Bringing in the Cheese: Misunderstanding the Gospel  Commission



It is interesting how people hear things.  Particularly
children.  Maybe it was just me, but many times as a child I
misunderstood the words to songs or phrases.  We often sang
"Holy, Holy, Holy" when I was a child.  There was a phrase that
I never could understand.  "God over all who rulezy ternity." 
That never made sense to me.  I was along in years reading from
the hymnal before I saw "rules eternity."

Another hymn "mis-hearing" was one my brother came up with.  In
the spirit of the season, his song was "While shepherds washed
their socks by night......."

I guess one of my favorites, at least since I met my life
companion, is this mis-hearing. A child was heard loudly singing
"Bringing in the Sheves."  According to this youngster the last
line clearly stated:  "We shall come with Joycie, bringing in
the cheese."

Perhaps he lived on a diary farm. 

It is easy to misunderstand some things that we hear over and
over again. This is the reason that we have preachers and
Sabbath School teachers, and the Bible, to keep bringing to our
memory those things that are essential to our salvation.  

Today I want to speak with you regarding the most important
topic that we as Christians can discuss.  The Christmas story
has some bearing on it, but in our enthusiasm over the divine
Christ Child, we sometimes forget the rest of the story, as it
were.  

1 Cor 15:3  For I delivered to you first of all that which I
also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures,

4  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures,

5  and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

6  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have
fallen asleep.

7  After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.

8  Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out
of due time.

9  For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be
called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward
me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all,
yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

We will look at 3 basic points found in this passage.

1.  Christ died for my sin.

2. He rose again and was seen by many witnesses.

3. When we internalize this we will become workers for Him.

Then we will look at some of the ways that becomes reality in
our lives.

Here we go.

1.  Christ died for my sins.  

There are some misconceptions on both sides of this belief. 
Let's look at the extremes for a moment.  On what I will call
the left side, we find people teaching that since Christ died
for our sins -- sins of the past, present, and future, -- then
we need have no concern about how we live and conduct ourselves.
 All one has to do is accept Jesus as one's Savior and nothing
in the life changes.  A profession of faith in Jesus Christ is
all that is needed.  Jesus declares that we are saved and we
cannot be anything else.

On what I will call the far right, we find that it is not
unusual for people to say, "I know that Jesus died for my sins" 
Then they may continue in one of several ways.  Perhaps they
might say, "But He died for my past sins, and I have to make
sure I don't sin again.  They will use the text in Hebrews 6:6 
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
him to an open shame.

It seems to me that this text is referring not to sinning, so
much as turning your back on Christ altogether, when you look
ath the whole weight of scripture.

The simple truth is, as Paul puts it.  We all sin.  We all can
be forgiven.  We can never conjure up righteousness on our own. 
John the Beloved wrote that if we say we do not sin, we are
liars.  Even while calling the Christian to make choices that
reflect the goodness of Christ.

So let's summarize the importance of Christ dying for our sins. 
We all have sinned, are sinning, and will sin.  That is not to
say that we will not be overcoming as we move through our
Christian expereince.  But that is growth that will naturally
occur as we follow Jesus.  Our focus must always be our Savior
and not our sin. You have heard me say this before, but when we
focus on our sin we become more like what we are trying not to
be.

To be saved, we need a Savior to save us from what we have done
in the past, from the results of our fraility in the present,
and from the results of our missing the mark in the future. 
Thank God we have a Savior that is able.

2.  Jesus rose again and was seen by many witnesses.  It is very
interesting.  After Jesus' resurrection, the rulers were
impressed by that glorious event, but what continued to make
them take notice was something else.  

Peter and James had just healed the man at the temple gate.  We
read the story in:

Acts 3:1  Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at
the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.

2  And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried,
whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called
Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;

3  who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked
for alms.

4  And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, "Look at
us."

5  So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something
from them.

6  Then Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I
do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk."

7  And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and
immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

8  So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple
with them; walking, leaping, and praising God.

9  And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

10  Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the
Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder
and amazement at what had happened to him.

The next day when they were explaining the implications of this
healing to the priests and rulers.  They said:

Acts 4:12  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is
no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved."

13  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and
perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered;
and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Now I want to say this figuratively, not literally.  

Each time that a person's life is changed it reflects the
resurrection of Jesus.  Christ through the Holy Spirit wants to
change us.  And why would we not want to be changed?  What one
of us is satisified with our achievements?  Which one of us is
not troubled by our shortcomings?  Is anyone here totally
satisified with every though,  motive,  action, or habit that
you have?

