Is the Church Killing Christianity Part 3 “Is The Typical 3 Point Sermon Killing The Church?”

Is the Church Killing Christianity Part 3 “Is The Typical 3 Point Sermon Killing The Church?”

“Is The Typical 3 Point Sermon Killing The Church and Christianity?”

We will again answer 3 questions and have one Blunt Point this week as we examine what has been and IS crippling the Preaching in the Reformed Church.

Background

1 What is a 3 point Sermon?

2 What Are We Really Listening to, is it 3 points or 3 Sermons?

3 Why the wheels fall off in the dreaded Application?

4 Reformed Sermons MUST Point to Christ alone and NOT our need to Change!

Background

First this week I return to separating the reading from the Message as a way to allow us to focus on the separated yet connected two.

I also wanted to expose something that unless you have had to drive across the Country in a period of a week 6 times from 2010 – 2016 and actually heard this, the Mark Series at Redeemer Presbyterian McKinney, Texas and the Next Week at Trinity Methodist Hackettstown, New Jersey.

Well before I started receiving emails from Sermon Central as a way of getting “free” Bible Charts I thought would be useful, they Proclaimed in one of their Emails “ You owe it to your congregation to Steal Your sermons from others” so it now makes one wonder how much of the preaching today is developed by the staff, or comes from this and other Software sources Cans.

It also probably explains why we could hear the same series in two separate parts of the Country.

But what also is sad, is that I know of a Young Pastor who was forced to resign for using borrowed material and yet here is a sight that actually claims He should have done this, so does He deserve an apology?

Next I would like to point out two people who actually wrecked my ability to “happily” go to Church week in and week out and sit there and like I fear most turn my ears off to the “preacher almost from the moment he started “preaching”.

These two people are my Wife Robin who in the Fall of 2006 caught me reading the Bible researching a question asked by a Sunday School Student instead of paying attention to the “message”.

When she caught me She simply stated, “If I have to listen to this CRAP, you do too!!”

Well I started to listen to the “messages” week in and week out, and to be blunt I was horrified!!!

One week Robin while reading the passages to be preached on, said to me “I can’t wait to see how he is going to tie these two passages together, as the don’t connect” Well she was right and the message as was week in and week out turned out to be a mess and far from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but another legalistic Pharisaical diatribe. It was exactly like the garbage preached at my Dad’s Funeral as the message had NOTHING to do with the passage my Dad loved so much 2nd Corinthians 5:1 ? For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (NAS95) Somehow the Pastor was able to talk about scales, and thus throwing off the mind from a Promise of Christ and getting us to even suggest scales and a balance system are in play. When the scales of righteousness are hopelessly out of balance for us as we provide wreck and sin, Christ ALONE provides the Righteousness.

The Pastor did give his mess the three Theological Star cover fire that we heard week after week Sermon after Sermon in State after State. It is actually listening to the Sermons that had us walk out of 20 out of 25 Sermons at Redeemer New York (Various Locations) and to be blunt out of the other five only the 1st Sermon we heard when we got back June 2016 was worth sitting through!

This was the Church back as a few years in 2007-2010 when we attended was the model of a Reformed Church and no this is not a Joke, as you can go back to Sermons from the period and hear for yourself.

The Next person who wrecked going to Church for me was Dr. Samuel Lamerson President of Knox Theological Seminary, who in Class warned us that “Be careful of the 3 Point Sermons as the Majority of these Sermons are actually 3 Sermons 1 point a piece and NOT Connected” He was cautioning us on not falling into the same trap of not connecting our sermon points.

Sadly from what we have witnessed this is exactly what we have heard and as warned in majority of the Sermons!

If you are struggling to believe this stay tuned, and have an open mind, no this is not a rant as I promised. I should say at this point “May the HOLY SPIRIT open our eyes” as was done to me, and as you might be experiencing I too was stunned.

This takes us to our first question;

1 What is a 3 point Sermon?

A three point Sermon is exactly what you might think, but it is how they are normally taught to be laid out that is I humbly suggest what is killing ALL Churches though I am sticking with the Reformed Church in this Lesson.

