Shorthand notes below, presentation slides pdf download available above:
Introduction
- Finished Book of Joshua and the Lord’s movement of His people out of the wilderness
into their promised inheritance across the Jordan in Canaan – the Promised Land
o Through 33 sermons we witnessed Yahweh’s faithfulness and drew many
practical lessons to apply our lives as we obediently follow Jesus into the work in
which He calls us - We see that Yahweh warned His people multiple times that once they settled into the
Land of Promise they would be drawn to walk away from Him. - Deuteronomy 8:11-20 – “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his
commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,12 lest,
when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and
when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that
you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led
you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions
and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty
rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that
he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.17 Beware lest you say in
your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You
shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that
he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if
you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship
them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that
the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey
the voice of the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 31:20 “For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and
honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and
grown fat, they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise me and break my
covenant.” - We live in the most prosperous nation this world has ever seen. Compared to the
history of the world, the vast majority of the people in this county live like kings – eating
their fill and having grown fat and happy.
o While it can be said that this nation was founded with biblical principles in mind –
it is inarguable that our nation is post-Christian in just about every sense of the
term. - This reality certainly reaffirms the truth of the words of warning to people in their plenty
to turn from Him; but it means that there is more opportunity for sharing the gospel in
this country than ever before
o And yet, studies show that the average member of the American Church is less
likely now, then ever before, to share their faith. - Having sensed a burden to preach and teach on this topic for some time, Leslie and I
attended a conference (Exponential 2023: Lost Cause – Reviving Evangelism) recently on
the topic of ministering to the lost. They shared some startling statistics from a 2018
Barna study in the book Reviving Evangelism:
o 47% of millennials who identify as a Christian say it is wrong to evangelize
27% for Gen X, 19% for Boomers, 20% elders
o Only about 65% (Across generations) of those who identify as a Christian strongly
believe that “being a witness” of Jesus is a part of their faith, about 95% agree
Clearly there is an aversion to the idea of “evangelism” – what the study
defined as sharing one’s beliefs in the hopes that the person will one day
share the same faith - How is it in an era of our country when there are more lost, bible illiterate, Jesus
denying people than ever before, that the American Church is also the least likely to
seek to share the gospel than ever before? - There are many answers to that, but I believe the root goes back to Yahweh’s warning
to His people in Deuteronomy: Deuteronomy 8:11-14 “Take care lest you forget the
Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I
command you today,12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good
houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and
gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and
you forget the Lord your God…” - Despite the tragic spiritual state of the people around us, we as a church culture have
grown evangelistically fat and complacent in our comfort and ease – we have lost the
urgent sense of Jesus’s charge to go and make disciples.
o Our blades for spiritual warfare have grown dull, our armor is in disrepair as we sit
in our pews, swell our heads with knowledge, feel good about nice self-help
messages, and sit around in our self-righteous theological justification as we
shake our head and complain that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. - Make no mistake, things are getting worse, this world culture is continuing to devolve
into deeper sin and lawlessness – just like Jesus said it would in Matthew 24 – and the
love of many is growing cold (see Matt 24:12).
o The tragic thing is that the love of many who call themselves Christians is what is
growing cold. - Pray
Are We Pharisees?
- Matthew 9:9-13 “9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting
at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners
came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw
this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and
not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” - Jesus had been preaching and healing in his home base of Capernaum – no doubt
Matthew, referred to as Levi in parallel passages of Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-32 –
had heard of Jesus by that point and likely had heard His teaching.
o Jesus calls him, and the Luke passage tells us he left everything behind – his booth
and all the people he was working with (likely roman guards), the authority to tax
on behalf of Rome – a highly profitable right to have, which is why the pious Jews
hated the tax collectors: they made their wealth at the expense of their fellow
Jew as they collaborated with the Roman oppressors.
o While the text here tells us that they went to “the” house, Mark and Luke tell us
that they all returned to Matthew’s house, and Luke tells us that Matthew threw
a “great feast” in Jesus honor – inviting all of his tax collector friends, folks who it
can be fairly said were justified in having a poor reputation and being called
sinners by the pharisees who were watching Jesus. - Of course, Jesus hears the complaints of the pharisees – the religious, self-righteous
teachers of the law who constantly opposed Jesus throughout his ministry – and Jesus
responds to them, “12…Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came
not to call the righteous, but sinners.” - He knows the self-righteous attitudes in their hearts, tells them He came to help those
who recognize they need healing, and then tells them to think on what God meant
when He said in Hosea 6:6 “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge
of God rather than burnt offerings.”
o Note that in the Greek OT (Septuagint) of Hos. 6:6, Hebrew (hesed) “steadfast
love” was translated as mercy in the Greek. - In a not-so-subtle way, Jesus is telling them that all of their religiosity and devotion, all
of their bible knowledge and spiritual practice is empty if they do not learn how to show
the mercy of God to those around them. - Church, based on the general state of western Christianity, we can even narrow it to
western evangelical Christianity, I believe that Jesus could very easily say to His church,
“I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” as we’ve fattened and busied ourselves with just
about everything but steadfastly pursuing the mission of mercy that He gave to all of us.
