Extreme Theology

The Final Day

This edition of Extreme Sunday School looks at The Day that Jesus Returns

Click Here to Download the MP3 Audio File

Originally taught at Capo Valley Church, San Juan Capistrano, California on Sunday, November 27th, 2005.

In the Last Days...

This edition of Extreme Sunday School looks at The Apostasy of the Church at the End of Days.

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Originally taught at Capo Valley Church, San Juan Capistrano, California on Sunday, November 20th, 2005.

Forgiveness of Sins Offered In Exchange for Military Service

I recently viewed the History Channel’s two part story of the Crusades entitled “The Crusades: The Crescent and the Cross”.

As I watched the program I was astounded by the offer that Pope Urban II made to those soldiers who volunteered for the 1st Crusade. Said Urban in his rallying speech, “All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins.” Basically, Urban II was offering the forgiveness of sins in exchange for military service. This leads to an interesting question…

Did Pope Urban II have the authority to ‘sell’ the forgiveness of sins to the soldiers of the 1st Crusade?

According to the scriptures, Jesus Christ is already offering the remission of all sins to anyone who believes and trusts in Him. The forgiveness that Jesus is offering is FREE and offered as a GIFT. So, if it is already free, how on Earth could any Pope even attempt to attach a price to it, whether that is military service or money?

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is 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.”

In the Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul makes a point of saying that the forgiveness of sins is NOT like a wage at all. In fact, Paul makes it clear that the concepts of “gift” and “wage” are mutually exclusive. Here is what he said…

Romans 4:4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

The bible contains a wealth of other passages that teach that the forgiveness of all of our sins is being offered to us for free through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

Acts 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Acts 13:38 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.

Acts 26:17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Eph. 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

Col. 1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

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In light of these passages it is clear that Pope Urban II was out of line to offer the remission of sins in exchange for military service.

But, how about you? Does your church teach you that the forgiveness of all of your sins is free or does it teach you that you have to earn forgiveness through some kind of service or good works?

Created in Christ for Good Works

A Sermon on Good Works by Rev. Paul T. McCain

Opening Comment by Chris Rosebrough: In light of my current discussions with people across the internet regarding the role of good works in the Christian life, I am posting this sermon from a Missouri Synod Lutheran pastor who gets it right. I hope you get as much from this sermon as I have.

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Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

We are God’s Workmanship

The Scriptures nowhere teach that the reason people go to heaven, or the reason God loves people is because of what they do for God. There are many ways to twist and distort verses that talk about good works to make it seem that way, but it is false and misleading dream that by our good works we gain heaven! It is also false and misleading to believe that it is because of something in us, or about us, or because of us, that God chooses to make us His own.

We are God’s workmanship. That means that we are the clay, and God is the potter, as the Scriptures say. It means that we are a new creation in Christ, as St. Paul says elsewhere.

Sometimes you can remodel a house and fix a room, or install new cabinet fronts to old kitchen cabinets, and it looks great! But that’s not what God does. God is not a remodeler. God is a rebuilder, from the ground up!

He created us and gave us our body, souls, eyes, ears, reason and all our senses, and He still preserves them. He does that for everyone, both Christians and non-Christians. He does this purely out of His goodness and mercy as the Heavenly Father, there is nothing worthy or of any merit in us that causes us to do this.

From the moment we are born, we are involved in a life-long struggle with sin. It clings to the bodies God has given to us, because we are born of flesh, sinful human flesh. There was only one person in the history of the world who was not born into sin, and that was our Lord Jesus Christ. He was born supernaturally, of a virgin, by the direct action of the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Mary. All others born of flesh naturally share in the same judgment pronounced on all human flesh. The Bible says very plainly: "The soul that sins shall die, and, We are by nature children of wrath, we are, the Bible says, as we are born into this world actually enemies of God!"

Nothing is hidden from God’s sight. He knows all things. He knows about all the excuses you and I make to justify ourselves before others, or in our own eyes. He knows about each and every time we have ever violated and trampled His holy law. He knows everything about you and me. He knows those things we would want nobody else ever to know, the thoughts, the things we have done. He knows your sinful condition better even than you do, or I do. We gaze into the mirror of God’s perfect law, that perfect, holy reality, and we can do nothing but beg for mercy and say with that man in the temple Jesus spoke about, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” With David we cry out, “I said I will confess my sins unto the Lord” and “Create in me a new heart O God.” And God hears our cries for mercy.

