Whats The Solution?

The Best Offense…

What’s The Solution?

Titus 3:5 / Ephesians 2:8&9

As we approach the final curtain of the year 2007, let me give you a quick review of where we have been focusing our attention as a church when we have gathered together these Sunday mornings. We started out the year with a series of messages called, “Training Camp.” We talked about developing the basic disciplines of the Christian life – prayer, study, solitude, simplicity, fasting, meditation, confession, submission.

Then we moved to “Study the Playbook” – and we looked specifically at how to study the Bible. From there we talked about “The Battle in the Trenches.” It was a discussion of the Spiritual battleground, with a focus on prayer, accountability and evangelism. This fall we talked about “Salary Cap Concerns”- Christian financial concepts. Our current series is entitled, “The Best Offense,” where our goal is to equip us with the information and confidence that it takes to defend the gospel of Christ in a post-Christian culture. Next week, we begin our Christmas series of messages; a series entitled “In the Red Zone.” We’re going to be talking about faith at the point of crisis – when the pressure is on, when we’re up against the ultimate challenge, will we fold and quit, or will we focus and finish well? We’ll be looking at the faith “red zones” that were faced by the people who were part of the Greatest Night in Human History.

As we close our (extremely) brief study of apologetics today, we are continuing our focus on Worldviews. Your worldview, and the worldview of the people around you, is critical because it influences everything – it affects the way you think, the way you see, the standards by which you make judgments, and the value you assign to other human beings and the planet. Worldviews matter! Every Worldview deals with certain aspects of our existence. Each worldview has its theories regarding truth –the source of truth; relative truth, some deny absolute truth exists at all. Each worldview has its explanation of origins, whether it’s a Buddhist, Mystical, Atheist, Postmodern, or Biblical worldview, they all deal with the issue of where we came from, and why we are here (or they deny that we really are here!).

Each Worldview has its theory about the problem of evil.

Some deny that evil exists (can you say “denial”?) Others believe that evil exists only because we have not allowed people, who are basically good, to fully develop. Last week we looked at the Biblical Worldview understanding of evil. The world is a messed-up place because of sin. God loves us, He created us to love us and to be loved by us, but love can only be love when we have a choice, and we have sadly chosen to rebel against God, and as a result, sin has contaminated and enslaved all of creation – every part of our existence – Physical, Natural, Relational, Emotional and Spiritual death and destruction are a result of sin.

In the same way, every worldview has its ideas about what to do to fix this messed up world. Not surprisingly, those ideas reflect what they think about truth, origins and the problem of evil.

Watch this video - we’ve seen it before – but this time, notice some of the ways different worldviews deal with the solution to evil [Video Clip…A Man Fell Into A Hole].

Every worldview has its idea for solving the problem of evil. Some deny evil, or dismiss consequences. There’s:

Ø The Myth of the “Mulligan.” (“My mistake doesn’t count.”)

Ø The Dream of the “Do-Over.” (“I’ll get another chance.”)

Ø The Fantasy of the “Freebie” (“Grab all you can – you only go around once.”)

Other worldviews look for the answer to the world’s problem in the wrong places, usually self-centered:

Ø Politics (to change people, change the law.)

Ø Education (to change people, change what they learn.)

Ø Money (to change people, change what they have.)

Ø Psychology (to change people, change what they feel.)

Ø Sociology (to change people, change how they interact.)

Ø Biology (to change people, change their bodies.)

Ø Religion (to change people change what they believe.) Religion doesn’t solve the problem. Islam teaches that after this life everyone, even their believers will face the Sword of Judgment – there is not guarantee of salvation. Judaism requires adherence to a strict set of rules and laws, but we quickly learn that it’s impossible, and we are left with guilt and despair. Hinduism doesn’t even try to give hope – what you do to others in this life will be done to you in the next life. Buddhism wants us to meditate away our desires, pleasures and troubles, and be left with nothing. New Age religions, and paganism, tell us that we are all god to ourselves – now there’s the answer!

The Biblical Worldview offers a stark contrast. Biblical teaching doesn’t ignore the reality of the problem, nor does it sugar coat the source of it. The Biblical worldview is not based on myth, but on solid, historical, verifiable evidence. The biblical worldview tells us that the problem starts in the human heart – and it strives to address the problem at its source – in the center of each one of us. But unlike religion, the Biblical worldview does not put the weight of redemption on the individual – you can’t earn you way to God! We don’t save ourselves by our good deeds, which is really what most religions push. Instead, the Bible says, in Titus 3:5,

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:8&9 says,

By grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

“He saved us…” That’s the Biblical solution to this messed up existence. The solution to this messed up world is not denial, it is not political, it is not economical, sociological or even religious – it’s personal. It’s between us and God. Behind that Biblical statement is an assumption that is backed up by empirical observation – the assumption that we need to be saved! On our own we are a mess. Left to our own efforts, our own values, our own moral codes and standards, we slip further and further into the depths of chaos and anarchy. Anyone who picks up a newspaper, listens to the radio, watches television or a movie can not help but see that we are sinking more and more into despair and hopelessness!

