6/28/17

The Da Vinci Code and the Dead Sea Scrolls by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=798

The Da Vinci Code and the Dead Sea Scrolls

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

The Schøyen Collection MS 1655/1
In 1947, a number of ancient documents were found (by accident) in a cave on the northwest side of the Dead Sea. This collection of documents, which has become known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, was comprised of old leather and papyrus scrolls and fragments that had been rolled up in earthen jars for centuries. From 1949 to 1956, hundreds of Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts and a few Greek fragments were found in surrounding caves, and are believed by scholars to have been written between 200 B.C. and the first half of the first century A.D. Some of the manuscripts were of Jewish apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings (e.g., 1 Enoch, Tobit, and Jubilees); others are often grouped together as “ascetic” writings (miscellaneous books of rules, poetry, commentary, etc.). The most notable group of documents found in the caves of Qumran near the Dead Sea is the collection of Old Testament books. Every book from the Hebrew Bible was accounted for among the scrolls, except the book of Esther.
The Dead Sea Scrolls make up one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all times. Jews and Christians often point to these scrolls as evidence for the integrity of the Old Testament text. Prior to 1947, the earliest known Old Testament manuscripts only went back to about A.D. 1000. With the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Bible scholars have been able to compare the present day text with the text from more than 2,000 years ago. What they have found are copies of Old Testament books separated in time by more than a millennium that are amazingly similar. Indeed, the Old Testament text had been transmitted faithfully through the centuries. As Rene Paché concluded: “Since it can be demonstrated that the text of the Old Testament was accurately transmitted for the last 2,000 years, one may reasonably suppose that it had been so transmitted from the beginning” (1971, p. 191).
So what does all of this have to do with The Da Vinci Code? According to Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate” (2003a, p. 1, emp. added). Yet notice how Brown uses one of his main fictional characters (Leigh Teabing) in the book. In an attempt to disparage the New Testament documents, Teabing alleged the following about them and their relationship to the Dead Sea Scrolls:
“[S]ome of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert” (Brown, 2003a, p. 234).
“These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea Scrolls, which I mentioned earlier,” Teabing said. “The earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible” (p. 244).
Although Brown asserted on the very first page of his book that “[a]ll descriptions of...documents...in this novel are accurate” (emp. added), and even though he claimed “absolutely all” of his book is based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred (see Brown, 2003b), among the many inaccurate statements he made in his book are those quoted above regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Simply put, the Dead Sea Scrolls are not in any way “Christian records;” they are Jewish writings from a Jewish religious sect, most of which predate the time of Christ (and thus Christianity) by several decades, and in some cases one or two centuries. These scrolls contain no “gospels.” In fact, Jesus of Nazareth is never even mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Such a reckless use of one of the greatest biblical archaeological discoveries ever should cause readers to see The Da Vinci Code for what it really is—a fictional novel bent on raising unnecessary suspicion about the trustworthiness of the Bible. Interestingly, the “documents” Brown used in hopes of casting doubt on Christianity, are, in actuality, some of the greatest pieces of evidence for the reliability of the Old Testament. What’s more, the Old Testament was “the Bible” of the early church. It is from these “Scriptures” that first-century Christians gleaned a greater understanding about Jesus, Who, as taught in the Old Testament, was the Christ, the prophesied Messiah (Acts 8:32-35; 17:10-11; 2 Timothy 3:15-17). In that sense, the Hebrew Scriptures contained in the Dead Sea Scrolls collection marvelously “match up with the gospels in the Bible.”

REFERENCES

Brown, Dan (2003a), The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday).
Brown, Dan (2003b), “Today,” NBC, Interview with Matt Lauer, June 9.
Paché, Rene (1971), The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).

"Flying Dragon" Bones and Dinosaur Fossils by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=2847

