How Do You Reason?

Introduction

Good morning. For those of you who are here at the 9 o’clock worship hour, you understand why that was a sigh of relief for me to say that and have echoes not reverberate through the building. I’d like to ask for your prayers for this coming week for a variety of reasons. Uh many of you are smiling, so I take it you know why some of them. The uh here at South Lembo, we actually have there’s three men who preach regularly, Josh and I get my turn every once in a while. And Mr. Bob Harkrider, I hear, he’s pretty good. He preaches some. And in October, we’ve actually been playing musical chairs, and this coming week, Josh will be leaving, I believe, Thursday, uh, for Alabama for a gospel meeting, and I’ll be leaving tomorrow, flying out for my wedding on Thursday.

So I’d ask that you keep Josh and myself and my family in your prayers as we travel out there, and my dear fiance, because she’s choosing to marry me, and I think you can connect the rest. So we appreciate your prayers. One of my favorite things to do at Florida College besides date my fiance was to be on the Florida College debate team. And I just really enjoyed it. I enjoyed arguing. And if you know me, you know that that’s very, very true. But one of my favorite memories is when my public speaking teacher of my freshman year, uh after the first or second speech we gave, he came up to me and he said, Would you like to join the speech and debate team? I said, Well, I’ll think about it.

And he said, Well, do you have any experience? I said, No, but my mom would beg to differ. And what I found was after I joined, I had a knack for arguing. I’d like to thank my mom for that experience.

But what I really noticed after I got into it was I could be somewhat successful with it even right off the bat. I was debating kids who were older who had done real organized debates before, and I was asked before, how do you do that? I said, Well, it’s simple. I try to size up the person as they come into the room. And in particular, if they would talk, I would listen to them first and determine what was my best chance at success. Shockingly, a lot of people that join debate teams in college are maybe nerdy or geeky and know a whole lot about a whole lot of things that I know nothing about. But when a discussion came up over something that I didn’t fully understand or hadn’t watched the news and didn’t have the full scoop of, I would do a couple things.

And you see, I joined the debate team because I like to argue, which tells me something. Tells me other people joined debate teams because they like to argue. And I know that people who like to argue don’t like to be wrong. They don’t like to be challenged. So what I would do if I was overmatched is I would take one little thing they said, something very obvious that had no bearing on the rest of the discussion, but was just a very preliminary, foundational setup for their argument. And I would disagree with it. And when they’d stand up and talk, I’d ask them, I’d say, How can you say that? And they’d say, Well, this is very obvious. And they’d keep going and they’d get madder and madder, and as the debate went, I’d keep asking, and then I’d stand up and I’d make just a five or ten second comment and say, you know, I don’t know why they said that.

I can we really prove that that’s true? Again, something very obvious. And they’d get up and they’d spend half of their final speech saying, I don’t know how we can say that that’s not true. We all know this is true. And I’d walk to the podium the last time, and I’d say, I’d like to thank everyone for being here. And I’d like to thank my opposition, they had a good case. I said, now, to this issue that we’ve been debating for most of the time, I would like to cede that to the opposition. Unfortunately for them, their speaking time is up, and that has no bearing on the rest of this debate, so they’ve wasted most of their speaking time. But I will give them the point.

And after jaws have stopped dropping and the judge’s pen starts writing, they realize they’ve been discussing something that didn’t matter. They missed the point because I had distracted them and so convoluted the original issue that they didn’t spend their time actually thinking through and arguing what we were there to discuss or to debate. Today, there are many, many issues that Christians grapple with on a daily basis. Evolution, homosexuality has recently come to the forefront. How to treat your government, how to dress for worship. All of these things are hitting their head. Sign on to Facebook. You’ll see a lot of them. Go to an internet news source. You’ll see opinions on both sides of the issues. But brothers and sisters, allow me suggest this morning that there are a lot of arguments and questions that don’t matter.

But there are a few that do. So this morning we’re going to discuss some of these critical issues. But may I say from the forefront that we must agree that the Bible is our source, that what God has said we will do. After all he says in Isaiah chapter 55, verses 8 and 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. So consider this question as we examine several issues this morning. How do you reason? Do you reason with the Bible in the background? Or do you reason with the word of God imprinted on your heart?

