Deadly Legalism

In Matthew 15, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. In vv. 8-9, He quotes Isaiah to describe their spiritual condition. Two things stand out. First, their lips honor God but their hearts are cold. Second, their worship is vain because they teach their own commandments as doctrine. In other words, they are legalists.

Legalism can be one of two things. First, legalism occurs when we add to the requirements for salvation. We are saved by grace through faith plus nothing. If we replace the "nothing" with anything else, we have become a legalist. Second, legalism occurs when we add requirements than what appears in the pages of Scripture. Often this happens because we do not like what Scripture says (in this case we usually wish it were more strict). So instead of living by God's Word, we seek to add greater requirements to people's lives.

There are three deadly dangers to legalism. First, it leads people to moralism. We become moral people without a passionate heart for God (see Matthew 15:8). This is what Jesus' next teaching is about (vv. 10-20) when he talks about how the Pharisees are very pleased with their cleanliness before eating (moralism) but not about their heart condition. Second, it can lead people to rebellion. Many people leave the church (indeed, many teenagers upon leaving the home) because of the rigid legalism at their church. Third, legalism can greatly damage a church. In Matthew 16:5-12, Jesus calls the legalistic teaching of the Pharisees: leaven. Leaven permeates the whole. A little legalism in a church is deadly because it will eventually permeate the whole.

We need to be people of God's Word. We need to read it, study it and live it. And we need to have enough faith in God to trust Him even when we wish He said something different in His Word!

Blogging

The internet, through all its temptations and shortcomings is not bad within itself. It is just like any other tool in life, it can be used for good or for evil. we think it is high time that the church started using it for some good. This blog is just one effort in that quest to redeem the internet for Christ. This blog will be run by the pastors of FBC Prescott and will consist of our thoughts, prayers, devotions and challenges. Please feel free to subscribe, or become a fan of us on facebook where these blogs will also post.

Blessings,
The Staff of FBC Prescott

Heaven

Last Night at Code Red youth group we talked about heaven. I got flooded with questions like: “Will there be roller coasters?” or “Will we be able to skate board?” or even “Could there be a concert like Woodstock?” I was reminded of how often we think about heaven; we try to imagine our favorite pastimes and multiply them times a million and decide that’s what Heaven will be like. We have to understand that Heaven is not an ethereal realm where we float on clouds being bored, nor is it a super enhanced form of what we enjoy most. Our understanding of Heaven must come from the Bible itself. The Bible communicates that we will be in God’s presence and we will finally see him and will know him truly. (1 John 3:2-3, John 17:3, Rev 22:4) And while it does describe a New Heaven and New Earth and our glorified bodies (Rev 21, 1 Cor 15:35-56), our minds instantly start to imagine what we will do to not get bored. We are discontent before we have even gotten there! What we fail to realize is that our very idea of contentment and entertainment is fallen and corrupted by sin. We do not even begin to understand the true joy of being in God’s presence this side of eternity. (1 Cor 2:9) That is not to say there won’t be amazing experiences in Heaven, but to think “It won’t be heaven without…[insert desire]” is to not understand that God has so much more for us. He will absolutely blow our minds with the amazing things he has for those who love him. I believe we will stand in his presence in a state of constant amazement, he will satisfy us! He has so much more in store for us than we can even imagine because God is absolutely holy and perfect. Lord haste the Day! (2 Pet 3:12,13)

The Christian Life is Lived in our Responses

Have you ever been to a professional baseball game? I went to my first baseball game when I was in college in Chicago. It was the Cubs, at Wrigley Field, and I was instantly hooked. But it’s not the sport or the players that drew me in; it was two other things. First I loved the crowd. I’m a people watcher and other than the airport there is nowhere in life where you get such a diversity of people in one place all interacting with each other. I could sit and watch the crowd at a game all day long. But secondly, and more importantly, I love the food. When we get to heaven and we sit down to the great feast, I’m convinced that there will be ballpark food served at the banquet. At my wedding Julie had charge of everything but put me in charge of the food. And so at our wedding reception we had ballpark food, corndogs, soft pretzels, cotton candy, nachos, and everything else wonderful in the world.

I was reading Proverbs 4 this morning and it brought to my mind an experience I once had at a baseball game. I had spent the first two innings wading through all the wonderful food options and was now returning to my seat with the bounty that would last me at least until the seventh inning stretch. As I was working my way down the row the Cubs made a good play and the crowd leapt to their feet. With this about a quarter of my Dr. Pepper splashed out of my cup onto the people around me. But this is nothing new to baseball fans; they were just excited for their Cubbies. I made the rest of the way to my seat, giving high-fives, and fist bumps along the way. When I finally sat down I found that I had lost almost half my drink. As I looked back down the row I saw people drying their shirts and pants from all the Dr. Pepper I had spilled along the way.