"Flying Dragon" Bones and Dinosaur Fossils

by Kyle Butt, M.Div.
Evolutionary scientists claim humans and dinosaurs could not possibly have co-existed. They insist that dinosaurs lived millions of years before humans arrived on the scene. Yet the available historical and physical evidence proves that dinosaurs and humans lived together only a few thousand years ago (see Lyons and Butt, 2008). One proof of this fact is the abundance of “dragon legends.” These legends, from all over the world, describe creatures that match many of the dinosaurs and flying reptiles in the fossil record (pp. 13-45).
The evolutionary attempts to explain away the similarities between dinosaurs and the creatures historically labeled as “dragons” fail completely. For example, in the Zhucheng, China area, over 50 metric tons of fossils have been collected, with thousands more fossils still in the ground (Cha, 2010). Dinosaur fossils are so plentiful that paleontologist Xu Xing said they “can even be found in some farmers’ private courtyard areas next to their houses” (2010). Local residents have been “digging up ‘flying dragon’ bones for use in medicinal concoctions for generations” (2010, emp. added). Residents have long associated the dinosaur fossils with the ancient creatures known as “flying dragons.”
It is no mere coincidence that descriptions of dinosaurs and flying reptiles match the ancient descriptions of dragons. As Daniel Cohen stated: “No creature that ever lived looked more like dragons than dinosaurs. Like the dragons, dinosaurs were huge reptiles.... It sounds as though the dragon legend could have begun with dinosaurs” (1975, pp. 104,106). The Bible clearly states that God created all creatures, both flying reptiles and dinosaurs, as well as humans, on days five and six of Creation. The repeated references to dinosaur fossils being connected to dragon legends adds historic evidence to the convincing case that dinosaurs and humans co-existed in the past and were not separated by millions of years.

REFERENCES

Cha, Ariana (2010), “China Spends Billions to Study Dinosaur Fossils at Sites of Major Discoveries,” The Washington Post, January 26, [On-line], URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012503035_pf.html.
Cohen, Daniel (1975), The Greatest Monsters in the World (New York: Dodd, Mead, & Company).
Lyons, Eric and Kyle Butt (2008), The Dinosaur Delusion (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

“Jesus Didn’t Condemn Homosexuality” by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=1627

“Jesus Didn’t Condemn Homosexuality”

by Kyle Butt, M.Div.
By and large, the American culture is aggressively promoting the sinful lifestyle of homosexuality. In the midst of such pressure, many people who call themselves Christians are caving in and accepting this perverted lifestyle in spite of God’s clear teachings against it (Butt, 2003). Just recently, the country singer Carrie Underwood stated that her Christian faith led her to support gay marriage (Nilles, 2012). In truth, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ could never be accurately understood to lead a person to conclude that homosexual marriage is moral (Miller and Harrub, 2004).
One of the most common arguments made in support of homosexuality is that Jesus Christ did not explicitly condemn the practice. Supposedly, since Jesus never stated specifically: “Homosexuality is a sin,” then His failure to denounce the lifestyle can be interpreted to mean that He approved of it. This reasoning is riddled with error.
First, Jesus explained to His followers that He did not have time to teach them everything they needed to know. He told them that the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance all that He had taught, and would include additional teaching that He had not had time to cover. He told His disciples: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth has come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12-13). When we look to the inspired writings of the New Testament, we see the authors boldly and specifically condemning the practice based on the revelation they received from the Holy Spirit (Miller and Harrub, 2004). Thus, it is wrong to suggest that only the “words in red” are Jesus’ teachings. On the contrary, He foretold that more teaching would be done after His return to heaven due to the fact that the apostles “could not bear” all of it at the time.
Second, even if Jesus did not explicitly condemn the practice (though He actually did, as will be noted later), that certainly could not be used as evidence that He condoned the practice. For instance, where does Jesus explicitly state that bestiality is wrong? Where in the New Testament does Jesus state that polygamy is wrong? Where are the “words in red” that specifically condemn pedophilia? Are we to suppose that the Son of God condoned using crystal meth because there is not an explicit statement from Jesus’ mouth that says “do not smoke crystal meth?” The idea that silence from Jesus on a subject means He approved of or condoned the practice cannot be substantiated.
Finally, it must be considered that Jesus did, in fact, speak against homosexuality. On numerous occasions, Jesus condemned the sins of adultery (Matthew 19:18), sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9) and fornication (Matthew 15:19). These terms describe any type of sexual intercourse that is not within the confines of a marriage ordained by God. Jesus then proceeded to define exactly what God views as a morally permissible marriage. He stated:
Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:4-6).
By defining marriage as between one male and one female, Jesus effectively condemned all other arrangements, including but not limited to one man and two women, one woman and two men, three men and one woman, three men and three women, one man and one man, one woman and one animal, etc. You can see the overwhelming logic of such. For Jesus to have to explicitly condemn every assortment of genders and numbers would be absurd. When He defined marriage between one man and one woman, He clearly showed that such an arrangement is the only one authorized by God.
Several years ago a man named Cory Moore “legally married his 2004 Cherry ES-335” Gibson guitar (“Man Marries Guitar,” 2007). He said: “The day I got her, I just knew she was the one…. I know it seems weird, but I really love her—like, really love her, with all my heart. I just wanted to make it official” (2007). Are we to conclude that because Jesus never specifically condemned a man marrying his guitar then the Son of God approved of such? To ask is to answer. In 2006, 41-year-old Sharon Tendler married a dolphin (“Woman Marries Dolphin,” 2006). Jesus never said one word explicitly about refraining from marrying a dolphin. Does that mean His “silence” should be viewed as approval? Not in any way.
Homosexuality is a sin. It always has been, and it always will be. The inspired New Testament writers repeatedly teach that to be the case. Jesus explained that the Holy Spirit would bring to the inspired writers information that they could not handle at the time of His departing. In addition, Jesus did explicitly define marriage as being between one man and one woman. The ruse to suggest that Jesus approves of homosexuality because He never expressly condemned it cannot be sustained logically, nor can it be defended on any type of moral grounds. The person who presumes to claim to be a Christian, and yet supports homosexuality, misunderstands the teachings of Christ and needs to repent and stop approving of a perverted, destructive practice that Jesus condemns (Matthew 19:1-9).

