Anti-Fragile 1. Ethics under the Cross

PART 1 

ETHICS UNDERTHE CROSS 

THE WRONG AND THE RIGHT REASON 

Our study is about how God uses suffering to improve our character and virtue. But the first question we  need to answer is: What is a good person in God’s eyes? What does it take to do good

Acts 5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of  property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought  the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. 

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the  Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it  belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What  made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.” 

5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had  happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out  and buried him. 

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.8 Peter asked her,  “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?” 

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.” 

9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of  the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.” 10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding  her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole  church and all who heard about these events. 

Q: Why was what Ananias and Sapphira did immoral? Their actions certainly looked moral. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Genesis 4 Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some  of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat  portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his  offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his  face was downcast. 

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what  is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your  door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” 

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was  commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks,  even though he is dead. 

Q: Why was Abel’s sacrifice morally acceptable, but not Cain’s? Both actions certainly looked moral. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________

WHAT IS GOOD IN GOD’S SITE? 

The account of Ananias and Sapphira show us that a person’s motivation is important to God. And the  account of Cain and Abel show us clearly that faith is necessary for an action to be considered righteous  in God’s eyes. Scripture teaches this clearly: 

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like  whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of  the dead and everything unclean.” 

Romans 4 [selected] 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to  him as righteousness…” [Genesis 15:6] 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the  blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 

7 “Blessed are those 

 whose transgressions are forgiven, 

 whose sins are covered. 

8 Blessed is the one 

 whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” [Psalm 32:1,2] 

Based on the passages above, we can draw the following conclusions and principles: ▪ Both the _________________ as well as the _________________ itself makes an act moral or immoral. 

▪ The right motivation is entirely beyond us because of sin. The action might _________________ moral,  but a perfect motivation is _________________

▪ In God’s eyes, only an action prompted by _________________ is a moral act. And this is because it is  _________________ as righteous, not _________________ righteous. 

▪ The Christian’s goal, then, is to not only _________________ the right action, but act from the right  _________________: a faith which sees our actions as worthless apart from grace, and as valuable to  God only as thanksgiving, not as merit. The goal of the Christian is the cultivation of a  _________________ completely _________________ on God’s grace. 

▪ Anything God _________________ that makes us _________________ dependent on God’s grace and  mercy, then, is good. Sometimes this looks evil, but from God’s perspective, it becomes good for us.  (For example, consider Job) 

THE UGLY CROSS IS BEAUTIFUL 

God does not exclude himself from this: On the cross he suffered the sins of all mankind, experiencing  hell. But God underwent this for our eternal good, turning the cross from something ugly and evil to behold  into something beautiful and good. This is why the cross is a stumbling block

1 Corinthians 1 20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the  philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the  wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the  foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks  look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to  Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of  God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the  weakness of God is stronger than human strength.


Ecclesiastes Lesson 5

Welcome

If you keep making the same mistakes or find that no matter how much you try new things you end up with the same result.  Then you’re probably human and part of life that sometimes moves on beyond our control. What if you could write a book to yourself? What would it say? What advice would you give? There’s no better model for this than the Book of Ecclesiastes- We’ll be enriched by the study of it.
 
Crown of Life’s Online Bible Class begins at 7:00 on Wednesday. You are welcome to logon after 6:45


Ecclesiastes Lesson 4

Welcome

If you keep making the same mistakes or find that no matter how much you try new things you end up with the same result.  Then you’re probably human and part of life that sometimes moves on beyond our control. What if you could write a book to yourself? What would it say? What advice would you give? There’s no better model for this than the Book of Ecclesiastes- We’ll be enriched by the study of it.
 
Crown of Life’s Online Bible Class begins at 7:00 on Wednesday. You are welcome to logon after 6:45


Ecclesiastes Lesson 3

Welcome

If you keep making the same mistakes or find that no matter how much you try new things you end up with the same result.  Then you’re probably human and part of life that sometimes moves on beyond our control. What if you could write a book to yourself? What would it say? What advice would you give? There’s no better model for this than the Book of Ecclesiastes- We’ll be enriched by the study of it.
 
