Q & A SUNDAY
Trinity
Church
MIAMISBURG,
OHIO
Pastor
Joe Getts
July 13, 2014
We are a Christian congregation that believe
in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We believe that God has given and
inspired the Bible for us to use as our guide for Christian doctrine and
living. Therefore, when we have questions, our first point of reference is His
Word – The Holy Bible that He has given to us.
1).
I have a friend that keeps talking to me about
liberation theology and something called the social gospel. I can’t figure out
what they are talking about. Would you explain that?
“Liberation
Theology” which promotes a concept called the “social gospel” has only been
around in its current form for about the last 90 years or so. It has been seen
off and on in Christian history since the third or fourth century – about the
time the Roman Church was birthed by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.
The movement’s most recent popularity is generally credited to a Roman Catholic
El Salvadorian Bishop named Oscar Romero who was murdered while offering
Catholic Mass in March of 1980.
From
a Protestant perspective, liberation theology is generally thought of as an
unorthodox interpretation of the New Testament Biblical text so as to benefit
in some exclusive way a specific people group or groups, or some political
agenda that appears to be supporting a specific collection of people.
The
major problem with liberation theology is that it is not focused on Jesus
Christ, but rather on fairness, equality or even preferential treatment in some
cases for various minorities and people groups. A moral reading of the Gospels
never finds Jesus endorsing any political agenda or a specific people group or
groups. Instead Jesus always focused on the spiritual condition of people as individuals
and their relationship with God.
Jesus said, “But seek first His
kingdom and His righteousness, and all these
things will be added to you.” (Matthew
6:33) In this passage the
Lord Jesus actually offers the opposite set of priorities than these social
Gospel trends in liberation theology do. This does not mean that we should not
help the poor. Nor does it say or imply that we should single out specific
identifiable people groups for Scriptural scrutiny and criticism. It does tell
us that if Jesus Christ is the theme and focus of our mortal lives, and we are
striving to live with His reflection in everything we do and say, the rest of
those social and cultural issues will become aligned the way He desires them to
be in our lives. Then we won’t have to worry whether or not things in the
tangible world around us are being cared for properly. We can trust in the
sovereignty of God.
The Apostle Paul saw the
potential of such developing “gospels” as he preached the true Gospel of Jesus’
death, burial and resurrection as the redemptive atonement for our sinful
estate. He writes to the four churches in Galatia saying, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only
there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel
of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven,
should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached
to you, he is to be accursed!
As we have said before, so I say again
now, if any man is preaching
to you a gospel contrary
to what you received, he
is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or
am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please
men, I would not be a bond-servant
of Christ. For I
would have you know, brethren, that the gospel
which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither
received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I
received it through a revelation
of Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately,
many so called “Christian” protestant
denominations both mainline and evangelical, have recently bought into this
format of reading and interpreting the New Testament. It is often done in the
name of “cultural relevancy” for
the Church
and/or equality for all people. It is a “different
gospel” than Paul or any of the other apostles preached.
Regarding
people groups and their treatment, Paul said to the Church at Rome; “For there is no distinction between Jew and
Greek; for the same
Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him.”(Romans 10:12) and to the churches in Galatia; “There
is neither Jew nor Greek (racial groups), there
is neither slave nor free man (status
grouping of people groups), there is
neither male nor female (gender grouping of people for preferential
treatment); for you are all one in Christ
Jesus.(Galatians 3:28).
2). Please explain and expound upon why the reality of sin
is so important to our faith and God's
plan for our salvation. And why is it so avoided in "culturally relevant" minded churches?
Sin is the only
thing that separates all of mankind
from a complete and wholesome relationship with God. We see how sin entered the
human experience in Genesis 3:1-6 Now
the serpent was
more
crafty than
any beast
of the field which
the LORD God
had made. And he
said
to the woman,
"Indeed
, has God said,
'You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden '?"
