[0:05]This evening's scripture reading will be in the book of John chapter 6. We will read verses 60 through 68 responsively. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying, who can hear it. When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at him, he said unto them, doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Let's pray. Dear God, just thank you for this night, Lord, that we're able to gather in your house. Lord, just ask you be with uh this scripture that Pastor Johnson's getting ready to preach to us, Lord. Just ask you to open our hearts. Dear God, if there be any here that doesn't know you as their savior, Lord, just uh Lord, I ask you to lay it on their heart their need of you, Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. it was requested of me that I would give a sermon to the topic of deconstruction. And so that is what we're doing this evening. Now, I have uh referenced this idea of deconstruction a few times in previous sermons but never really give it a whole sermon to it. Um, if you're not familiar with deconstruction, it's uh it's become, uh unfortunately very popular the last maybe five to seven years. It's somewhat of a new thing. Uh, where people are saying, you know, that maybe they were raised to believe in Christ or raised in a church or in a pastor's home or deacon's home, Sunday school teacher's home. And so they were raised kind of with a relationship with Christ, but but now they're deconstructing. Something was built, I suppose, in their adolescence and now they're going to take it apart piece by piece by piece. That's the idea of deconstruction. Now, again, it's a relatively new term and kind of a new idea. In some ways, it's a new idea and in other ways, it's it's a very old concept. Um, it it really was previously referred to maybe as being backslidden, or just apostatizing. Um, previously professing, whether they were genuine or not, but professing faith in Christ and then no longer walking in that faith. So, so it's a relatively recent term. Um, and and yet, it's an old idea and it is a sad thing always. So, what I want to do this evening is do what has been requested of me and that is deal with this topic of deconstruction. And I want to I want us to tackle it from a couple standpoints, okay? So, what we're going to do and these are some introductory comments here for you, is we're going to I want to address those that are as I put it in my notes, dabbling with deconstruction. So maybe you're under the sound of my voice here and you have doubted your faith and you're you're thinking about turning your back on God and turning your back on maybe the faith of your fathers and and on and on. So, so maybe watching the live stream or here in person or or this becomes a video archive not that long, you know, from now, somebody can go back. So, I want to to ask you if you are thinking about deconstructing, I want to ask you to do three very specific things before you deconstruct, okay?
[4:06]Uh, and I'm going to walk through those ideas from this text uh here this evening, but then the second part of the sermon really will just be conclusion. I'm going to spend the bulk of my time dealing with people that uh and trying to help people, minister to people that are contemplating deconstruction, but at the end, maybe you're somebody who has a loved one who has deconstructed. Or you know they're struggling and they're thinking about just turning their back on Christ and they're asking a lot of questions and they're aligning themselves with things that you know are antichrist and anti-god. And so you're like, how can I help them? So in my concluding comments, I want to try to offer some biblical uh prescriptions for you. So, uh, so really a two-part message. First part is are you if you're dabbling with deconstruction, three things that I want you to do before you deconstruct. And then the second aspect of it is if you're burdened for someone who is deconstructing, we'll give you some biblical ideas. that'll help you. Now, before I go any further, I think I've said enough to this point to provoke many of you to thought about this topic. Like, what I want to do is I want to ask you a personal question and I want to give you an opportunity to answer it. Like, do you know someone that that is in this situation, they're thinking about deconstructing. And and the way I want you to answer it is I would like everyone if you would to bow your heads and close your eyes for just a moment. Um, and so if you're here and you'd say, Pastor Johnson, there is somebody on my mind, whether it's in your family or it's a co-worker. Uh somebody in the church family, just somebody you're burdened for and you feel like they've either deconstructed or they've contemplated deconstruction, you're burdened for them and they're on your head and heart right now. If there's somebody like that, would you slip your hand up just so we could see those hands. Okay? That's hands all over the house. Okay? Now put your hands down. Go ahead and look this way. Um, and so what I say to you is, um, that just a couple still introductory things. However far that person is gone, make sure you love them. Um, and I know sometimes that the people will go really far and it becomes in some ways hard for us to love them perhaps. Um, so let me start by saying, make sure you love them. Make sure you're patient with them. Make sure you're prayful for them. At the end of the service, we'll give you an opportunity to come on then to need and pray for the people you just raised your hand about, okay? Um, so, uh, first though, let's deal with these individuals that may be tempted or have deconstructed their faith, but before you deconstruct your faith, Here are three things that I would like us to consider. Um, and the first one has to do with this idea of analyzing honestly what prompted your deconstruction.