Crown of Life’s Online Bible Class begins at 7:00 on Wednesday. You are welcome to logon after 6:45
 
 
Phone Call-in Number:
 
‪(US) +1 502-309-4610
‬ PIN: ‪969 323 311‬# Read more…


Ecclesiastes Lesson 2

WELCOME

If you keep making the same mistakes or find that no matter how much you try new things you end up with the same result.  Then you’re probably human and part of life that sometimes moves on beyond our control. What if you could write a book to yourself? What would it say? What advice would you give? There’s no better model for this than the Book of Ecclesiastes- We’ll be enriched by the study of it.
 
Crown of Life’s Online Bible Class begins at 7:00 on Wednesday. You are welcome to logon after 6:45
 
 
Phone Call-in Number:
 
‪(US) +1 502-309-4610
‬ PIN: ‪969 323 311‬# Read more…


Ecclesiastes Lesson 1

WELCOME

If you keep making the same mistakes or find that no matter how much you try new things you end up with the same result.  Then you’re probably human and part of life that sometimes moves on beyond our control. What if you could write a book to yourself? What would it say? What advice would you give? There’s no better model for this than the Book of Ecclesiastes- We’ll be enriched by the study of it.
 
Crown of Life’s Online Bible Class begins at 7:00 on Wednesday. You are welcome to logon after 6:45
 
 
Phone Call-in Number:
1 502-309-4610‬
PIN: ‪969 323 311‬# Read more…


The “look” of Evangelism

We’re going into day 3 of our Virtual Bible Camp, and I have no idea how it’s going. You usually get a feel for that when you stand in a sea of 40 high energy kids. You can sense when the kids are getting a little bored, or when you have to cut the project short. Doing this virtually, you really can’t see anything. The web-pages are cooperating (kinda) and the lessons are loaded, but are subject to a kids or parent’s discretion of whether it’s worth watching the whole thing.
 
You just can’t SEE what’s happening. And that’s what we really like- we like to see the fruits of our labor. If I were an engineer building a rocket for NASA, I would want to see that rocket fly into space. There’s assurance in it. There’s valuable feedback in it. You get to see if it works and how well it works.
 
But, evangelism today… Read more…


Getting back to “Normal”

 

This is the big question- “When will we get back to normal?”  *Cue the nervous laughter. At this point it’s so speculative! We (and even cities) have tried to put a date on returning to what we expect is our regular way of living, but it keeps changing. Usually we can gauge when we get back to “normal” because it happens in the normal patterns of life. We get busy and then the busyness subsides.  When it’s the busy season at work, or playoff/band season for the kids, or vacation season where you are hosting guest or parties …  We have a good sense that our additional business is “abnormal” and will once again return to the normal ebb and flow of our everyday patterns. For the most cases we can tell when that will happen. But right now? It can make you go crazy just not knowing.

 

What isn’t normal

 

The Israelites could have never imagined what would happen to them… Read more…



Where do we go from here?

I’m staring at a calendar right now, and I don’t know what to put in it. Do you know what you want to put in yours? I feel a little hesitant because I did have lots of dates in there before- things like the crawfish boil, clean up day, Vacation Bible School… I had my own vacation in there and festivals Erin and I were excited to attend, but it was like a puddle in the hot New Orleans sun- it just vanished.  If you thought planning far in advance was hard before, welcome to 2020, where planning a month in advance is as certain as working pumps in New Orleans. 

I know what I want to put in the calendar- the dates and events of everything we will be doing as a congregation in the next six months, but putting them in means something different nowadays. Read more…



Serving our Church

WELCOME

How we participate in our church calling has the potential to impact every aspect of our life. It nourishes our spirit for joyful service in all our vocations. We begin our week refreshed in our worship and energized for the days of service ahead.
 
Crown of Life’s Online Bible Class begins at 7:00 on Thursday. You are welcome to logon after 6:45