As I was looking back through some of my sermons throughout 2010, I came across a short challenge (not an expositional sermon) I shared with our church family around the beginning of 2010. I titled it “My Passion For Our Church in 2010” (Yah, I know real original). But as I was looking through it, I was convicted and encouraged…
Category: <span>church</span>
This is the final installment of the series of articles regarding the Christian and the celebration of Halloween.
With a proper understanding of the history of the modern Halloween celebration and a reminder to search the Scripture for Biblical principles regarding all types of practices allowing the Word to dictate what we do or don’t do, I want to conclude this series by examining Biblical principles and applying them to the celebration of Halloween. Obviously some of my applications may not resonate with everyone. Take what is Biblical and consider the rest.
The first question to ask is this, “Do passages of Scripture exist that reference the celebration of holidays in general?” Yes, Romans 14:5-6 probably immediately comes to mind. This text is, of course, within the greater context of Paul’s discussion of how brothers are to relate to one another when they disagree over questionable practices. Many call these questionable practices issues of Christian liberty. They are practices that are not commanded nor forbad in the Scripture but practices that Christians might come to various conclusions on. However, when something is a matter of liberty, it requires a new set of questions be asked concerning the practice. Just because something is a matter of Christian liberty doesn’t mean that it is inconsequential, rather it means that we need to closely examine Scripture so that we can honestly be “fully persuaded in our own minds.” That is what I hope we do regarding the matter of celebrating Halloween. I must add a caveat. I know that Christians who celebrate various aspects of Halloween are not devil worshipers. I also am not talking about those who use the holiday as a means of evangelization. Rather I am speaking of the Christian’s participation of the obvious cultural and questionable elements of modern Halloween.
The principle that guides other principles in relation to the celebration of Halloween, feast days, or any other liberty issue is found in Romans 14:5-6. Paul writes that whether one celebrates (observes) a special day (probably a feast day in context) or not he is doing so “unto the Lord.” This means that he is celebrating that day with his mindset, his practices, his choices as that which exalts the Lord and brings God ultimate glory. This is the biggest difficulty I have with Halloween. I find little redeemable value in the modern celebration of Halloween that could be done unto the Lord.
Both the pagan aspects of Halloween (celebration of the dead and the superstitions that accompany that) and the religious aspects (souling and praying to supposed saints) are void of glory to God. Most of our other holidays that we celebrate have pagan and religious aspects to them (Christmas, Easter, etc.) But in those holidays, one can find redeemable features that can and often do bring glory to God. One would have to completely reinvent Halloween to find ways to observe the holiday (in the true sense of observe) in order to find God-honoring practices. At least with Christmas, with all its superstitions and materialism, we can direct our focus onto the incarnation of our Savior. At least with Easter, we remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we can ignore the over sized bunny that hides eggs. With Thanksgiving, prone to gluttony and worship of football, we can take time to thank God for his blessings. With Independence Day we can patriotically praise God who blessed us with this free country, in spite of the rampant partying and drunkenness. With New Years, we can remember the goodness of God, the trials of life and look forward to the coming of Christ and the growth we can expect in the New Year he gives us. But with Halloween, it is a struggle to find redeemable values that would draw our attention to Jesus Christ and the glory of God. Let us just examine the typical practice of a Halloween celebration.
I am becoming more and more convinced that two qualities of life that are absolutely necessary to preaching the gospel are humility and love. Of course these two qualities are necessary whether one is preaching the gospel publicly in a formal setting or preaching the gospel “across the fence.” However, my thoughts are more inclined toward the public proclamation of…
I was reading the introduction to a book written recently concerning marriage and the family. The author began with something that you will find in most Christian literature written today. He began with the premise that we are living in a post-modern era and therefore living in a culture that believes truth is relative. I used to believe this, but…
If, as a Christian, I believe that God is supreme over nations and governments. . . and if, as a Christian, I live in a nation that allows me freedom to express my belief in God. . . Then I have a duty to be a patriot by proclaiming the sovereignty of God in America. If I am to be…
The Lord has used some people recently in my life to teach me about priorities. I am not talking about priorities when it comes to human beings, but rather priorities as a minister of the Word of God, a preacher, if you will. These are not new things, just things that I need to put in remembrance. 1. My personal…
I have been studying the use of the words “anger, wrath, hatred, fury, indignation” in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. Although, there are several words used in the original languages (Greek) that correspond to these translations, there are three common Greek words and their derivatives. Orge-noun and orgidzo-verb which are translated wrath, anger, indignation, fury-but most commonly “wrath”; miseo/misos which is translated as hate, hatred, etc.; and thumos which is translated passion, wrath, or anger (I only referenced the passages referring to “passion that stirs up anger”, not sensual passion).
Although these words are used at times interchangeably, they are not completely synonymous. I won’t go into the details of the comprehensive word searching and studying of each passage, but I did want to draw a few applications from my study.
Thirty one of the ninety-three instances (or thereabouts) refer specifically and uniquely to God’s wrath and anger in judgment. Most if not all of those references refer to ultimate or final judgment upon unbelief. Fifty-one instances reference mankind and anger, wrath, or hatred. I broke down these instances categorizing them as Command/Principle and Example/Illustration.
Ever wonder why churches, which are comprised with a majority of Christians, have seemingly insurmountable problems and constant battles with flesh and world? I was reading a book by F.B. Meyer, Changed by the Master’s Touch, and was challenged with something that I have known before, but was refreshed in today. Meyer is pretty good with words, so I will…
Responsibilities of Pastors to the Church
God’s organized organism is the local church. The local church is made up of sinners who have placed their trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and restoration of relational worship with God having become saints. God has placed leadership over his church to guide her and protect her, not to lord and control the church’s saints (I Pet. 5:1-4). God gave the church two categories of gifted leaders both to form the structure and to facilitate growth and expansion of the church (Eph. 4:11-13). God’s ultimate intent is glory in and through the church (Eph. 3:21). God’s glory in building his church is accomplished when God’s leadership and God’s people function in harmony with each other. There is a Biblical pattern for how this is accomplished.
Formative Gifts (Eph. 4:11)
Originally, God gave Apostles to form the structure of the church, this was the job of the twelve, Paul calls himself one born out of due time, and the least of the Apostles. In other words, he recognized that the original twelve were apostles, and he was the exception to the rule. God used the Apostles to give Spirit led structure and teaching to the church. As the Apostles died off, so did their gift, but their teaching remains in the NT which really is God’s teaching as he led each one specifically in his writing (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:20-21). Prophets were other individuals God used along with the Apostles to form doctrine and correct understanding of God’s Word—Mark, James, Jude, Luke, were examples of Prophets. As the Word of God was completed and the Apostolic age came to a conclusion, the prophetic gifts also ceased to be necessary for the church. The Apostles and Prophets were used of God to form his church, and God used the next two gifted leaders to expand and lead his church.
Expansive Gifts (Eph. 4:11)
Evangelists or literally, gospelizers, were those individuals who were led by God to expand the ministry of the church by preaching the Gospel and organizing together those who accept the Gospel into local churches. I believe many have misunderstood the gift of evangelists and have characterized them as itinerate preachers who travel in RV’s doing week long revival meetings. I hardly believe that is what Paul had in mind when he told Timothy, the young pastor, to do the work of an evangelist. The fourth tier of leadership God gave is called Pastor/Teacher.
Last year, our church was privileged to be able to host a pastor’s conference regarding the roots of historical fundamentalism. The word fundamentalism is thrown about today with a variety of meaning. Our conference was not about polygamy as in fundamental mormons, nor was it about fundamental muslims who commit murder. Neither was our conference about fundamental Christians who rant…