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Pastor Henecke's Sermon and Devotional Outlines

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Pastor Henecke's Sermon Outline

The Woodland Street Pulpit

Gary Allen Henecke DD

May 28th, 2006 A.M.

Christian Morality

Mark 7:14-23

Calling the crowd to him Jesus said, "Listen to me all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that is able to defile him when he takes it in, but rather it is that which comes from within which condemns him." When Jesus had left the crowds and entered the house his disciples asked him about the proverb. He said to them, "Do you not understand? Can you not see that anything that a person eats cannot defile him, because it does not enter the heart but into the stomach, and goes out as waste?" He continued, "That which comes out of a man condemns him. Out of the heart, come evil thoughts, and all immorality; theft, murder, broken faith between husband and wife, greed and lust, deceit, sins of the flesh, an evil eye, slander, pride, all wrongdoing and foolish acts. All evil comes from within and corrupts life."

  1. Our setting:

    1. The rules of religion had brought my Master into conflict

      1. He had failed to respect the traditions of the elders

        1. It was more than hygiene

        2. The "elders" were the definers of the Law

      2. Now, his disciples were eating with unwashed hands

        1. They picked grain from the fields on Sabbath

        2. They ate at unclean tables (tax-collectors)

      3. Jesus told others to act in violation of Sabbath

        1. Bringing Jesus into criticism

        2. In this he will be seen as a sinner

    1. Is this simply the conflict of tradition and truth?

      1. Was Jesus doing away with all the old rules?

        1. No, Jesus was redefining the meaning of truth

        2. He was calling them to a new right-ness

      2. They had a form of goodness – but:

Isaiah 29:13

The Lord said, "These people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and their reverence of me consists of men’s traditions learned by rote. So behold, I will again do wonderful and marvelous things among these people. The wisdom of their learned shall perish, and the discernment of their skillful will vanish.

Mark 7:13

"By this you make God's word ineffective for the sake of your tradition that has been handed down among you. You do many other things like this."

  1. The Righteousness of Israel
    1. At first God reveled himself to pagans, nomads, and idolaters
      1. He called Abram out of pagan idolatry
      2. The language still carried hints of paganism

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

"Hear O Israel! Yahweh our God(s) is one, Yahweh is the only one. You must love Yahweh your God(s) with all your heart, with all your life, and with all your strength (abundance)."

    1. God was once expressed in heathen images
      1. God was still the vengeful god
      2. He was understood like Ba’al
    2. To such a primitive people God gave the code of righteousness
    • You shall have one God – no others
    • You shall prioritize God’s day every week
    • You shall not murder
    • You shall not steal what is not yours
    • You shall not speak falsely
    • You shall not want another’s goods or wife
    1. Yet they struggled over being unique
      1. They were to testify to their God by obedience
      2. This was their covenant, they broke the covenant
    1. Israel’s religion was one of obedience and performance
      1. God required them to control their lives

Exodus 15:26 NJB

"If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God and do what he regards as right, and if you pay attention to his commandments and keep all his laws, I shall never inflict on you any of the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, for I am Yahweh your Healer.'"

      1. This was the ethic of the Law
    1. The record of Israel is failure – they never kept a jubilee
      1. Their morality was found in commands – do this!
      2. Yet, wanted to be like others
    1. Jesus took it further
      1. You were to be good even if you suffered
      2. You were to be consistent – like your Father in Heaven
  1. The Unique Teaching of Jesus
    1. Jesus spoke like none before or after him
      1. First he Spoke as God
        1. He never said "Thus says the Lord"
        2. He said "I say unto you …"
      2. His word was final – it was life and would judge the world

John 5:24

Truly, truly, I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

      1. He stood in the space reserved for God alone
      2. Second – he never said "I think" but spoke in absolutes

John 14:23-24

Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me keeps my word, and my Father will love him. We will come to him and make our home with him, but whoever does not love me will not keep my word. The word which you hear is not my own but the Father’s who sent me.