We are taught to

First Give the Background of the Passage

Second Give the Original Audience and Cultural Interpretation

And third Apply the passage to our current times and our personal lives.

It perhaps the third point that gets grossly miss interpreted, as it for the vast majority of these messages digresses into a How “we” need to Change our lives, a point I will address later, but will only say it is our trying over thousands of years that IS Destroying the Church!

It must also be understood not connecting the points is also a killer, but not on the scale of this final “what YOU need to do point” as if we can actually do anything to save ourselves.

I need to be clear the three point Sermon is NOT the Killer, but the way it has been used and poorly taught to Pastors is!

WE were told at Seminary that most of the Seminary’s no longer have Preaching Practicum courses and it actually is proved week in and week out as we have to sit through Sermons that show the Pastor is estranged from the Passage, and how to present it, though at Redeemer they do have the NPR thing down and NO I am not being a sour grapes guy as the LORD just opened my ears.

This will set us for question 2

2 What Are We Really Listening to, is it 3 points or 3 Sermons one point each?

Our reading purposely tells us that Jesus, Isaiah and the Author of the Letter to the Hebrews are cautioning about the disease that has a firm grip on the Church, becoming Dull of Hearing, and having eyes but not seeing, and YET week after week we “Do Church”, as the new Pastor in Plano, Texas a PHD, proclaimed and as the guy who sat in front of Robin and who walked out with His wife the same the same time Robin and I did said “That guy is full of Shit” this was in Texas the Wife was embarrassed but I said to her, I too am a Pastor and your Husband is correct! We also catch people who go for the “Fellowship” when that is the Bonus not the purpose of Worship.

Worship is how the LORD walks us to enter HIS Worship on as an Earthly perspective, and is to be an Aroma Pleasing to HIM alone, and not about our feelings.

Genesis 8:21 The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

 Exodus 29:18 "You shall offer up in smoke the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the LORD: it is a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.

 Ex 29:25 "You shall take them from their hands, and offer them up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering for a soothing aroma before the LORD; it is an offering by fire to the LORD.

 Ex 29:41 "The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.

I will only say that if we don’t see ourselves as deserving to be in the Fire, then we don’t understand the reality of our Sin, and Jesus Christ Righteousness.

We listened just this weekend to a Sermon from the late 1990’s and by a Pastor we all respect out of Philadelphia and this Sermon is why we cannot become dull of hearing as the Pastor’s Sermon was good, but failed the accuracy test as he said “The Jews arrested Jesus and indicted HIM at night and this was illegal according to Jewish Law, so far 100% correct, but then he made the same horrifying mistake that my History of the Church Professor would years later when he said “The Jews were unable to execute under Roman Law”….

I paused hoping you too are as shocked as I was sitting in the class, as my friends this is NOT from the Bible, and was NOT the Reason the Jews handed Jesus over to the Romans, and shows these two Bible Superstars with tons of books to their credit prove WE MUST know our Bibles as they obviously, though published, didn’t!

To say ““The Jews were unable to execute under Roman Law”…. and for that to come out of the mouths of two world renowned Theological Stars mouths should shake you to the core, as it is very poor exegetical preaching and very poor contextual application.

But Why, I hope you don’t have to ask?

Because it is NOT the Biblical account, nor even close as I am sure St. Stephen, and St. Paul who both were stoned and Stephen of course does not revive, and St. James the Less killed by order of Herod by the sword would beg to differ with “The Jews were unable to execute under Roman Law” and might suggest that is pure Bull Crap!

For the record Jesus was handed over to the Romans as they just didn’t want him dead but also accursed by GOD as they could not Crucify (Hang on a Tree), and the Jewish Religious Leader knew full well remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

 22 "If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.

Ga 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE" --

(NAS95)

This is again why WE NEED, by GOD’S Grace alone to learn the Bible, as so many preaching to us DON’T know it at ALL!

Now let’s help see if this is a 3 point Sermon or 3 Sermons 1 different Point Each?