- So how did we get here?
Recent History of Western/American Christianity - 1947 first Billy Graham crusade
o 6k people in Grand Rapids MI…Billy Graham 28 years old
o Followed footsteps of Dwight L. Moody to give an altar call invitation
“Just As I Am” song used
o Held crusades regularly up through early 90s – 1991 largest gathering ever in
North America in NY Central Park where 250k+ attended - 1970s rise of mega churches, 90s, 300+. Today nearly around 1800
- 1961 Robert Schuler first drive-in church in CA
o 1969 encouraged by friend Billy Graham to start televising, started Hour of Power
– then moved into Crystal Cathedral in 1981
Focused on “positive” thinking and “self-esteem” (“God loves you and so do
I”) …and ultimately taught universalism
o Robert Schuler school of leadership actively taught and invited church leaders to
build mega-churches
- 60s and 70s Charismatic movement that evolved into the Jesus Movement (started in
CA)
o 1965 – praise and worship movement emerged out of calvary chapel and evolved
into vineyard movement (more charismatic)
Church planting and “franchising” movement focused on worship – Bethel,
Hillsong, etc. - Late 60s John MacArthur begins his preaching ministry at Grace Community Church (Sun
Valley, CA), strongly reformed and theologically minded
o Grace to You radio and television broadcasts around the world - 1975 Willow Creek (Bill Hybels) learns from Robert Schuler and takes mega churches
into “church growth” movement and seeker sensitivity
o Rise of celebrity pastors – centralized vision and authority in person – dominance
of personality and charisma drives culture - 1979 Rick Warren and Saddleback – purpose driven church and “church growth” and
seeker sensitivity – church for unchurched
o With rise of suburbs, came rise of more mega-churches where you would meet
like people and have the best church “experience” for your family
Children’s ministry, youth ministry, men’s and women’s ministry, single’s,
young married, married with kids, retirees, etc.
Job of evangelizing taken into the church “experience” - 1980 John Piper becomes lead pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis MN),
strongly reformed, though more open to charismatic gifts - 1981 David Jeremiah, having been already pastoring for 12 years at a mega church in
Indiana, moved to San Diego, CA to take over for Tim LaHaye at what would become
known as Shadow Mountain Community Church.
o Dr. Jeremiah quickly began Turning Point Ministries, a radio and television
ministry that broadcasts his messages throughout the world even until today.
Fun fact, I grew up listening to David Jeremiah as my mom regularly played
his sermons on the radio while I was kid at home.
o Strongly reformed and theologically minded
- Late 90s with rise of leadership network came rise of multi-site churches (which
furthered celebrity pastor mentality)
o North Coast (Vista, CA) first large scale video-venue model
o 100+ in late 90s, and estimated close to 10k peak around 2020
that number has begun to shrink since covid and more and more internet
churches emerging
Conclusion
Coalescing of several threads has led us to today:
“Conversion” mentality – not discipleship
“Country Club” mentality – not using my gift, but finding what church best meets
my needs (consumerism)
“Celebrity” mentality – professionalize spiritual service and focus on
charismatic/powerful personalities
“Coddling” mentality – watered down message to attract people
“Cerebral” mentality – tremendous focus on proper theology, but 1 Cor. 8:1
“…this knowledge puffs up…”
“Concert” mentality – worship experience and emotional connection
Several of these are not bad, but taken all together they produce an understanding as to
how the western evangelical church finds itself in a place where we share the gospel
with our neighbor than ever before…we are spiritual and know the Word and “sacrifice”
but we do not walk in mercy.
Over the next several months, by God’s grace, we are going to seek to learn what
walking in God’s mercy means. We’re going to study Matthew 9 and 10 and other select
passages as we seek to understand the practice and mindset of what it means to be a
minister of mercy.
o We’re going to seek to have a proper theology but also look at practical way we
can engage with those who the Lord has put in our lives that are sick and in need
of the good news of Jesus Christ.
But before we get there, we must examine ourselves and confess those areas of our life
in which we are not walking in mercy. We must repent of our self-righteous, self-
indulgent spirituality and ask the Lord to bring us back to His heart of mercy – that we
might share the gospel with compassion and love for those in this broken world.
Pray.