1. Paul Reasoned About God, Christ and the Resurrection

Open your Bibles with me to Acts chapter 17. I think Paul gives us a great template for how to be a Christian in a society that is rampant with discussions that really, frankly, do not matter. In Acts chapter 17, beginning in verse 16, we find Paul in one of the most philosophical, most debate oriented places that has ever been there. In Acts chapter 17, we’ll go ahead and begin in verse 15. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens. After receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed. Now, while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons in the marketplace, every day with those who happened to be there.

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also converse with him. And some said, What does this babbler wish to say? Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who live there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Now let’s stop for a moment and examine in the story that does continue for the next several verses, where Paul is and what he’s doing. Well, we understand from verse 15, if you check your text, that Silas and Timothy were to come to him, and he’s waiting, as is revealed in verse 16, in Athens.

Now, Athens is defined as a city that has full of idols. And in verse 20 21, we recognize something very important. The Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. This was a people who wanted to discuss things. They wanted to be philosophical, they wanted new, they wanted better, they wanted arguments, they wanted a discussion. That’s what Athens was known for. I kind of get a chill up my spine when I read verse 16. And Luke, the physician, who is very specific with his details, not one to describe much emotion, says, Paul’s spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. Now can you imagine Paul? The Apostle Paul, the one who had been arrested for his faith, who would stand up for Christ, even if he was being beat to death for saying the words that he continued to speak.

Can you imagine him walking into a city and seeing all of the idolatry? Can you imagine Paul walking by and hearing all the conversations that were so amiss? Can you imagine the direct, the bold, the courageous Paul? Notice.

But verse 17, what does he do? What does Paul do? The apostle of Christ. What is his action in this city that discusses many things, many of which miss the point, and some of which fly in the very face of the God that Paul believed in. Verse 17 says, so he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. If you’re familiar with Paul and his teachings, that’s what he would do. When he went from city to city, he’d go to the synagogue and he’d teach. He would teach anywhere, absolutely. But his hallmark was to go to the synagogue and to instruct people about the true and the living God. To teach about Jesus and the resurrection, as we’re taught he does here in verse 18.

So here’s the situation as I see it from this text. Paul could have talked to these people about anything. This is people who wanted to know, in fact, so much that they grab him and they’re saying, Teach us about this, tell us more. What could he have talked about? Can you imagine? He was obviously provoked that there was a city full of idols. He could have spoken about idolatry. He could have talked about their vain waste of time in discussing philosophy, their vain idea of multiple gods. He could have gone after anything. But what does he do? Well, let’s read the rest of the text. Picking up in verse 22. So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription to the unknown God. What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each of us.

For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed his offspring. Notice these last three verses here. Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he calls, commands man, people everywhere, excuse me, to repent. Because he has fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. So of all that Paul could have talked about, all of the debating he could have done, all of the absolute annihilation of their arguments, of their foolish, feeble minds.

What did Paul reason with them about? Look at the text again. Paul taught about God. Then, beginning in verse 30 and 31, he spoke of Christ. And he obviously spoke of a resurrection, because in verse 32 it says, Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, We will hear you again about this. Paul reasoned with them about God, about Christ and the resurrection. And perhaps most importantly, he fixated on what in verse 30? The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed the day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. He stuck to biblical truth. He stuck to God’s word.

He stuck to the point of Christianity. Just like how I could debate someone and twist the idea and take them off the main topic. That’s what happens when we get so wrapped up in these issues. We get away from what is truth. Truth is God’s law. We should argue as God has dictated. We should speak as someone who speaks with the oracles of God. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 11. May we never confuse issues and make it a battle of human wit or human wisdom. Not only because someone may be smarter than us, but because that is not God’s design. All people, whether we are debating a sin, creation, or anything else, the focus should be that God is. That he sent his son Christ to die and to be resurrected, to forgive us of our sins, to free us from the bondage of death, and that we will answer to that living God by the words of him who he sent.

But notice in verse 32, after he’s mocked, excuse me, picking up in verse 33. Verse 33, so Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed. Among whom also were Dionysus the Areopagite and a woman named Demaris and others with them. He didn’t start getting into wrangling about their ideas. He didn’t get mad that they mocked him. He stuck the truth. He stuck to God’s word, God’s plan, and God’s righteousness.