Let's make an analogy.  When you were training your children,
did you make your goal to change diapers the rest of your life,
or to teach the child to take care of his business on his own? 
Maybe that is not a totally good analogy, because Spiritual
change comes through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Maintaining
a Spiritual exitstance also comes through the power of the Holy
Spirit.  We never come to the place where we do not need the
resurrected Christ indwelling us.  But we are expected to
expereince spiritual growth.

Which brings us to point 3.  We cannot be effective in living a
Christian life and witnessing until we can make the first two
points part of our daily experience.  

Until we take for our own the dying of Christ we cannot serve
others.  

Phil 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but
in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves.

4  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of others.

5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God:

7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form
of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Unless we take Christ's resurrection as our own, we have no
hope, and we have nothing to say to others.  The fantastic news
is that Jesus' resurrection is our resurrection.  Jesus'
ascention to heaven is our ascention.  Jesus' sitting at the
right hand (favored) of God assures us of a place in the kingdom
of Heaven.  

Imagine for a moment with me that you were talking to someone
about salvation.  You have convinced them that they are sinners
in need of a Savior.  But  then you have nothing else to tell
them.  Death is the end.  No future.  No heaven. No eternity. 
What do you have to give them?

Christ's resurrection is the guarantee of hope.  Of a future. 
Of something to live for.  And Christ in you gives hope to those
who do not have Him in their lives.  

  Benjamin West, the great painter, speaking of Gilbert Stuart,
a brother artist famed for his beautiful coloring, used to say
to his pupils, "It's no use to steal Stuart's colors; if you
want to paint as he does, you must steal his eyes."  When we are
baffled in our efforts to live as Christ lived, the record of
His life, however wonderful it is, will not enable us to be like
Him.  What we need is His heart, His Holy Spirit within us. 
Only divinity within us can recognize divinity without. Without
His eyes, we cannot see Him as He is, God. 

Which brings us back to our hymn.  The child who was singing
bringing in the cheese, was doing so with gusto.  But it wasn't
profitable. It wasn't done with understanding.  God wants to
give us a change in our lives so that we can share that change
with others.

 -- J. Sidlow Baxter said:

What God chooses, He cleanses. 

What God cleanses, He molds. 

What God molds, He fills. 

What God fills, He uses. 



 Paul Harvey said, "Too many Christians are no longer fishers of
men but keepers of the aquarium."  

And I believe that is because we have not expereinced the dying
and resurrecting of Christ in our life.  We speak of dying to
sin. But unless we are resurrected by the Spirit of God we are
merely dead sinners.  Christ desires active, vibrant, joyous
people who love him more than anything else.

The gospel, brothers and sisters, is not tithing.  The gospel is
not the Sabbath.  The good news has nothing to do with anything
that we do or can do. Though the gospel can be reflected in
those things.  The good news is not about anything that you or I
can do by ourselves.  

Doctrine alone can change your life style, but it cannot change
your life.  Only Jesus can do that.

The gospel again can be summed up in one sentence from Paul. 
Christ in you the hope of Glory.  Christ's death is your death.
Christ's resurrection is your resurrection.   Paul said "I die
daily."  Phil 1:21  "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain."

 2 Cor 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the
Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body.

 Here we find the truth of the Gospel.  Death and resurrection. 
Dying with Christ.  Resurrected with Christ.  Christ manifested
in your life, that people can look at your life, your
expereince, and recognize what the Jewish leaders recognized in
the disciples.

A holdup man was caught and sent to prison.  While there, he
came face to face with the claims of the Gospel and was born
again by the Spirit of God.  His life completely changed, he
served the rest of his sentence in an exemplary manner and was
released several years later. As he was leaving, the chaplain
handed him a letter written by another prisoner.  It said, "I
came to this place despising both preachers and the Bible.  When
you told me you were saved, I said to myself, 'There's another
one taking the Gospel road just to get an early parole'; but
Roy, I've been observing you for a couple of years, and your
testimony has rung true.  I kept track of you when you were in
the yard exercising or working in the shop or eating your meals.
 You never made a slip. 

   Now I'm a Christian, too, because I watched you! The Savior
who saved you has saved me!"  Others had tried to convince him
through argumentation of the claims of the Lord, but Roy had
exhibited a changed life before him -- that made the difference! 

Of the disciples it was said, "Surely these men have been with
JesusWhat does your life say about Christ?  How does your
expereince reflect the gospel? 

Today, are you willing to quit looking to yourself?  Are you
willing to accept the death of Jesus, and let His resurrection
be your new life?  What do you say?