The woman
said to the serpent,
"From the fruit of the trees
of the garden we may eat; but from
the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall
not eat from it or touch it, or you
will die.' The serpent
said to the woman,
"You surely will not die! "For God
knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight
to the eyes, and that the tree
was desirable to make one wise,
she took from its fruit
and ate ; and she gave also to her husband with her,
and he ate.
God who is perfect
and holy loves His creation (us)
so much that He provided a way for us to be reunited into a right relationship
with Him. This was done when His only Son Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay
the price for our sins. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death,
but the free
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When God raised Jesus from the dead three days later
He conquered death itself! We now have the hope of eternal life with Him
because we have accepted this great gift of His love for us.
The problem of sin is the
same one that it was when
Adam and Eve first sinned. It is spurred by pride. People do not like to hear
that they are sinners that need to be reunited with God because of the sin they
chose to commit. But it is true and every one of us needs to be confronted with
this spiritual reality. We are born into a sinful life because we are all
descendants of Adam and Eve.
There are many churches
and denominations trying to
find a culturally relevant, socially acceptable way to try and say “something
like this” without making people feel uncomfortable about being a sinner. It is
an attempt at letting them keep their dignity and self pride and still have
some kind of “Christian experience”. It is a quite different version of the
gospel message.
Very simply, under the
scrutiny of well defined
Biblically based Christian theology, it doesn’t work that way at all. That type
of feel-good “Christianity” does not give an honest and adequate presentation
of the Gospel. That doesn’t mean that Christians can’t or shouldn’t feel good.
But in an honest and Biblical
presentation of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are called to humble ourselves, confess our sins to
God, repent (turn completely away) from them and accept God’s unconditional
love expressed through Jesus Christ. Confessing that we are a sinner is not a
fun or easy thing for anyone to do.
Paul said to the
Romans “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) This transformation is not a culturally
relevant Gospel but rather a relevant lifestyle that will change the culture.
If we are to show the Gospel message to people who don’t know Jesus Christ
personally, we have to be honest about sin and what it truly is and how it
destroys our lives.
It
is only then that we can be changed by the love of God through Christ Jesus
giving His life for us. The genuine cognitive acceptance of that core fact will
indeed start to transform that person into a real child of God through Jesus
Christ.
3). Will
faithful Christians (who believe Jesus for salvation and forgiveness of sins),
be on earth during the Tribulation?
This is a very
narrow question because it ignores three other Biblical implied possibilities
regarding the end times of our planet in prophecy. First of all the prophetic
writings of the Bible never frame or name a specific time frame as the “Tribulation”
or the “Great Tribulation”. That is all conjecture taught by
Bible teachers we refer to as Dispensational Theologians. The lenses they look
through as they interpret Scripture are different than those of the other three
schools of thought when it comes to eschatology (the study of last days).
In the last two
decades a book and a series of movies titled “Left Behind” have once again
ignited interest in a doctrine that was initially established only about 200
years ago by a man named John Nelson Darby in the early 19th
century. This doctrine was perpetuated in the late 19th century by
C.I. Scofield who wrote a study Bible outline describing in great detail a
highly skeptical version of dispensationalism including a rapture of the Church
prior to a seven year time of Great Tribulation on the earth which is
controlled by the “anti-christ” before Jesus comes back to destroy all evil and
reign on the earth for precisely 1000 years (a millennium).
Sadly, this
dispensationalism version of end times is all a very inaccurate reading of such
texts – obviously done from a non 1st century Greek text. This
doctrine has recently been perpetuated by J. Vernon McGee, John Hagee and a
host of other well meaning mis-taught “Baptist styled” Christian Bible
teachers. Remember, no one goes to hell because they believed in the wrong
school of eschatology. .
The “trigger” verse for such dispensational beliefs
and doctrines comes out of Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica
and nowhere else in the New Testament; For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught
up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with
the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these
words.
(1
Thessalonians 4:16, 17)
The words “caught up” is where the word
“rapture” gets developed out of thin air in this doctrine. The word
“rapture” never appears in the Bible anywhere. In the Greek transcript text
these two words are the word “harpidzo”. We transliterate that word into the
English word “harpoon” which we see most commonly used to describe the whaling
experience.
