Sunday Sermons
Searching for Answers
Searching for Answers
God speaking through the apostle Peter exhorted Christians to “be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15). Non-Christians often have many questions concerning the Bible and Christianity that we need to be prepared to address and answer. In this lesson I want to touch upon several questions that might be preventing a person from becoming a Christian or at least from reading the Bible and giving God a chance.
Why does the Bible condemn things that do not harm anyone?
Recently I encountered an article concerning people who practice Wicca (witchcraft), who argued that what they were doing did not harm anyone. The same feeling is often expressed towards getting drunk in the privacy of your own home, drinking but allowing someone else to drive, and living together prior to marriage. The first thing we need to note that is man is limited in his understanding (Jeremiah 10:23) and especially in his ability to see into the future and really see the true outcome of a particular attitude or practice. On the other hand, God can penetrate the future and see all the consequences from a particular practice(Isaiah 42:9; 46:10 “Declaring the end from the beginning”; 48:5; Daniel 2:28).
We might say, “Well, who is really harmed by the sin of envy?” (Galatians 5:21), yet God could note that Jesus was crucified because people were envious of Him (Mark 15:10). We also would probably we shocked to find out how many wars and other atrocities were sparked because of such an attitude. Paul noted that a tremendous amount of harm could result from just one sin, such as greed, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Secondly, most people will admit that they are not perfect and neither is their motivation. All have sinned and are tempted by some form of selfishness and evil(Ecclesiastes 7:20 “There is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins”; Romans 3:23; 1 Corinthians 10:13). In view of the fact that we are admittedly ignorant about many things and tempted by evil, we must therefore admit that we need a standard of right and wrong that does not come from our own feelings and opinions. We need to be held accountable to an unbiased objective standard that is outside of ourselves. God is completely pure and just (1 John 1:5), which gives Him the moral right to declare what is right and wrong and our fallibility and selfishness morally obligate us to listen to Him.
Thirdly people often forget that you can harm a person in more than just one-way. Practicing something sinful that may not physically harm anyone still can tempt others to engage in the same practice or to compromise in other areas (Matthew 18:6-7; 1 Corinthians 15:33). Fourthly while human beings may at times want to bury their heads in the sand or live in a fantasy world, God sees the true reality in a situation. People may excuse drunkenness as simply letting off steam, reliving stress or having a good time. God sees the true reality that is behind the thin veneer of all human excuses (Proverbs 23:29-35; ; 20:1 “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise”). Some argue that they need such beverages to relax or get in the right mood. Often the world argues that one’s personality is improved by a couple of drinks. “It helps a person come out of their shell”. “It gives them confidence and courage”. God does not see courage as coming from a bottle, rather He sees sinful aggressiveness, and the attitude and type of language that is found among scoffers. If it gives a man or woman courage, it often gives them the courage to mock God and His standards. In reference to living together prior to marriage, God termed such a relationship “immorality” (1 Corinthians 7:2). The Greek word here chosen by the Holy Spirit is the term porneia, from a verb meaning “to sell”, thus it is essentially the love that is bought or sold, which is not genuine love at all. God looks at such relationships and sees the true situation and motivation and sees either one or both people being used. Barclay notes, “The great and basic error of this is that the person with whom such love is gratified is not really considered a person at all, but as a thing” (Flesh and Spirit p. 24). Solomon summed it up well when he noted, “But one sinner destroys much good” (Ecclesiastes 9:18).
Why doesn’t being a good moral person save me?
It should first be noted that from the standpoint of a holy God, every person has sinned (Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous, not even one”). The very fact that God came in the flesh to die for our sins, should tell us that there is definitely something wrong with the argument that our morality can save us. Paul noted, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In the context, Paul points out that when Jesus died, mankind was neither “righteous” nor “good” (5:7). There are examples in the Bible of non-Christians who were trying to live right, but who still needed to become a Christian to be saved (Acts 10:1-2; 11:14). In fact, many of the cases of conversion in the book of Acts are cases of what the world might call “good moral people” who still needed salvation (Acts 2:5 “devout men”; 2:38; 8:27,36-37; 16:14-15).
