Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Radically Normal Christian: *

*/Part II: Work, Ministry, and the OT/*

*Genesis 1:26-31*

*/September 18, 2011/*

 

* *

*Prep: *

·         158,

·         FB, Keith Green

 

Facebook:

 

 

*Objectives of sermon:*

·         Dignify work

·         Glorify God @ work

·         Teach about the OT

 

Prayer

 

*Scripture reading: Matt 28:18-20*

 

 

The Great COMMISSION

 

Q   How many of have heard of *Keith* *Green*?

That’s going back a bit.

Keith was one of the most important Christian artists of the 70’s and 80’s and his influence is still felt among modern Christian.

·         Keith proclaimed a very *radical*, *stoic* faith, no compromise, everyone is a *complacent* *Christian* and needs to *repent*.

After his death at age 28, many people would hold “*memorial* *concerts*,” watching one of his concerts on video and ending with a call to prayer or missions.

I remember watching it and feeling *deeply* *convicted* by one part that I still remember with clarity:

 

*Matthew 28:18-20 *  18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“If you are not called to stay, you are called to go.

You don’t need a call, you are already called.

Unless you have received a definite called to stay, then you are *called* go.” [1]

\\ If you listen it, as I did again, it is very *convincing* and *impassioned*.

He makes you feel like if you aren’t making plans to get on the mission field that afternoon, you are in disobedience, being a *nominal* *Christian*.

·         I caught myself asking if I was *REALLY* *called* to stay! \\ \\

This isn’t new to Keith Green, it is an undercurrent throughout the church.

The *Catholic* *Church* elevated *priests* and *monks* as super-Christians.

The idea is the priests were the *professional* *Christians* and everyone else just lived a normal life.

The *Reformation* emphasized that all of us are ministers, but I think what has happened is that we now expect *all* to be *professional* *Christians*.

On *Facebook*, I asked if people had felt guilty or like they were “less than obedient” for just having a normal job.

·         A college friend felt like a *failure* because he’s not a pastor.

·         *Sharis* and my *DTS* *reentry* (BTW: I was invited to write an article on this on a YWAM website).

*Evangelicals* try to *help* us out a bit: And if you are not in *real* *ministry*, then you can mostly make it up by being a really *good* *witness* to your co-workers, doing *volunteer* *ministry*, and *financially* *supporting* missions.

I want to call all of this *into* *question*.

I think Keith Green was wrong, I think that we are *wrong*: Work, of itself, is deeply *meaningful* and part *God’s* *intent* for us, entirely apart from any “ministry” aspect.

·         I want to show you that the very fact of *working* *hard*, being *ambitious*, and pursuing *excellence* is God’s plan for you.

The OT is the Bible

 

But first I need to teach you a *key* *principle* for understanding the Bible that has totally changed how I read the Bible and I hope it will *forever* *change* how you read.

·         This entire project *started* out very *differently*, more stoic, but preaching through the OT has changed me.

This entire idea of “Radically Normal” is driven by a very radical premise: The *OT* is as *much* the *Bible* as is the *NT*.

Actually, that is not so radical.

It is basic, orthodox Christianity.

But Christians act as if the OT is not really the Bible.

We treat the OT like the *preface* of the book, that part that no one reads and doesn’t even get real page numbers.

·         But to Peter, Paul, James, and the guys who wrote the NT, the OT *was* their *Bible*.

If you asked them, they would say the OT was the Bible and their writings were the *appendices* added to the end to explain some pretty important implication of God becoming a man a dying and raising from the dead.

Ignoring the OT

 

Christians have a long history have having a *hard* *time* *understanding* the OT and hence *ignoring* it:

 

·         *Marcion* removed it from the Bible.

·         Many say that it is all the *old* covenant and we are now under the *new* *covenant*.

·         Others say that the *purpose* of the *OT* was to simply to *prepare* us for Christ and the NT (I used to hold to this).

·         *Most* people *just* *ignore* it, except for the stories and one-liners that we like.

But none of this matches how Jesus and the Apostles treat the OT.

They *quote* from it, *base* their *lives* and *theology* on it.

Jesus himself says:

 

*Matthew 5:17-19 *  17 ¶ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Yes, “they” say, but he *did* *accomplish* it, so now it is abolished.

But even a basic understanding of the OT demonstrates that *not* *everything* was *accomplished*.

·         Pieces of it were, especially the *dividing* *line* between Jews and Gentiles, hence the need for the NT.

Furthermore, that the *Apostles* didn’t think the OT was abolished.

It’s very telling that the Epistles almost never quote Jesus, they *quote* *extensively* from the OT.

NOt REPEATING the OT

 

This whole idea that the OT is equally authoritative and applicable to us is *very* *important* for *many* *reasons*, but here is one thought that forever changes how you read the Bible:

 

·         Because NT wasn’t written to *replace* the *OT* but to *add* to it, the NT author wrote assuming that you would also read the OT.

The NT authors were *silent* on many topics because they assumed you would read the OT and there was no need to repeat:

 

·         They barely talk about *parenting* because it is in the OT.

·         Little positive instruction is given on *sex*, it’s in the OT.

·         There’s very little about *day* *to* *day* life, it’s in the OT.

A NT Christianity?

One of the biggest difference between the OT and NT is the *OT* tends to *emphasize* *earthly*, *temporal* realities and the *NT* the *spiritual*, *eternal* *realities*.

·         Separate from each other, they are both *out* of *balance*; together they give us a *complete* *picture*.

Can you see how important it is for us *read*, *study*, *understand*, and *apply* the *OT* as well as the NT?

A Christianity that is weak on the OT will be *too* *concerned* about the *spiritual* and not concerned enough with the *earthly*.

·         A *NT*-*only* *Christianity* is a *stoic* *Christianity*.

The authors of the *NT* *could* *emphasis* the spiritual side because they knew the *OT* would *balance* them out.

Little did they know we would *stop* *reading* it!

·         Yes I know that the OT is *more* *challenging* to read, but it is worth it – if nothing else, read *Psalms* and *Proverbs*.

The 1st Commission

 

And now, with that background, we can talk about why *Keith* *Green* was so wrong:

 

I have talked about how I enjoy by second job at *Starbucks*.

After 14 years of ministry, preceded by 4 years of college, it is good to be back in the “real world.”

But early on I really struggled with the ordinariness of the job: How *spiritual* is making *coffee*?

What is the eternal value of mopping a floor?

*Most* *pastors* will say that all work can be ministry and every Christian can and should be a minister wherever they are.

I have frequently said that, but it’s different now that *I* am the one with the *secular* *job*!

 

·         I am being forced to think through the *spiritual* value of work on a very *personal* *level*.

I clearly remember *mopping* underneath the coffee display case, I was thinking about this whole “Radically Normal Christian” project, specifically the OT thing.

But then I was hit by this wave doubt – mopping seemed so less important.

·         Then it hit me – I am pretty sure it was the Holy Spirit – that this applied directly to my work at Starbucks.

The *first* *commission* that God gave his people was not “Go into all the world...” (Matt.

28:18-20), but

 

*Genesis 1:26-31 * 26 ¶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”