In Proverbs 4:23 is says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”^[1] What is in our heart overflows into our life, and what is in our life overflows on to the people around us. The Christian life is not lived in stated beliefs. It is easy to talk about beliefs, it is easy to plan and carry out certain actions. If we want to really see what our life is about, bump into something and see what spills out. I would say that the true measure of our Christian life is not in our actions as much as it is in our reactions. We live our Christian life in our responses. We say we trust God, but then we bump into a hard economy. We say we love others, but then we bump into a conflict. We are defined by our attitudes (the beliefs of our heart) and at no time are our true attitudes displayed more clearly than when we are reacting to something unexpected. In speaking about attitudes Paul says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” ^[2] When I am walking through life bumping up against others, both in good and bad situations, what spills out of my life often comes from the first half of Paul’s list and not the second. How about you? When you get a promotion what spills out? Pride or gratefulness? When someone disagrees with you, what spills out? Defensiveness or compassion? When you bump into life, what spills out?

My Prayer: Lord, fill me up with you. I want to be so full of you that anytime I bump into another person it is you that spills out of my life.

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^[1]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version., Pr 4:23 (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001).

^[2]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version., Eph 4:31-32 (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001).

Oikos Continued

Today we complete our 10-week series on Oikos. Your oikos is the 10-15 people who God has naturally placed into your life so that you can be an instrument of grace in their lives. And even though we complete the sermon series today, the oikos concept should continue indefinitely in our individual lives and in our church's life. That is the point of this morning's sermon.

This week, I noticed oikos naturally appearing in the Gospel of John. Andrew met Jesus and then went to get his brother, Peter, to introduce him to Jesus. Philip meets Jesus. And then Philip goes to find Nathanael, so he can be introduced to Jesus.

Oikos in the New Testament. Oikos in the last ten weeks. Oikos continuing tomorrow. Who are you trying to introduce to Jesus?

By wisdom a house is built...

I’ve heard it said “youth is wasted on the young, when they have no wisdom how to use it and wisdom is wasted on the old when they don’t have the energy to act on what they know.” I never really liked the saying because it just comes across as fatalistic and pessimistic, but in truth it is how many people play out their lives. When they are young and full of energy they blindly follow their heart and the wisdom of life seems to elude them, and when wisdom finally catches up to them they feel too old to ‘go at it again’ and settle into a “I’ve done my time” mentality, simply wishing they had done their time better. I’m trying to fight this pattern in my life in two ways. One is I want to never see myself as too old to change or to pick myself up and try again. Life is short and I hope that as long as I am alive I will have the heart to keep on keeping on. I don’t think we should retire from life, ministry, or service. I hope that I will continue to be effective for the kingdom of God until the day I die. If you go into marriage knowing that divorce is not an option when you hit walls you don’t run away but instead you work things through. I’m trying to face my life of ministry the same way. I don’t want to do ministry until it gets hard or until I get tired, I want to be able to look back on my life and like Paul say “I’ve fought the good fight.” This doesn’t mean that I am expecting to be a youth pastor in the same church for the rest of my life (although I would not argue if this is where God chose to keep me) but it does mean that if I ever move I want it to be God who moves me. I want to always be in the ministry where God has placed me and I never want to walk away from that ministry because of my own reasons or desires. The second way I am fighting the pattern is I am trying my best to spend a lot of these early years in my life learning from the wisdom of others so I don’t look back and say “what a wasted youth.” One of my goals in life is to be the type of person who doesn’t have to go through a trial or hardship to learn a lesson for myself. If I can learn from the mistakes of others or if I can learn a truth and apply it before it becomes a mistake in my life I think I will make great strides toward getting wisdom in my life now. I want my life to reflect what the Proverbs say, “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might, for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.”^[1]

My prayer: Lord when I am young give me the wisdom of the old and when I am old give me the energy of the young.

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^[1]The Holy Bible : English Standard Version., Pr 24:3-6 (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001).

Zeal

I was reading in John's gospel this morning. In the second chapter, Jesus goes to clean out the Temple. The people have turned the Temple into a house of trade, a commercial zone instead of a house of prayer. So Jesus overturns tables and throws people out and pours money onto the floor. I found verse 17 to be fascinating: the disciples remember an Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah -- "Zeal for your house will consume me."

There is one thought that I haven't been able to get out of my head: if Jesus came to church today and exhibited the same zeal as He did on that day, what would He want to remove from the church? The commercial zone in the Temple was serving as a buffer that prevented people from being able to worship God. What have we created that serves as a buffer to keep people from worshipping God? Legalism (rules that we create that are not in the Bible)? Tradition (methods that worked in the past that need to change if we are going to introduce the next generation to God)?

My prayer today is that I will have a zeal for God that will demonstrate itself with a passion to remove everything in my life (and in the life of FBC Prescott) that serves as a buffer to keep people away from God.

Introductions

For those of you who don't know me or if you are following this blog and you don't attend FBC Prescott... Hi! My name is Jesse Burke and I am 28 years old. I was born and raise here in Prescott, AZ and made the foolish mistake of telling God that I would never end up back in this town. But honestly, I love it here and couldn't see myself anywhere else. I graduated Prescott High School in 2000. Four years later I graduated Moody Bible Institute in Chicago with a BA in youth ministry. A year later I married my high school sweetheart Julie (Laipple) and we decided to make Prescott our home. I have been the pastor of student ministries at FBC for 3 and a half years and I love it. I love youth and I love youth ministry. Currently I am also working on my M.Div. from Phoenix Seminary. All in all life is pretty crazy busy... but with a loving wife my side and an incredible God showing the way, who can complain?