What do You Believe?
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.
1 Corinthians 1:18
Just about everyone believes something about God. If you ask any number of people a question about God, or something in relation to God, people are going to share their opinion. Our beliefs, if you are a Christian come from the Bible, which is inspired by God. However, isn't it funny that even though we share the same resources regarding our faith (The Bible), we seem to have enough disagreements among ourselves to divide up into thousands of different denominations. Sometimes the disagreements aren't always bad, maybe there is a culture difference there, or a language barrier. Did you know that our cultural values affect the way we read the Bible? That is why Jesus taught parables. Before I use an example let me define "parable" for you so we are on the same page. A parable is a brief moral tale, often including two concepts which seem mutually exclusive but which are resolved in the imagination serves to shatter it's audiences view of the world through a reversal of their normal cultural prejudices and assumptions. I think the parable of the Good Samaritan is a good example. Jesus knew his audience, the parable goes that a Jewish man was beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest passed him, a Levite passed him, then finally a Samaritan stopped. This is the part of the story that will shatter the audiences view, because Jew's and Samaritans didn't get along, they despised each other. Samaritans were mean people, which makes the expression "Good Samaritan" ironic. But the Samaritan helped the man, and paid for his room and board. That is a cultural difference.
If we want to understand where our beliefs come from we need to understand how to study God's word, and the role it plays in our everyday lives. Forming our beliefs isn't just important for a personal relationship with Jesus, but also for the way we explain God to others. People are full of questions, they want to know why, and you should want to know why. So pull out your Bible and start finding out. However, before you are going to understand anything about the Bible, you need to make sure that you are in a fellowship with God, because if you don't have the Holy Spirit (see my post "I've Got the Power") to help us understand, the Bible is just simply words that sound pretty.
It's not solely the pastors job to preach the gospel, it's our job too. Jesus sent out the entire church to make disciples, and tell the Good News. And instead of asking how we can get people into the church, mission asks how can we get church to the people? God is at work right now all over the world, from a few feet away to 100,000 miles away. He is waiting for us to go out and work beside Him. We were not called to sit and wait, but GO and TELL. We must first, take time to know God by studying His word and spending time with Him so we know what we believe next time we are asked: "What do you believe?"
1 Corinthians 1:18
Just about everyone believes something about God. If you ask any number of people a question about God, or something in relation to God, people are going to share their opinion. Our beliefs, if you are a Christian come from the Bible, which is inspired by God. However, isn't it funny that even though we share the same resources regarding our faith (The Bible), we seem to have enough disagreements among ourselves to divide up into thousands of different denominations. Sometimes the disagreements aren't always bad, maybe there is a culture difference there, or a language barrier. Did you know that our cultural values affect the way we read the Bible? That is why Jesus taught parables. Before I use an example let me define "parable" for you so we are on the same page. A parable is a brief moral tale, often including two concepts which seem mutually exclusive but which are resolved in the imagination serves to shatter it's audiences view of the world through a reversal of their normal cultural prejudices and assumptions. I think the parable of the Good Samaritan is a good example. Jesus knew his audience, the parable goes that a Jewish man was beaten and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest passed him, a Levite passed him, then finally a Samaritan stopped. This is the part of the story that will shatter the audiences view, because Jew's and Samaritans didn't get along, they despised each other. Samaritans were mean people, which makes the expression "Good Samaritan" ironic. But the Samaritan helped the man, and paid for his room and board. That is a cultural difference.
If we want to understand where our beliefs come from we need to understand how to study God's word, and the role it plays in our everyday lives. Forming our beliefs isn't just important for a personal relationship with Jesus, but also for the way we explain God to others. People are full of questions, they want to know why, and you should want to know why. So pull out your Bible and start finding out. However, before you are going to understand anything about the Bible, you need to make sure that you are in a fellowship with God, because if you don't have the Holy Spirit (see my post "I've Got the Power") to help us understand, the Bible is just simply words that sound pretty.
It's not solely the pastors job to preach the gospel, it's our job too. Jesus sent out the entire church to make disciples, and tell the Good News. And instead of asking how we can get people into the church, mission asks how can we get church to the people? God is at work right now all over the world, from a few feet away to 100,000 miles away. He is waiting for us to go out and work beside Him. We were not called to sit and wait, but GO and TELL. We must first, take time to know God by studying His word and spending time with Him so we know what we believe next time we are asked: "What do you believe?"
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