Are we staying on the same point or are we introducing subjects not in the verses or context of the passage being preached?

I would suggest yes, and we are on a clear Biblical Path and not a Book review of the latest Theological Star’s opinion of the Bible.

Are we as at my Dad’s Funeral hearing a passage that only looks forward, and yet somehow scales and a past & future balance introduced that the text doesn’t come close to supporting as it is a future view only?

Or and this is the worst but happens more than you might think, Does the Sermon and the verses have NOTHING to do with each other!!

As witnessed in a Sermon delivered in our hearing at one of the Redeemer New York Churches that I did address with the Lead staff so I am not talking behind the Churches back. This Sermon was on the Vine & Vinedresser passage from John 15, and had the Pastor missing the point and in fact leading the Congregation astray by missing the very context.

In this example the Pastor preached the point was to “Abide” in the LORD as if we have EVER been able of our own strength to do such, and because he saw abide mention three times.

What he missed was right out of the gate, and why we as a Congregation need to pray for our Pastors, and to the LORD weekly for Open Ears, as the John 15 passage puts our abide in the PASSIVE, and the ACTION is taken by the FATHER as the Vine Dresser choosing to graft us in and care for the VINE, the VINE our LORD Jesus Christ alone who gives us life, and the SAP The HOLY SPIRIT alone who gives us the Life in the Vine alone.

I suggested to this New York Based group, If you were to go to Central Park, or any tree and find a branch that was on the ground, and we asked you to sit there for a month writing down the movement of this branch, what would observe?

Yes the Branch is doing NOTHING, on its own, and the only hope for life the branch, even if it had just broken off, unless the FATHER the Vinedresser takes action and grafts us in the Branch would be dead and incapable of living.

That friends is the secret to our very salvation period, as it ALL of GOD and has nothing to do with us.

This leads us to our third question

3 Why the wheels fall off in the dreaded Application?

This is the Black Hole and where the vast majority of these Sermons fall apart as the Application digresses into a Pharisaical, Legalistic “You Must correct yourself, and what you need to do to be Good stuff”

Simply put we get a list of how we need to improve ourselves that includes, but not limited too;

Read our Bible more

Love More

Treat People as Jesus would

Just plain be a better Christian

Give more time to the Church

On their face each seems ideal and yet unless the HOLY SPIRIT do the work, each are completely worthless to say as GOD alone Changes a life in Christ Jesus.

The FACT remains WE cannot be good enough EVER and Jesus said so!

Mr 10:17 ? As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

 18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Yet week after week in Reformed Pulpits that are supposed to know better we hear the same message “Preached” to us as the Message given Eve by the slithering Serpent of Eden, “You will be like GOD” in this case in the Synagogue “You have to be more Like GOD” and in the Church “You need to be more like Christ” As if the idiots preaching this crap have never read anything Jesus said.

THIS MY FRIENDS IS THE VERY SAME MESSAGE THE SERPENT GAVE and YES I am Screaming!!!!

They are all meant just as the Pharisees did to guilt us into being “better Christians”, and yet I will address in the final Blunt point, this has been the case for thousands of years destroying the Synagogues and todays Churches as well and what does Jesus say about such,

Mt 23:1 ? Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,

 2 saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses;

 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.

 4 "They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

 5 "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

 6 "They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues,

 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.

You might note if you read your Bible daily and that too is a gift from GOD, that Jesus attacks the Religious Leaders, and I fear this is still due to the great lie in Eden’s Garden that we can somehow be like GOD, when from the very beginning was and IS IMPOSSIBLE!

The Standard of the LORD in the Goodness Business is what?

Yes Perfection and that is 100% compliance EVERY Second of Everyday and NONE of us are close, so we cannot better or save ourselves period.

So let us get to the Blunt point, and you may not like this, but I just ask, listen to Sermons from the 1990’s -2010, and listen to today’s “Reformed” sermons as you may be as shocked.

4 Reformed Sermons MUST Point to Christ alone and NOT our need to Change!

We really need to get back to understanding what a Reformed (True message of the Bible) Sermon actually looks and sounds like.

