“If My Belief
Is Sincere, Isn’t That Enough?”
Rev. John Crimmins
Message
given
The Question: If my belief is sincere, isn’t that enough?
I. The
Answer from Recent Events
Four civilian aircraft hijacked; four aircrews killed; four hundred passengers hurled to their deaths; three buildings demolished; one hundred military personnel killed; and thirty thousand innocent people dead. All in the name of a sincere belief in a cause and a religion. A week ago, in an environment of peace and safety this message would have taken a different course, but now my path is clear. And so is the answer to our question today. Sincere beliefs, firmly held have just sent over 30,000 Americans to their graves. Sincere beliefs can and often do result in tragic ends.
Being
sincerely and tragically wrong is not limited only to the Islamic extremists
that are the presumed perpetrators of last week’s despicable actions. In 1994
an ordained Christian minister, the Reverend Paul Hill, bought a shotgun in
And time would fail us if we were to speak of David Koresh, Jim Jones, John Brown, and the many others who down through the centuries have championed causes in the name of faith and led their followers and many others beside to needless and tragic death. Sincere beliefs can and often do result in tragic ends.
What do we learn from this? The secularist urges us to dispense with religion altogether. He looks at the kinds of events I’ve just cited and says, “The biggest problem with the world is religion. Get rid of that and you’ll solve at least half the world’s problems.” But as we saw in last Sunday’s message, almost all the world believes in something. Even in highly secularized America the latest polls indicate that 95% of Americans believe in God. There is a need in the human heart that only God can fill. As Augustine observed, “The heart of man is restless until it finds its rest in God.” How then are we to distinguish from what is right and what is wrong? What is reasonable and what is fanatical? What is true and what is false? We believe that the best way to answer these kinds of questions is to begin with the Bible. And rather than debate that point let me offer a few statements from the Bible that can begin to direct us and guide our thoughts in a positive and helpful direction.
II. The
Answer from the Bible
A. The
Shortfall in Human Wisdom Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25 “There is a way that
seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
First of all the Bible makes clear that there is a gap in human understanding. This proverb from the Old Testament is one of a handful repeated twice in the text. It was obviously an observation of critical importance. Something that Solomon and God, who inspired Solomon to write it, wanted the readers of these proverbs to remember. We don’t know what lies ahead. We plan; we strategize; our national leaders engage in sophisticated war games; business leaders pump millions of dollars into computerized research models to predict market trends, etc., etc. Ultimately, however, no one can know the future. Pundits are fond of saying that the generals are always preparing to fight the last war. This, of course, is inevitable because the past is the only guide we have to the future.
I am sure that some of you have seen
the movie, “Speed”. It stars Kianu Reeves and
Life is full of similar gaps. They crop up at the most unexpected moments. They come in the most unexpected ways. Human wisdom and understanding leave us unprepared for the worst of them and can even make matters worse. In the case of this recent terrorist assault, we experienced an intelligence gap. In recent years the CIA has apparently been hamstrung in its efforts to do international espionage by the domestic drive to clean up the agency. We also experienced a technology gap. We are looking for guns, they used box cutters. We are concerned about missiles. They used our own planes against us. We were concerned to protect the World Trade Center from another basement bomb. They attacked this time from the skies. What we never saw in all the years of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, we have all just been eyewitness to: the mainland US was successfully and devastatingly assaulted.
B. The
Provision of Divine Wisdom Hebrews 1:1 & 2, “In the past God spoke to
our fore fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in
these last days he has spoken to us by his Son...”
Fortunately, God has provided a better kind of wisdom for us. It’s purpose is not to warn us against the attacks of human terrorists. Instead, it is designed to warn us against attacks on our souls and to point us to the one who can protect and defend us against our ultimate spiritual enemies. The wisdom that God supplies is available for everyone who would call on Him for salvation and for assistance and direction in life. This wisdom takes two forms that are hinted at in Hebrews 1:1,2. We refer to them as the written word of God and the living word of God. The written word of God is the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament. The living word of God is the person of Jesus Christ himself. Hebrews 1 refers to the former in its references to the prophets. It refers to the latter when it mentions the Son. Notice that in both testaments and in both cases it is God who is speaking: “God spoke in the past...God has spoken today”. God has not left us in the dark. He has shown us how to restore our relationship to Him and how to live until we enter His presence. He has spoken. And in speaking He supplies wisdom to those who lack it. In another place the Bible says, “If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God....” Divine wisdom is available for the asking. Have you asked Him for wisdom lately?
