The Battle of Belief | 12 Lines | Pastor Derick Amsler

Are you excited about God's word today? Come on, are you excited? Grab your seat. Go with me to the book of Galatians. Book of Galatians.

Speaking of Easter, last week, obviously, was the celebration of the resurrection of our Savior. What we want to do now is go into a very specific series towards the aim of spiritual formation. We don't want to be a people who just celebrate the resurrection, but cannot be transformed by the reality that Jesus is up out of the grave, still doing his thing, still inviting us into a relationship with him. So this series is designed to be what. What we would call in the church world discipleship or spiritual formation.

Watch this. Now you are being formed into something. The question is, what are you being formed into? Ask the person next to you. Come on.

What are you being formed into? Look back at them and say, don't make it awkward. Don't come at me like that. Don't come at me like that. I'm not putting up with it.

And so this series is called 12 lines. 12 lines that has changed the course of history. Empires rise, powers fall. The world changes at a quick pace and rate. We are constantly combated with the challenges of temptations and storms and anxieties and worries and setbacks and diagnosis and hardships and layoffs.

And there are some things that are out of our control. We can't do anything about it. But 12 lines for 2000 years have given the world and the inhabitants of it a sense of stability, security, joy, peace and vision. Strength for their today, hope for their tomorrows. One more time.

Everybody say 12 lines. 12 lines. As a means of introduction to this series, today's gonna be the pilot episode, if you will, which means that we're gonna bring up more questions than what we have time to answer. But don't worry about it. Next week's coming, and we'll begin to unpack the nitty gritty.

Let's start here. Have you ever typed out a text message and you. You said what you wanted to say and what needed to be said in that text message, but then the Holy Spirit got involved and said, you may want to edit that. Anybody? Anybody?

Come on. There's nothing more frustrating than when somebody comes at you with emotional energy and you want to match fire with fire. And if I said it like I want to, and you thumb it out, and then the Holy Spirit's like, yeah, that's probably not the best. And then you got to edit which. Which some of you need to invite the Holy Spirit to proofread your text before you send It.

But that's not my sermon. That's. I read this week that the average person will edit a text message three to four times. If they are a millennial or Gen Z, seven to 12 times. They're just highly concerned about the emotional energy, how it will be misinterpreted, misread.

If you are a people pleaser, the odds are endless. And you didn't edit the text message because what you were saying wasn't true. Right. You edited the text message because you knew if you sent it, it was going to cost you something. Based upon what I am communicating, it will be received a certain way.

And how it's received is going to cost me. And so you edit the message, you adjust the message, you soften the message, you replace words in the message, you round off the rough edges in the message. You're making it easier to be received by the reader. We know that the dangerous part is when editing the truth becomes no longer true.

Write this down if you're taking notes. If a belief stays vague, it doesn't stay true. If a belief stays vague, it doesn't stay true. When we come to the book of Galatia, Paul is writing a letter to a group of Christian believers living in the area of Galatia. Galatia is not a city, it's a region of cities.

And he's writing them a letter because after he planted the church, he leaves to another city to plant a new church. And. And within mere months, we're not talking about years later, we're not talking about a new dynasty. And within months, a group of people come into the church that he started and they started softening up the message of Jesus. He started rounding off the, hey, listen to this.

Reject that, accept this, avoid this. This is going to make you well liked. This is going to ruffle some feathers. So adapt this, reject this. And it became so prominent in and around the region of Gal Galatia, people are walking away from their faith not because they no longer believe in God, they still believe God, they still love God, but they're so confused on who God is, what God is all about, what God says.

They're no longer walking with the God who revealed himself in time, space and eternity. And in the word of God, they're following in a similar symbol version of God that's no longer God. Paul finds out about it and he writes them a very direct email letter. We have it in our Bible called Galatians because it's written to the inhabitants of Galatia. Now, when you read Galatians this week, don't read it like a Hallmark card.

Don't read it like worship music in the background. This is not, this is not a Hallmark feel good message. This is a sound, the alarm. This is a warning letter. It's a rescue letter.

Paul is saying, you have assembled this version of Christianity that is no longer Christianity. You don't even know what you believe. You don't know why you believe what you believe. Therefore you are confused and you're confusing everybody else around you who's trying to watch your life. Here's what he's saying.

What do you believe?

And throughout time and space for 2,000 years, the power and the potency of this letter resonates echoes into our day and age. In our city from Galatia to the Eastern Panhandle. The Apostle Paul still wants to know, what do you believe and why do you believe it? Because if you don't know what you're standing on, you're going to fall for anything. Ah.

So let's don't just read his words. Let's feel the tension of the text. Let's use our imagination. We won't be far off. Let's imagine there's a man living in the region of Galatia, which is Roman territory.