[7:07]Okay? So, three things to do before you deconstruct, and the first one is analyze what prompted your deconstruction. And the keyword is not actually on the slide, but it is the idea of honestly, okay? And I want to suggest a few things that do that that are the prompt. You see that word on the screen, what prompted your deconstruction? I want to suggest several subpoints here under this first thought that prompt people to deconstruct their faith. Now, John chapter 6 verses 60 through 68, that was our responsive scripture reading. Notice verse number 66. Uh from that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Now, if there's if there's a verse in the Bible that represents deconstruction, this is it. People that used to walk with him, and he even calls them disciples but they walked no more with him, okay? Very appropriate passage of scripture. Um, and so again, to to those that are in that crowd maybe. They're thinking about walking no more with him or they're walking no more with him. What I say to you, before you deconstruct, you analyze honestly what prompted you to deconstruct or what is it that is prompting you to even consider this. Here are a few subpoints. Sometimes what prompts you is uh some kind of social media influence. The reason that this is a popular idea within the last five to seven years is because social media has really amplified the voices of of people that are promoting deconstruction. And so social media influences sometimes it is it is a story that somebody relates to. So there's a social media uh talking head and and and an impressionable, typically young person is listening to that social media uh person. And there's a a story that they relate to and that they empathize with, and the person on the social media is saying, yeah, I was raised in a church, and I was mistreated and I was a pastor's kid and I was and and or I was a deacon's, you know, kid or whatever, or I was in the church and and whatever. And and it's like, oh, wait, that's me, and and I felt that too, and I experienced that too. And there's this story typically, and then there's this relatability to the story. And so it's it's this social media influence, and often the story includes some kind of emotional appeal or an intellectual appeal. Uh and you understand that the carnal world around us often tries to portray Christian people as dummies, you know. They don't have the answer and so the the the talking head on the social media site presents themselves, either again, emotional that the person relates to or as intellectual. Somebody, I have all the answers. Christian people don't have any of the answers. Uh I'm sophisticated, I'm intellectual, and the pastor and the deacon and your parents are are fools. Now, we shouldn't try to pretend that that in some ways preaching isn't foolishness. Right? When I say that, what do you think of? First Corinthians 1, right? We understand that the world does view the preaching of the cross as foolishness, but to us that believe, it's the power of God. Okay? So, sure, the world's going to say, yeah, the the old preacher and that old Bible and those faithful people to that church, that's just foolishness. I'm saying sometimes the thing that prompts somebody to deconstruct is social media influencers who appeal emotionally, or sometimes they appeal intellectually. And there is a growing I I shouldn't say a growing number, perhaps it's growing, but certainly there's a lot of people that are in this these communities for people that have deconstructed their faith. Like, no exaggeration to say hundreds of thousands of people, uh have these social media networks that that are in these communities together. And uh and some of you said, boy, that's startling, that's a big number. Well, I want to comfort you just briefly by saying, also happening in the United States of America, there's a growing, this is true, growing number of people that are attending church. Uh, after Charlie Kirk's assassination, there's a lot of people that have a spirit of revival, an interest in the local church, and they want to know more about Christ. And so, sure, there are these communities with hundreds of thousands of people that are promoting deconstruction and offering their anecdotal evidence for why the Christian faith, they would say, is hogwash or some intellectual appeal. Anyways, if you're thinking of deconstructing, before you do, analyze what prompted your deconstruction, often it is a social media influence. Uh another letter B here, sometimes it's it's Christian failure. That's what's prompted the deconstruction is uh they see duplicity. Uh or hypocrisy in other Christians. So the pastor, you know, it was found out, the scandal or the embezzlement or the whatever. Uh the Sunday school teacher, and and I really loved my Sunday school teacher, and and I really thought he or she was was true and genuine, and then it all came out, you know. Uh and that crushes people. I the the current pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Muncie, which