Humility in Beliefs

Intro

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: (Luke 18:9)

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. (Luke 18:10)

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. (Luke 18:11)

I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (Luke 18:12)

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ Luke 18:14 “I teLl you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:13)

(Pray)

Humility – 2 WEEKER

Last week: Humility in relationships

You’re important too / You’re smart too

Your own beliefs about God and the church

The Bible Code

Books – 1,2,3 – Twin Towers – Princesse Diana’s Death

Moshe Aharon Shak

March, 2012 – “Meet Mitt, the USA President.wmv”

Mitt / Bday / A fitting president / God is for him

Problem

It’s not hard to make the bible say what you want it to say.

Misquotes

In 1982: “The Bible clearly teaches, starting in the tenth chapter of Genesis and going all the way through, that God has put differences among people on the earth to keep the earth divided.” – Bob Jones III, defending Bob Jones University’s policy banning interracial dating/marriage. The policy was changed in 2000.

In 1823: “The right of holding slaves is clearly established by the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example.” – Rev. Richard Furman, first president of the South Carolina State Baptist Convention.

In the 16th Century: “People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon. This fool…wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth.” – Martin Luther in “Table Talk” on a heliocentric solar system.

In 1637: “Sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents…We have sufficient light from the Word of God for our proceedings.” – Captain John Underhill, defending the Puritan decimation of the Pequot tribe.

In 1846: “The evidence that there were both slaves and masters of slaves in churches founded and directed by the apostles, cannot be got rid of without resorting to methods of interpretation that will get rid of everything.” – Rev. Leonard Bacon, in defense of American slavery. (Christian ministers wrote nearly half of all defenses of slavery, often citing Scripture to make their case.)

In 1869: “The Bible is the revealed will of God, and it declares the God-given sphere of woman. The Bible is, then, our authority for saying woman must content herself with this sphere…Who demand the ballot for woman? They are not the lovers of God, nor are they believers in Christ, as a class. There may be exceptions, but the majority prefer an infidel’s cheer to the favor of God and the love of the Christian community.” – Rev. Justin Dewey Fulton in his treatise against women’s suffrage.

In 1960: “Wherever we have the races mixed up in large numbers, we have trouble….These religious liberals are the worst infidels in many ways in the country; and some of them are filling pulpits down South. They do not believe the Bible any longer; so it does not do any good to quote it to them. They have gone over to modernism, and they are leading the white people astray at the same time; and they are leading colored Christians astray. But every good, substantial, Bible-believing, intelligent orthodox Christian can read what the Word of God and know that what is happening in the South now is not of God.” – Bob Jones Sr., in his treatise against integration entitled, ‘Is Segregation Scriptural?’

The bible and the Christian faith has been used to cause all kinds of pain, suffering, prejudice and hatred over the years.

With every moral conflict, there’s people on both sides using the bible defend their position.

The bible is hard.

If you don’t think so, read it more.

Cool BLOGGER: “Everyone’s a Biblical Literalist Until You Bring Up Gluttony …Or divorce, or gossip, or slavery, or head coverings, or Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence, or the “abomination” of eating shellfish and the hell-worthy sin of calling other people idiots. Then we need a little context. Then we need a little grace. Then we need a little room to disagree. We may laugh at these examples or dismiss them as silly, but the biblical language used in them is actually pretty strong: eating shellfish is an abomination, a bare head is a disgrace, gossips will not inherit the kingdom of God, careless words are punishable by hell, guys who leer at women should gouge out their eyes.”

Different fabrics

Collection of books – BY / TO / times / places

Collection of books, written BY lots of different people, TO lots of different people in specific times and places.

Solution:

Snoopy comic “I could be wrong.”

bible = perfect – my interpretation = imperfect.

I believe the bible is perfect. And my interpretation is imperfect.

WTD: You’re not doubting the bible when you hold your interpretation with an open hand.

Surprised by who’s in heaven

2 Circles – Core beliefs / Opinions

don’t know how it works, just know it works.

I don’t know how it all works, I just know that it works.

C.S. Lewis – it’s like vitamins

Stack of books – when you remove one, does it all fall down?

Creation

What it leads to

1. Kindness

Humility keeps you from being a jerk.

Relationships

People left BCA – doctrinal issue – facebook. Only to change and return years later.

We risk engaging in idolatry, not only when we worship false gods but also when we set up false devils! God is not honored when we are unfair to people with whom we disagree” (G.K. Chesterton)

Gossiping

Taking what they said out of context

Obama “This isn’t a christian nation.” – “One of the great strengths of the United States,” the President said, “is … we have a very large Christian population — we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.”

2. Teachability

Disciple means ‘learner’

When I’m working on sermon prep – constantly getting input

Because I could be wrong

Not about ‘behavior modification’ it’s about Jesus – I want to be humble about even that.

Joyce Meyers “No Christian movement is without it’s missteps.”

Same w/us!

(Diagram Comic)

Keep us on the right path

Jesus was the example

“God said, ‘Thou shalt not murder’ – ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.” (Deuteronomy 20) – men, women, children, animals.

“God said, ‘Thou shalt not murder’ at another time He said, ‘Thou shalt utterly destroy.” (Deuteronomy 20) – Kill all men, women, children, and animals.

How did he treat people? – What was important to him? – What did he say?

God is completely good

Email: The bible can be tricky, that’s for sure. But I won’t redefine love to match a twisted view of God patched together from scattered Bible verses. The only thing left to do is go back to the Scripture and read it again, differently, until I can find a God there who reflects the two truths I know to be certain: That God is like Jesus, and that at the core of His being – God’s essence is love.

Two paths: love / judgement – go with Love

Closing

Closing statement: Part of our identity as followers of Christ is valuing others. And even when you see things differently than other people, humility says this: “At the end of the day, God is working in you, God is working in me, and I’m going to focus on loving you and respecting you. I still have a lot of learning to do. No one has the gospel all figured out, certainly not me.” So God tonight we pray that you help us walk in humility. Help us to value other people. Help us to continually return to the things that we know are true, which are your never-ending kindness, and your never-ending goodness. And help us to treat people the way that you treat us. With kindness, forgiveness, respect, and humility. We love you and we thank you.