    1. Jesus redefined the words of ancient Israel regarding: righteousness – idolatry – morality – holiness
      1. Idolatry was no longer a statue
        1. Now it was any affection that superseded God
        2. Idolatry is love of possessions, status, and/or career
      1. Morality was more than obedience
        1. Morality had to change ones affections
        2. The goal was not to end immorality
        3. The goal is to end lust

Matthew 5:27-30

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

      1. The goal is not just forbidding murder
        1. The goal is to end hostility
        2. To want the best for another from your heart
      2. Jesus calls us to caring beyond obligation
        1. You are to care from the heart - naturally
        2. You will be loving because love is truly you
    1. The goal of Jesus is a pure life (whole) for everyone

Matthew 5:21-22

"You have heard that our forefathers were told, `You shall not commit murder; anyone who kills shall be brought to judgment.' But I say to you that anyone who is angry toward his brother will be judged. Anyone who insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire."

    1. We have to do more than be civil – more than control ourselves
  1. Our inner passions must be one with our walk
  2. We must live whole – the inner and the outer
  3. We must be more than self-controlled
  4. This is living wholly (purely). This calls for transformation

  1. The New Morality

    1. The church has preached from the first days:

      2. Galatians 5:16-18

      I tell you, be guided by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. The desires of the flesh fight against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit conflict with the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you desire. If you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.

      1. You can only be what Christ came to create by being moral within and without – by being free from idolatry from the heart
      2. This is a work beyond rules
    2. Where have we seen this?
      1. Gethsemane
      2. Here the second Adam lived to God

1 Corinthians 15:45

Thus it is written: The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

The first lived his own life – the second lived beyond himself

    1. But what of us?
      1. Jesus calls us to righteousness that exceeds to Law
        1. The life of wholeness – consistency
        2. The life cleansed of dividing lust
      2. He calls us to life in union with God




Pastor Henecke's PM Sermon Outline

The Woodland Street Pulpit

Gary Allen Henecke DD

May 28th, 2006 p.m.

Really Seeing Him - When I Saw Him

Revelation 1:10-18 NET

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, saying, "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches– to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea." I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands In the midst of the lampstands was one like the Son of Man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said, "Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, and the one who lives! I was dead, but look; now I am alive– forever and ever– and I hold the keys of death and of Hades!"

  1. The Setting

    1. Notice: John says he was on the isle of Patmos before he says he was "in the Spirit"

      1. "On the isle" he was isolated – confined

      2. "In the Spirit" he was united to the universal

        1. Here – he was with the saints

        2. Here – he saw the Lord

      3. Now he was with the church celestial

      4. Now "in the Spirit" as he heard Nathanial told:

      John 1:51

      Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

    2. John was part of what we all may be

      3. Hebrews 12:232-24a

      You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.

    3. Moses saw a bush that burned without being consumed

      1. He saw the mountain quake

      2. God was fire by night and a pillar of cloud daily

    4. Elijah saw the chariot of fire

      1. Jeremiah saw wheels within wheels

      2. Isaiah was witness to God high and exalted

    5. Our text is the testimony of John Ben Zebedee

      1. He walked with Jesus for years

      2. He witnessed the Transfiguration

        1. John saw the dead raised

        2. He saw Christ walk on the water

        3. John was in Gethsemane

    6. But now he is exiled

      1. God often has to get us for our attentiveness

      2. It is in the getting away that we are made available

    7. John had "A Vision in a Vision"

      1. He saw a great scene

      2. He saw Christ in the scene

  2. First be sensitive (attentive)

    1. He was able to hear the voice

    2. He turned to the voice

      1. The spirit of a person that determines what one sees

      2. Like Moses there can be a new vision and a new depth waiting for you

  3. Second, respond

    1. He did more than hear

    2. He, like Isaiah, was impacted

  4. Third, John saw him as never before

    1. He had walked the dusty roads

      1. saw him beaten

      2. Watched him die

      3. John had seen Christ risen – watched him ascend

        1. Now Jesus was beyond history

        2. Is it possible we relegate him to history?

    2. But now he saw him as never before

      1. Now he was struck off his feet

      2. Now he saw him as never before

  5. Translating Truth into Vision

    1. My students

    2. My journey

 

 








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Last updated: July 4, 2006