I used to pastor. I was there eight years, and um, uh we were a part of the revitalization there. The capstone to a revitalization is to ordain a man. Let the church ordain a man and have him carry on the work. So, Ben Lang has been at Temple Baptist in Muncie for the same time I've been down here. He carried on that work there. Pastor Lang is doing a great job. Now Pastor Lang, uh, has his bachelor's degree from Hyles Anderson College. And when the news about Jack Scott came out. So, Ben Lang was a college kid when Jack Scott's duplicity was revealed. And I'm just telling you, Pastor Lang would say this on his own if he was here, that affected him. That hurt him. In his mind, Jack Scott was the man of God there at that college that stood behind that pulpit and he could not believe what what came out about Dr. Scott. And and that's that Christian failure sometimes is what what prompts people to say, well, if he's not genuine, if she's not real, well then none of it must be real. And then they walk away from it. Um, so it's a social media influence, sometimes it's Christian failure, not just duplicity or hypocrisy, sometimes it's abuse. Christian people abusing other people. And that person that was a victim and was violated, is like, I don't want to have anything to do with his God or her God after what they did to me. So letter B is Christian failure. Letter C, what what prompts people to deconstruct. Letter C, people have the idea that Jesus, the whole point of Jesus and Christianity is that Jesus is going to solve my problems and he's going to meet my needs. And if Jesus isn't solving my problems and meeting my needs, at least as I estimate it, as I perceive it to be, well, then fooey on him. And honestly, that's what's happening in John chapter 6. Remember, uh the larger context here is the feeding of the 5,000. And um, many people started following Jesus because he fed them. And all of a sudden, Jesus goes into what is called hard words. Notice chapter 6 verse number 60, This is a hard and hard saying. Okay? So, he starts talking about his body. Notice the hard saying there in uh verse number 53. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat uh eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink the blood, ye shall uh ye have no life in you. Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. And you can continue reading the words of Jesus, but bottom line is, they were like, hey, I was there for the feeding of the 5,000. Now you're telling me something that I don't understand and that I perceive as a hard saying, and so, so I'm not interested in in following you anymore. And so they turn their back on him because they don't like what he's saying. And they they stopped, he stopped physically feeding them. Now, you understand, what he's doing is he's using a physical illustration to make a spiritual point. We observe the Lord's Supper, and we we understand uh that it is an object lesson that pertains to the gospel. But but they were really put off by what Jesus was explaining here. And so you're not filling my belly, Jesus, so I'm done with you. Listen, Jesus is the problem solver, by the way. But you understand, it's it's primarily about spiritual problem solving. There are times where he does physical things and financial things, and we praise him and we rejoice. But if the only thing he ever does for you is save your soul, you should be eternally thankful to him because that's the biggest problem any of us have ever had is the sin problem. But he's not doing physically for me what I think he should do. And so, they walk no more with him. Letter D, another reason that people deconstruct. Uh is that Christians aren't, they'll say, Christians aren't loving your neighbor in the ways that, um, maybe somebody thinks you should. And uh people don't like uh as the text says, a hard saying, you know. If you preach the content of Romans 1, 18 through 32. If you preach about the LGBTQ community. So, what is what is what is that stand for? Like, lesbian, L, G, gay, you know, bisexual, LGBTQ, transgender, Q, is queer. And then they have plus and all these other letters to follow. And so it's like they're leaving it open-ended. Like if you address that topic at all in 21st century United States of America, and probably in other places around the world, uh people are like, oh, that's a hard saying, and you're harsh, and and and even though, you use say it and and our reminding everyone that you know you're a sinner and you struggle with sin. And you point out that sin damns people to hell and you say it all as loving and as biblical as you can. Still, the sensibilities in the 21st century are, oh, you're not loving your neighbor if you don't accept every lifestyle out there. And so, sometimes because people have been like, uh mentally and emotionally calibrated to think that love means you have to endorse everything somebody else does, and you can never confront it and condemn it. Well, then they say, I'm turning my back on Christ and Christianity because you're not you're you're too harsh, hard word. You're too stern. You're too rough about these things. So, before you deconstruct, analyze honestly what has prompted your your deconstruction. That's where you start. Here's a second thing you should do. Before you deconstruct, assess the foundation of your faith.