And he was rewarded for that. His teaching was not in vain. Verse 34 says, despite those who mocked, but some men joined him and believed. If we think it’s a coincidence that Paul didn’t go and bash them and tell them how wrong they were, and that some still believed, we are mistaken. Paul understood what his charge was, and it was to teach Jesus to the masses. As Christians, it is our responsibility not to wrangle with people about details that we can’t comprehend or misunderstand, but rather to teach the need and the fulfillment of Christ who came to die for us. With that in mind, we can see how we gave that same exhortation to Timothy. Look with me in 1 Timothy chapter 1. This is Paul writing to Timothy.

2. Do Not Wrangle About Words

Well, I notice a point he makes before we discuss some individual issues this morning that are present that are present in our modern society. 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3. He says, as I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus, so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine. Now we understand that, don’t we? Timothy should stand up and teach against different doctrine. We get that. Do we all believe that? Amen? Amen. We should stand for what is true, what is right? But notice verse 4 as he continues. Who else he’s supposed to charge certain persons not to do? Verse 4, in order to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God.

That is by faith. In the same sentence that Paul charges Timothy to charge certain persons to not teach different doctrine. He says, do not teach them not to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Why? Because they promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God by faith. Why does Paul care so much about genealogies? After all, they were really important to the Jewish people, weren’t they? Weren’t they important to even some Gentile people? What is such a big deal? The text answers it. Because it leads to speculation rather than that which is from God. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2. We get a more full picture of this answer. What’s the big deal? Why is it so critical? 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 14, remind them of these things and charge them before God to quarrel about words.

Which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness. What’s the problem beyond speculation? It does worse. Wrangling about words, it does no good. It ruins the hearers. How does it do that?

Arguing over things that we don’t have biblical truth. That God has not instructed us. We are arguing hypotheticals. We are arguing things that we do not fully know or understand. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be arguing about them. So what happens is people’s faith is shaken. Because they put their faith in arguments that back up God’s word. But that’s backwards, isn’t it? But if you put your faith in some sort of so-called scientific fact and then it’s misproven, where is your faith? It is decimated and perhaps lost. It turns people off to the pure, undefiled gospel of Christ, because they might be the living exception to what we have taught is truth. And that what we have taught is what God’s word, but it is not, because God’s word is perfect.

And if we stand by what God has said, no man can charge us falsely. They cannot say we have spoken out of turn. They cannot say that we are wrong, and if they do, we must let them. We must stand for what is truth. But when we repeat things that have been taught in the church building, or that we read online, or that we’ve even researched ourselves, and we wrangle about those things. We are distracting what faith is and what it should be, and that is in God. We should be teaching others about God and Christ. If we’re arguing with people, like I’ve seen on Facebook immensely this past week about how to dress for worship, or if we’re arguing about how many songs to lead in worship, or we’re arguing about how often it is you have to pray.

3. The Homosexual Agenda

We are just shaking people’s faith. We’re doing what happens in verse 14. We are doing no good and ruining the hearers of the gospel. We are told to speak as with the oracles of God. And so as we begin this morning looking at three issues that we are faced with today. Let’s remember what are the questions that matter and separate those from those that don’t. The first issue I’d like to discuss this morning is an issue at the forefront of our politics, at least until recently. That is the homosexual agenda. It’s at the front of politics, the media, it’s in our schools. It’s on our minds. Allow me to read lyrics from a song that this past year in 2012, I’m not honestly sure which, called Same Love by MacLamore.

They reached number 11 on the Billboard charts. He starts off, and I’m going to not read the first three lines because it’s the assumption is he thought he was gay. His mom’s response been, been you loved girls since before pre-K. Yeah, I guess she had a point, didn’t she? A bunch of stereotypes all in my head. I remember doing the math, like, yeah, I’m good at Little League. A preconceived idea of what it all meant. For those that liked the same sex had the characteristics. The right wing conservatives think it’s a decision, and you can be cured with some treatment and religion. Man made rewiring of a predisposition, playing God. Here we go. America, the brave, still fears, but we don’t know. And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten.

But we paraphrase a book written 3500 years ago. I don’t know. And then the chorus. And I can’t change, even if I tried. Even if I wanted to. And I can’t change, even if I tried. Even if I wanted to. How does that song make you feel? Angry? Frustrated? Sad. We discuss those same issues. The song is coming out. It’s trying to spread its message through our music, through the radio, to our children, to teenagers, to the world. This can’t change. What’s the Course saying? I can’t change, even if I tried or if I wanted to. There’s nothing they can do. They’re stuck. And what do we argue oftentimes? What do we get bogged down in? What’s the discussion that we often talk about and we fight?