First it does NOT focus on us changing ANYTHING, but realizes that The TRIUNE GOD needs to do and in fact, does EVERYTHING!!!

This may sound simple, because IT IS!

The Bible is NOT about us coming to Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ coming to us and making us alive in HIM alone. If you don’t believe this reread Genesis 3, who finds who in this passage???

Ephesians 2:1-9 is not mistaken somehow as YES we all start off Dead in our sins and a Dead person just like a dead branch can do nothing to make themselves alive.

Read this passage please

1 ? And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,

 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

 4 ? But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

When we hear the Lead Pastor at Redeemer New York Eastside stand up and say “We are going to write a Bible Study to get you to love the Bible more” it shows they are NOT Reformed, as again the Church Leaders are going to write a Study, instead of praying the HOLY SPIRIT open the eyes of the Congregation as we return to reading the Bible together and trusting the WORD of GOD to do what it does best.

To be more blunt remember I told you we have broken off going to Redeemer after going there from 2007-2010, even though we looked forward to returning only to find out in horror the Councilors of Rehoboam as they too have been bitten by the No Teaching experience necessary crowd but young people only apply.

What also is a key to knowing the Pastor is in trouble;

Quoting 3 Theological Stars and not the Bible, to give their mess cover.

It is NOT a Book Review or video Series review, recommending the Latest Book on the subject they are preaching on instead of the Scriptures they should be preaching themselves.

And last for today, as we could go on, telling you a story that has NOTHING to do with the Sermon, what I call the filler in the Grade school hamburger (90% filler 10% meat). 

But Beloved if you think this is all on terrible Churches, it is not, as what is also killing the Church is the apathy in the Congregation. You see the fruit of Regeneration is an active Church that doesn’t even know they are active a healthy as the HOLY SPIRIT alone is moving our works.

If you think I have been harsh these last two weeks I ask you take a deep breath, bring a note pad, and an open Bible. and write down the sermon points, Please truly match them to the Bible. Also Write down those 3 Theologian quotes, they will be there and cry, as they won’t be Peter, David, Paul or Jesus HIMSELF but most likely CS Lewis, RC Sproul, Tim Keller ect.

Pray the HOLY SPIRIT give us a zeal for the Scriptures bath in them enjoy them as a fruit of true regeneration, and yes HOLY SPIRIT Please by the Mercy of GOD The FATHER through our redemption in Jesus Christ our LORD alone open our eyes and ears to actually hear the message and pray for our Pastors to LOVE the scriptures again.

First Reading Mark 2:14-20 & Luke 18:9-14

Mark 2:14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He *said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

 15 And it *happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him.

 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?"

 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

 18 ? John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and they *came and *said to Him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"

 19 And Jesus said to them, "While the bridegroom is with them, the attendants of the bridegroom cannot fast, can they? So long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

 20 "But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

Luke 18:9 ? And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:

 10 "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

 11 "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

 12 'I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'

 13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'

 14 "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ

Response By ALL: All Glory To YOU LORD Christ

Second Reading and Lesson Matthew 15:1-20 & Hebrews 5:5-14

Matthew 15:1 ? Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

 2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

 3 And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

 4 "For God said, 'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.'

 5 "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,"

 6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

 7 "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

 8 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

 9 'BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'"

 10 ? After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, "Hear and understand.

 11 "It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

 12 Then the disciples *came and *said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?"

 13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.

 14 "Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit."

 15 Peter said to Him, "Explain the parable to us."

 16 Jesus said, "Are you still lacking in understanding also?

 17 "Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?

 18 "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.

 19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

 20 "These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."

The Holy Gospel Of Our LORD Jesus Christ

Response By ALL: All Glory To YOU LORD Christ

Hebrews 5:5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, "YOU ARE MY SON, TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU";

 6 just as He says also in another passage, "YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK."

 7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

 10 ? being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

 11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

(NAS95)

This Is The WORD Of The LORD

Response By ALL: Thanks Be To GOD!