[17:54]Assess the foundation. I'm going with A's this evening. Okay? So we have analyze, now we have assess. Assess the foundation of your faith. Okay, so um, when I use the word foundation, do you think of a a specific passage of scripture? Perhaps you think of 1 Corinthians 3. I'd like you to go there if you would with me please. In the word of God, go to 1 Corinthians 3. First Corinthians 3, if you would, look at verse number 10. I'll read it as you're turning, according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder. Okay? So, the idea of building a faith, building a walk with God, you know, as opposed to deconstructing. So this is construction, as opposed to deconstruction, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builder there all and another buildeth thereon. Notice this, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. In other words, be careful. It matters how you build on on this foundation, and then to be very clear, Paul writes to the Corinthian believers, what the foundation is to consist of. Verse number 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. He is to be the foundation of your faith. Um, and so what I'm saying to you is, oh, well, there's so if we go back to the first point, we don't need to move the slide, but just mentally you go back to some of those subpoints. Okay, well, uh, there's this social media appeal for intellectual and emotional ism, you know. And there's Christian failure, and people have disappointed me, and there's, um, uh, you know, me feeling like Jesus isn't solving my problems. And and after all the church is harsh and isn't ministering to the LGBTQ people the way I think they should, and on and on. Listen, people will fail you, for sure. But Jesus never fails. Okay? Uh, make sure, so before you deconstruct, assess the foundation of your faith. Um, that's what I'm trying to say. Uh, go back if you would, you're in 1 Corinthians. Go back to uh, chapter 1, verse number 21. Now, I alluded to this text earlier, but I'd like you to see it for yourself.
[20:17]Look at uh, 1 Corinthians 1, verse number 21. For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. In other words, it's not about intellectualism. Okay? The world's wisdom, they knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So if this book is what is being preached, you ought to rejoice. You ought to embrace it. It is part of the foundation that is Christ, is knowing this book and loving this book. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. So the idea of, oh, I will believe, if you show me something, if you prove something to me. Interestingly, back in John chapter 6, uh, they walked away from him. He did show them a sign. He did feed the 5,000. He did do a miracle, and yet they still, many of the disciples, ultimately turned their back on him. Um, I'm saying assess the foundation of your faith. Um, So you you ask yourself this question, who is Jesus of Nazareth? I was raised in a church and I was a Baptist, or I was a Lutheran, or I was a Christian denomination, or of whatever sort. Well, if you were raised in that setting, you have to answer the, before you deconstruct, honestly answer the question, who was Jesus of Nazareth? And I think the best way to do it, uh, is to is to look closely at the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but even more specifically, I would say, before you deconstruct, here's what I want you to do, is you master the Gospel of John. Master it. I double-dog dare you. Okay? 21 chapters. These things are written. Why? That you might believe. That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. What are the things that are written? Well, it's witnesses, and it's words of Jesus, and it's works, it's miracles that he did. I mean, master it. Read in chapter 1 that uh he came unto his own, and his own received him not, but to as many as received him. To them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Read about Philip and Nathaniel, um, and and read about Andrew, and these that testified that he's not just a guy who grew up in Nazareth, but that they have found the Messiah, that they have found the Christ. Read John 1:14 where the Bible says that they beheld him. They saw him with their own eyes. These are witnesses. Okay? And uh and he was one who, Jesus was one who was full of grace and truth. And the whole point is that you might believe. So it's so there's an intellectual appeal there a little bit, I suppose. I mean, there's some facts to substantiate your faith. So, so it's not about the pastor and his foibles. It's not about the Sunday school teacher and their finiteness that's showing. It's not about your parents who you live with and grew up with that you saw that they were human. And and that was off-putting to you. No, that's not the shouldn't be the foundation of any of our faith. I'm telling you that the reason that Ben Lang is still pastoring a thriving church on the south side of Muncie, Indiana, is because even though he was deeply saddened by the duplicity of Jack Scott, he made sure that the foundation of his faith was Jesus Christ. You better make sure that you assess the foundation of your faith. It is not fair for you to say, I'm deconstructing if you haven't mastered John's Gospel. If you haven't at least heard the witness testimony. By the way, when I've preached systematically through John's gospel, I've done it three times in my ministry, twice here. Uh once at the very beginning, that was the first book I preached through 10 years ago and then I did it recently. Some of you know, when