Values: beliefs that guide us (1)

Values (1)
The Bible


We’re 3 weeks into our series on the church covenant. We started with our identity – we’re invaluably possessed Saints; last week we examined the identity of the church and there were 5 realities that stood out:
1. A Church must be born again and worship God through Christ, empowered by the Spirit.
2. A church must be based in and bold and clear about the Gospel.
3. A church must have spiritual leaders.
4. A church must have order and growth (not just physical growth but spiritual).
5. A church must live its purpose: worship, nurture (discipleship and fellowship), mission, ministry, evangelism.

This week we will concentrate on the core of what we believe: our values. Our beliefs define us as a church and will open avenues of cooperation with other Christians and clarify our purpose to the world.

Have you ever met a value driven person? Not a bargain shopper but a person who lives by their principles? Most leadership books written today talk about integrity: being a principled driven leader.

Amy and I after what is almost 8 years together in marriage have had to clarify and adjust our values more than once to keep our relationship on the go. Not the main stuff – like our love for each other – but the stuff like: I have the opportunity to be with my family, go preach at this place, or go out with these friends. Which do I do? The doing doesn’t matter – it’s the why I do it that matters.

One verse, 1 Corinthians 10:31, can sum up our core value:
“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

The glory of God, Christian, should be our first and final value, the reason we do what we do:

If you spend time with family – do so for the glory of God. If you go to church, go for the Glory of God. If you go to a movie, go for the glory of God (not yourself). If you watch a ball game, watch for the glory of God. If you start a ministry, minister for the glory of God. If you go to work, work for the glory of God. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.

What is this glory? How do we know about it?

Ultimately, our core value and the values that flow from loving God and His glory, come from the Bible, which is Scripture.

Where did the Bible come from?

The Da Vinci code came out Friday. As a movie it questions all of our values, but it attacks the heart of the Christian faith: the reliability of the Bible. If you want to know more about the problems and lies in the movie and the book, check out Jesusanddavinci.com or get The Da Vinci Code: a quest for answers podcast from itunes.

The Bible is reliable. Let’s say that first off:
1. Historically it has more evidence of authorship than any other book, especially the New Testament.
2. It came about over time, assembled by the Holy Spirit, and in the case of the NT used by the early church. It spans thousands of years, multiple authors, and has one message.
a. Franklin W. Dixon wrote the Hardy Boys, a ghost name used by a variety of authors – but their books aren’t continuous. In one lifetime how could a group collaborate on a book – much less over thousands of years?
b. This sets the bible apart: most other religious books have one author or one editor. Jesus himself did not pen any scripture, though through the Holy Spirit he inspired it all, and is the very word of God.
3. The New Testament was assembled to fight off heresy – kind of the type that Dan Brown proposes in the Da Vinci code, with some differences. There was a movement in the early centuries to deny Jesus’ physical body and resurrection – in other words he was a totally spiritual being. The movement also rejected creation, incarnation, resurrection.
a. The movement – called Gnosticism and another movement called Marcionism, claimed that Jesus could not control the physical, came from the spiritual world as an adult, and was a spirit messenger.
b. The church reacted, especially to Marcion who was single handedly compiling an anti-Semitic new testament that would support his teaching. In response, the church around the world at that time came to agree on the 27 books of the NT. There was no question that the OT would be included – it was seen as entirely Scripture and authoritative, and eyewitness accounts of Jesus Life, the early church, and Paul and other leaders inspired writings. These letters and books were already in use by the church, but compiled as a whole to form the NT. It was understood and proclaimed in the churches at that time that the scripture formed the basis of belief and faith and the church. The church did not form scripture, but the Scripture formed and informed the church. OT Scripture and the 27 books of the NT were understood to be the Word of God.