So, God is our creator, yes, but what is more, he is our redeemer and the one who makes us holy. How? In Christ.

We are God’s workmanship. . . He is the master builder. Right in the midst of our old sinful flesh, our stinking rotten sinful humanity, comes the Lord of Life, Jesus Christ, true God of God and light of light. Into this fallen world, he sets up His shop. He pitches the tent of His humanity among us and through that human flesh that He assumed as perfect God, he lived perfectly, fulfilling everything thing that we could not, living in our place, actively obeying the Heavenly Father, doing all things well. Then He presented Himself for torture and beating, whipping and punishment, on the cross, by which He paid the price for the entire world’s sins. By that death which atoned for all sins, which made things right with God, He has won for us the righteousness which God gives to us as a gift. He imputes, He gives, He bestows, God clothes us with Christ’s own holiness, won by His blood, the blood that cleanses us from all sins. And how precisely does that blood shed then come to us now? Through Word and Baptism and Supper. To each of us God comes in great power and showers on us the gift of forgiveness, and where there is forgiveness there is also life and salvation.

We are God’s workmanship! We always will be. We always are. Throughout our life we are struggling against the old sinful nature. We never reach a point where we can say, “There, we are done. We are finished. We have arrived.” No, the good news of the Gospel is good news from the moment of birth to the moment of our death, because each and every moment of our lives is lived entirely as a result of God’s ongoing workmanship within us, by grace, through faith, for the sake of Christ alone, delivered and made ours through the sure and certain external word of the Gospel and the Gospel sacraments. Therefore . . .Paul continues . . .

Created in Christ Jesus for good works

In Holy Baptism, we are created in Christ Jesus, what a joyful and wonderful truth! We are created in the holy, perfect, innocent Son of God, the one whose sufferings and death won for us eternal salvation and a life right here and now that is lived through Him and for Him . . .a life of good works. A key concept here is the truth St. Paul wrote about in another place in the Bible, “If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation!” We are created in Christ Jesus.

In Christ Jesus. That’s what Christian life is all about. Our pastors told us earlier in this sermon series that it is not about you, it is all about Jesus. That is so important for us to hear. We are created IN Christ Jesus. In Him, in His holy wounds we find perfect peace and healing. We are created in him . . .for good works. When you think about it, that’s kind of a no brainer, isn’t it? What else would we be created for? But there is so much confusion on this point, even among Christians, perhaps especially among Christians.

Some people think that Christianity is a perfect philosophy that will help us figure out all of life’s mysteries. Not so! There will be a lot of things we can never understand. Other people think that Christianity is a moral code for living. Not quite. Of course the values and morals of Christianity are right, good, perfect and noble. But non-Christians can live very moral lives. I’m sure we could find among non-Christians many people who from all outward appearances live very good and noble lives, perhaps even better than you and me, so Christianity is not about morality, first and foremost.

So, we have to be very careful when talking about good works that we not leave ourselves or anyone else with the impression that only Christians can be “good” and “decent” people in the eyes of world.

The key to understanding good works is the first part of the phrase, “Created in Christ Jesus” – that is where we begin, continue and end this discussion. In Christ, for you see, our lives of Christian holiness, or sanctification, as we traditionally call is, is still . . .all about Jesus. But, oh, how we want it to be about us, don’t we? I want to say, “Come on God, I’m a fairly decent person. I can do great things for you!” But then reality comes crashing in again as God reminds me of all the times I have failed and continue to fail. That is why we rejoice to hear that the life of good works to which we are called is a life that is in Christ Jesus. For only in Christ is a work truly good.

Let me say that again. Only in Christ Jesus is a work truly good! It may appear good to people around us, and from a human perspective, it may actually be good. But, what makes a work good in the view of God? Only that work that is done by one who is in Christ Jesus. Do you remember what the prophet Isaiah had to say about all those things we think we do that are righteous? He says that in comparison to the holiness of God, even the very best things we think we can do, under our own power, by our own choice, are still nothing but filthy rags! Wow, that’s discouraging, or is it?