I'm in John chapter 1, I start bringing people up. I like to do that to people, right? John Parker usually ends up being John the Baptist. So, I like to bring everybody up, all these witnesses, okay? And uh get the Samaritan woman up here. Usually, I pick on Vicki Spurlock, you know, and the Samaritan woman, and I get, you know, that's John 4, and get somebody to be Nicodemus, you know, you must be born again, and the Samaritan woman who went and she found the Messiah herself and she went and witnessed to people in Samaria, and you get this, you know, 12 people, 15 people. Up here, and they're all representing, yeah, we trusted him savingly, and we were born again, and he is not just a guy who grew up in Nazareth, but he's the Messiah. He's the one that the Old Testament prophesied would come and fulfill all the Messianic prophecies, and he is God. John 1:1 tells us he's eternal God. I mean, this huge group of people, you're saying, no, I'm just going to turn away from the faith. No, you need to at least hear from the Samaritan woman. You need to at least hear from Nicodemus, and from Nathaniel, and from Philip, and from John the Baptist, who said, behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29. I mean, hear from them. Assess the foundation of your faith. And listen to the voices that say, we saw him, we beheld his glory, and he was one full of grace and truth. Assess the foundation of your faith. It needs to be rooted in something deeper than just the the the failures and foibles of finite beings. It needs to be rooted in the infinite God. The Christian faith is about Christ. Assess the foundation. Build on that foundation. Um, here's the third thought for you. And it is, ask and answer, what is this faith? Ask and answer, what is this faith? And to reference the passage in Jude, you know, it's the faith once delivered to the saints. So ask and answer. Now, uh, when I use the word answer, I wonder if there's a passage in scripture that comes into your brain. Uh maybe some of you are saying, yeah, it's 1 Peter 3:15. That'd be a good. That's that's what I'm going for. That's what you thought, that's what I'm going for. Uh because that's about giving an answer for the hope that lies within us. When we talk about apologetics in the Christian world, and sometimes when somebody's like deconstructing, what do we want to do? We want to, sometimes we'll point them to a guy with answers, you know, the notable apologist. People like Vody Bach, he's been helpful. Uh, of course, his passing was not that long ago, helpful over the years. Um, others have been helpful in different ways. And so, so yeah, we say, this guy will give you some answers. Maybe you send him to your pastor or your Sunday school teacher and and they're your child and this that teacher, that pastor, they have some answers. And and so when we think of answers, uh, that's what we think of as a Christian apologist, maybe. Here's here's something though that you ought to consider is that before and some people I know, and I think some people under the sound of my voice right now, you're taking in some Bible institute. People that I get to pastor have been involved in a Bible institute where they're trying to become apologist themselves, so that they can help other people. So they want to so when we think of 1 Peter 3:15, we think of, okay, I want to be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within me. Here's what we miss sometimes is that before you can give answers to other people, before you yourself can be an apologist, the verse says, the verse says, sanctify yourselves. Before you can give answers to somebody else, you make sure you've got answers for yourself already in your heart. Uh and and sometimes we do get impressed or enamored with some Christian apologist and we kind of want to be like them. But I'm just saying, you yourselves, ask and answer, don't listen to some apologist or whatever, maybe that'll be helpful for you, but don't just trust their answers. You yourselves, get into the book, ask what is this faith? I've already said, you know, analyze honestly the foundation of your faith, and and assess the foundation of your faith. And analyze honestly what prompted you to deconstruct. So I'm throwing around this idea of faith, but maybe I'm saying that in in ways where people are like, I don't even understand fully what the faith is. Pastor, you said, make sure my foundation is Christ, but but the foundation of my faith is Christ, but what does it mean when you say this idea of faith? Well, ask and answer that question. And I think the best way to to answer that question is to go to 1 Corinthians 15. Would you go there? I think many of us are in 1 Corinthians 3. Go to 1 Corinthians 15. Before you deconstruct your faith, ask and answer what is faith? What is what is the Christian faith? Because some people think the Christian faith is dress standards. Some people think the Christian faith is where you're not supposed to go. Uh when I was growing up, uh pants on women was a big issue. How many of you feel like, boy, that's still an issue? Maybe you do. Uh my wife, by the way, wears skirts like 85, 90% of the time, okay? And uh there's times where it's more appropriate, she's still very feminine for her to wear pants, okay? So in other settings, she'll wear pants. And she always asks her husband, I appreciate that just because she understands that women don't understand the mind of a man, and there's certain settings, and certain outfits. And Britt will check with me, and I appreciate that she does that. Anyhow, my wife said to me that if the Lord takes her home and she passes away, she said, promise me you will bury me in pants. I said, okay, dear. She'll wear a skirt, but she's going to have pants on underneath. So, anyhow, that's what she says. So, uh, I mean, you need to remember that that's a that's like a thing in people's mind.