In the Greek the word “harpidzo”
was a “story word” in the first century Roman culture. It described a process
by which the rulers of a walled city would sit at the gates of that city in
judgment. When they would see a visiting dignitary approaching their city from
a far off, they would go out to meet him and his entourage to see what the
nature of his visit was. Then they would walk back into the city with the
visiting dignitary and make sure he found his way through their city around and
that he made all the connections he was coming there to establish. It had
nothing to do with a secret extraction or removal of the city’s population.
There are basically four schools
of thought regarding eschatology that have been taught during the history of
the Christian Church. They are in a nutshell description:
Amillennialism
– This doctrine says that the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ is a spiritual
experience and we can and are living in it now under the rule and authority of
God in our lives. His Kingdom will someday be established literally on a new
heaven and earth at the end of all things.
Postmillennialism
– This doctrine promotes an idealism that Christianity will grow in size and
popularity to assume the political domination of this world’s power so Christ
can return to rule and reign over all the world. It is sometimes referred to as
“Dominionalism” or “Kingdom Now”.
Premillennialism
– This doctrine sees literally that Jesus Christ cannot reign over this earth
until He literally returns to conquer the growing evil of this World and then
establishes His earthy Kingdom. Most premillennialists believe that the return
of Jesus Christ will be a two stage return – first a rapture of the Church and
then at a later point the battle of Armageddon, when Jesus conquers all earthly
evil.
Noneschatalogical
– This doctrine says there is no “end” of the world as we know it. Jesus
Christ‘s return is experienced personally by an individual at their mortal
death. This position is sometime referred to as Non-Apocalyptic
Eschatology.
In reality none
of these eschatology outlines are 100% correct. A couple of them are almost
incorrect. The reason for this is found in the first chapter of Acts; “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it
at this
time You
are restoring
the kingdom
to Israel?"
He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by
His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be My
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and
Samaria, and
even to the remotest part of
the earth. And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their
sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky
while He was going, behold,
two men in white clothing stood beside them.
They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand
looking into the sky?
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven,
will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go
into heaven." (Acts 1:6-11)
This text tells
us two things: 1). We do not need to understand when and how all of those
things will take place. Our real commission from Jesus Christ is to spread His
Gospel, not define eschatology. 2). We need to stop staring up into heaven
looking for the return of Jesus Christ and start really truly doing what He. He
will return at just the right time and the precise way He should.
4). I
recently read an article in the Dayton Daily News how the Presbyterians are
re-considering the issue of homosexual marriage. The article also stated that
the United Church of Christ (our congregational affiliation) was actually
condoning and performing homosexual marriages in many of their churches. Is
this legal? Is this something you would do, and how do you feel about all of
that?
First
of all, I am not licensed and ordained minister with or by the United Church of
Christ. I am licensed and ordained by an evangelical Christian denomination. My
license and ordination is valid in the State of Ohio. This congregation here at
Trinity Church hired me to be their pastor with that being one of their primary
motivations. I do not have the same priorities, values and theological
aspirations as do the vast majority of the leadership and pastors within the
United Church of Christ. Neither I nor this congregation at Trinity Church is
hesitant of making that fact known to anyone who asks.
Therefore
the answer to the question is; No, I would not conduct a homosexual marriage
ceremony for two very specific reasons; 1). It is still illegal to conduct a
marriage ceremony without the participants first obtaining a marriage license
prior to that ceremony. The state of Ohio still does not issue marriage
licenses for same sex marriages. 2). In a careful examination of the entire Bible
one does not see anywhere in the text where same sex marriages are defined
and/or condoned. Homosexuality is clearly
defined as a
sinful relationship in both Testaments of the Bible. Marriage throughout the
Bible is always defined exclusively as the union of a man and woman and never
anything else. So in good conscience, I cannot participate in such an event,
and would not do so if asked. As long as there are laws which allow the freedom
of religious practice here in America, I cannot be forced to do that.
