Accept No Substitutes

God creates co-existence and wants us to hear and proclaim the Gospel in a multi-faith context. The challenge is, we believe we proclaim the truth in a world full of substitutes.

From Matthew 13

I don’t know how long the phrase “Accept No Substitutes” has been around, but I know its not new. Coca Cola used it in the early 1900s.  Schlotzkys started back in the 70s in Austin with one sandwich called “The Original.” They had an “original” and nothing else. So since you have the original you are qualified to say, accept no substitutes, and they did say that. Then there’s AMSOIL. Amsoil was the first popular synthetic oil for your car. One of the marketing phrases was – yep, "Accept no Substitutes." Think about that, a synthetic motor oil, which is a Substitute has the gall to tell you not to accept substitutes. Then there’s Porsche, the car maker, they did one better when then proclaimed: There IS no substitute. As if Porsche was the only car in the World. Everybody knows it’s a souped up Volkswagen!

Why am I talking about Substitutes? Well just like Schlotzky and Porsche and fake motor oil has to coexist with “Substitutes” the whole chapter of Matt 13 involves coexistence!

I’m not saying it’s ABOUT coexistence, because really, it’s about the Kingdom of God. But it involves coexistence. Coexistence with things that will compete for your interest but they are not "Kingdom." Things that will confuse the Kingdom, but they are not Kingdom. Things that will seem good, but they are not the Kingdom.

     First Parables (or story with a meaning) of the Kingdom are Coexistence Parables. 

And the first is the Parable of the Sower. Of the 8 parables in Matt 13 this may be the most famous, maybe 2^nd to the Prodigal Son, but still famous.

Mat 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: 

"A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds 

came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much 

soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose 

they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among

thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and 

produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

You have probably all heard sermons on this passage, but lets just hit the highlights and get to the point. There are 4 results of scattering seed. 1) Birds eat the seeds, 2) The Sun burns them up, 3) the weeds choke them out, or 4) They grow and bear fruit. What do you notice? I notice 4 different outcomes that all coexist for a while. But only one of them does God accept. God Accepts No Substitutes!

Down in v.19ff Jesus explains these 4 outcomes. 1) The birds are the Evil One, the devil, who comes and steals the seed. The seed never even gets to sprout! Its just gone. 2) The Sun is tribulation or persecution. A person thinks they have the "Original", but trials, troubles and persecution make them give it up. 3) The weeds that choke the growing plant are worry and the distractions of wealth. Isn’t it interesting that both Trials and Treasures cause people to abandon the Kingdom of God? One group expected something God never promised, the other got something they thought was more valuable. And 4) The last group, grows and flourishes and Always bears fruit!

     Now we can extract a lot of ideas from this parable. Like, maybe it’s not a good idea to cast your seed on the sidewalk. OR better yet, maybe it’s better to prepare the soil and so help create a more receptive medium for the seed to be planted.

     And we’ve tried different ways to 'prepare the soil'. Like Pizza! Sure, are you gonna have an evangelistic meeting with teenagers? Feed them Pizza and when they get stuffed they’ll sit quietly and listen to the gospel! Altar calls! If we can just get them down front, maybe they’ll get saved! We’ve tried, soup kitchens and VBS and Gospel Blimps!

     And you know… I like Pizza and altar calls and soup kitchens and VBS. But those things do not prepare the soil of the human heart for the gospel. Only the Preaching of the Word of God does that! Wanna reach out to Young people? Feed them pizza, then Preach the Word. Want to reach a person that’s cold, give them a blanket then tell them they are lost and without Hope in this world, but Jesus gives Hope! Want to reach children? Give ‘em games, songs and crafts and Tell them about the Saving Power of Jesus Christ!

     But this first parable, is about the Reality and Co-existence of the Kingdom of God. There Really is a Kingdom and there really are Substitutes! That which is Not Kingdom! The Next Parable has a similar purpose.

     Then the Parable of the Tares:

Mat 13:24  He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be 

compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25  but while his men were sleeping, 

his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.

26  So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27  And the 

servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed 

in your field? How then does it have weeds?'

28  He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you

want us to go and gather them?' 29  But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you 

root up the wheat along with them. 30  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at 

harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be 

burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Pretty straight-forward right? There is the Real Kingdom, planted by God! And a substitute planted by the devil. And if you think I’m making that part up look down at v.38 "The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one." They coexist. The evil one wants to choke out the wheat. And it's not because he's Gluten Free! He wants to dilute the field. He wants to cause the good ones to fail. God says let them both grow. We’ll sort it out at the end. And the evil ones will be punished, and the Righteous are fit to serve for God.

