The Master‘s Class, LifeChange Church Wichita

HOW DOES A CHRISTIAN LIVE IN A NON-CHRISTIAN WORLD? (Romans 12:14-16)

Over the last several weeks, Paul has been discussing with us how the believer is to work together with his fellow believers.  What is it that we are to be working together toward?  The kingdom work of God, or the sharing of the light of the gospel with a dark world.  

There are those that feel it would be nice to seclude themselves in a monastery and not have to deal with the secular world, but that is not why God has sent us on this journey.  It is important to understand that, as believers, we are not working our way to get to heaven, we are working to go to our home in heaven.  This earth is not our home, it is our workplace.  

When I go to work in the morning, it is with anticipation that I will be able to come home when I have completed my work for the day.  Returning home is not something I have to earn, it is something I already have.  It is my place of rest.  As believers, this earth is our workplace, and we come to it with the anticipation of being able to go to our home in heaven when we have completed the tasks that God has for us to do.  I do not have to earn my place in heaven, for I already own that place.  It is my place of rest when I am finished doing the kingdom work of God. 

In order to accomplish that kingdom work of sharing the gospel message of Christ, I need to go to where the people are that need to hear that message.  I need to relate with a lost world.  

So Paul tells us that the laws of Christian life deal not only with the spiritual life of the Christian, but with his social life as well.  As believers, we must sustain relationships in the world as well as in the church.  

Listen to this podcast to learn that Paul has three things to say about our daily contacts with those outside of Christ.  We are to show the unbeliever compassion and understanding, we are to take care with our attitude, and we are to live before men unimpeachable and exemplary lives.  

TO EXPAND THE WORK OF GOD (Romans 12:8-13)

As believers, we have each been given a spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit in order to perform the kingdom work of God.  In our lesson last week we covered the spiritual gifts that are to be used to expound the Word of God.  

There are those members who meet the spiritual needs of our fellow members by teaching and preaching the Word of God in a way that they can apply it in their daily lives.  

Then, there are those who do the service work of the church.  They have the gift of ministering.  They voluntarily make sure the church is clean, the grounds are mowed, and there is food for the fellowship times, for we all know that it is impossible for church members to fellowship without food.  

They are the ushers, the ones who prepare the Lord’s Supper, who help prepare the baptismal, work the sound and video systems, and maintain the building.  A church can survive without deacons, or even a preacher for a period of time, but it cannot survive without those who have the gift of ministering.  

Then there are those with the gift of exhortation.  They seek out those in need and minister to them, they lift their spirits, and they encourage us to get out and get to work for Christ.  These are the people we call on when tragedy strikes, and these are the people who you want near you when you need to be motivated for God.  

The gifts of prophesy, ministering, teaching, and exhortation are gifts that are used by members to meet the needs of the church by expounding the word of God.  

Next, Paul describes those gifted to expand the work of God.  These are the gifts of giving, guiding, and going.  These are the spiritual gifts that God has given us to help our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to expand the work of God. 

All seven of these gifts of God’s grace are given to members so that they can function as a body member.  Therefore, they are for the benefit, and belong to the whole body and not the individual member.

Listen to this podcast to learn how your spiritual gift is to be used to accomplish the kingdom work of God.

THE CHRISTIAN'S RESPONSIBILITIES TO OTHER CHRISTIANS (Romans 12:6-10)

If I were to ask you if you had a responsibility to meet the needs of your family, most of us would say, absolutely.  When our family is in need, we will respond.  

If I were to ask you if you had a responsibility to meet the needs of the world, most of us would say, that depends on what you mean by meeting their needs.  The world is a pretty needy place and it is unlikely that we have the means or the resources to meet the needs of the world.  

Somewhere in-between these two extremes there are other groups that we could point to and ask the question of whether or not we are responsible for meeting the needs of that group. Yet, even with most of these groups, I would expect your answer to be, it depends.  It might depend on how you feel about the various groups, or it might depend on the level of resources you have.

What if I were to change the question to, do you believe that God has mandated that you meet the needs of these various groups, what do you think the answer should be?  In my opinion, the answer is again, it depends, but this time the critical deciding factor for whether or not we march forward, is not what we decide is important, but what God has told us to do.  If it is God’s will that we do something, then resources and our feelings about that group do not matter.  We will have all of the resources we need.  

Our lesson today is about how we use the spiritual gifts that God has given to each of us to meet the needs of our fellow Christian brothers and sisters.  

WHY CAN'T CHRISTIANS GET ALONG WITH EACH OTHER? (Romans 12:3-5)

WHY CAN’T CHRISTIANS GET ALONG WITH EACH OTHER?