REFERENCES

Butt, Kyle (2003), “Homosexuality—Sin, or Cultural Bad Habit?” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=7&article=1239.
“Man Marries Guitar” (2007), http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/865688.
Miller, Dave and Brad Harrub (2004), “An Investigation of the Biblical Evidence Against Homosexuality,” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/apPubPage.aspx?pub=1&issue=557.
Nilles, Billy (2012), “Carrie Underwood Reveals She Supports Gay Marriage,” http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2012/06/11/carrie-underwood-supports-gay-marriage-christian/.
“Woman Marries Dolphin” (2006), http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/woman-marries-dolphin/2006/01/01/1136050339590.html.

How Old Were Ahaziah and Jehoiachin When They Began Their Respective Reigns? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=744&b=2%20Kings

How Old Were Ahaziah and Jehoiachin When They Began Their Respective Reigns?

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

In 2 Kings 8:26 we read that Ahaziah, the sixth king of Judah, was twenty-two years old when he began his reign. However, in the book of 2 Chronicles, the Bible indicates that he was forty-two years old when he became king (22:2). Furthermore, in 2 Kings 24:8 we read where Jehoiachin succeeded his father as the nineteenth king of Judah at the age of eighteen, yet 2 Chronicles 36:9 informs us that he was “eight years old when he became king.” How is it that both of these kings are said to have begun their respective reigns at different times in their lives? Was Ahaziah twenty-two or forty-two when he became king? And was Jehoiachin merely eight years old when he began his rule over Judah, or was he eighteen as 2 Kings 24:8 indicates? How do we know which numbers are correct? And more important, how does the believer, who regards the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, explain these differences?
Fortunately, there is enough additional information in the biblical text to prove the correct age of both men when they began their particular reigns over Judah. (Ahaziah ruled Judah around 841 B.C., and Jehoiachin almost 250 years later in 598 B.C.) Earlier, in 2 Kings 8:17-18, the author mentions that Ahaziah’s father (Jehoram) was 32 when he became king, and died eight years later at the age of 40 (2 Chronicles 21:5, 20). Obviously, Ahaziah could not have been 42 at the time of his father’s death at age 40, since that would make the son (Ahaziah) two years older than his father (Jehoram). Thus, the correct reading of Ahaziah’s age is “twenty-two,” not “forty-two.” There also is little doubt that Jehoiachin began his reign at eighteen, not eight years of age. This conclusion is established by Ezekiel 19:5-9, where Jehoiachin appears as going up and down among the lions, catching the prey, devouring men, and knowing the widows of the men he devoured and the cities he wasted. As Keil and Delitzsch observed when commenting on this passage: “The knowing of widows cannot apply to a boy of eight, but might well be said of a young man of eighteen” (1996). Furthermore, it is doubtful that an eight-year-old child would be described as one having done “evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 24:9).
Even though it is possible to know the ages of Ahaziah and Jehoiachin when they began their respective reigns in Judah, the ages of these two kings in Chronicles are incorrect. Are these legitimate mistakes? Are we to conclude, based upon these two verses in 2 Chronicles, that the Bible is not from God? What shall we say to such questions?
The simple answer to these queries is that a copyist, not an inspired writer, made these mistakes. In the case of Ahaziah, a copyist simply wrote twenty instead of forty, and in Jehoiachin’s situation (2 Chronicles 36:9), the scribe just omitted a ten, which made Jehoiachin eight instead of eighteen. This does not mean the Bible had errors in the original manuscripts, but it does indicate that minor scribal errors have slipped into some copies of the Bible. [If you have ever seen the Hebrew alphabet, you will notice that the Hebrew letters (which were used for numbers) could be confused quite easily.] Supporting this answer to the “number problems” in Chronicles are various ancient manuscripts such as the Syriac, the Arabic, at least one Hebrew manuscript, and a few of the Septuagint manuscripts—all of which contain the correct ages for these kings in 2 Chronicles (22 and 18 rather than 42 and 8). Based upon this evidence, and from the fact that the ages of Ahaziah and Jehoiachin given in the Massoretic text of Chronicles are incorrect, the translators of the NIV decided to translate 2 Chronicles 22:2 and 36:9 as “twenty-two” and “eighteen” rather than the way most other English versions of the Bible read (“forty-two” and “eight”).
Although history records that copyists were meticulously honest in handling the text of the Bible, they, like all humans, made mistakes from time to time. Yet, even though technical mistakes in copying the text were made by these scribes of old, three important facts remain: (1) accurate communication still is possible; (2) many times one can find the correct reading by investigating ancient manuscripts such as those listed above; and (3) errors in copies of the Bible do not mean that those errors were in the original manuscripts written by inspired men.
*For a general background of this article, see our foundational essay on copyists’ errors.
REFERENCES
Keil, C.F. and F. Delitzsch (1996), Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament (Electronic Database: Biblesoft), new updated edition.