[30:23]Like the Christian faith is pants on women or not. Or the Christian faith is, you can't go to a movie theater. Uh, the Christian faith is, and these are things that are important and we need to talk through association with the world, and we need to talk through whether we're going to use dice, or you got to use a spinner, or we're going to talk through. I mean, whatever the distinguishing features are of independent fundamental Baptist, people think that's the faith. No. No. Ask and answer, what is this faith once delivered to the saints? Well, it's 1 Corinthians 15. That's what the faith is. These are what I've called before, the drivetrain issues of the faith, okay? Drivetrain issues of the faith. Look with me, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you. Would you say the next two words out loud? The Gospel which I preached unto you. This is the faith, okay? Which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. So remember the church at Corinth, by the way, what a mess. Lots of people whose lifestyle didn't match their profession. It's a spiritual spanking. That's what 1 Corinthians is, all 16 chapters. And so he's trying to root them in the gospel, in their faith. And he says in verse number two, by which also ye are saved. You're saved by the gospel, okay? And he says that that that he's trying to keep them in memory of what he preached unto them, unless they have believed in vain. Verse number three, for I delivered unto you first of all, this is why I call it a drivetrain. These are drivetrain issues. These are things of first importance, okay? These other things, I kind of joked about a minute ago, some of them matter more than others of them, okay? There are are implications to the gospel, for sure. But these are first priority things. That which he also received. So Paul saying, I received the gospel, and this is what I delivered unto you first of all. How that, look at this, Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. So what is the faith? It is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. When you're trying, you know, saying, I'm going to deconstruct, no, foundation in Christ and in the faith, and what's the faith? Death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Now, you say, Pastor Johnson, I didn't see the word faith in those first four verses. Well, please understand what 1 Corinthians 15 is. Is it's a chapter about the resurrection, and and how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scripture, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. It's about the resurrection. Notice though the word faith is in verse 14. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 14. If Christ be not risen, then your preaching uh then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. In other words, the hallmark of the Christian faith is not personal standards necessarily. The Christian faith, everything rises and falls on the validity of the resurrection. If Christ be not risen, then your preaching is vain and your faith is also vain. If Christ be not risen, we're all wasting our time. That's what he's saying. And the word faith is also in verse number 17 in 1 Corinthians 15. If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins. Okay? But look at verse 20. Paul makes it very clear. But now Christ, but now is Christ risen from the dead. He's saying Christ is risen. He is alive. He lives forever. So he makes it very clear that everything rises and falls on the validity of the resurrection. Now, um, maybe some of you know the Lee Stroble story. Uh Lee Stroble, interestingly, was a uh very erudite individual. He is an award-winning journalist. He is a Yale Law School graduate. Uh his wife got saved years ago, many years ago, and uh so she had been praying for Strobel, and he, um, was so smart, and so, uh, smart, and and like so, uh, well-educated, and and again, Law School, Yale, and all this stuff. He was pretty self-impressed, and so he decided, and he was sick of his wife talking about Christ and and and trying to witness to him, uh here and there, and he was annoyed with it, and he thought, well, if I can just debunk the resurrection of Jesus, uh then she's going to leave me alone. And so, Lee Strobel set out to debunk the resurrection, and because he fancied himself to be so smart, he thought he could do it in an afternoon. That's what he did. So he sat down and he thought, I'll get, you know, a few resources and and uh pen and paper, and I'm going to write something, uh on how the resurrection didn't happen. Anyhow, Lee Strobel's story is amazing. Uh it ended up not just being an afternoon, but then it ended up being several weeks, and several months, and and I think it was a couple years of just just any time he had opportunity, constantly studying the the truthfulness, or lack thereof, and debating the issue of the resurrection. To the point that Strobel finally said, okay, I believe Jesus is alive. And Lee Strobel wrote this little book that I hold in my hand, after