He stands at a crossroads of empires. There's the Greek culture with the Greek pagan gods and the mythology. There's the Roman law. There's the pagan idolatry and religion. Religion.

And there's a fast growing group of Jesus followers calling themselves Christians or members of the way. Jesus said he's the way, the truth and the life. And they're both living in the same zip code. So Greek culture is strong, Roman law reigns supreme, Pagan religion is everywhere. But a group of growing Christians say this is what we believe.

So when we come to the text, think of this. This is Washington D.C. power meets las Vegas pleasure and people trying to live out their faith in light of both. So maybe this particular man in our imagination, maybe he's a leather worker, that would have been popular. Maybe he's a tent maker, that would have been a popular vocation as well. He has a wife at home, he has kids at home.

He's just trying to pay the bills. He's also trying to save up enough money where he can pay the out normous Roman tax, some historians say, which could have been 65, 70% of his wages in order for him to show up to work. On this particular day, he quickly notices something's different in the air. This is not like it has been, not in our. Like this.

This sort of thing happens in other cities, in other towns, but not ours. I mean, he grew up here, he spent his life here, he got married here, he's raising his kids here. But now something's different in Galatia. He has to, in order for him to go to work, stop by the Guild hall, which is a place that determines whether or not you're allowed to work. So he walks in and he's just trying to provide for his family, and he's just trying to keep his job.

He has a reputation, let's say, for 15, 20 years, of being a hard worker, being an honest man, being a good guy. He shows up today at the Guild hall trying to decide if he's allowed to work today in the territory of Rome or not. And there is a Roman soldier that just says, just do it already. Just do it. Stop thinking about it.

Just do it. There before him is a fire. There beside him is a bowl of incense. He is to take a pinch of incense and throw it into the fire. He pauses.

He hesitates. He knows what this symbolizes. Incense, the aroma of divinity. The fire represents homage or worship. By him taking the incense, throwing it into the fire is paying homage or worship to something or someone.

He pauses. He hesitates. The Roman guard. Just do it already. You're overthinking it.

Don't make it a big deal. That's the problem with all you Christians. You make everything a big deal. You find out something and I'm giving you all this latitude and all this freedom. It's not a big deal.

Believe what you want to believe. I'm not asking you to burn the Bible. I'm not asking you to commit heresy. I'm not asking you to. I'm not asking you to recant anything.

And in your doctrine, believe what you want to believe. Just keep it to yourself. Have you not read the Roman HR document, which apparently anybody from any world religion can talk about their God, just not Christianity. Because the moment you talk about Jesus being the way, the truth, the life, the propitiation, or the substitute for our sin on the cross, now all hell breaks loose and people get nervous. So believe what you want to believe.

Just keep it to yourself. Believe what you want to believe. Just don't talk about it. It's a private matter anyways. Just take the stinking incense, burn it in the fire and say the three words.

Say it. He pauses. Say it. He pauses. Just get on with it already.

He hesitates. He grabs the incense. He approaches the fire. And the Roman guard says, caesar is Lord. This was the Context in which the early church was born.

Rome was not conducive to Christianity. Rome and the Caesars and the kings and the emperors did not make it comfortable for Christians to live out their convictions. To declare Jesus is Lord was to draw a line in the sand of denying Caesar's lordship and projecting there is a man who actually is. They're living in a society and in a territory that loved power. I know you've seen the movies.

Rome loved authority. They loved power. Caesar Augustus loved titles. And not just any titles, weighty titles, significant titles, titles that were designed in such a way that to say his name with the title was to kind of churn something in your gut. You felt it deeply in your bones.

Among other big titles that Caesar Augustus loved, he really liked four. He had four titles he loved. He even had them stamped on Roman coins. They were Caesar is Karios, Soter dv, Philus Pontifex Maximus. That is Caesar is Lord and savior, son of God and the high priest, the mediator between humanity and the gods.

Sound familiar? Rome didn't come up with these words. These words were already in the Old Testament. They were already ascribed to God. Caesar thinking himself to be Lord, Savior, son of God and the high priest, he took the titles and applied it to himself.

So when the early church is born, they want their words back. They want their definitions back. They want their king back. They want their vision back. No, no, no, no, no.

To declare Jesus is Lord, we think of a worship song, we think of a Sunday school lesson, we think of a church environment. When the early church said Jesus is Lord, it is not just to risk their job. It is to risk their very lives. Caesar is Lord. He stands at the fire.

He doesn't know what to do, because in his heart he knows of another way. The way the truth and the life, everything hangs in the balance. And here's the problem. The Romans themselves charged the early church believers and Christians with a crime. Here's what they said in the Bible, Acts 17.

These men who have turned the world upside down, which is not a compliment, this was a riot. They prescribed the movement of Christianity as a riot because it was interrupting their economy. These men who have turned the world upside down, they've come here to our city also, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, who says he's Lord. They're saying that there is another king, and that king is named Jesus. They're putting their life on the line for the belief in their spirit.