I am afraid that I am too easily persuaded
That is, someone might say, “Mark, what you say is convincing, but someone could come along and say something different, and they would be equally persuasive. How can I know what the truth is?” This is a good question and allows me to first note that as long as a person keeps the Bible at arms length, they will be susceptible to being lead astray (Ephesians 4:14). The Bible promises though that it is understandable and that even a person without any kind of experience in the Scriptures can begin to understand what it is teaching (Psalm 19:7). The Christians in the First Century were people just like us, yet they were commanded to understand God’s will (Ephesians 5:17). God notes that what causes people to misunderstand is not a lack of intelligence, but wrong motivation (2 Thessalonians 2:10; John 7:17; 2 Peter 3:16).
How can God expect so much from imperfect people
First, God created us, so God, more than any other, even our own selves, knows the true potential and limitations of His creation(Genesis 1:26). As such, God never demands the impossible (Deuteronomy 30:11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach”; 1 John 5:3). Many of the commands or expectations that God has given are quite pleasant to keep, in fact Jesus noted, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). The good news is that God knows our limitations. God knows that we are fallible and that is why He gave us an objective infallible guide (the Bible) that contains everything we need (2 Peter 1:3). God knows that we sin, and that is why Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins. God does not demand flawless perfection, but He does demand honesty, that when we sin, we admit it and repent of them (John 1:8-10).
There are times when people are afraid that they might be committing a sin of which they are completely ignorant and one which they might never discover. God sees a different picture. In the Old Testament, God noted that people did sin because of ignorance or inadvertence, and yet God knew that such sins always did come to light (Numbers 15:22-28). We really cannot say that God expects too much from us, seeing that God offers us a relationship with Him based on forgiveness.
How can sinful acts in this life deserve eternal punishment?
While we might try to explain away or rationalize sins that we commit, God sees the true evil behind such acts. God must be truthful and He does not play word games when it comes to evil, compare with James 3:16, 3:9-10; 1:26; 4:1-4. Secondly, God cannot have any association or fellowship with someone who is living in sin (Isaiah 59:1-2). In this life, even unbelievers receive God’s physical blessings (Luke 6:35; Acts 14:16-17). Yet the person who dies unforgiven has chosen to live apart from God, and hell is simply a place where God is not, hence none of His blessings, such as love, happiness, peace, and so on, are there as well. Let it also be remembered that hell is not a place of rehabilitation, but rather is simply a place of punishment (2 Peter 2:9). In view of the fact that Jesus died for all men, that all men can be saved, and that God is patiently waiting for all to repent (2 Peter 3:9), there is really no good reason why anyone should end allow themselves to end up in hell for eternity.
Consider the parallel between hell and an earthly prison. Prisons do exist but there isn’t really any good reason why a person should end up there. Finally, even the people of this world understand the principle that for some crimes is just to punish a person for their entire lifetime for one act they committed. For example, most people would feel that life imprisonment is a just penalty for murdering someone. In addition, many people would also understand that even after serving such a term, the murderer still has not “made up” or atoned for what they did.
I am confused, are we saved by faith or by baptism?
Actually, both save us, in fact there are many other things that save us as well. As we read the Bible we learn that there are many things that go into the process of saving us. We need God’s patience to give us time to read the Bible, believe, and repent (2 Peter 3:9; 3:15 “regard the patience of the Lord as salvation”).
We also need the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ, for all the faith in the world would not save us if Jesus had never died on the cross and was resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:17).
We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 3:16), yet this faith must be more than simply a privately held view (John 12:42-43), in order to result in our salvation it must move us to confess Christ (Romans 10:9-10), repent of our sins, that is, renounce them and give them up (Acts 2:38).
The Bible also notes that God has commanded us to be baptized, immersed in water and this takes place before we are forgiven (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21). God has the right to declare what the conditions of salvation are, therefore, the person who really trusts God will simply trust His way of saving us.
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net.mdunagan@easystreet.com
