How To Establish Religious Authority #16
A. Were in a series of lessons about how we must respect
Gods authority in all matters of religious belief
and practice. In Jno. 4:24, Jesus said God requires and seeks
those who will worship Him in spirit
and in truth. Col. 3:17. That phrase, In the name of Christ.
means By the authority of Christ.
In matters of faith and religion we must do all that we do by
the authority of Jesus. And our authority
to do what we do comes from the Word of God, and that authority
is vested in the New Testament.
1. But, its not just enough to acknowledge that the scriptures
are authoritative, we must believe that we
have a responsibility and obligation to understand how that Word
of God relates to us and how it is to
be applied to our every day life. We must also pay close attention
to how we understand and
interpret the meaning, the application and intent of Gods
Word. There are millions of people in the
world who claim to be Christians and profess to have a love for
and an appreciation of Gods Word.
a. Yet, they are so misguided, divided in their religious beliefs
and practices that they do not even
resemble one another and yet they all profess to be Christian.
They all get different, diverse,
contradicting beliefs and practices from the same book. And they
do it to such a degree that
one is forced to believe that something is terribly wrong.
(A) We know there is nothing wrong with the Scriptures. They are
the perfect, inspired,
infallible, understandable Word of God. The Word stands complete
in every way. So
whats wrong? If there is nothing wrong with the Word, the
problem has got to be with
man and how he is interpreting the Word. Evidently, men are not
applying the principles
of Bible authority in a correct manner.
(1) 2 Tim. 2:15. Study Gods Word so you can make a proper
and correct application of
that word to your belief system and your life.
(a) Studying Gods Word means you have to find out to whom
the Word is
speaking, what law is under consideration, If the command is to
one person,
nation. Is it specific or is it generic. Is it limited or universal,
temporary or
permanent? Is it a command or an example?
Do you understand the difference between and command and an example.
If you dont you can get into trouble very quickly and end
up out in left field believing and practicing some absurd ridiculous
doctrine.
(1) Examples are given in the Bible as illustrations of what is
right or wrong, what will bring blessing and what will not bring
blessings. Bible examples are powerful teaching tools. What is
the authoritative nature of an example? There is power in examples.
There are good examples and there are bad examples.
(1) Heb. 11:4. Thats an example that still speaks to us.
That is a binding example to us. How is that a binding example?
He believed what God said, and he offered sacrifices the way God
commanded. His example is a binding example. Thats how we
are to obey Gods commands.
(2) There are also bad examples. Acts 5:1-11. Ananias and Sapphira
lied to the apostles, Holy Spirit and thus were harshly punished
by God. Their example is on the Biblical record. But, its
not an example you want to follow.
Not all good examples in the Bible are binding on us and we are
not to follow them. There is an example of faith by Abraham in
Gen. 22:1-10. That example is not binding on you and me. Gen.
6:11-22. Both of these examples are not commands for us today.
They are illustrations, examples of how true faith brought Noah
and Abraham into Gods grace. They encourage us by telling
us Noah and Abrahams faith and obedience are examples we
should follow.
(2) You have to study the context to see when an example is binding
and when it is not. The Bible gives clear examples of how people
were baptized. Acts 8:36?39, Philip taught the gospel to the Eunuch
as they traveled in a chariot. Matt 3:16. The example of baptizing
is going down into the water and coming up out of the water.
(a) When Jesus gives the Great commission command to go teach
and baptize taught believers, you understand that you do that
by going down into the water and having baptized (Immersed) that
person, you then come up out of the water.
(b) You need a place where the water is deep enough and abundant
enough so people can go down into the water to be immersed. Thats
the statement of Jno. 3:23. Baptism is an immersion in water and
therefore requires that it be done in a place where there is water
deep enough to immerse a person. Baptism is not a sprinkling with
water.
(2) Acts 20:7. Thats how often they observed the Lords
supper. How do I know thats the subject under consideration?
Acts 2:42
(a) 1 Cor 11:17?18, rebukes them for abusing the Lords Supper
by turning it into an individual common meal and for not making
it a united congregational observance Now in giving these
instructions (here is a corrective instruction, command) I do
not praise you, since you come together (Whats the purpose
of coming together? To break bread - Thats the Lords Supper)
not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all,
when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions
among you, (When did they come together as a church? On the 1st
day of the week. Thats Sunday.) Vs. 20?21. They had made
a mockery of this observance and it was no longer the Lords supper.
(b) Vs. 23-33. Gives instruction and a command. Here we learn
that the Church was to gather together every first day of the
week to observe the Lords Supper. And Heb. 10:25, commands
us not to forsake that assembly. This is when we come together
as a congregation to be reminded in a graphic, physical way of
why Christ died on the cross. 1 Cor. 11:26, For as often
as you eat this bread and drink this cup, (How often? Every 1st
day of the week)
you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. How long are
we to observe this weekly memorial? Until Jesus comes again.
(c) Acts 20:32.
Spur - 05/25/03 am
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