God accepts no Substitutes!

Next Parables of the Kingdom are the Impact Parables. The Kingdom has value and it makes an impact!

Mat 13:31 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a 

grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all 

seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, 

so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." 33 He told them 

another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in 

three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

There is a garden, lots of plants; but one stands out. The one that starts small and grows and even gives the birds a home. Would Jesus start Small? You bet. 11 men and very few followers. But they would grow and grow, Even while they Co-exist with Evil.

Does the Mustard plant try to kill the other plants? No. 

Does it try to be like the other plants? No. 

It is unique, different, and it makes an impact.

But how about the dough and the leaven? I love this. Does the leaven turn the flour into leaven? No. The flour stays flour the leaven, which is yeast (a fungus), permeates and changes the whole lump of flour. It causes it to ferment and chemical reactions happen. Kinda funny Jesus is comparing the church to a fungus. But God invented fungus and yeast for a good purpose. Yeast also makes beer happen! God wants a garden with His mustard plant in it. He wants flour of the world permeated by the church!

But that’s not all! Look at v44

Mat 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and 

covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 "Again, 

the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding 

one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

There is another impact. The Kingdom is a treasure in a field, a pearl of great price. 

The Kingdom has value for those who find it. It makes sense to sell everything to buy the field. 

The treasure is obviously more valuable than anything this guy owns.

BUT, there’s another value here. There is value to the King. 

He finds his kingdom in the field. He sees many pearls but finds the right one, the perfect one, the one that has value to Him. And did Jesus pay a price for it? Did He? Did he Buy the Field and Buy the Pearl? You bet He did. 

Seeing the Kingdom as field of wheat with a lot of weeds teaches one principle. But seeing the Value of the Kingdom to the one who paid the greatest price teaches another.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you are valuable to the King. Jesus Accepts you and He Accepts No Substitutes! He doesn’t want to share you with the weeds. He doesn’t want to share you with the rest of the garden or the pearls. But, He doesn’t want you to make the mistake of thinking that you won’t live in an evil world, and there won’t be trouble, and hunger and poverty and persecution and tribulation there will be! There will be. But then end will come.

Which brings us to the Third kind of Kingdom parable:

The Judgment of the Kingdom and the Lost.

Mat 13:47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and 

gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and 

sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of 

the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw 

them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In v.47 Many fish are caught and they are sorted out the bad from the good. This is similar to the Harvesting of the field with Good wheat and weeds. So there is the idea of the Reality of the Kingdom and of Coexistence, But, there is another idea going on in these stories.    

    Remember how the people of Israel were looking for another David; a King to throw off their oppressors. But Jesus is becoming the suffering Messiah. He needs them to see good and evil will coexist 'til Judgment Day. And, it seems, the Day of Judgment is a good ways off. I think it best if we take the same point of view. God will sort it out When He is ready. And He Accepts No Substitutes!

     Jesus uses these Stories - these parables – To unlock ancient mysteries. These are truths that have been a part of God and His Reign as King forever.

     Winston Churchill had a lot of wonderful lines, and not just ‘cause he had a good writer, he was smart. In speaking of Russia one time he said they are “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” I always loved that. Well, Russia is still that way, but they 'got nothing’ on God. God is the ORIGINAL Riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma – But Jesus came to open the enigma, unwrap the mystery and show us the riddle. 

     And God has NEVER accepted Substitutes. There were many peoples in the World, yet He made the Hebrew People. There were many races in the world, He made the church. There are many religions in the world, where people try to earn their way into God’s Good pleasure. But,

God Made a Way of Salvation. And no one can come to Him unless He comes by The Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Original Savior and God Accepts No Substitutes!

Have you come to God by Christ alone? There is No Substitute!