In Christ, I am a new creation, but I am always in Christ. When he grabbed me and claimed me and made me His own in Holy Baptism, he washed me clean of my sin. He said, “Paul, from this day forward you are crucified with Christ. You are no longer living, but Christ lives in you and the life you now are living in the flesh, you are living by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself up for you.” And you say the same thing!

Therefore any works I do which are good, are works done in Christ. So you see, it still is all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The life of sanctification is really all about life IN CHRIST. Now just about life, not about what I think is right, or what feels right, or what seems right and good and proper, but life IN CHRIST.

So, we come to the third point of Paul’s statement, and the last and final explanation of what we mean by “Be what you have become in Christ.”

Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

We understand that we have been created in Christ for good works, in fact, that is a given, a reality of life in Christ. In Christ we are good, therefore, works done in him are good. Ok, so far so good. But what works? How do we know what to do? Do we just let our conscience be our guide? Well, yes, but also no. We can't go very long if we rely simply on our feelings or opinions or hunches. Thanks be to God, we do not have to do that.

God has prepared works for us beforehand, that we should walk in them. What works? When was this done? How do we know which works to walk in?

God has provided the answers in His Word. We are to walk in those things pleasing to God. And what are those? They are best summarized in the Ten Commandments. Life in Christ is about honoring God above all else, cherishing and using His name rightly, honoring the Word of God and worshipping Him only, obeying parents and others in authority, not hurting or harming our neighbor in any way, keeping pure and undefiled the marriage bed, loving and honoring our spouse and honoring God’s gift of sexuality within marriage, not stealing nor doing anything to harm our neighbor’s property or livelihood, not coveting anything that belongs to our neighbor.

Do we sit around trying to dream up great things for God? Well, no. Rather, we set our hands to what is before us. Some people have a really unfortunate view of the Christian life. They think that there are “church” things that are really holy and special and good, and then there are just regular old, day-in and day-out things that aren’t really special and don’t really count for much. Well, maybe not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God, the humble Christian man or woman who goes about his or her duty in life, serving and loving the neighbor is doing more good works than all the monks in all the monasteries in the world can ever do.

I’m really concerned about this. Let me explain. When I was serving a parish in Iowa I preached a sermon about living out our lives for Christ in the place in life we find ourselves, in our various callings, or vocations, in the station in life we are put. I told the congregation that a mother or father who changes a baby’s diapers, a child who obeys his or her parents, a man who goes out every morning at 4:30 and and again in the evening at 5:00 to milk the cows is performing a wonderful, glorious work for God, because these things are done in Christ, as one who is in Christ by grace. I had people in tears afterwards telling me that they had never heard such things. They had been led to believe that only if they were on church property doing "church" things were those really good works. It is a new monasticism friends, this attitude that "doing things for God" happens when they are "church things" -- at church, and so forth.

We are so tempted to believe that it is only the “best” and the “brightest” and the “glitziest” works that really count. Oh, if only I could be a pastor, then I could really serve God. Well, not in anyway to diminish the office of the holy ministry, but how tragic that perspective is! We are called to do the works God has set before us, had prepared beforehand for us to do, and those works are clearly outlined in His Word, in the Ten Commandments and anywhere else the Scriptures give us direction and encouragement.

We do good works because we are created to do good works because we are created in Christ. Life in Christ means a life lived to his honor and to his glory, doing those things He wants us to do, not because by doing them we are earning our way into his good graces, or earning brownie points, or building up frequent flyer miles for heaven, no, rather, it is our duty to serve and praise, thank and obey Him. How do we praise and thank our God for the wonderful salvation and new life He gives? We serve and obey Him, according to His Word, in those works prepared for us beforehand, those works which we do because we have been created in Christ as God’s workmanship.

Are Christians to be concerned about doing good works? Yes, they are. Why? Because this is who they have become in Christ. As St. Paul says in Galatians 2, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

Dear child of God, baptized and cleansed, you are His workmanship. By grace, you have been saved, as a gift from God, this is not anything you have done. There is no room, or reason, for boasting. When we were dead in our trespassess and sins, God made us alive together with Christ. We were buried with Christ, by baptism, into death, and as Christ was raised, so we also were raised to a new life, raised with Christ. Therefore, we are God's workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Enjoy the walk!

