Friday, September 30, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Healthy Church?
Question: What does it mean by the “health of the church?”
In order to answer this question, we first need to define the word church. According to the bible the church is a living, breathing organism, a body. So what it all comes down to is that the church is not a building, the church is people, you are the church. So the question should be, what does a healthy church look like?
1 Cor. 1:10 says, “Let there be real harmony so that there won’t be schisms or splits in the church.” Notice Paul says that the key to a healthy harmonious church is to be united in purpose. People working together; Because people who are working together don’t have time to argue over trivial issues. So why do we exist, what are we here for, what is our purpose as a body of believers?
First let me say that JSBC doesn’t belong to you or to me, the church belongs to Jesus Christ who founded it, who died for it, who sent his Holy Spirit, and will one day return for it. And Jesus, as owner of the church has already laid the foundation for what a healthy church is. So while the programs must change with every generation, the purpose always stays the same.
So if I was to ask you, what is the purpose of JSBC, would you be able to answer that question. I believe in order to answer “do we have a healthy church”, we should ask, “what are we to do that makes a church healthy?” In my opinion there are four things that we should be doing as a church.
1) Worship: There is corporate worship as we are doing here today. Are we creating an environment that lifts up God and not ourselves? Are you making an effort and not excuses to be here? We shouldn’t worship out of duty, we should worship because we want to.
There is also private worship. Are you having personal and private devotions.
2) Growing: or we call this discipleship. Discipleship is the process of helping people become more like Christ in their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Things such as Awana’s, youth groups, Sunday School, small groups, evening service. It is the church’s responsibility to develop people to spiritual maturity. Are we doing a good job at that?
3) Serving: The bible says to, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The church exists to minister to people. That’s why we have church work days, Angel Food Ministries; you can be a greeter, helping out flood victims, volunteer to do something! Ask yourself this question: What have I done in the last year to get involved in a ministry to serve someone else. It is the church’s job to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry.” As a church, are we giving you opportunities to serve, and as church on a whole how are we doing at loving our neighbor?
4) Evangelism: It is every Christian’s responsibility to share the Good News wherever we go. Someday each of us will have to give an account to God regarding how seriously we took this responsibility. So, when is the last time you invited someone to church? When is the last time you told someone or lead someone to Christ? Are we as a church doing a good job on outreach?
So, on a scale of one to ten, how healthy is our church? Maybe as you fill out this survey you should think about how well we are doing in these 4 areas, what needs to improve, what needs to change.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Greatest Story Ever Told
Recently we have been doing a question and answer series at our church. One question that popped up was that when Jesus turned water into wine, was their alcohol in it, or was it just "grape juice?" Here is my response"
Those who oppose the drinking of alcohol, in any quantity, argue that Jesus would not have turned the water into wine, as He would have been promoting the consumption of a substance that is tainted by sin. In this understanding, alcohol itself is inherently sinful, and consumption of alcohol in any quantity is sin. That is not a biblical understanding, however. Some Scriptures discuss alcohol in positive terms. Ecclesiastes 9:7 instructs, “Drink your wine with a merry heart.” Psalm 104:14-15states that God gives wine “that makes glad the heart of men.” Amos 9:14 discusses drinking wine from your own vineyard as a sign of God’s blessing. Isaiah 55:1 encourages, “Yes, come buy wine and milk…” From these and other Scriptures, it is clear that alcohol itself is not inherently sinful. Rather, it is the abuse of alcohol, drunkenness and/or addiction, that is sinful (Ephesians 5:18;Proverbs 23:29-35; 1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19). Therefore, it would not have been a sin for Jesus to create a drink that contained alcohol.
A second, related argument is that by creating alcoholic wine, Jesus would have been promoting drunkenness, which the Bible clear identifies as sinful. This is not a valid argument. Was Jesus promoting gluttony when He multiplied the fishes and loaves far beyond what the people needed? Of course not. Creating a substance that can be abused does not make one responsible when another person foolishly chooses to abuse it. Jesus creating alcoholic wine was in no sense encouraging drunkenness
There had to be. #1 Because the steward praised the quality of the wine and #2 Despite the constant argument that oinos can mean "grape juice" everyone who studies ancient cultures knows that without refridgeration you can't have "grape juice" for any length of time. It immediately begins to ferment. The difference is, we also know that the ancients cut their alcoholic beverages for daily use so the alcoholic content was not as great in wines today. I am in favor of total abstinence today because of the societal misuse of alcoholic beverages but we can't argue that "alcohol is evil" in and of itself. Most of our liquid medications have an alcohol base!