William Tyndale - Gave His Life For the Word of God

Driving the M4 toward Bristol, you’ll see a tall tower up on a ridge. The tower is called the Tyndale monument. On the monument is the statement that Wm Tyndale first translated the NT into English from the Greek. (insert marker here) (from the Greek-Wycliffe had done it from the Vulgate-not as accurate). He was martyred 10/6/1536.
Born near Bristol around 1494, His family was from the valley of the Tyn. Hence “Tyndale”. He was registered at Oxford at 13, got his bachelors at 17. He went to Cambridge got his Masters at 20 in 1515. Think about this year for a second. It was 2 years before Martin Luther nailed his theses on the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. This is only 23 years after Columbus sailed. It’s the age of Da Vinci and Michelangelo, Its Renaissance and Reformation. It was also the age of the great philosopher and translator, Erasmus. He didn't study under Erasmus but he was the one who compiled the Greek new testament that was later used as the basis for the KJV. Tyndale studied all of Erasmus’ writings but especially the Greek New Testament.
But remember; when it came to religion, there was only one church.
I hear people say, we shouldn't have all these different churches. We Christians are all divided. Well if having one church leads to the corruption and the false doctrine of salvation that the Catholic church was guilty of in the middle ages, then I’m glad there are many different kinds of churches. In fact, I say the more the merrier! BUT, let’s try to love one another, and not tear each other down. I know men who are Bible church pastors, Methodists, and reformed Baptist, and Christian Missionary Alliance, and even Church of Christ folks, that I would stand shoulder to shoulder with, because I know they love the Lord and hold fast to sound doctrine. I also know of folks in all those groups that I would have to graciously decline to work with because there are problems with their doctrines and Bible beliefs. Unfortunately there are some Baptists that fall into that category, too.
But in Tyndale’s day, the RCC (Roman Catholic Church) had a monopoly. And neither they nor the government allowed people to start their own church. Tyndale and his colleagues began to discuss what was going on with Luther in Germany. And the reform work that Erasmus was talking about. They met at the White Horse, a pub in Cambridge, talking about the corruption in the RCC, and some folks didn't like that. In fact, people began to make accusations against them that were unfounded. Tyndale didn't mind being lied about but he didn't want to be classified as a troublemaker; he wanted to make a difference.
So He left school and got a job as a tutor, Sir John Walsh was his employer. Sir John was close to King Henry and took part in the Kings Coronation. (He was the King’s champion, a ceremonial post sort of like an unofficial head of the Secret Service.) Tyndale was treated like a member of the family and met many great guests and got to discuss the issues of the day. Often Tyndale disagreed with the guests but he always humbly pointed them toward the answer found in scripture.
Pretty soon he was invited to preach at churches all over the area. He started preaching out doors for the crowds. But that got him in trouble. A local priest branded him as a heretic, and threatened to expel those that went to hear him from the church. Remember, there’s only one church.
He wrote around that time that while he was sowing in one field, the devil was working in another. He said, “what can I do? I can’t be everywhere at once. Oh if only Christians had the Bible in their own language.”
He was brought up on charges, but nobody stood up to accuse him so he was dismissed. That was good but the priest got angrier. They got a theologian to come and try to fix him. The theologian was very impressed with Tyndale’s knowledge of scripture, but as he realized that the more Tyndale knew of scripture the further he got from the Catholic Church. So he said, it would be better for a person to be without God’s word than be without the pope.
That horrified Tyndale, that this man would put the pope above the Bible. He said a famous statement at that time: “I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, I will cause the boy that drives the plow in England to know more of the Scriptures than he (the pope) does!” He was determined to get the scriptures into people hands.

       As much as 85% of the KJV was copied straight from Tyndale.