To Him be all glory, forever and ever, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns to all eternity, One God, forever and ever. Amen.

The Fad Driven Church

Here is a great radio program discussing the 'Fad Driven Church'. Very thought provoking and worth the listen.

Click Here to listen to the first hour.

Click Here to listen to the second hour.

A Sign of the Last Days?

For decades Christians have been scouring the newspapers and headlines and filtering them through the symbols of the book of Revelation to determine if we’re in the last of the last days. Their goal is to be the first to definitively tell the world that Jesus is coming in a particular decade, year, month or day. The theories that have been manufactured from those who specialize in apocalyptic symbols have spanned the spectrum from the absurd and entertaining to the academic and scholarly.

As for me, I’ve decided that I really stink at interpreting the symbols of Revelation. As a result I’ve become a ‘Pan-Millennialist’. That basically means that I believe that Jesus’ return is imminent but that all the details will ‘pan out’ in the end.

As a result of my lack of creativity when it comes Revelation, I’ve limited my end-times speculations to those passages that are far easier to interpret. Ironically, I’ve made a startling discovery! A discovery that would easily be overlooked by those who are determined to unlock the secrets of the whore of Babylon, the dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and the mark of the beast.

Here’s my discovery…The state of teaching and preaching in Christian churches is a far more accurate bell-weather of the last times than the newspaper headlines. I admit that hurricanes and suicide bombings are far more dramatic and scary. But, the clearest passages of scripture that predict the return of Christ actually deal with the content of pulpit preaching in the last days.

Not sure if you believe me? Let me show you from scripture what I’ve discovered.

Prophecy 1: The State of Humanity in the Last Days

In 2 Timothy 3:1-7 the Apostle Paul describes dominant characteristics of humans and society in the ‘last days’. Here is what he says, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."

Wow! That sounds a lot like the current citizens of America and Western Europe. But the story doesn’t end there. There’s a second part to this prophecy.

Prophecy 2: The Church Stops Preaching Sound Doctrine

In 2 Timothy 4:1-4 the apostle Paul describes that state of pulpit preaching in the last days. As it turns out, rather than being salt and light, the church alters its message and caters to those who are lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud and abusive. Here’s what the Apostle Paul prophesied, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Did you catch verse 3?? It says, “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.”

Rick Warren’s latest call for a reformation of ‘Deeds instead of Creeds’ has me wondering. Is Rick Warren fulfilling Paul’s end-times prophecies?

Compare what the Apostle Paul prophesied with what Rick Warren said in his interview with beliefnet.com. Said Warren, “I’m looking for a second reformation. The first reformation of the church 500 years ago was about beliefs. This one is going to be about behavior. The first one was about creeds. This one is going to be about deeds. It is not going to be about what does the church believe, but about what is the church doing.”

It is alarming that Pastor Rick Warren is publicly abandoning sound doctrine and is actively attacking the creeds. In their place he is teaching the myth that your ‘deeds’ are what makes you pleasing to God. This is the same myth that the Pharisees taught and the same myth that Islam teaches and all other false religions teach.

Is this a sign that we are in the ‘last days’?

Warren’s Interview on Beliefnet.com

Warning: This post is controversial. Please read this site's disclaimer should you be offended by what you read.

Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Live” and pastor of Saddleback Church was recently interviewed by Beliefnet.com, which is a spiritual smorgasbord website of feel good spirituality. The beliefnet.com website offers inspirational articles for followers of every religion or spiritual preference. If you don’t have a religion then you can use beliefnet’s “Belief-O-Matic’ 20 point questionnaire to identify the religion that is best for you. (I am not making this up)

Being interviewed by a website like Beliefnet provided Pastor Warren an opportunity to tell the confused and lost readers of this website about the saving work of Jesus Christ, to share the Gospel message of the free-forgiveness of sins because of Jesus' shed blood on the cross, and to share the message that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and the only way of salvation. Did Warren do that? Not even close!