C. The
Purpose of Divine Wisdom John 5:24, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my
word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
In a very real sense the purpose Divine Wisdom – God’s word, is to bridge the gap that exists between what man is capable of knowing and doing on his own and what God would have him know about the reality of his condition and what he can do about it. Note well that the purpose of God’s word is to enable believers to cross over from death to life. In John 5, Jesus, the living word of God is speaking. He assumes a certain condition with respect to the human race. He assumes a condition of death. He obviously here is not speaking about physical death because He assumes that all His audience is in fact dead and in need of life. He is speaking about their spiritual condition and is concerned that in fact if something isn’t done to correct the condition all of His hearers will pass out of this life into spiritual death.
The way out of their current condition is to respond positively to His message by putting their faith and trust in Jesus and believe in God. The one who does this “crosses over”. He moves from one place to another in the spiritual realm. He moves from death to life. Some of you need to cross over today. This is not the last time I will say something like this in this series, but it definitely needs to be said. Some of you have no assurance regarding your eternal destiny. Things are not settled between you and God. You realize you need to pass over from the place where you are now to a place of assurance and confidence in a renewed relationship with God.
D. The
Application of Divine Wisdom Psalm
119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
I have pointed out that God is not interested first of all in my comfort or success or position in this life. That is because He is primarily concerned about the eternal aspect of your being. It is sometimes easy for us to ignore eternity. We have family life. We have business pressures. We have daily decisions to make. It is easy in the face of day to day realities to lose sight of eternity. But this is not the case with God. He knows that whatever happens here, life is fleeting. He also knows your ultimate destiny lies beyond this life. But finally, He knows that destiny is decided here. The decisions we make here seal eternity for us one way or the other.
At the same time, however, the Bible also confirms that God cares about our lives here. He has given guidance for us in His word. Psalm 119:105 makes it very clear that God guides us in our daily lives through His word. Once we settle the eternal issue and cross over from death to life in Christ, God’s word continues to be available to us to guide us in our daily lives and decision making. God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. God can show us where the gaps are in our own journey. God helps us bridge gaps in our personal relationships. The Bible says, “if a man’s ways please the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” God helps us bridge gaps in our marriages and in our parenting by giving us guidelines for success in marriage and success in raising our children. God helps us bridge gaps in our work relationships in the same way. God helps us bridge gaps in the bigger picture of our lives as well. Through His word we understand His purpose in civil government. We understand His purpose in our finances. We understand His purpose in work and in wealth and in trial and in tragedy. Through His word we get God’s perspective on life and that perspective enables us to avoid the gaps in our own intelligence and paves the way to eternity.
E. The
Consequences of Divine Wisdom. Acts 17:30, “In the past God overlooked such
ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”
Because God has spoken, He now requires a response. We choose either to respond positively by agreeing with His word, acknowledging our sin against Him, and choosing to follow Him. Or we choose to respond in the negative. We do that by ignoring His call to repentance. We do that by ignoring the historic reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Frankly, we respond in the negative when we insist that every way to God is equally valid even though God has made His will demonstrably known by sending His Son to live, die, and rise from the dead. If you are currently responding to God’s revealed wisdom in the negative, I urge you to reconsider the course of your life and its destiny. God has said, “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgement.” No one will withstand the demand of perfect righteousness that God will require on that day.
III. What
Does Divine Wisdom Say to America Now?
Given the events of the last week, I want to take a few minutes to apply the principle of a God who speaks and reveals himself to our lives as individuals and as citizens of a great country. It is traditional among Protestants and the church generally to speak of a dual citizenship. The United States does not recognize most dual citizenships. You are either an American or you are not. But most Americans have long recognized their own dual citizenship. We are citizens of the United States insofar as this present world is concerned. We are citizens of heaven insofar as our relationship with God is concerned.
If you are in Christ, I want to say
a word to you first of all about your duty as a citizen of heaven. Then I want
to say a word about your duty as a citizen of the United States of America.
