith in Hebrews.  They all had “You want me to do what?”

moments. Moses? Gideon? Isaac? Jacob? Joseph? Joshua? Samson? Elijah?  Elisha?

Why do I bring this up?  Two fold.  One, just to prove how prideful and stupid we are when we refuse to do simple stuff that God tells us to do in His Word, like: anointing the sick with oil, laying hands on the sick, taking authority over Satan, just to name a few.  We come up with all kinds of excuses and reasons why we don’t, can’t, shouldn’t, don’t need to, or just plain refuse.  Second, in regards to worship.  We just called a new “worship pastor” in our Ft Myers church and I am excited about it.  Not that there was anything wrong before, but I like his ideas on worship.  He’s not here yet but he has a blog that explains his theology of worship.  On his blog there are many videos and one is entitled “Worship that pleases God”.  In it he and another worship pastor discuss the concept or theology of worship.

I want to discuss worship and since I did not read every part of his blog, I don’t want you to get the idea that everything I say represents his theology.  It may or may not.  Some I know does but what I discuss here was born out of or stimulated in response to his blog combined with my thoughts over the years regarding worship.  “Singing” does not equal “worship”.  Singing may be part of worship; but, worship is more than singing.  Not all singing in church is worship.  Not everyone singing in church is of necessity worshiping.  Worship is more that singing.  I can worship without singing.  Nevertheless, God has given us instructions on worship and His response to “God driven” worship. 

I was raised in a very conservative local church and as a child, we sang Psalms and hymns.  Psalms were Psalms set to music.  All 150 of them.  Many Psalms had more than one song.  They were not of necessity verbatim, but parts were.  All were paraphrase’s of Psalms.  Thus all were scriptural!  Does that mean that all were song in a spirit or attitude of worship.  For some individuals I am sure they were; but, worship is an attitude toward God, a response to God.  We never sang with enthusiasm, at least I never did and it never appeared to me that anyone was; but, I am sure some were.  The enthusiasm was not what I saw at football or basketball games.  People got excited at basketball and football games.  They clapped, they raised their hands.  They pumped their fists in the air.  They were excited.

Even today, the same is true in most churches.  People know how to worship at a sporting event, at least they are doing it.  Maybe they don’t know they are; but, they are.  On Sunday, they just sit there on their hands.

The psalmist says in Psalm 28:

Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

Prayer is worship.  Praise to God is part of prayer.  Praise is worship.

In Psalm 47, the Psalm says;

Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.  For the LORD Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet.  He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the LORD amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.  For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

The Psalmist is not telling the nations to clap their hands because the choir did a great job.  He is telling the nations to clap because God has done great things.

In Psalm 63, David in the desert of Judah prays and worships God.  He wills himself to praise God.  He lifts up his hands as an act of his will.

 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I WILL praise you as long as I live, and in your name I WILL  lift up my hands. I WILL be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.  I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.  They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.  But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

The Psalmist in Psalm 98 tells us to

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise , and rejoice  and sing praise.  Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King. Let the sea roar , and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together.

We are to make noise, rejoice and sing.  Next time you complain about the music is church being too loud, remember Psalm 98.  Even the creation worships God.

Psalm 134 commands us:

Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD.  Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.

We are commanded to raise our hands in church.  Can you imagine the next time the National anthem is sung at a football game, and you refuse to stand.  Try that at the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” and you WILL get publically reprimanded.  I saw it happen.  In the blog of our worship pastor there was a video of a service at a church in Georgia.  The worship pastor asked the people to repeat some of these verses from Psalms and raise their hands. About half of the people stubbornly did not raise their hands.  Talk about disrespect for the Word!  

David in Psalm 141 compares “lifting up of my hands” to the “evening sacrifice”.

The writer of Hebrews tells us:

let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is , the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

We are to CONTINUALLY offer a “sacrifice of praise”.  David tells us that God “inhabits the praises of His people”.  God lives in, dwells in our praises. 

Psalm 100 tells us:

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.  Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Does this sound like the worship at your church?  Sound like a football game?  We will spend hours talking about our favorite team.  How much time do we spend speaking the praises of God?

The Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke His disciples on Palm Sunday to keep quiet and stop praising Him.  Jesus responded.

the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”  “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

The next time you feel pretty good about yourself or your church, reflect, when did you last “worship” God?  David was a murderer, adulterer, and thief; but God also said he was a man after His own heart.  David knew what it meant to praise His God!  He knew true worship.  God dwelt in the praises of David.  Are the rocks outside the church crying out louder than the people inside the church?

God tells us what He wants us to do.  It’s not so hard.  It is a matter of obedience, an act of the will.  Look at the heroes of faith.  Check out what he asked them to do. There is no pain, no blood for us. Jesus shed all the blood!  Jesus endured all the pain!  For us, it is a matter of submission, surrender.  Our part is easy.  Jesus did the hard part! He too had to obey the will of His Father. He had to submit to the Father!

“Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  Do you please God?  Do I please God?  The next time you pray for the sick, does your faith please God?  The next time you worship, does your worship please God?  Have you, are you obeying God in your worship?  Is your worship an act of sacrifice or is it an act of rebellion?  Are you worshipping “God’s way” or your way? Yes, God wants you and me to worship Him, in His manner.