Rather than share the gospel, Warren instead shared his desire to create a 2nd Reformation, a reformation of deeds instead of creeds. Yup, that’s right. In Warren’s own words, it doesn’t matter what you believe, what matters is what you do. Here’s exactly what Pastor Rick told this new age spiritual website, “I’m looking for a second reformation. The first reformation of the church 500 years ago was about beliefs. This one is going to be about behavior. The first one was about creeds. This one is going to be about deeds. It is not going to be about what does the church believe, but about what is the church doing.” Click here to hear this in Rick's own words

Later in the interview Rick made a point of talking about the five things Jesus did here on earth. Sadly, Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead didn’t make Warren’s list. Here’s Warren’s list, “It's the five things Jesus did when he was here on earth. The first thing he did was he planted a church. The second thing he did was equip leaders. He spent three years training these disciples. The third thing he did was he cared for the poor. In fact, in his very first sermon, he says, "I am here to preach the good news to the poor.” He cared for the poor. Fourth, he healed the sick. One-third of his ministry was a health ministry. The fifth thing is he taught. Particularly he cared about the next generation.”Click here to hear this in Rick's own words

Warren’s list misses the whole point of Jesus life and message to the world. First of all I think that feeding the poor is a noble thing to do. But, filling people’s bellies with food is only a short-term fix to a far more serious problem. In Matthew. 4:4 Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” In other words, the world’s problem is not a lack of food but a lack of belief and trust in the One True God. If one truly desires to ‘live’ then it takes more than food, it takes the spiritual food of God’s word, which can only be consumed through faith and belief.

The greater problem that every person on the planet faces, regardless of their economic status, is the fact that they are sinners who will someday stand before God and have to give an accounting of their deeds. The good news is that Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, has already paid the penalty and price for the sins of the whole world through his atoning death on the cross. Therefore, God has made peace with mankind and provided for the salvation of every man, woman and child who has ever lived or will live. This salvation is free, which means that even the poorest people on the planet can afford it.

Pastor Warren, you’re missing and distorting the whole point of Jesus’ purpose for coming to our planet. Please get back to the message of the cross.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

1 Corinthians 2:1-2 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Philippians 2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Wages of Greed

This edition of Extreme Sunday School looks at Laban's Cautionary Tale Regarding Greed from Genesis 30 & 31

Click Here to Download the MP3 Audio File

Originally taught at Capo Valley Church, San Juan Capistrano, California on Sunday, October 23rd, 2005.

40 Days Absurdity

Warning: This post is controversial. Please read this site's disclaimer should you be offended by what you read.

Warren’s weird way of wielding his Biblical sword causes him to say some really outrageous and silly things.

Case in point, after denying that faith alone is enough to please God in week one of the program, Warren turns around in week two and misapplies one of the clear passages of scripture that refutes his claim from week one.

The verse I am referring to is Hebrews 11:6, which states, “And without faith it is impossible to please God…”

If Warren was correct that “Love” is the thing that we need to please God, then Hebrews 11:6 would state that without ‘love’ it is impossible to please God.”

But in typical fashion, Warren glosses over what the text actually says. Rips it out of context and applies the verse in ways that defy all laws of logic and sound Biblical interpretation.

Listen to these sound bites and notice how he applies Heb 11:6 to the mandatory ‘outreach project’ that each small group is supposed to complete during the 40 Days of Community.

Sound Bite 6 - Without Faith 1

Sound Bite 7 - Without Faith 2

Did you catch that??? Warren, in referring to the outreach projects said, “The goal must be greater than the resources at hand otherwise it doesn’t require faith. If you do it on your own you don’t need God’s help. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God.”

First of all when you read Hebrews 11:6 IN CONTEXT you find that it is referring to saving faith not to outreach projects. (If you don’t believe me back up and read the last 4 verses of chapter 10. Then keep reading all the way through to Hebrews 12:2.)

I don’t see anything in chapters 10, 11 or 12 that should make me assume that the faith being referred to has anything to do with accomplishing tasks in which I don’t have all the necessary resources.

In fact, MOST of the examples of faith given in chapter 11 don’t fit Warren’s interpretation of verse 6 because the people mentioned HAD the resources to accomplish the tasks that are listed. Here are a few examples.

