The Unconscious Dogma of the Church of Self

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The Unconscious Dogma of the Church of Self

Jude 1-16; August 27, 2023; Don Willeman

August 27, 2023 • Don Willeman • Jude 1–16

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“[Y]our brain can instinctively trust people simply because they sound as if they know what they’re talking about…. Put another way, ‘Whom we trust is not only a reflection of who is trustworthy, but also a reflection of who we are’….”

~Tim Herrera, journalist with The New York Times

“Religion used to be the opium of the people…. But now, we are witnessing a transformation, a true opium of the people is the belief…that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, we are not going to be judged.”

~Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004), Polish-American poet and Nobel Laureate, regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century

“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”

~H. Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962), Yale professor, describing the religion of many American churches

“The trouble with human nature is that we are born with a heart that loves ourselves over and above everything else in this world, including God. In short, we are born slaves to the lust for self-gratification, i.e., concupiscence. That’s why, if left to ourselves, we will always love those things that make us feel good about ourselves, even as we depart more and more from God and his ways. Therefore, God must intervene in our lives in order to bring salvation.

~Dr. Ashley Null, English Reformation scholar and author

Sin “is irrational…. Sin deceives and destroys.”

~Thabiti Anyabwile, pastor and author

God “is not there to conform to us; we must conform to him. He summons us from outside of ourselves to know him. We do not go inside of ourselves to find him…. He is not known on our terms. This summons is heard in and through his Word. It is not heard through our intuitions.”

~David F. Wells, professor and author in God in the Whirlwind

“Recognizing who we are in Christ is the ultimate self-care because the Word of God doesn’t reinvent itself along with a constantly changing culture.”

~Alisa Childers, author and singer-songwriter

SERMON PASSAGE

Jude 1-16 (ESV)

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

The Story of Christianity

September 1, 2024 • Don Willeman • Matthew 28:16–20

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “This may surprise many, but Christianity is growing around the world and is growing faster than the rate of population. From 2020 to the mid-point of 2024, the world’s population is expected to grow from more than 7.84 billion people to more than 8.11 billion, a 0.87% growth trend. The number of Christians worldwide is expected to climb from more than 2.52 billion to 2.63 billion, a 1.08% growth.… The fastest-growing areas for Christianity are in the global south, particularly Asia and Africa. Asia is home to more than 415 million Christians and growing at a rate of 2.11%. Meanwhile, 734 million Christians live in Africa, where the faith is growing at a 2.64% rate.” ~Summary of the “2024 Status of Global Christianity” report “It is evidence of His importance, of the effect that He has had upon history, …that no other life ever lived on this planet has evoked so huge a volume of literature among so many people and languages, and that, far from ebbing, the flood continues to mount…. Jesus is the most influential life ever lived….” ~Kenneth S. Latourette (1884-1968), President of the American Historical Association “Jesus loves sinners. He only loves sinners. He has never turned anyone away who came to Him for forgiveness, and He died on the cross for sinners, not for respectable people.” ~Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Nazi concentration camp survivor “The church is…made up of natural enemies…who love one another for Jesus’ sake.” ~D.A. Carson in his book Love in Hard Places “If I love God, I must love people. I don’t have the choice to choose when.” ~Jackie Hill Perry, poet, writer, and hip hop artist “When we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus.” ~Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983), Dutch watchmaker, writer and speaker “…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.” ~Jesus to His disciples (Acts 1:8) SERMON PASSAGE Matthew 28:16-20 (ESV) Matthew 28 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Genesis 12 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 2 Samuel 7 8 Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. 9 And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth…. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Isaiah 2 1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Matthew 1 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Revelation 7 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 22 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Protecting Against Identity Theft

August 11, 2024 • Jonathan Crane • Genesis 1:26, Isaiah 53:2, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 15:1–5, Ephesians 4:20–24

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “God’s ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ. Becoming like Christ does not mean losing your personality or becoming a mindless clone. God created your uniqueness, so he certainly doesn’t want to destroy it. God uses His Word, people, and circumstances to mold us.” ~Rick Warren, What on Earth am I Here For? “Your core identity is that God chose you. He knew everything about you, yes even what you don’t like to admit to yourself...Jesus is not disillusioned with you, because He never had any illusions about who you were in the first place.” ~Adam Ramsay, Pastor of Liberty Church Australia “Man became a living being capable of embodying God’s communicable attributes. In his rational life he was like God that he could reason and had intellect, will and emotion. In the moral sense, he was like God because he was at inception good and sinless. Woman was created to meet man’s deficiencies and to be an equal in the job of caretakers of the creation.” ~William Barclay “Michelangelo was asked how he could make a beautiful sculpture like his ‘Moses’ out of a block of marble. His response was that he simply chipped away everything that wasn’t Moses. We must allow the Lord to chip away everything that is not of Him, or of the person He made us to be.” ~Mgsr Charles Pope, Dean of the Archdiocese of Washington, DC “Artificial Intelligence’s ultimate accomplishment will be to remind us who we are by revealing what it can’t do. It will compel us to double down on all activities that make us distinctly human: taking care of each other, being a good teammate, reading deeply, exploring daringly, growing spiritually, finding kindred spirits...” ~David Brooks, Op. Ed. In The New York Times 8/4/2024 SERMON PASSAGE selected passages (NIV) Genesis 1 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Isaiah 53 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 2 Corinthians 5 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! John 15 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. Ephesians 4 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Gospel Hope for an Anxious Heart

July 14, 2024 • Mike O'Leary • Luke 12:22–34

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ~Jim Carey (1962-present), Actor “Worry is like a rocking chair; it keeps you moving but doesn’t get you anywhere.” ~Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), Author and Holocaust Survivor “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” ~Matthew 6:34 (ESV) “Our anxiety often reveals a refusal to trust God’s fatherly providence. And, whenever we start ignoring that, there’s always a devil along to adopt us, to promise us bread instead of stones, fish instead of snakes. We don’t recognize the reptilian voice, but we look into our future, or into our Bibles, and wonder nonetheless, ‘Has God really said?’” ~Russell Moore (1971-present), Author and Theologian SERMON PASSAGE Luke 12:22-34 (ESV) 22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.