3.4.18
"Assigned Influence (Pt.2)"
TEXT: Exo. 20:13-17; 2 Cor. 10-11
TRUTHS:
1. The Ten Commandments teach us what we are to hold and treat as sacred. The first (4) deal with the sacredness of God and the worship of him, while the remaining commandments reveal the areas of our physical life and world that are sacred. We are not to treat these cheaply or dismiss God's guidance concerning them.
- Life is sacred. Every person is made in the image of God and has value, worth, and significance.
- Our bodies and sexuality is sacred. God designed us to enjoy this sacred area of life using trust and obedience to his commands.
- The property of another person is sacred. What a person has been given from the Lord is their responsibility to steward, enjoy, and use for God's glory.
- Truth is sacred. The devil is the "father of lies" and dishonesty is not an action that believers should view as insignificant.
- Your neighbor is sacred. The people you are around--the ones God has placed in close relationship and/or proximity to your life--are important to you and vice versa.
2. Viewing the Ten Commandments rightly and treating them as sacred will lead believers to find and fulfill the influence God has assigned to them. Growing Christians and churches influence the world around them and God is able to expand his Kingdom into broken lives. But if Christ is not being formed in us outside of church, we will have no influence on unbelievers. Actually, you could negatively impact their view of Christ and the gospel.
3. The teaching we hear that informs our view and knowledge of God is extremely important. What goes into our minds determines the trajectory of our lives and guides our decision making. Hearing truth will guide us to our place of assigned influence, but getting the knowledge of God wrong will lead to confusion, discipline, and ineffectiveness.
4. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul mentions the possibility of teachers proclaiming a "different gospel." A common perversion of the gospel in our day is the idea that, after salvation and being forgiven, a person can lean into God's grace and do anything they want. There is no mention of sanctification or growth. The gospel is reduced down to a one-time decision or event that has no bearing on anything other than heaven and hell. This gospel wrongly teaches people that grace covers all so there is no need to pay attention to morality and God's commandments.
5. Paul spends much of the latter part of this letter defending his status as one of the Lord's true apostles. The Corinthians were disputing his authenticity because they had become yoked up with false apostles who sought to discredit and malign Paul. Paul, who was not a dynamic or charismatic teacher, has to defend his commitment to Jesus, the truth, and to the Corinthians themselves. In doing so, he shows us some valuable lessons concerning truth and ministry.
- True ministry doesn't compete.
- Be careful about equating God's anointing to being talented, dynamic, and charismatic.
- The Church should be a pillar of truth and humility--not a clone of your culture's entertainment with the name of Jesus sprinkled in here and there.
- If any teacher promises you something by giving to them, this is a certain red flag that what they teach is false and harmful.
- There is no Christian who gets special revelation that no one else receives. If anyone claims you should listen to them because of this reason, it is a another red flag that you should not ignore.
- Man looks at the outward appearance while God looks at the heart. We need to remember this because we are tempted to yoke ourselves up with Bible teachers who look the way we want them to, are talented, dynamic, and popular.
6. Paul seeks to prove his authenticity by showing he has laid down his life to fulfill his assigned influence--getting the gospel to the Gentiles. Looking at what he has been through to get it done, we can conclude that his message and motives are true. He is willing to lay down his life because he understands that Jesus first did that for him.
TALK TO EACH OTHER:
1. Why is the concept that "grace covers all" a flawed and dangerous teaching? At what point does a believer misuse or misunderstand God's grace?
2. How can/should we determine which Bible teachers are appropriate to be yoked up with?
3. Apart from sharing the gospel, how can we (and how should we) positively influence those around us?
TALK TO GOD:
Pray as you feel led concerning the following area(s):
Fulfilling the assignments the Lord gives.
That we seek to have right hearts and are not focused solely on outward appearance.