• Abraham had the resources to move from Haran to Canaan.
  
• Abraham had the physical body parts (resources) necessary to impregnate Sarah.
  
• Abraham had the resources, the wood and the knife, to offer his Son Isaac.
  
• Isaac had the resources to bless Jacob and Esau.
  
• Jacob had the resources to bless each of Joseph’s sons.
  
• Moses parents had the resources to hide their son from Pharoah.
  
• Moses had the resources to leave Egypt and to come back and observe the Passover.
  
• Rahab the prostitute had the resources to hide the spies.

Get the picture??

Secondly, Warren’s misinterpretation of this verse leads to some very silly conclusions and thus further exposes the fact that he is not properly handling God’s word.

In order to prove this, I’ll assume that Warren interpretation of the passage is correct.

If Warren is right then I can presume that every endeavor that I embark on "in Jesus’ name" in which I do not posses all the resources necessary to accomplish the task meets the Biblical standard for pleasing God.

So, if I were a Christian Mountain Climber, and I really want to please God, an obvious way for me to do that would be to attempt to climb Mt. Everest wearing only a Speedo and an oxygen tank. That would really take a lot of faith. Based on Warren’s application of this verse I should assume that God would really be pleased with that endeavor because it meets the Biblical standard for pleasing God.

Or I could jump out of an airplane without a parachute and have faith that God will let me land safely on the ground. After all, jumping with a parachute would mean that I have all the resources I need to land safely, therefore it wouldn’t require faith and wouldn’t meet God’s standard for pleasing Him.

Also, if my church has all the resources necessary to feed 200 families this Thanksgiving, I should assume that God will not be pleased with that endeavor because my church doesn’t need God’s help to accomplish the task.

Do you see how ridiculous and absurd Warren’s misinterpretation of this passage is?

Warren needs to be much more careful when interpreting and teaching God's Word.

40 Days of Community = 100% Law, 0% Gospel

Warning: This post is controversial. Please read this site's disclaimer should you be offended by what you read.

Before I get into the critique of the 40 Days of Community, I need to first lay a foundation to build on.

2 Timothy 2:15 admonishes pastors to correctly handle God’s word of truth. This is a fundamental requirement for all Christian ministers. Notice I said ‘requirement’. The Bible is God’s word and His message to world. Pastors and ministers are called to preach THIS message and no other. That means that twisting the message, inventing your own message, or preaching any another other message are grounds for dismissal from the ministry.

Properly understanding the Bible’s message is not that difficult, but it does take some work. Below I’ve listed some simple disciplines or ‘rules of thumb’ that help in correctly interpreting God’s word.

Discipline One: Each passage of scripture is to be understood according to its original context. The reason for this is simple. Ripping verses out of context oftentimes causes scripture to say or support ideas that are misleading or incorrect.

A great illustration of the dangers of taking verses out of context is the story of a young Bible student who was earnestly praying for the Lord to speak to him. He decided that he’d close his eyes and randomly flip through the pages of his Bible and then put his finger down on a verse and thus give God the opportunity to give him a personal message. So he closed his eyes, flipped through his Bible and put his finger down on a verse. It read, “Judas hanged himself”. He closed his eyes again and repeated the process. The next verse his finger fell on read, “Go thou and do likewise.”

Obviously God never intended that the Bible be used to convince someone to kill himself. This interpretation is only possible when you rip verses out off context and put them together. That’s why ministers should be careful when quoting verses. All ministers should take the time to insure that the points he is drawing from a verse are in agreement with the original context.

Discipline Two: Make sure that you are reading a good translation of scripture. The Bible was not written in English. It was written in several languages including Hebrew, Koine Greek and Aramaic. Understanding the ‘original intent’ therefore, is only possible by reading the Bible in either the original languages or by reading a good translation. Currently, there is a whole group of Bibles available on the market that are paraphrases of God’s word. Their goal is to make God’s word easier to read and understand. Unfortunately, these paraphrases cannot be trusted to give us an accurate picture of the ‘original intent’ of God’s word. Sadly this fact hasn’t stopped many Christian ministers from dogmatically teaching a ‘Biblical Principle’ that can only be found in paraphrase.

