Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20040321.htm

SAMPLING GOD'S "FEAR NOTS"
Part XII: God's Solution For Fear Rising From Errant Religious Beliefs
(Luke 2:8-20)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

(1) Some of us come from religious backgrounds where we were taught beliefs that were impossible to heed in all good conscience, and that left us fearing God's punishment was inevitable:

(a) The Torrington, Connecticut Register-Citizen reported in its March 11, 2000 issue about such a problem that Irish Roman Catholics faced that year as St. Patrick's Day fell on a Friday in Lent! The Church does not allow the eating of meet on Fridays during Lent, but Irish Catholics are raised to hold St. Patrick's Day is to be kept by eating corned beef. Thus, these traditions impossibly clashed for the Irish, creating a battle of conscience on how to please God!

Church leaders in Boston declared a "special dispensation" so their large Irish community could eat corned beef that Friday. Yet, other realms refused to go along with this, so some parishioners were tempted to drive to Boston so they could righteously eat corned beef!

How then may a devout Irish Catholic be sure if GOD wants him to eat corned beef or to abstain from it on St. Patrick's Day if March 17th falls on a Friday during Lent?!

(b) Those of us with Baptist backgrounds have also struggled with hard stands taught to us by religious leaders. Some of us have been told that if we had already put $25.00 in the offering plate, we could afford and thus were obliged to give ANOTHER $35.00! However, sometimes that OTHER $35.00 needs to pay legally-required bills we have, so we were left wondering if we should "sin" by keeping that other $35.00 to pay our bills or "sin" by disobeying 1 Peter 2:13 by putting the money into the offering plate in violation of the law that required us to pay our legal debts!

How then is a devout Baptist to be sure what GOD would have him do in such a "no-win" case taught by religious leaders?

(2) At times, we STILL face burdensome rules by religious overseers: as I was typing up this very page, two of our CHURCH members stopped by my office to ask me about stands set by leaders they know in para church organizations (Christian or home schools, missions, etc.); these standards were hard and painful to apply, but these leaders taught others would be in "sin" not to heed them!

How then do we handle such situations faced TODAY?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "I have been taught religious views I am NOT ABLE to live UP to! Can I live without fearing God's wrath over this matter?!"
  1. Bethlehem's shepherds at Christ's birth felt their JOBS made them UNGODLY due to ERROR taught by their RELIGIOUS leaders:
    1. From the Mosaic Law, we know God expected some who lived near the Jerusalem temple (as in the town of Bethlehem) to raise sheep:
      1. God had directed the people of Israel worship Him at the temple in Jerusalem just miles from Bethlehem, Deut. 12:5-7 with 1 Kings 8:16-21; The MacMillan Bible Atlas, 1968 ed., p. 35.
      2. This worship involved many sheep offerings, Lev. 3:7; 4:32; etc.
      3. Thus, God expected some folk near the temple to raise sheep!
    2. Yet, rules added to the Law by Israel's leaders unfairly put the Bethlehem shepherds under excommunication for keeping sheep:
      1. In Bible days when crops were raised without modern range fences, sheep would ruin croplands if left to range free around them.
      2. Thus, by Jesus' day, Israel's religious leaders came to rule in their Mishnah that sheep were to be raised outside central Israel [like in Syria or the southern Judaean wilderness] (Herbert Danby, The Mishnah, "Baba Kama," vii, 7 with ftn. No. 1, p. 342 as alluded to in Edersheim,The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah, v. I, p. 186).
      3. Yet, as sheep were needed for the temple, some had to violate this rule to keep flocks in nearby fields; this left Bethlehem's shepherds excommunicated for violating the Mishnah in keeping sheep for the temple worship and for missing temple services, Ibid., p. 187.
  2. Thus, when God's angels appeared to these shepherds in the field that first Christmas, they were TERRIFIED of GOD'S WRATH!
    1. While the "excommunicated" shepherds kept their sheep by night, God's angel and great glory suddenly surrounded them, Luke 2:8-9b.
    2. In view of their excommunication, this angelic appearance left these shepherds in the Mishnah's errantly banned Bethlehem fields sure God was about to judge them, so they were terrified, Luke 2:9c!
  3. However, God's angel REVERSED their ERRANT LEGALISTIC VIEWS with God's message of GREAT, LIBERATING TRUTH:
    1. In place of judgment, God's angel revealed they were to "Fear not:" God would NOT PUNISH them, but SAVE them through Messiah, a cause for their great JOY, Luke 2:10; Ibid., Edersheim, p. 188.
    2. The angel said the Messiah had been born that day in Bethlehem; then, as God's SIGN this infant was given even to them as abhorred shepherds, THEY would find this infant wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a (1) sheep's (2) feeding trough in (3) Bethlehem, the town of the ancient shepherd, David, (4) and a city whose name means "house of food (or bread)" Lk. 2:11f; Z.P.E.B., v. One, p. 538!
    3. Then, in edifying CONTRAST to the false "excommunication" these shepherds were under due to the temple sheep matter, God BROUGHT a temple SERVICE to THEM: He filled the skies with angels who replied to the first angel's announcement in WORSHIP ritual response format used at Jerusalem's temple sheep sacrifices the words of "peace on earth" to those "with whom" God is "pleased," 2:13-14 ESV; Ibid., Edersheim! Thus, GOD profoundly signaled He accepted these men who had been wrongly excommunicated by their legalistic leaders, and that He offered them peace with Him instead!
  4. The shepherds ACTED UPON this WORD from the ANGEL, and thus came to BELIEVE in Jesus and find FREEDOM from LEGALISTIC BONDAGE so as to GLORIFY and PRAISE GOD:
    1. After the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds acted upon the angelic announcement and came and found this Messiah in the manger of Bethlehem, just as the angel had said, Luke 2:15.
    2. Hence, they believed in that Messiah, Jesus and broadcast the news of His birth; they glorified and praised God for what they had been told and for what it meant of God's salvation for them, Luke 2:16, 17-20.
Application: If we are UNABLE to live UP to what RELIGIOUS BELIEFS we have been taught, these BELIEFS are in ERROR! (1) We must be JUSTIFIED by God through faith in Christ (Rom. 3:23-27) and God will give us the Holy Spirit for POWER to LIVE RIGHTLY, Rom. 8:9. (2) Then, GOD will send us Bible teachers or Christian friends to give us LIBERATING TRUTHS that point us to the TRUE and RIGHT life given in SCRIPTURE in CONTRAST to all ALL OTHER FALSE views -- yes, EVEN ERRORS by RELIGIOUS leaders! (3) Then, we can please God, finding His "yoke" in life to be easy and light, Matthew 11:28-30.