Jesus is Lord. Have you ever noticed how bold people are nowadays? On social media. Come on. Have you ever got involved in the really bad, violent neighborhood called the comment section?

Anybody been down that path? It's scary. I try to stay out of that world altogether. That and DMs, it's not a pretty sight. People are scary out there.

But come on. We. We are living in the day and age where people are bold with their thumbs. They will pop off to you as long as they're in the safety of their mama's basement. You know what I'm talking about.

How many of you grew up before the age of the Internet? Come on, come on. How many of you are old school like me? Do you remember when you wanted to smart off to somebody, you had to say it to their face. But by saying it to their face, you risk getting punched in the face.

Anybody remember that? I say we bring back the punch in the face standard where if you're not gonna say it to my face, leave your thumbs out of it. Good night. I have never in my life seen such boldness in people when it costs them nothing. Therefore, it's not boldness at all.

Boldness that is free is not boldness. That's comfort. Boldness that is costly, that becomes courage. It's not like they're having a bout with the rain to show up to church. They're not struggling.

Oh, I had a late night last night. I don't know if I want. They're risking their very lives to declare who Jesus is to them.

That's why the writer of Hebrews says, hold fast or grip tightly. Cling to, don't let go. The confession of the hope. This is a person of Jesus and what he's done on the cross, what he did out of the tomb, and what he's doing in our lives today. Hold fast.

The confession of our hope without wavering. For he talking about Jesus who promised, guess what? He is faithful.

Nobody says grip tighter to something unless something or someone is trying to take something out of your hands. So the writer of Hebrews is saying, hold fast, understand deeply, cling without wavering. The confession of your faith. Here's what he's saying. What do you believe and why do you believe it?

In other words, there's a difference between opinions and creeds.

An opinion is I feel, I kind of think or I heard. So I'm repeating creeds are different. Creeds mean belief. And not just a belief in something. It's an identity of belief.

I believe in something so strongly I am, and because I am, I do. My behavior is in alignment with My belief system, that's a creed into that Roman world. The apostle Paul writes a letter to the believers encouraging them hold fast to what you believe. What is surprising is the context of this letter is written during the reign of Nero. For all the history buffs, Nero.

This is Nero's circus. This is the emperor who hated so severely the movement of Christianity. He would have them arrested, tarred, and then lit on fire in order to illuminate his backyard garden. He used Christians as human torches for his pleasure. This is the guy who historians also say would take a Christians and sew them inside animal skins, throw them into the coliseums to wild dogs and animals, and with great pleasure watch them be eaten alive.

It's in that context Paul writes these letters to the churches and around Galatia. One would think with all that hostility and extreme execution going on, Paul would talk about Rome, he would talk about Nero, he would talk about persecution. Guys, I know what's going on, but just hang in there. Hang in there. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

Guys, just hanging. What is fascinating is Paul is writing this letter to those suffering Christians whose lives are on the line on the daily. And he doesn't bring it up. That's because Paul's greatest concern is not external persecution against the church. What's terrifying him is internal drift within the church that I'm so confused about what I believe.

I don't even know what rock to stand on. TikTok is saying this. YouTube is saying this. Celebrities are saying this. Hollywood is saying this.

Movies are saying this. Schools are saying this. Teachers are saying this. My favorite book is saying this. Society saying this.

I don't even know who God is anymore, let alone who I am. What do you believe? Paul says. Paul says, what do you believe? It's not a flippant question.

It's the question of formation. Because where you believe you go and how you believe shapes everything you see.

Paul says in Galatians 1:6, I am astonished how quickly people are deserting him who called you into the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel, which means good news. In other words, his concern is that people are following whatever sounds good and feels good, but it's no longer true. Because vague truth doesn't stay truth. It gets distorted. It gets watered down.

It gets to become something of a different color sometimes. The greatest persecution we as believers will ever face in our life is not persecution. It's this pressure to redefine what we believe in order to appease other people. I call it Buffet believers. Buffet believers.

Can we agree upon this? In theory, buffets are probably the greatest invention to the dining experience in all of humanity. In theory. Where else can you go and order everything you want off the menu? And if you want more of it, get more of it at no extra charge?

In theory. I love the concept of all you can eat buffets. In reality, I ain't never going back. Can I just say that? I ain't never going back.

And I'll tell you why I'm never going back. I'm never going back to all you can eat buffets because of gross kids. I shouldn't say it, but I'm gonna say it. Gross kids. And you know what I'm talking about.

And if you're gonna be like, pastor, can you define gross kids? They're probably your kids. That's what it is. They're probably your kids because you don't know about gross kids at buffet. You know what I'm talking about?

About the. The. The spit guard is up here, but their face is down here. And we all know where their hands have been. And clearly, little Johnny has the flu.