So what is the Word of God? Let’s look at the Biblical witness:

1. It is exalted & eternal: Psalm 138:2 (NIV)
a. “I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.”
b. God connects His name and His word. Ultimately, your name is built on your word. God is faithful, loving, exalted – because of His word, not despite it.
c. God can be fully trusted; His word can be fully trusted. If someone breaks their word, it takes a while to build trust back in that person. God never breaks His word – and conversely His word has never been broken: God never does wrong or is wrong. His word is connected intimately with His character and glory. We know Him by His word: we enter into relationship with Him by the word of the Gospel. We can know God through His word.
d. And He exalted it. God treasures His word. It is a sure sign of the Holy Spirit when you crave the word, to read and treasure it and know it. To memorize it and live it.
i. A couple of us meet periodically to pray and discuss life. Two of the questions we ask: are you memorizing scripture? How is your life witness?
e. Treasure the word of God and let it seep into your soul and nourish you.
f. Eternal: Isaiah 40:8
i. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”
ii. There will never be a day that God’s word is irrelevant. It will always stand.
1. All this rain we just had started out good. A soaking rain is the best thing for a plant – it encourages all kinds of chemical reactions in the soil so that the roots can grab the nutrients; let the word soak into your life like that. When I was a kid I took a class at church called Bible drill: I memorized tons of verses, the books of the Bible, certain passages in the Bible. It was tedious, but some of those verses still ring in me today. I remember my teacher – how great that job must have been, she had tons of Scripture in her.
2. That investment will not diminish. It will stand firm, and prove fruitful in your life. The word of God will outlive all life on earth. All the attacks leveled against it will not succeed. All the tricky interpretations offered of it to try to justify lifestyles in light of its plain statements will not diminish it: The Bible prevails.
iii. When you came to Christ – do you remember Scripture speaking to you? What about now? Does it still?
iv. It is living: Heb. 4:12
2. It is inspired and authoritative: (God Breathed) 2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21
a. It is from God: it is certain, penetrating, and truthful. It speaks on a whole different level than any other book we read.
b. Jesus’ view of Scripture
i. Centered on Him: Luke 4:14-21
ii. Prophecy fulfilled: Matt. 13:14, 15:7
1. It is true and God is faithful to His promises.
3. It is universal and specific: Col. 4:16
a. Written to a specific church but applied across the lives of many believers. The depths of Scripture are limitless. You may hear one thing in your study, of that same verse someone else will be challenged differently. It speaks to all people everywhere, specifically.
i. The Bible must be a core value because of its universal and individual relevance. It drives and fuels and empowers missions. It energizes and empowers believers to live Godly lives. It calls to people who are searching saying “come and find.” It calls to the hungry: come and eat, to the thirsty: come and drink. Scripture gives purpose to what we do. It calls us to live for the Glory of God.
4. It is Jesus’ and infinite. John 1:1
a. Jesus is the Hope, Center, and Message of the Scripture. He did not write it while he lived on earth. Eyewitnesses did, and this is what they said about him: Read John 1:1, I John 1:1-3.
b. The heresy’s that energized the formation of the NT stated that spiritual and physical are entirely separate. They claimed Jesus was only a spiritual being and not physical at all: his death was a mirage. The Da Vinci Code claims Jesus was physical and not spiritual at all, if you believe the fiction. Yet Jesus was both: fully God (spirit) and man (physical). The word of God became flesh. In our bible, spirit and physical meet. God uses physical words to relate to us. The rising of the sun tells of His power, the stars of His magnificence, the moon of His splendor, the trees of His creativity, but the word reveals Him fully: His heart, His love, His justice, His mercy, His Son.
c. In the Word there is a physical and spiritual collision. That same reality happens in our lives as we let God speak to us through His word. Spiritual power gets lived out in our physical lives. The two are mixed, not separate. Physically you may feel alive, but spiritually you could be dead. Only you know what you think about on your pillow, if you get sleep at all.

Our core values come from our hope: Jesus Christ; His message: The Word of God; and the two cannot be separated.

Pray.

If you are living a Christian life without the Word, you are missing your anchor.

If you have questions about the Word grab someone around you and set up a time to ask them – it will be a profitable discussion.