“Certainty”
(Luke 1:1-4 (pt.2))
Dr. Richard S. Koole
Chapel Pointe
May 3, 2009
(Continued from previous week)
6. The revolution gets into the church
a. The postmodern church has been called “The Emergent Church”
b. Such a wide range of positions
1. Hard to pin down
2. Many fail to take a position on key doctrines
c. Have some wonderful traits
1. Engaged with their world
2. We use some of the same techniques
d. But many of them have thrown the baby (Christ) out with the bathwater
7. The 3rd Way
E. The loss of certainty in the American church
1. Not too long ago churches were deeply concerned about getting their teaching right
a. And weren’t overly concerned with living like Jesus
b. Feared being accused of a social gospel if they tried to help the starving of the world
c. Now many churches are attempting to live like Christ
1. But have stopped believing with certainty
2. Refer to doctrinal certainty as “arrogance”
d. Fear being labeled
1. While conservative Christians are reluctant to express doubts for fear of being judged weak or out of the faith, postmoderns tend to outdoubt each other in vulnerable competitions of “keeping it real.”
e. In their quest to correct the abuses of previous generations, they have erred in the opposite extreme. Perhaps our parents emphasized right belief more than good behavior, but that must not become an excuse to teach good behavior at the expense of right belief
B. What I like about the “postmodern church”
1. Missional
a. On a mission to help people
2. Humbly serves others with compassion
3. The attempt to live like Jesus lived
a. Regardless of the cost
4. Not afraid to move among the unsaved
C. What concerns me about the “postmodern church”
1. Often the lost are led to believe they are okay
a. Some…but not all…are inclusive
2. Reducing Christianity to a code of ethics (behavior)
3. Difficult to get a statement of faith
4. Refusal to take a stand doctrinally
a. Moral issues
b. Existence of a literal hell
c. The way of salvation
4. Inclusiveness of salvation
5. The denial of mankind’s sinfulness
6. Attack what they term “arrogance of certainty”
a. Don’t believe you can ever really be certain of anything
7. Fear of offending anybody
9. The changing meaning of the Bible
D. How you know you might be at a postmodern church
1. Your preacher just swore, and nobody gasped
2. The elders just honored the preacher with a box of fine cigars and beers on the house
3. People there wouldn’t be surprised to see Gandhi in heaven, but they’d be floored to see Jerry Falwell there
4. They purchase their small group study guides from the Buddhist bookstore
C. There is a better way
1. Luke hits it head on
a. Live like Jesus lived
b. Believe what Jesus taught
2. It can never be a choice between the two
a. We must have both
3. My goal for Chapel Pointe
a. “A third way”
1. Rejecting the pendulum
b. To show other churches how to balance
1. Will see how Jesus lived
2. …and what he believed
4. What will living and believing like Jesus look like?
a. Certainty regarding the non-negotiables of God’s word
1. Why Luke wrote this inspired book
b. Yet a cutting edge ministry
1. Embracing those who need Christ
5. My vision for Chapel Pointe
6. To lead other churches in the third way
D. The Third Way
1. A people that have certainty regarding God’s word
(1) Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, (2) just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. (3) Therefore, since I myself have fully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (4) so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
a. Give you “an orderly account”
1, My priority in preaching
b. Teach you God’s truths for life and eternity
1. Trust in the Bible
c. Be certain of what I say
1. The role of personal passion
2. Your need to teach with certainty
d. Know what we believe
2. A people that demonstrate the heart of Jesus
a. Jesus took it to those who were down and out
b. Part of the attraction of the postmodern church
1. The passion to sacrifice for others
c. Belief looks like hypocrisy if actions fail to follow
d. Jesus wept over the hungry and hurting
e. Where our money is placed where our mouths are
3. A people that places Mercy over Harshness
a. In both or words and actions
1. Sean’s story
b. If I err…it will always be to:
1. Show too much mercy
2. Or forgive too often
c. Let us never be accused of being too harsh
d. Where decisions aren’t based on a fear of what others might think
4. A people that understand that Life is Messy
a. Nobody is “normal”
b. Navigating life’s ups and downs
c. Kids and their struggles
d. Where we forgive as Jesus taught us to forgive
e. Where we serve as a hospital for hurting people
5. A people not in it for person gain or recognition
a. Places others ahead of self
6. A people that believe that Jesus is the only way to be saved
a. Grace and love
b. On a mission to save from hell
c. Committed to reaching the unsaved
7. A people who demonstrate that true salvation is life changing
a. Salvation is more than “repeat a prayer….and you’re good to go”
b. The perplexing issue of “backsliders”
c. Children who have kicked off the traces
d. Salvation is more than
1. Being baptized
2. Being born into a covenant
3. Repeating a prayer
e. When is “believing…believing”
1. The belief that saves
f. Growing in the Lord
8. A people able to balance Heaven and Earth
a. We don’t focus so much on Heaven at the expense of this life
9. A people who welcome all sinners equally
a. Homosexual
b. We open our arms and hearts to all sinners
10. Driven by passion and vision
a. It’ll never be “just talk”