Are homosexuals born that way? Or is it a learned choice? And we fight that with fervor. We say, well, God made them, so that can’t be. Brothers and sisters, that question has entirely missed the point. Satan has completely distracted us from the truth of God’s word. Do you see what he’s done? He shifted what we know about the biblical arguments, which we’ll examine in one moment, about homosexuality, and made it about man-made decisions. He wants us to not argue about what God says. He wants us to say that they have to be this way, that they have to be a learned behavior. They have to be born that way. Because then the focus is away from God’s word, away from God’s truth, and most importantly, away from God’s forgiveness and God’s plan.

Brothers and sisters, we must wake up. People are being divided. Because we are arguing over things that we don’t have the answers to. Look at me in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. The question we must always come back to is what does God say? In 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Look at verse 9. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor violers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Okay? Satan is distracting us from three pivotal facts. The first one, that homosexuality is a sin. What does that argument do? It starts blurring the lines. He wants people to start arguing about whether or not it is a choice, because then in our human minds, in our wisdom and understanding, we say, well, they can’t help it.

First point homosexuality is a sin. Verse 10 says, those will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at verse 11. And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. The second point that Satan distracts us from is that we are all called to obey him. Look at the text. What is that telling you? And such were some of you. It doesn’t matter where people were born thieves, born homosexuals, or they decided to do it on their own. Such were, they left it. That’s the issue that matters. And what were they called to? But you were washed. You were sanctified. You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

And that’s the point. That’s the question that matters. When we discuss homosexuality, we must remember that all are expected to obey Him. Yes, homosexuality is a sin. No, I do not believe based on God’s word that you can make an argument that they will inherit the kingdom of God because verse 10 says the exact opposite. But maybe remember what Paul did about the Athenians. That all people are souls. We are to teach about Christ. And the purpose of discussing homosexuality with anyone should be to teach them what God expects, that God expects us to follow him, and that if we do so, we can be washed. We can be sanctified, and we will be justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God if we do what he asks us to do.

4. Creation: God Never Says How Old

That’s the question that matters. Am I doing what God has said? Can I do it? The answer is yes. The answer is God has made it possible. We can do it if we just decide to ditch man’s logic and say, God has said I can, God has proven that I can, and so I will. And that’s what that comes down to. The Bible clearly teaches that all people can be saved. Make no mistake. That’s the purpose. And that’s the point of God’s message. Another great example of a modern discussion we get distracted from and about is creation. We are constantly under fire to continue to prove creation. To prove, tell me if you’ve heard this, that the earth is 6,000 years old. Because scientists are saying it’s millions, if not billions, if not trillions of years old.

And every time a piece of science comes out, we say, Oh, it proves it 6,000 years old. It’s a new earth. And then they find something, and then they say, hey, we found it. This is 10 million years old. You are wrong. Do you know what the problem with that is? God never says how old the earth is. Look at Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning, God created in the heavens and the earth. Do you see anything else there about dates? That’s the problem with when we discuss questions that don’t matter. We get bogged down in proving how new the earth is. That’s not a biblical concept. The biblical concept is God created the heavens and the earth. I’d like to run through this with you.

But allow me to ask, do you, just personally, do you believe that Adam was created as a newborn baby? Or do you believe he was made a man of some age? And if you don’t, even if you say, well, God created him, and so he’s going to start at an infantile age. What about Eve? Was Adam’s perfect helper born a newborn infant? Even if she was. Does God have the ability to make something perfect? And to make it perhaps more mature than something in infantile form. I think the answer is clearly yes. God can do all things. So who’s to stop God from having made the world? Zillions of years old, let alone trillions, billions, millions, or thousands. Brothers and sisters, let us not bind where the Bible has not bound.

Because this gets to the heart of the issue. How many Christians, how many souls have been lost because they can’t prove that the earth is 10,000 years old or less? How many people are being berated, and how many kids in schools are having their faith knocked down because schools are teaching how old the world is. Let’s believe God. Let’s do what God says. Let’s argue where God has argued. Look with me in Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews chapter 11. Notice what the writer says in verse 1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. So that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

That’s what we are to believe. That creation came about by the word of God, that it didn’t come from itself, but that the word of God and the word of God alone is that from which creation came.