To be honest, this is a question that at first you might say, well of course we can.  We believe in the same God, and we all have Jesus as our Lord and Master, at least this is the case if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ.  The problems begin when you start talking about how you go about being saved, who can be saved, and then once you are saved whether or not you can lose your salvation, or even what the word saved really means.  

But let’s make it simpler than trying to make all of the various Christian religions get along, because that hasn’t happened in over a thousand years, and it is not likely to happen any time soon.  Let’s ask the question of whether or not members of the same church should be able to get along?  Now it is even more obvious that we should be able to get along with those who attend the same church that we do, but if you look at the statistics of how many churches split, we would have to say that getting along is not happening the way that it should.  

So the question is why?  Why can’t members of the same church get along?

The answer is really simple, but hard for people to do.  The reason people fail to get along is that they take their eyes off of what God wants them to do, and how God wants them to behave, and they begin to act as the world around them behaves, and they do the things that they think is right.  

Paul has given us the basic first steps for members to get along with each other in the first two verses of this chapter, surrender to God, and then let God transform you into the image of Christ.  It really is that basic, that simple, but so hard to do.  If we are all allowing Christ to show through us, then we will get along with each other.  

Listen to this podcast to learn the way Christians are supposed to relate to each other to complete the kingdom work of God.  

HOW DOES GOD'S WILL CHANGE THE BELIEVER? (Romans 12:2)

What is God’s will for our lives, and how does that change us?  Finding God’s will is accomplished by sacrificing our whole being to God as a living sacrifice.  This means that we surrender our life to God.  He is ours to command.  He is the Master and we are the slave.  We obey Him.  

Jesus commanded that we are to be salt and light to a dark world.  Salt is a preservative, an antibiotic, and a flavor enhancer.  It is applied externally and it draws attention to something different.  A believer is to be a preservative of the absolute truths about right and wrong that God has established.  We are to stand up when the world decides to call that which is wrong, right, and that which is right, wrong.

The believer is also to be a light unto the world.  One of the great facts about light is that darkness is simply the absence of light.  No matter how deep the darkness, the simple candle will chase that darkness away.  No amount of darkness can overpower the light of that candle.  When there is light, darkness goes away.  Light for the believer comes from within.  Salt is external, and light is internal.  Light emanates from the core of the believer.  We are to be a light to a dark world.  We are to show the world that there is an escape from the deep darkness of the world.

In order to be salt and light, the believer must be changed from what they were before.  If we look and act like everyone else, then we are neither salt nor light.  Yet, this change in who we are does not happen all at once for most of us.  Most believers will spend a lifetime having their body, soul, and spirit conformed to the image of Christ.  But the world needs to see this difference.  It needs to see the light of God’s Word shining through us.

In order to accomplish this us we must consecrate our body so that the Holy Spirit, who has made it His temple, might have free access to all its members, and free control over all its activities.  The believer who presents his body in this manner is changed.

Romans 12:2

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

KJV

Listen to this podcast to learn how a believer is not to be conformed to this world, but is to be changed morally and mentally to show the world that the will of God is truly good, acceptable, and perfect for each of us.

WHO ARE YOU CONTROLLED BY? (Romans 12:1)

If you were to ask the general population of this country, Who are you controlled by?  Many, if not most, would declare that nobody controls me, I control myself, for this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, right?  However, the truth of the matter is that there are likely a number of entities and people that we submit ourselves to be controlled by.  For example, the government bodies that we live under, both nationally and locally.  We submit ourselves to the authority of, and the rules and procedures of, these men and women who say they have the authority to rule us.  

There is your employer, you submit to their authority.  Your spouse.  Your peers.  Your religion.  Law enforcement.  So there are lots of entities and people we allow to control us.  We submit to their authority, and what they tell us to do, we do.  We are controlled by them.

Now, most Christians would immediately reply, Well Keith, obviously I am controlled by God.  And my reply would be, do your actions match your words?  Considering the way society’s shift in morals is moving at breakneck speed today, Christians are going to be faced with some difficult decisions.  For many years, in this country, the general moral and ethical principles of the country were based on Judeo-Christian values, so the Christian in this country had it fairly easy.  

Yet, we stand today at a crossroad in this country.  Nine men and women in black have decided that marriage is defined by what they say it is and that it is not defined by God.  Never mind that it has been defined by God as one man and one woman, and for almost all of history, and in almost every civilization, as one man and one woman.  Man’s definition is that marriage can be two women, or two men, or three women and men, or ten women or ten men, or in other words, anything goes.  For without the absolute truths of right and wrong as established by God, anything does indeed go.  

This decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has set the stage for the U.S. government to criminalize Christianity.  If you choose to say what the Word of God says about homosexuality, it will be deemed as hate speech.  The consequences of this will be that you can be fined, arrested, or have your business, your home, and your job taken away from you for stating what God says.  

If you are a Christian, you will then have a choice of submitting yourself to the authority of the government, or to God.  While the Bible is clear that we are to submit ourselves to local authorities, which are established and allowed by God, it is also clear that this obligation only goes until they dictate you violate God’s Word.  So this question of, who are you controlled by, will quickly transform from an intellectual exercise to a reality.  

Now, as for me and my family, our choice is that we are controlled by God, and no government, especially 9 people in black robes, is going to change that.  While I understand that those are brave words, and that they will very soon be tested, therefore, we are depending solely on God to empower us to live those words in our lives as we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, wholly controlled by Him.  

GOD'S PURPOSE IN RESTORING ISRAEL PART II (Romans 11:27-36)

Over the last couple of weeks of our study, Paul has declared that it is certainly within the power of God to not only temporarily remove Israel from the place of religious privilege as a result of their rejection of Him, but it is also within the power of God to restore a believing Israel to that place once again.  The almighty Creator of all things, has the power to do as He has promised.  

Not only is it within the power of God to restore Israel, Paul also tells us that it is within the purpose of God to restore Israel.

Paul has left no question that God will fulfill His promises to Israel.  God will restore Israel, for it is God’s purpose to restore Israel.  God planned these events from the foundations of time, and nothing that man has done, or can do, will change God’s plan and purpose.  God chose Israel to be His channel of truth and righteousness to the world, and that is what they will be when He restores them.  

What is God’s purpose in restoring Israel?  It is to show His power and His glory to a world that has rejected Him.  He is telling the world that there is but one true God, and that He alone is deserving of our worship.    

GOD'S PURPOSE IN RESTORING ISRAEL (Romans 11:25-26)

God has declared in His Word that He will restore Israel to it place of religious privilege.  In this week’s podcast we discuss when God says this event will occur.  It is not a specific date, for no man knows this date, but the Bible tells us that it will occur when the Fullness of the Gentiles is complete.  

Listen to this podcast to learn about the difference between what the Bible calls the Times of the Gentiles and the Fullness of the Gentiles.  When God has finished using the Gentiles to spread His message of eternal life, He will turn again to the Jews.  He will judge them, and then He will bless them.

ISRAEL WILL BE RESTORED (Romans 11:16-24)

In last week’s lesson, we discussed God’s judicial blinding, or hardening, of the nation of Israel for their rejection of Christ as the Messiah and their subsequent rejection of the gospel message.  Paul described for us the place of special religious privilege the Jews had been granted by God as the channel of God’s message of salvation for the world.  But their rejection of God’s plan and His Son, Jesus, as the Promised Messiah caused God to remove them, temporarily, from this place of religious privilege.  Since the day of Pentecost, it has been the church, that body of true believers, who have now occupied the position of being God’s channel of the gospel message to the world.  

So, Paul has given the Gentiles a warning that they should not be proud of the fall of the Jews and their own rise to a position of religious privilege, for this is but a temporary state of affairs, as well.  Without a doubt, God’s plan for dealing with Israel includes their restoration to the position of being the channel of salvation for the world.  

In this podcast Paul uses the illustration of the olive tree to explain to the believing Gentiles what God is doing by dealing with Israel during this period, the relative positions of the Jews and Gentiles in God’s plan, and the power and purpose of God to restore Israel to its place of spiritual privilege.

TO BE BLINDED TO THE TRUTH (Romans 11:7-15)

Our lesson today is about how Paul describes the way God is dealing with Israel today.  They are a nation that God has temporarily set aside from their place of special religious privilege for their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Promised Messiah.  For this rejection of God’s plan and purposes, the Jews are now divided into two groups.  The unbelieving blinded majority, and the believing minority.  

The unbelieving Jew who makes up the blinded majority rejects Jesus Christ as the Promised Messiah that their own Scriptures proclaim Him to be.  They reject God’s gift of salvation through the cross and depend on their religion for the righteousness they seek.  Paul describes this search as something that they have not obtained, for the righteousness of God can only be obtained in one way, and that is through the faith in Christ. 

The believing minority have found favor in the sight of God and have been added to the body of true believers called the church.  

Listen to this podcast to learn how God is dealing with Israel today.