Please
understand that my posture is not one of condemnation toward the homosexual
community. It is never our right to condemn anyone. Only God truly knows the
heart of any person – be they a practicing heterosexual or homosexual. I
personally believe that it is totally within the realm of possibility to be
both a Christian and a homosexual.
I
personally see no difference in the categorization of sin between the
heterosexual adulterer and the practicing homosexual. Both may still be
Christians. They are just simply defined as living in a sinful condition or
circumstance. Sin is sin – no matter if you steal a piece of candy from a
grocery store or have sexual relationships outside of your marriage vows with
someone of the opposite sex or the same sex for that matter. Each situation is
equally wrong in God’s eyes. We are all sinners and we all need to repent
regularly of our sins, no matter what our preferential sin is.
I
am also certainly not saying that I am a better person than a practicing
homosexual. What I am saying by the previous statements is that I refuse to
openly condone or encourage anyone else to participate in any kind of sinful
act, be that lying, thievery, adultery, murder or sins of a sexual format and
nature.
In
addition, let me encourage you to be praying for Churches and denominations
like the Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ, that as these
discussions are taking place with their leadership and pastors that Biblical
principals will be adhered to and God’s plan for them will be accomplished.
5).
Recently, I've been reading Genesis, and most recently about Isaac and his two
sons Esau and Jacob. Esau and Jacob were different in many ways, and didn't
particularly love each other as brothers. Jacob
was
jealous of Esau, talked him out of his birthright, and tricked his blind father
Isaac into giving him, Jacob, his blessings. My question is; why is this
particular story in the Bible and what is the real significance of this story?
We see families all the time who do not get along and who take advantage of
each other.
Most historians
and theologians perceive that this relationship between Jacob and Esau was the
original split between the Arab nations which later adopted the religion of
Islam and the Jewish Israelite nation and their religion which later spawned
the Christian faith. The story is a real psychological, spiritual and
theological “gem stone” with many facets and points to be learned from. There
are far too many of them to be explained in the limited space of this written
answer.
The obvious
themes show us that we should not act impulsively and irrationally like Esau
did in selling his inheritance for a bowl of soup. As the text goes on in the
following chapters, it also teaches us that intentional deception has a big
price to pay. Jacob himself gets tricked on many occasions including a wedding
night fiasco. However, it is still interesting to see how God blessed Jacob and
allowed him to keep the birthright which he illegitimately obtained.
Ultimately we
see one of the key events in Jacob’s life being experienced in Genesis 28. Then
Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent
the night there, because the sun had set; and he took
one of the stones of the place and put it under his head,
and lay down in that place. He had a dream, and behold,
a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven;
and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending
on it. And behold,
the LORD stood above it and said, "I am
the LORD, the God of your
father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which
you lie, I will give it to you and
to your descendants."Your descendants will also
be
like the dust of the earth, and you will spread
out to the west and to the east and to the north and to
the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all
the families of the earth
be blessed. "Behold,
I am with you and will keep
you wherever you go, and will bring you back
to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised
you."
Then Jacob awoke
from his sleep and said,
"Surely the LORD
is in this place, and I
did not know it." He was afraid
and said, "How
awesome is this place! This is none other than
the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." So Jacob
rose early in the morning, and took the
stone that he had put
under his head and set it
up as a pillar and poured
oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel;
however, previously
the name of the city had
been Luz. Then Jacob
made a vow,
saying, "If
God will be with me and will keep
me on this journey that I
take, and will give
me food to eat and garments to wear, and I return
to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God. This stone, which I have set
up as a pillar, will be God's
house, and of all
that You give me I will surely
give a tenth to
You."
If Jacob had not
gone through what he endured and experienced with his brother Esau and the rest
of his family, he may have never arrived at the place where his conversion to
the awesome love of our God was initiated there in Genesis 28:21 when he said “the
LORD will be
my God”. Jacob is an
example to many of us who have gone through a lot of tough experiences just so
that one day we would finally wake up to the reality that the Lord really is
our very own God and that we can depend on Him for not only salvation through
Jesus Christ, but also for all of our needs.