He's got allergies. He's got the cough. He's got Covid. He's got other unmentionables. And while mommy is trying to figure out, does little Johnny still want a chicken nugget or a hot dog?

Little Johnny has embodied the skill of a surgeon. And he's effortless, excavating something in his right nostril. And he's over the mashed potatoes. Anybody seen that kid before? Right.

Didn't. Never mind. Never mind.

I love the theory, but it's so gross and confusing. I don't want anything to do with it. If we're not careful, we'll bring buffet believing mentalities into our spirituality where we treat Jesus like an all you can eat buffet. Grace, I'll take some of that. Mercy.

Nobody's looking. One, two, three. Forgiveness. I need another plate and a tray. Come on, somebody.

But. But. Accountability, responsibility and repentance. I'll come back later. First, let me eat my fill of favor and blessings and harmony and peace and joy.

And if I want to, then I'll come back later. But I'm a little stuffed right now. Maybe on my next visit. I just don't want to go to that part of the buffet. If we're not careful, we will develop a buffet believing mentality where God is no longer God.

He is a version of God that we have assembled based on our own preference. Paul is calling the Church of Galatia back to its original belief system. What do you believe and why do you believe it? In psychology, we would call it the schema theory. The schema theory is what you repeatedly believe becomes the framework through which you interpret your reality.

We know that to be true. If I believe everybody's against me, I will interpret my reality through that lens. Every conversation, conversation, every smirk, every laughter, every invitation is out to get me. Well, the same thing is true with God. What we believe about God determines our framework in which we approach God.

Believe in God, accept God. Paul's concern is this. By developing your own version of God, you develop a God that can live with anyone, but cannot stand, save anyone.

If God is always championing every desire in your life, every whim, every affection, every plan. If God. If God's spirit no longer ever contradicts you and stretches you and calls you into repentance, it's the faith in a God, but it's not a God who can save you. You.

So Paul wasn't the only one who saw this pattern taking place, not just in Galatia, but around the Roman world, throughout centuries, throughout decades, generations after him. Leaders arise and they see what is happening in the capital C church, the church abroad. And they're watching. People sincerely love God, but they no longer know what God God they're following. By the way, the question is never, do you believe in God?

The question is, what God? Do you believe in the God who revealed himself in Scripture as the creator of the heavens and the earth, or the God assembled by culture and society? Generations, for generations, people have sincerely loved God. But they drift from believing in the one true God. Different cities, different decades, but same pressure to compromise, same pressure to edit what they believe in order to appease society.

Eventually, some people get together and they're like, we're just confused. Did Jesus say this or did he not say this to get to heaven? Is it through Jesus or are there multiple paths to heaven? We are confused. What do we believe and why do we believe it?

And how must we reorient our life to be a person of a creed and not opinions? They get together and somebody has the bright idea, why don't we stop asking what society say says? Why don't we stop asking what celebrities celebrate? Why don't we stop asking what Rome says, what Ephesus says, what America says? What?

Well, what if we just go back to the very basic and we say what the did? What did the disciples of Jesus believe? What did they see? What did they hear? What did they experience?

What did they live out upon? What belief system are they so rooted in they would willfully give their life up as a martyr for what they believe because they could no longer deny their own beliefs, as they could no longer deny who they are? We call that the Apostles Creed. For the next few weeks, we're going to take a deep dive into the belief system of the early disciples, the ones who walked with Jesus. What did they believe?

Why did they believe it? And how do we become our proper belief system? The Apostles Creed. It begins, I believe not. We believe because sooner or later you have to decide what you believe.

Borrowed faith is only useful to make you feel good. But when life hits the fan and the diagnosis comes and the loss really happens, and the separation occurs and the layoff really happens, borrowed faith isn't going to save anybody. You have to have a personal belief, a personal creed. It begins, I believe in God the Father. What does that even mean?

We'll talk about it next week. For now, let me give you two questions as a takeaway, just as a means of warning. These will be hard questions, but they will be transformative questions. Hard questions, but transformative questions. Here it is.

Number one. You can look at it on the screen. Where have I edited what I believe to make my life easier?

In psychology, we would call this the drift question, a question that awakens the internal map of why I keep drifting away from Jesus? Where do I keep editing what I believe to make my life easier? And not just where as in what's pressuring you, but what are you editing? The second major question is this for this week. When was the last time I changed my mind because Scripture said something about a subject and not because culture made it easier?

If the first question is the drift question, this question is the formation question. It identifies the internal map of who and what is forming me. So let me bring the message full circle. Now. We're all being formed, but who and what is fashioning you?

Into whose image and into whose alike?

The Desert Father once said, in the beginning, God created humanity in his image, in his likeness. Throughout the ages, we returned the favor.

The Apostles Creed calls us back to who is God? And upon that, what do we believe?