Discipline Three: The need to properly distinguishing between the message of God’s Law and the message of the Gospel. When it comes to good Christian preaching, this is where the whole game is either won or lost and people’s souls are either comforted or terrorized. How well a pastor does in this discipline will determine whether his sheep learn to trust in Christ for their salvation or to put their trust in their own good works and their ability to keep the law.

Scripture makes it clear that God’s Law cannot save us and that no one will be saved by keeping the law. Rom 3:20, 28, Gal 3:3-5, 10-11 In fact, scripture makes it clear that the purpose of the law is to point out our sin and to point us to Jesus. Rom 3:20, Gal 3:21-25

The Gospel on the other hand, teaches that salvation is a free gift of God’s grace that we receive through faith. Rom 3:21-26, Eph 2:8-10, In fact, scripture teaches that God does both the saving and the sanctifying Heb 12:2, Acts 26:17-18. The way the Protestant Reformers put it, “We are saved by Grace ALONE (sola gratia), through Faith alone (sola fide).”

Therefore, watch out for ministers who unlawfully confuse God’s law with the message of the Gospel. An easy way to spot this is to ask yourself, “What does my pastor or teacher say my problem is? Then ask, “Who does he say is responsible for fixing it?” If your pastor teaches that YOU have to solve your own problems, then chances are you are hearing a sermon or lesson that is misapplying God’s law.

Here’s how Warren violates this discipline in the 40 Days of Community. The question that Warren tries to answer in this series is “What are we here for?” He is talking about the church. So you could rephrase his question, “What is the church here for?” His answer is that, “The church is here to love.” So far so good, but then things take a bad turn. His solution to the problem of a church that isn’t "loving enough" is that each person in that church must learn how to love and choose to love because God commands it in his law.”

Listen Carefully to these sound bites.

Sound Bite 1 - Nothing I Believe Will Matter

Notice how Warren's emphasis on love undermines the Biblical teaching that Faith alone saves.

Sound Bite 2 - It Takes More Than Faith to Please God (Just in case you missed it)

Sound Bite 3 - Only Thing That Matters

Sound Bite 4 - What is Love?

Sound Bite 5 - Love is a Choice

Pay real close attention to Sound Bite 5! In this quote, Warren violates all three disciplines that I listed above. Warren quotes 1 Corinthians 14:1 out of context, using “The Message” paraphrase. "The Message" quotes this verse as saying, “Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it, because it does”. Based on how Warren uses this verse, I'd have to assume that my life and my salvation depend on how well I love.

However, when you read this verse in context using a good translation like the NIV you see that is NOT what the passage actually says. Here is how the NIV translates 1 Cor 14:1 “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” The NIV translation makes it clear that this passage is about the 'loving practice of spiritual gifts'. Warren's misapplication of 1 Cor 14:1 demonstrates the fundamental flaw of his theology and the whole '40 Days of Community' program; it puts us back under God’s law and makes my salvation dependent on how well I keep it.

Notice that Warren makes it OUR responsibility to solve this problem, through OUR OWN efforts and OUR keeping of God’s commandments. Paul’s criticism of the Galatian church can rightly be applied to Rick Warren. In Gal 3:3-5 Paul says, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing — if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?”

If there is any doubt about how to answer Paul’s last question in verse five, in verses 10 and 11 he says, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.”

Furthermore, Warren appears to have forgotten what scripture says about the source of Christian love. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us” and Galatians 5:22 teaches that “the fruit of the Spirit is love.”

Rather than putting us back under the law, Warren should have pointed us to Christ.

Rather than try to motivate us by threatening us with God’s law, he should have pointed out the clear passages of scripture that motivate Christians to greater love and service because of God’s great love for us. Rom. 12:1 is a beautiful example of this. It says “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.: See also Rom 8:1-8, Col 2:20-3:4

The bottom line on the 40 Days of Community regarding the proper distinction of law and gospel is that Warren’s program is 100% Law. Warren’s program is all about motivating you to try harder to keep God’s law through your own efforts. The cross is missing, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is missing and Christ is missing. This program could easily be renamed, 40 Days Without Jesus.