“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). by Roy Davison

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/boasting.html

“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord”
(1 Corinthians 1:31).

What does it mean to glory in something?
One rejoices with pride about something. This can be either good or bad. In a negative sense the same word is translated as “to boast”. Rather than being proud about something we have done, we ought to glory in what God has done.
Man has no reason to boast before God: “No flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Corinthians 1:29). To support this, Paul quotes from Jeremiah:
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich manglory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth” (Jeremiah 9:23, 24).

Bragging is sin.
Boasting is a form of dishonesty. One praises himself for something God has done and for which God deserves the glory. Intelligence, power and wealth are gifts from God. “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). God’s gifts are reason for humble gratitude, not for boasting.

We may not glory in worldly wisdom.
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness’; and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ Therefore let no one boast in men” (1 Corinthians 3:18-21).
Rather than glorying in the ever-shifting wisdom of this world we should seek wisdom from above, wisdom from God, the wisdom of lovingkindness, justice and righteousness. “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).
Glorying in worldly wisdom can hinder us from being saved. “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and sanctification and redemption - that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).

We may not glory in worldly power.
Whatever power anyone has, is granted by God. When Pilot said to Jesus: “Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus replied, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:10, 11).
Our lives are in God’s hands. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13-16).

We may not glory in worldly wealth.
“The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21). “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
“Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits” (James 1:9-11).

We glory in God’s salvation.
Paul wrote: “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). 
Salvation by grace excludes boasting. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Salvation comes to us in Christ through baptism: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26, 27).
Baptism, “the washing of regeneration,” is itself a gift of God’s grace, not a work of righteousness: “When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
By the glory of the Father, we rise to walk in newness of life from baptism: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3, 4).

What have we learned?
“He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). Man has no reason to boast before God. Bragging is sin. We may not glory in worldly wisdom, worldly power or worldly wealth because all that we have is a gift from God. We boast only in God’s salvation by grace. As Christians, we can say with Paul: “I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God” (Romans 15:17). Amen.
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
http://www.oldpaths.com
Song segment from
"How deep the Father's love"
by Stuart Townend.
(c)1995 by Kingsway's Thankyou Music.
Sung by the McCoy Family Singers.
I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart,
His wounds have paid my ransom.

Cut that cord by Gary Rose

Sin; it will restrict you, it will control you, it will get you to do things you hate and will ultimately KILL YOU!!!  Get rid of it, go to Jesus for help; that is why he came to earth in the first place! 

Cut the cord, change your ways, do what you have to do- NOW!!! And once you do, you will be free to reach your full potential (now would be a good time to view the picture).

But, what if you are already a Christian? 

Listen to the words of Paul, the Apostle of Jesus...


Romans, Chapter 6 (WEB)
 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?  3 Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.  5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be part of his resurrection;  6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.  7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.  8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;  9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him!  10 For the death that he died, he died to sin one time; but the life that he lives, he lives to God.  11 Thus consider yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

  12 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.  13 Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (emp. added vss. 12-13) 14 For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. 


Don't try to live the Christian life and the non-christian one at the same time. You became a Christian to follow Christ, so do it. You can't hold hands with the Devil and walk with Christ at the same time!!! 

Cut the cord of sin- once and for all; LIVE FOR CHRIST AND CHRIST ALONE!!! JUST DO IT!!!