The Christian answer to the human condition begins where we left off last week. A Biblical worldview begins with a holy, just and loving God. God’s holiness cannot tolerate the presence of sin, God’s justice demands that all sin be punished. Last week we quoted the Bible where it says, “The wages of sin is death…” When you work, you naturally and correctly expect to be paid your wage for the work done. The natural consequence of a sinful condition is death. The logical compensation for a life of sin is death - the death of reason, the death of relationships, the death of our planet, the death of morality, the death of our body and the death of our souls. That is the wage we earn with this life we are living! That’s the Biblical worldview of this messed-up world – it’s because of sin.

That verse continues, however, with the biggest three-letter word in the Bible – what is it?

“BUT” Oh, we like big “But”s! All the difference in the world is found in that little word!

“The wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

While God’s holiness cannot tolerate sin, and God’s justice demands punishment for that sin, God’s love compels Him to desire fellowship with us in spite of our sin. What we cannot do on our own to satisfy God’s justice, God did by sending Jesus Christ into the world as a human being to live as one of us, and to share in our life situation and experience.

The payment that is due us for our life of sin is death, but instead of giving us what we deserve, God offers us the gift of redemption. He wants to save us from the death that we earned by our sin, and replace it with life – eternal life.

“He saves us.”

The biblical worldview is different from every other because it’s the only one that produces results. Other worldviews look within and try to fix a messed-up world using messed-up world systems. They ask broken, dysfunctional people to find the means of self-redemption within themselves. Have you seen the commercial on television where a doctor is on a phone, and he’s saying, “Now, make a 4 inch incision between the 3^rd and 4^th abdominal muscle.” And there’s a guy on the other end of the phone, in his kitchen, looking at a bunch of steak knives on the table, and he says, “Shouldn’t you be doing this?”

It’s the same way with every other world view. We look around at this messed up world, and they want to tell us that the problems don’t exist, or that we can ignore them and they’ll go away, or that the solutions are within us.

Only the Biblical worldview sees things the way the really are – the problem is within us, but not the solution. The problem is in the human heart, and the Bible addresses the human heart to deal with the guilt, anxiety, compulsions and longings of the heart.

Only the Biblical worldview offers an honest evaluation of the human condition, and a viable plan to address it. Not by self-medication, not by political process, not by wealth redistribution, not by social justice. There’s nothing we can do – except recognize and accept God’s plan for redeeming our messed-up lives, and our messed-up world.

Jesus lived a sinless life and then He died on the cross, satisfying God’s justice. The forgiveness His blood bought satisfies God’s holiness. Then He rose from the dead, giving new life to anyone who trusts in Him. He ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to live within His followers, allowing us to live as we should, knowing His love, proclaiming His truth, seeing the value and dignity of all life, and bringing light to a dark world. God’s holiness and His justice are satisfied so that human beings, and all of creation, can be reconciled to Him. It’s called redemption – God takes what is so messed-up in this world, and in the human condition, and He redeems it, he restores it, makes it new.

The solution is salvation.

Our salvation, however, is much more than just “fire insurance,” allowing us to escape the punishment of hell. Along with the redemption we experience through Christ, there comes a responsibility to serve Him. When the Holy Spirit changes our hearts, He deals with the causes of the world’s problems and He restores our place as God’s children, and He calls us to act as God’s agents in the world, impacting our culture in His name. God saves us to be different, and to make a difference. Our responsibility as a church is to know the truth, believe the truth and to proclaim the truth. And beyond the redemption we experience and the responsibility that we have, comes the privilege to worship Him.

For the remainder of this service, we are going to do just that. We are going to worship Him. While the praise team comes and leads us in songs of praise and worship, we are going to have an opportunity to celebrate the solution to the worlds troubles – the shed blood of Christ. During these songs, as you feel led by the Holy Spirit, you are invited to come to this table and partake of the physical reminders of His broken body and shed blood. For some of you, this may be the first time you’ve come to Gateway Community Church, or the first time we’ve shared communion with you here. Let me extend to you this invitation: If you have experienced the redeeming work of God in your life, by trusting in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. If you have realized that you are hopeless without Him, and have asked Him to save you, not because of any good work you have done, but because of His mercy and grace, then we invite you to come. You don’t have to be a member of Gateway Community Church, but you do need to be a part of the family of God.

It’s possible that you are here this morning and have never asked God to save you. You’ve never admitted that you are powerless to fix this mess alone. You came to this service today as a messed-up part of a messed-up world. If that’s you, I have great news for you! You don’t have to stay messed-up! You can be redeemed – made whole! God wants to clean up the mess, and adopt you as His child, and He wants you to share in His glory. While the songs are playing, while people are singing, while you are sitting there in that chair, you can ask Him to save you, and He will. Then come and join us at this table, remember the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, and worship Him with us! If you do that this morning, please let me know, so that we can talk and pray together after the service.