he gets saved, and his wife was thrilled, and they hug and pray, and it's a wonderful story. But then Lee Strobel was used to write this little book, one of the best-selling book on the planet, as a matter of fact, the case for Easter, and it's uh the subtitle is a journalist investigates the evidence of the resurrection. And so he gives all kinds of proofs for Jesus being alive. Before you deconstruct, read stuff Lee Strobel wrote. Master John's Gospel. I mean, hear the witnesses that are uh that are that are speaking from antiquity as recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Ask and answer what is this faith? Once delivered to the saints. Um, all right, so these are things that you should do. Three things that you should do before you deconstruct. Now, let me by way of conclusion, transition here to some suggestions about what you should do. If you're burdened for someone who is who has deconstructed or is you can see the signs that they're leaning towards it. What should you do? Go with me if you would to Second Timothy. I'd like you to see a text there. Perhaps this is for parents or this is for siblings of someone who uh is burdened for someone else. Go with me to Second Timothy chapter 2. So our tendency if we're burdened, now lots of you, a little while ago, raised your hand and said, there's somebody on my mind.
[37:10]Okay? So, maybe you have done a few things you shouldn't do. Uh they're deconstructing or they're thinking about it, maybe it feels like they've completely abandoned their faith. So, what do we do? Our knee-jerk reaction is to beg them to come to Christ. Sometimes our knee-jerk reaction is to badger them about Christ. Sometimes parents get aggressive and it's beat them. Like, you're not getting out of this house and you grab them and you bring them in and you're physically aggressive with them. What I'm trying to say is, don't badger, don't beg, definitely don't beat them, because a fourth, uh, forced, uh, faith is not a biblical faith. Don't restrict them so much. You're not going there, and you're going to go, you're I'm making you go to church, and I'm I mean all this kind of stuff. That's not helpful. You know what that does? That alienates them. Understand that faith, Christian faith, is a head and heart issue, okay? And and if you are forcing Christianity on them in some kind of authoritative, obnoxious, aggressive way, you're not helping. Uh their head and heart is only getting further and further away. Okay? So, so avoid the badgering, the begging, and certainly the beating. And the way it says it in 2 Timothy chapter 2, you could see verse number 23 is is avoid engendering strife. Okay? Uh avoid that. Avoid conflict, okay? With the person, you want to avoid debating. You could read, I think it's Titus chapter 3 verse number 9. Where the idea of avoid foolish questionings, you know, and things that bring about striving. So, it's like, well, I'm I'm I'm going to debate him. Uh and I'm going to tell him, and I'm going to force him, and I'm, and so what you end up doing is you end up back and forth. And instead of peace, and instead of some neutrality, which is so often can can strengthen a relationship, there's friction, which then only pushes the relationship into dark places. Okay? So what I'm saying first of all, is avoid engendering strife. Okay? That's the first thing to do. Because as the text says, look at, uh 2 Timothy 2 verse 23. So, so that's where we get the idea of avoiding engendering strife. But then notice, verse 24, that the servant of the Lord must not strive. But but if you're going to be a part of their healing and their returning back to Christ, um, you need to be gentle. Gentle unto all men, apt to teach. Now, it's okay. I mean, you should be ready yourself to give an answer for the hope that lies within you. But let me remind you that you cannot teach the unteachable. And if it's somebody in your family that is deconstructing, they have heard your voice probably most of their life, and so, perhaps they're not teachable. Perhaps it's, it's this every time you try to bring it up. And what I'm trying to tell you is avoid that kind of striving, okay? You're probably not going to be the the human instrument. The the mouthpiece that that persuades them after debate and after banter, and after begging, and and all of these things after badgering them. You're probably not going to be that person. So yeah, you should be you should be apt to teach, but but before it says apt to teach, you avoid this kind of striving with them. Okay? And meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. Isn't it interesting that the people that are deconstructing, they are they are opposing themselves. What would actually be good for them eternally is heaven, and yet they're in opposition to the one, the Lord Jesus, who uh can provide heaven for them. If God per adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Verse number 26, and they that may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will. Do you see why I'm suggesting that this passage of scripture very much has to do with people that either don't know the Lord or that have turned their back on the Lord. And it very much has to do with how we engage with those people. So, the first thing I'm saying is avoid that kind of argumentation that's ultimately unfruitful. Uh avoid engendering strife. Here's a second thing you should do. Uh is you should pray that somebody would come