Then I want to say a word about how the two come together most specifically.
A. Pray
for your enemies Matthew 5:44, “But I say to you, love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you.”
This past Wednesday evening we joined with our Baptist friends in a prayer service for God’s grace at this tragic time in our history. At that time I said that if the command above had not come from the Lord Jesus himself, we would think it sheer madness that we should be commanded to pray for our enemies. It is surely one of Jesus’ most difficult and perplexing teachings. It seems to fly in face of common sense. It defies reality. All this is true – at least from our point of view. But we must remember also the words of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:12, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Those of us who are citizens of heaven must understand where our struggle lies with respect to that citizenship. We are commanded by our King and Head and His apostles to conduct ourselves with respect to the spiritual realm in accordance with His directives precisely because we cannot see the activities of the spiritual realm and God himself restricts our access to that information. God’s overarching purpose in the present age is to call out a people for himself. We do not know who those people are until they come to Christ. We are to bear in mind that, “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Through the Holy Spirit He is working to bring many to Christ at every moment. When we pray even for our enemies we are cooperating and warring actively with God in His great struggle to bring out of the ruin of sin a new people for himself in Christ. Secondly, we have a duty to represent God’s character before a searching world. The apostles were united in stressing as did Jesus himself that the essential characteristic of God is love. When the church superceded Israel as the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth, the God of love became equally available to every man, woman, and child. When we pray for our enemies with sincerity we bear witness before a watching world to the nature of our God. Third, since the apostles make it clear that our prayers are an essential element in the evangelization of the world, when we pray for our enemies we align ourselves with God’s potential evangelistic purpose to win even the most hardened sinner to the cause of Christ. Let us remember that the apostle Paul was himself the chief persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ in his day before Jesus saved him on the Damascus Road.
B. Pray
for our leaders Romans 13:4, “For he
is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does
not bear the sword for nothing.”
All Christians are required to pray for their leaders. Christian citizens of the United States are thus obligated to pray for our national leaders. When the apostle urges us to pray for our leaders this is not some spiritual opiate, some holy panacea to keep the people occupied. It is the heart of a sound political philosophy. Paul tells us in Romans that rulers bear a sword. He says that the ruler is God’s agent for righteousness. Therefore he commands us to pray for them. In praying for leaders we should particularly pray that God will supply our President and others with that peculiar anointing that He promises to leaders. This anointing is given by virtue of their office even irrespective of their own faith in God. That is clear from the history of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Paul ordered prayers, “for kings and all in authority” at a time and in a culture where those kings were all idol worshipers and opponents of Christianity. In a remarkable passage in Isaiah, God refers to the Persian king Cyrus as his “anointed” and acknowledged that Cyrus did not even know Him, yet he would use him to accomplish His purposes.
President George Bush bears a
tremendous burden at this time. As a nation we will require and demand decisive
action. This time we will need to do more than blow up an empty aspirin
factory. Prayer for a leader is prayer for the divine anointing God provides to
manifest itself in supernaturally wise decisions and supernatural divine
intervention on behalf of the leader and the people. Prayer, therefore, is one of
the essential elements of citizenship. Every citizen of the United States has
an obligation at every time, but particularly at this time, to pray for our
leaders – and especially our President.
C. Pray
for a return to Godliness (biblical standards of conduct) Proverbs 14:34,
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Finally, we need to pray for revival or a return to national godliness. We do not need today to run the litany again of the peculiar evils of our age. Virtually every Christian leader of significance has spoken about the moral and spiritual decline of our nation and its people over the last quarter century or more. Proverbs once again clarifies for us why national righteousness is important. A generation ago when the nation was seeking to justify the growing demand for easy divorce we were assured that children would be happier in one parent homes than in homes where Mom and Dad were constantly quarreling and unhappy. A generation later when the hard data is in and the even harder results can be analyzed, it has been found that nothing could be further from the truth. With the relatively rare exception of abuse of one kind or another, it has been found that children fare far better overall in two parent homes than in single parent households. Such examples could be multiplied many times over. Our national will and our national fabric will be most readily strengthened by a return to the God and the values of the Bible. May God grant not only a great victory over our enemies but a great revival in our hearts and homes to His glory. Amen