He went to London to visit with Bishop Tunstall who was known a great Greek scholar. He wanted to go to work for him to translate the Bible. But the Bishop was uncomfortable with the Bible in the people’s language. Isn't that odd? A bishop who didn't want people to read the Bible.
He didn't know what to do but realized he couldn't translate the Bible in England. So he traveled to Germany and later France. This is still before Luther began his break from the church.
He hired a printer to begin to print his New Testament version. Matthew and Mark were printed, but one of the workers let it slip that they were printing a Bible in English. The authorities shut it down. But before they did Tyndale and his helper grabbed arm loads of printed sheets and had them sent out and smuggled into England.
He found another printer, and in 1526 the first copies of the NT in English began to show up in England. They smuggled them inside bales of wool and sacks of grain. In London, Bishop Tunstall found out about it, condemned it, had copies publicly burned and warned booksellers not to carry it. 1 shilling and 8 pence would get you a bound copy of the NT. About half a week’s labor for the common man. Many, many copies made it to England. The more the King and the church opposed it, the more people wanted it. It got to the point where a person risked death if they were caught with a Bible.
A new archbishop had a new plan. Buy them all up. They were able to buy a fresh load coming in, but what he didn't know was that the seller was sympathetic to Tyndale and he turned all the money over to Tyndale who then could pay for another large printing of the NT. Tyndale was wanted ‘dead or alive’. He also published a number of other books. He was the most popular writer in England. King Henry got a copy from Anne Boleyn and really liked it at first.
Tyndale then decided he needed to get the OT (Old Testament) into the hands of the plowman, too. Problem: Nobody was teaching Hebrew at this time. There was a lot of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe at this time and Jewish people who knew Hebrew who would teach it to gentiles were rare as were gentiles willing to work with a Jew.
How did he learn it? Nobody knows. He was proficient in 8 languages so he might have taught himself.
He finished the Pentateuch (First 5 books of the OT) in 1529. But something happened. He was in a shipwreck off the coast of Holland. He lost his manuscripts, his money, and all copies of the Pentateuch. He was discouraged. But he ran into an old college buddy, Miles Coverdale. Coverdale encouraged him. In one year the Pentateuch was redone and published. He did Jonah and other books in 1531. Back in England, Sir Thomas More (an English lawyer, philosopher, author, statesman, churchman, Renaissance humanist and important Councillor to Henry VIII. Also Lord Chancellor from 1529 to 1532) had written against him. Tyndale replied to him in print and that was spread around England. Many friends were harassed and tortured. Merchants were ruined. King Henry petitioned Charles the 5th of Germany to hand over Tyndale. In early 1534 Thomas Poyntz took him in. He was a relative of the lady Tyndale had worked for many years ago, Mrs.Walsh.
While with the Poyntz he completed a revision of the NT in 1534. But in 1535 somebody hired a friend of Tyndale's, a man named Phillips, to kidnap Tyndale. Tyndale was arrested and placed in the castle at Flanders in Belgium. He was there for 500 days, but during that time he wrote a book “Faith alone justifies before God.”
Many people visited him. Many tried to get him to recant his beliefs to get forgiveness from the church. But his work continued even while in prison. There is a letter he wrote to the prison governor. He asked him to get him a warmer cap and coat, a piece of cloth for his legs. These were things that he owned that were taken away when he was imprisoned. He also asked for a candle. Then he said “above all…permit me to have my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary.” He was STILL working. His friend Coverdale had completed an OT translated from Latin not Hebrew. Matthew completed one too. Both had Tyndale’s NT, and much of his OT. They dedicated their Bibles to King Henry. By now the old Bishops had died and King Henry’s advisers said that this Bible was very accurate. SO, Henry said, every church in England should have one. This was the answer to Tyndale’s prayer.
Tyndale only finished about half the OT when he died, but the Geneva Bible came along in 1560 relying heavily on Tyndale and somewhat on Coverdale and Matthew. Then in 1611, the KJV, the most published Bible in the world-and 80 to 85% of it was Tyndale’s.
Yet Tyndale died in prison for his faith.

And as those Bibles with Tyndale’s work spread all over England, things began to happen. First there was an English reformation where the church broke off from Rome. But it didn't reform very much so other groups came into being. They wanted to purify the church and make it holy again. They got the nickname puritans.
They were not allowed to worship as they wished so they went to different places. Some came to America.
Many died. But through God’s providence He brought pagan native Americans to help them survive. And yes, many bad things happened to the native Americans and to the settlers over the years. But many of these believers from England reached out to the Indians with the gospel. And many were saved.

Why?
Because Faith alone justifies-Faith in Christ and His work frees us from all the penalties of sin before God.

Do you have faith in God? Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ and His death for you on the cross? Have you turned from your sinful ways and knelt at the feet of the risen Christ?

Lessons
Importance of Word of God in the hands of the people. You need the Bible to know God!

We must preach the Word of God. Proclaiming a It as believers.

We must believe in the sufficiency of the Word of God. It is enough. Traditions aren’t needed. Just preach and read the scriptures.

The Word must be our authority. Acts 5 …you decide, as for us we must obey God rather than man. The Word of God is higher than any earthly authority. We are to try every spirit.

We must embrace the Word of God ourselves. Many have debated scripture without embracing its truth.

Don’t be discouraged when bringing the word of God. Don’t let setbacks stop you.

And remember the greatest lesson of scripture was the title of one of Tyndale’s books: Faith alone justifies before God.

What kind of faith is this that people have spent their lives for? What kind of faith is it that people have died for? It’s the faith revealed to us in this book.
Here it is in a nutshell: God almighty has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. And Jesus saves!