Think with me for a moment.

What would Paul have done? Think about what he did in Athens. Think about what he told Timothy. I have no doubt in my mind that Paul would be able to take on modern evolutionists. I have no doubt. I have high doubts that he would unless he needed to. Brothers and sisters, Paul would teach God. Paul would teach the truth of God. He would say to look around like he did in Romans chapter 1 and verse 20, suggesting that God’s invisible attributes are known and have been known. And he would focus on their souls. Instead of focusing on winning the argument about homosexuality or about the date and the time of the earth. He would focus on Christ. How because God made the earth, he prepared the time for Christ to come, to die, and to be resurrected so that we could have a hope.

5. Other People: Yeah, But You Do

The Bible message, God’s purpose was God, was Paul’s plan. And that’s how Paul taught. He taught about God, he taught about Christ. And he thought about, he taught about our need for repentance. If we truly believe the Bible can make us complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. Why would we leave it for confusion, theory, and personal opinion? It makes no sense. The last argument I’d like to talk about that’s very modern today is other people. In kid form, an argument that’s given to parents is, well, everyone else is doing it, and we all rightfully say, Well, that’s not the right reason to do things. We don’t care about what other people do. We care about what you do. I heard that roughly ten billion times growing up.

But when we get to the adult world, it shifted. Satan’s more crafty now. It’s hidden. A little boy once told his mom, who, mom, you said that word. I heard in school that that offends people. It wasn’t truly a bad word, but it was a word that has since taken on a meeting that is offensive to a group of people. And so you know how little boys love to catch their mothers. He says, Mommy, you said a word that offends people. And the sister replies, yeah, but you say another word. As if that is to justify the incorrect nature. A favorite excuse of people today is to suggest if you come to them with something wrong, they say, Yeah, but you do. Brothers and sisters, may I suggest that in my teaching, I am very flawed.

That’s why I said, pray for my fiance. Okay? You know it. That’s why everyone laughed, okay? You are all acutely aware I sinned, that I am weak, that I am immature in many aspects of my life. But that does not change for one iota what is said in God’s truth. That’s why it is critical that we stand behind what God has said. Why? Look with me in Romans chapter 14. In Romans chapter 14. In verse 10, Paul reasons, Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Now in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Now know what those texts do not tell us. They do not say that we are judged by one another. They do not say that we are judged by anything except our lives, our choices, our decisions. So what does that mean? That means that anytime we make the argument that, well, this is right because we’ve always done it. Or this is wrong because we’ve always done it. Or I really don’t think we should because so and so didn’t used to. We’ve missed it. Brothers and sisters, that’s Satan so contorting what our view of God should be that we don’t even see it. He has twisted God from being the ultimate pilot of our lives to being a backseat driver, who leaves the Bible in the background of our minds, rather than at the steering wheel in our hearts.

May we always leave God in his rightful place, worshiping him, praising him, and following after him the way he has designed. People say all the time in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 1, where Jesus says, Do not judge one another. And he goes on to say that if you have do not judge because you have a log in your eye while your brother just has a speck. But you know what the text doesn’t say? That the brother had clean eyes. He didn’t say that you were so blind that you couldn’t see that he was perfect. He said that take care of yourself first. That is not an excuse for the brother. We all must give an account of ourselves. We all must examine ourselves in what James declares the mirror.

Conclusion

God’s word, God’s plan. And so I ask you this morning, what do you focus on? What drives you? Are you a Christian with the Bible in the background of your mind who shapes your life by Christian principles? Or are you a devoted follower of Christ who does everything that God says, reasons the way God does, thinks through things in the way that Christ has outlined for us to do. Which one is it? Is the Bible in the background of your mind? Or is the word of God imprinted on your heart? We all have a decision this very morning to make. Will we do what God says? Perhaps the most pertinent question, the most oft-given excuse, is I may have more time. Whose logic is that? Jesus gives countless examples of suggesting that he’s coming.

And Jesus makes his second coming secret, unknown to man because he wants those who are watching, who are waiting, and who are ready. Have you just accepted the will of God this morning? And if you haven’t, read it and do it, for that is what God wants, and anything else is from man and contorted by the devil. Come forward right now this morning if you wish to rededicate yourself to Christ and obey God as we stand and sing.