Answer: John chapter 2 records Jesus performing a miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. At the wedding, the hosts ran out of wine. Jesus' mother, Mary, asks Jesus to intervene, and He does so, reluctantly. Jesus has the servants bring six jars filled with water and then instructs the servants to give it to the overseer of the celebration. The water miraculously turns into wine, and the overseer declares that it was the best wine he had ever tasted. In this account, Jesus performed an amazing miracle, actually altering the molecular composition of the water, changing it into wine. The point of the account is summarized in John 2:11, "He thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him." Usually, though, when this passage is studied, a side issue becomes the main issue. Did Jesus transform the water into wine (fermented, alcoholic) or into grape juice (non-alcoholic)?
Throughout the passage, the Greek word translated "wine" is oinos, which was the common Greek word for normal wine, wine that was fermented/alcoholic. The Greek word for the wine Jesus created is the same word for the wine the wedding feast ran out of. The Greek word for the wine Jesus created is also the same word that is used in Ephesians 5:18, "...do not get drunk on wine..." Obviously, getting drunk from drinking wine requires the presence of alcohol. Everything, from the context of a wedding feast, to the usage of oinos in 1st century Greek literature (in the New Testament and outside the New Testament), argues for the wine that Jesus created to be normal, ordinary wine, containing alcohol. There is simply no solid historical, cultural, exegetical, contextual, or lexical reason to understand it to have been grape juice.
Throughout the passage, the Greek word translated "wine" is oinos, which was the common Greek word for normal wine, wine that was fermented/alcoholic. The Greek word for the wine Jesus created is the same word for the wine the wedding feast ran out of. The Greek word for the wine Jesus created is also the same word that is used in Ephesians 5:18, "...do not get drunk on wine..." Obviously, getting drunk from drinking wine requires the presence of alcohol. Everything, from the context of a wedding feast, to the usage of oinos in 1st century Greek literature (in the New Testament and outside the New Testament), argues for the wine that Jesus created to be normal, ordinary wine, containing alcohol. There is simply no solid historical, cultural, exegetical, contextual, or lexical reason to understand it to have been grape juice.
Those who oppose the drinking of alcohol, in any quantity, argue that Jesus would not have turned the water into wine, as He would have been promoting the consumption of a substance that is tainted by sin. In this understanding, alcohol itself is inherently sinful, and consumption of alcohol in any quantity is sin. That is not a biblical understanding, however. Some Scriptures discuss alcohol in positive terms. Ecclesiastes 9:7 instructs, “Drink your wine with a merry heart.” Psalm 104:14-15states that God gives wine “that makes glad the heart of men.” Amos 9:14 discusses drinking wine from your own vineyard as a sign of God’s blessing. Isaiah 55:1 encourages, “Yes, come buy wine and milk…” From these and other Scriptures, it is clear that alcohol itself is not inherently sinful. Rather, it is the abuse of alcohol, drunkenness and/or addiction, that is sinful (Ephesians 5:18;Proverbs 23:29-35; 1 Corinthians 6:12; 2 Peter 2:19). Therefore, it would not have been a sin for Jesus to create a drink that contained alcohol.
A second, related argument is that by creating alcoholic wine, Jesus would have been promoting drunkenness, which the Bible clear identifies as sinful. This is not a valid argument. Was Jesus promoting gluttony when He multiplied the fishes and loaves far beyond what the people needed? Of course not. Creating a substance that can be abused does not make one responsible when another person foolishly chooses to abuse it. Jesus creating alcoholic wine was in no sense encouraging drunkenness
There had to be. #1 Because the steward praised the quality of the wine and #2 Despite the constant argument that oinos can mean "grape juice" everyone who studies ancient cultures knows that without refridgeration you can't have "grape juice" for any length of time. It immediately begins to ferment. The difference is, we also know that the ancients cut their alcoholic beverages for daily use so the alcoholic content was not as great in wines today. I am in favor of total abstinence today because of the societal misuse of alcoholic beverages but we can't argue that "alcohol is evil" in and of itself. Most of our liquid medications have an alcohol base!
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