Lesson: To RECTIFY their DEBILITATING VIEWS given to them by ERRANT, LEGALISTIC, RELIGIOUS LEADERS, by His angels, GOD HIMSELF REVEALED His GRACE and ACCEPTANCE of the WRONGLY excommunicated Bethlehem shepherds; as these shepherds then ACTED upon God's revelation and TRUSTED in Christ, they were RELEASED from false religious fear and guilt to glorify and praise God!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 When we began this message, we mentioned "rules" some of us have faced in our backgrounds that were impossible for us to keep. We now view them in light of Scripture to find God's "rest" re: them:

(1) Some teach we may not eat meat on Fridays during Lent, the days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. However, many of Irish descent have been religiously taught to eat corned beef on St. Patrick's Day. Thus, when St. Patrick's falls on a Friday in Lent as it did in 2000, people wondered if God wants them to eat corned beef or not!

Well, Scripture warns in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 that doctrines like abstaining from certain foods would come and that they were evil! Colossians 2:16 tells us not to let others judge us regarding the issues of certain foods or holy days -- in Christ, these rules are done away!

Thus, Scripture reveals we may ignore the calendar all year long re: what foods we eat and still be righteous, 1 Timothy 4:4-5!

(2) Some of us with Baptist backgrounds were at times told by religious leaders if we had put $25.00 in an offering plate, we could afford and were thus obliged before the Lord to put in another $35.00.

Well, Scripture in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 reveals each of us is himself to choose how MUCH we give to God without any pressure from any other source to the contrary! (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Thus, God's Word teaches us to IGNORE all pressures from ALL religious leaders to give ANY AMOUNT of money -- that is a matter between us and God ALONE!

(3) When the two Nepaug Church members entered my office this past Tuesday to ask about burdensome stands by leaders they knew in para church organizations, I relayed to them that, in both cases, these leaders were legalistic and wrong! In fact, I directed one member to the verse Kathy Brunetti happens to have up on the banners behind this pulpit for support of my stand: the entire verse of Philippians 4:5 says, and I render it from my studies of the Greek text, "Let your gentle preference (epieikes) for the spirit of the law over the letter of the law be evident to all men. The Lord is near."



May we heed SCRIPTURE in the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT to find Christ's "easy and light" way of the TRUE Christian life to OVERCOME legalistic, burdensome and false regulations by errant religious leaders! (Matthew 11:28-30)