For more information:
http://www.prca.org/books/portraits/tyndale.htm
William Tyndale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
www.williamtyndale.com

Thanks Dad

Today, Jared Moore wrote a tribute to his recently departed dad that was very good! It’s here: http://sbcvoices.com/dad-if-i-could-talk-to-you-i-would-say/. 

It struck me as I read it how many of these things I could apply to my father and I was chagrined that I had not thought of all these things. So I'm using some of his headings and adding a couple myself, maybe they'll stir your own thoughts.

Now I know none of our dads were perfect. Some of us had less functional dads than others; some have no earthly father that they know. As sad as that is, I'm grateful for a father that taught me a little about my heavenly Father. And for those with horrible fathers, know that God is everything your earthly father wasn't.

If he wasn't faithful, know the Almighty is. If he wasn't generous, God has lavished His grace upon us. If he wasn't there, then remember, God is our very present help.

But dad, if I could talk to you, I would say. . .

Thank you for reading the Bible in front of me when I was a young boy. I don't remember it clearly, it’s a vague image of the family gathered in the living room. But I know it happened. I have your Bible now and know it wasn't unread.

Thank you for dragging me to church. I didn't often truly enjoy it. But I found that I was loved by folks, and looked at with favor because of the kind of people you and mom are. More importantly, I heard the gospel time after time. And God's word is surely a hammer that shatters the rock hard heart.

Thank you for teaching me that you need Jesus. You admitted to me your faults on occasion. I’m glad I don't have perfection to try to live up to! Your hard-working, stoically suffering, high integrity persona is hard enough. But I know, you knew, you needed Jesus.

Thank you for helping others in private. I know you were a faithful giver. I don't know what all you did for others. But I inherited this someplace! I can't help but think that you were free with your money as you were with the time you gave to others.

Thank you for teaching me the importance of honesty and integrity concerning vocation. You were a hard worker. You seemed to enjoy it for crying out loud! You worked at Randolph AFB as I was growing up and then you'd come home and work. I'm glad you liked to sit and watch football and baseball; otherwise I'd feel guilty about sitting around as much as I do! But also, you were an honest guy. Not just because you handled the church's money and their 'books' with integrity, but you always expected me to tell the truth!

Thank you for serving your country. To know that you were part of the military machine that brought an end to the holocaust, set Europe free and ended the scourge of the Nazi's and others, makes me proud of you. And I hope I too would rise to the occasion if it was required of good men to take up arms.

Thank you for demonstrating humility. Both when you apologized to me once when I was a kid - You weren't doing something right by the family but I didn't really know what you were talking about - but I know you felt bad about it and wanted us to know you did. But also when I stood behind you as a boy, when you walked into your boss’s office to ask off time to take me to the doctor, when I was having way too many doctor visits. I'll never forget that image. You were there in suit and tie, standing at attention in front of your boss's desk, telling him you needed to go a little early to accompany mom and me to my specialist. And the way he looked at you. There was interest in your explanation and what now seems to be a bit of deference on his part. I remember thinking at the time that you were older than him, why was he the boss? But you seemed to command respect and a certain gravitas there as well as at home.

And while I’m not going to thank you for your temper, I’m glad to know there were things that were important to you and you backed them up. I know you wouldn’t abide back-talk, and now that I am grown, makes sense! I know you didn’t want us back-talking or disrespecting mom, too. I’m glad you backed her up as well. I remember you giving a certain uncle some significant grief when he lit up a cigarette after you informed him that smoking was no longer tolerated in our house. Dude! I thought you were going to hit him!

And dad, I bet there are an awful lot of life lessons I learned from you that I don’t even know I did. But I will say, I don’t know that my older brothers share all these views. I think you mellowed with age. I think you were probably harder on them, less reasonable at times, and I think I was probably a tad too much afraid of you growing up. So, I didn’t want to my kids to be afraid of me. Maybe I could have used a bit more of that ‘fear’ factor, but so be it. I do know you were a bit ‘easy’ on your only daughter and to a little boy that hardly seemed fair. But now that I am older I know you were a lot easier on me, the baby of the family, than you were on my siblings. And for that, I am glad!

I love ya dad. I wish you could hear this. And say hi to mom and my big brother Paul. But I imagine the heavenly plane is so far beyond my existence it’s a faint memory to you. So suffice it to say. I've said my thanks, expressed my heart, and I’ll see ya someday, and oh what a day that will be.