into their lives that can teach them. Okay? Pray for that. And accept it, so first accept the fact that it's probably not going to be you. But start earnestly praying. So, so you want to talk about it to them. I'm saying, don't talk about it to them as much. Find neutral things you can talk to them about. But start talking to him a lot about them. Okay? And somebody says, I've been doing that, pastor. Good. Keep it up. And do it the rest of your life. Do it as long as it takes. Do it with importunity. You just keep knocking and knocking and knocking and knocking. Don't be weary. Don't faint. Is the idea in scripture when you're supposed to be praying. All right? So avoid engendering strife, and pray for someone that can teach him, and then here's a third idea, something you can do. And uh before I give you that heading, I want to ask you this. Luke chapter 15, several things that were lost in Luke 15, right? There's lost sheep. I think the chapter starts out with the lost sheep, and then there's a lost coin, and then there's a lost son, really two lost sons, okay? Uh it's interesting to me that the father with the lost son, essentially he didn't leave the porch. Right? He didn't go after the prodigal. The prodigal says, Father, give to me the portion of goods that befall to me, which you understand that wasn't supposed to happen till his dad was dead. It's an inheritance. But the son says, no, give it to me now. In other words, Dad, you're dead to me. I want my inheritance now. And he goes and he wastes the substance with riotous living. What I'm saying to you is, some of you are very burdened for this person that's backslidden or deconstructing, or prodigal or whatever. And your temptation is to go after them. Now, the lost sheep, remember, remember that passage where, uh, you leave the 99 and you go after the one? So why do you leave the 99 and go after the one and the much rejoicing that's in heaven. But you don't get off so this third thing you should do is stay on the porch, is what I'm trying to say. Why why should I stay on the porch? Well, remember how the prodigal how how it all happened for the prodigal? I think it's verse 17 in Luke 15. Some of the most beautiful words in the Bible. He came to himself. Okay? What has to happen is the one that's deconstructing, or wayward, or prodigal, they have to figure it out on their own. Okay? The difference between the lost sheep. What it you understand, a sheep is is um, ignorant, that's the keyword I want to highlight. But also they were in serious danger if a sheep was lost out there. I mean, it could be eaten by predators, and all this. Here's what I'm trying to say is, I think that that father didn't leave that porch because he raised those children to know better than the way that they were acting. Okay? By the way, there's people that'll leave our church that I don't go and visit. Pastor, you don't go and visit them? They've been gone. Why don't you go check on them? Well, if they know better, then they know better. Okay? Now, there's other people that it's like, no, they just got saved, or they they haven't really been grounded in. They didn't grow up in a Christian home. They, boy, out there in that world, they're going to be a mess. They sure do need the church family to go check on them. But there's other people that have had such solid investment from a great Christian college, or from a good Sunday school teacher, or and they're doing stuff, and and maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I'm just saying, in this kind of situation, more times than not, you stay on the porch. And you let him come to himself, because if you're just badgering and beating, and obnoxious, all the time. That's off-putting. They people, it's a personal faith. They need to go sort it out on their own. He came to himself. Listen, and after he came to himself, then he went to the Father. Eventually, if they come to themselves, they come to Christ. That's that's hard, that's hard. That's tough love. Uh, but but I'm saying, three things you can do, if you're concerned about somebody that's deconstructing, is you avoid fighting with him. And you pray for somebody to teach him, and then you stay on the porch. Okay? You let them sort that stuff out. Once you've said to them, all you got to do is say it about once. I think you're going down a dangerous path. I've raised you to think this and believe this. I've taught you this. I put you in a Christian school. I, whatever your investment in in them was, you say it one time. You know better, son or daughter. Or spouse, or or even parent, you know better than to be wayward in that way. I've said it, and then you pray for somebody else that the Lord will send and put in their life to plant seeds of conviction that can help them. You get what I'm saying. I said at the beginning, you think about these people that deconstruct. Just make sure you love them. And the best way to love them is to talk to the Lord about them on a regular basis. And when you do talk to them, you find things that you can talk to them about that are neutral, that show that you care about them as a person. Okay? Uh because, I'll say this and be done. You are an epistle known and read of all men. Sometimes what they're going to think about Christ is just what they see in you, and see in me. And just make sure you love them, and and do the best you can to to love them in a helpful, God-honoring way, that reflects his character.
