The Focus We Need to Have

 

A New Barna Group study discovered that Half of people in churches in the US do not believe Satan exists, and roughly one third of people believe Jesus sinned in his life time (https://mycharisma.com/culture/shocking-study-reveals-the-spiritual-condition-of-the-church/). This is troubling, firstly Satan does exist (Ezekiel 28, Genesis 3, Revelation 12), to strip away the belief that we have an enemy, is to call into question so many Scriptures, including Jesus being tempted by Satan (Matthew 4:1-11). Remove the devil, and removing God is next. This is exactly what BLANK (History book) did, they stripped down the Scriptures to support their own ideas and doctrines, "For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome doctrine. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear," (2 Timothy 4:3), "Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and doctrines that come from demons," (1 Timothy 4:1), and "They will reject the truth and chase after myths." (2 Timothy 4:4).
The assertion of the one third saying Jesus sinned is false! Jesus never sinned, "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth," (1 Peter 2:22), " For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin," (Hebrews 4:15), "You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin," (1 John 3:5). He bore our sins, but He himself never sinned (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is an antichrist heresy to call into question Christ's purity. Which in turn questions his Godhood. We are seeing a trend of orthodox (right belief) starting to fail in the churches, and it is as pluralism grows. Christian brothers and sisters have let seep into their skulls the ideas of this world which is against Christ, and the price is very bad theology, bad doxology, and bad teaching. 

The Eastern Orthodox Churches do something that I think we are going to have to adopt in our Protestant Churches. The Easterners focus on The Trinity, and The Incarnation. They are obsessed with One God in Three Persons, and God Became A Man, Jesus Christ. The fundamentals. Now you may say, Fundamentalists exist, they do, but they have developed a reputation that I would not use that word, rather Essentialist, The Essentials is what we need to get right. Our problem in Church right now is not the deeper things, it is the basics, we have to like writer of Hebrews get milk right, "Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!" (Hebrews 5:12). We are very much there, people need to get the basic principles of their faith, the essentials of The Trinity, The Incarnation, and all that surrounds that in Scripture. 

My nephew when he was little asked me once, "Who is Jesus? Is he God or someone else?" This was a kid going to Sunday School at Evangelical Church, a rather prominent one in town for many years and he had no clue who Jesus is! That Jesus is The Lord God made flesh, that Jesus is the Son of God and Second Person of the Trinity, not second in importance or place, and that Jesus is the Christ, The Messiah. My nephew had no clue, that right there was foreshadowing of the Barna Group study, and that was a decade ago! That youths have no clue who the Most Important Person in the World is, The God Man, Christ Jesus! 

We are going to need to fortify our churches. It would be better to excessively teach the basic principles, truths, and aspects of our faith than for people to slip through the cracks and not know the Truth. It is time to talk so much about Jesus in our sermons, Sunday Schools, and etc; tell who he is, speak of The Trinity as best we can from Scripture, and maybe a little help from Creeds, and get this in people, so they don't go off and think crazy stuff like that Jesus sinned! I am so frustrated how so many churches dedicate themselves to teaching about Old Testament figures. I mean kids know about David and Goliath, Noah and the Flood, and Abraham, important things mind you, but they do not have firm grounding in The Holy Trinity, Jesus and His Sacrifice and How We are Saved, nor are they memorizing the New Testament other than maybe John Chapter Three, verse sixteen! 

Yesterday on the radio I heard someone call in on a station telling how a friend who says they are Christian told them they could not pray to Jesus because that is blasphemy, you can only pray to God the Father. How crazy! Jesus and the Father are One! (John 10:30). They are within each other, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me," (John 17:20-21), "Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?" (John 14:8-10). Jesus and Father are Homostasis, One Substance, One Essence, and yet two Distinct Persons of the Trinity. We are even told to pray in Jesus' Name, "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it," (John 14:14), "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours," (1 Corinthians 1:2), "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him," (Colossians 3:17), and, "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).  

Jesus is God!, "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily," (Colossians 2:9), "Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ," (Titus 2:13), "Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ," (2 Peter 1:1). Jesus is not just God because He is One with the Father, He is God the Son, He is not a lesser deity, nor his He second in respect to the Father and Holy Spirit, they are Co-Equal. It is through Jesus alone we can access the Father, "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me," (John 14:6), and "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." (John 10:9). Praying to Jesus is Scriptural! And yet a misguided person believed otherwise on the radio, and this is a terrible problem. We have to get back to the basics, to start dispensing milk right now, people cannot handle meat because they were never weened (came to maturity and understood the fundamentals of the Faith). We have to get to the elementary truths, and start teaching again the foundations of the Christian Faith or people are going to keep slipping into error. All of us must become apologists, as the Apostle Peter says, "but set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts, being ready always for a defense to everyone asking you a reason for the hope in you." (1 Peter 3:15). Pastors need to stop focusing on the Old Testament, and get to the New Testament, Jesus and His Apostles, and get the essentials in their congregations. We cannot keep allowing people to be deceived. We are battling again errors on YouTube channels, blogs, and so much information that people did not use to have access to outside the pulpit. We have to prioritize teaching the essentials of our Faith, so that people are equipped, "All Scripture is inspired by God (God Breathed) and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Amen.