6/26/17

"THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS" The Empathetic Christian (12:15) by Mark Copeland 

                      "THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS"

                    The Empathetic Christian (12:15)

INTRODUCTION

1. In the twelfth chapter of Romans, we find answers to questions such
   as...
   a. What is indicative of a true transformation?
   b. What constitutes God's good, acceptable, and perfect will for the
      Christian?

2. We have seen in previous lessons that it includes...
   a. Fulfilling our function in the body of Christ - Ro 12:3-8
   b. Love without hypocrisy, while abhorring what is evil - Ro 12:9
   c. Loving brethren with family affection, esteeming one another
      highly - Ro 12:10
   d. Serving the Lord diligently, with fervency of spirit - Ro 12:11
   e. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, steadfast in prayer
      - Ro 12:12
   f. Having fellowship in the needs of the saints, pursing hospitality
      toward strangers - Ro 12:13
   g. To bless those who persecute us - Ro 12:14

3. Now we note the twofold exhortation...
   a. "Rejoice with those who rejoice" - Ro 12:15a
   b. "Weep with those who weep" - Ro 12:15b

[In this text we are called to display the virtue of "empathy" towards
one another.  What this entails will be the focus of our study...]

I. DEFINING EMPATHY

   A. COMPARED TO SYMPATHY...
      1. Sympathy - An inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree
         with an opinion
      2. Empathy - Understanding and entering into another's feelings
      -- One may be sympathetic while not empathetic; the latter
         requires a deeper emotional involvement than the former

   B. ITS PLACE IN THE CHURCH...
      1. The Lord intended such connection between the members of His
         Body ("if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it")
         - 1Co 12:26
      2. "This command grows out of the doctrine stated in Ro 12:4,5
         that the church is one; that it has one interest; and therefore
         that there should be common sympathy in its joys and sorrows."
         - Barnes
      -- If we are truly one, members of the same body, then we will be
         empathetic towards one another

[Our text commands two ways to demonstrate empathy; we have several
examples of individuals...]

II. DEMONSTRATING EMPATHY

   A. REJOICING WITH THOSE WHO REJOICE...
      1. Neighbors and friends of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist
         - Lk 1:58
      2. Barnabas at Antioch, when he saw the grace of the Lord at work
         - Ac 11:23
      -- Two good examples of sharing in others' happiness and success
         without envy or jealousy

   B. WEEPING WITH THOSE WHO WEEP...
      1. David with his sick friends - Ps 35:13,14
      2. Jesus with the family and friends of Lazarus grieving over his
         death - Jn 11:33-35
      3. Paul with his weak and stumbling brethren - 2Co 11:29
      4. Christians with their brethren in prison - He 13:3
      -- People of God truly understanding and entering into the
         feelings of their friends and brethren

[The quality of empathy certainly prepares one to be of greater service
to those around them.  How can we rise above simple sympathy for others
to truly become "The Empathetic Christian"...?]

III. DEVELOPING EMPATHY

   A. TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF OUR MINDS...
      1. We must submit to the transformation that comes by renewing our
         minds - cf. Ro 12:1-2
      2. Which will involve the development of such graces as:
         a. Being kindly affectionate to one another in brotherly love
            - Ro 12:10a
         b. Giving preference to one another in honor - Ro 12:10b
      -- Note how being affectionate aids in being able to weep, and
         learning to give preference will enable us to rejoice

   B. DEVELOPING THE MIND OF CHRIST...
      1. Note the virtues that characterize the mind of Christ - cf. Ph
         2:3-5
         a. Doing nothing through selfish ambition or conceit
         b. In lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than oneself
         c. Looking out for the interest of others
      2. Note the goal of having the mind of Christ - Php 2:2
         a. To be like-minded
         b. To have the same love
         c. To be of one accord, of one mind
      3. Note what having the mind of Christ is necessary for to
         experience - Php 2:1-2a
         a. Consolation in Christ
         b. Comfort of love
         c. Fellowship of the Spirit
         d. Affection and mercy
         e. Fullness of joy
      -- As one develops the mind of Christ, there will be no envy or
         jealousy to prevent true empathy; with the mind of Christ, we
         will be able to truly rejoice and weep!

CONCLUSION

1. It is God's good, acceptable and perfect will that Christians be a people...
   a. Who are glad when others rejoice
   b. Who are moved when others weep
   -- For only then can we be useful in sharing the joy and comfort of
      Christ with others

2. Are we truly an "empathetic" people?  The development and display of
   true empathy will greatly...
   a. Increase our usefulness to the Master
   b. Enhance the fellowship we have in the Lord
   -- Simple sympathy is not enough; we must be able to understand and
      enter into one another's feelings!

Develop the mind of Christ, be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
and you cannot help but become "The Empathetic Christian"...!

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2016

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