Andy Stanley preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at North Point Ministries' five metro-Atlanta campuses. | Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries
Posted on 01/10/2019 8:11:47 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Andy Stanley preaches to an estimated 33,000 people every Sunday at North Point Ministries' five metro-Atlanta campuses. | Photo courtesy of North Point Ministries
Christians should quit erecting Ten Commandments displays and should instead consider making monuments dedicated to the Sermon on the Mount, popular pastor Andy Stanley said.
In a column published by Relevant Magazine, the North Point Community Church pastor argued that the Ten Commandments are “the old covenant” and no longer apply to believers.
"[I]f we’re going to create a monument to stand as a testament to our faith, shouldn’t it at least be a monument of something that actually applies to us?" he posed.
“Participants in the new covenant (that’s Christians) are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles,” wrote Stanley. “Participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant: as I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
This new commandment is "a replacement for everything in the existing list. Including the big ten," he maintained. "Just as his new covenant replaced the old covenant, Jesus’ new commandment replaced all the old commandments."
Stanley went on to say that he believed so much of the evils committed by churches over history were connected to them trying to mix aspects of the old covenant with Christianity and that although “Jesus was foreshadowed in the old covenant, he did not come to extend it.”
“Dear Christian reader: Why? Why? Why would we even be tempted to reach back beyond the cross to borrow from a covenant that was temporary and inferior to the covenant established for us at Calvary?” Stanley continued.
“The author of Hebrews says it best. Jesus was the ‘guarantor of a better covenant’ (Hebrews 7:22). Later he writes, ‘the new covenant is established on better promises.’ Besides, you weren’t included in the old covenant to begin with! So why are we fighting to build monuments to it?”
Stanley's comments echo the arguments he made in his recent book, Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, which was released last September.
In the book, Stanley spoke about "old covenant leftovers," stating that he believed Christians had "an uncomfortable history and habit of selectively rebranding aspects of God's covenant with Israel and smuggling them into the ekklesia of Jesus."
Stanley wrote that while the covenant God made with ancient Israel was "divinely ordained," it was also "temporary," adding, "Careless mixing and matching of old and new covenant values and imperatives make the current version of our faith unnecessarily resistible."
Last year, Stanley garnered controversy when he argued in an April sermon that Christians should “unhitch” themselves from the Old Testament.
To justify this, Stanley cited Acts 15, which described how early church leaders decided that Gentile converts did not need to strictly observe Jewish law to become Christians.
"[First century] Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures," preached Stanley. "Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”
He argued that what launched Christianity was the resurrection of Jesus, not the Jewish scriptures.
Many, including Messianic Jewish author and radio personality Michael Brown, have denounced Stanley's “unhitch” comments.
"A pastor as influential as Andy Stanley needs to distance himself from such heresies, making a public, clear, and unequivocal correction that undoes the confusion he has caused. (He knows that I write this [as] a friend, out to help, not to hurt.)," wrote Brown in a column last year.
"He can preach against legalism and against Judaizing, exalting the grace of God and celebrating the newness of the New Covenant, without undermining the very foundations on which that New Covenant is established."
Ray Ortlund, senior pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and the president of Renewal Ministries, also denounced Stanley’s views in a speech at the Gospel Coalition's West Coast Conference last October.
Preaching from 2 Timothy 1:3-8, Ortlund noted that when the Apostle Paul was writing to Timothy, he stressed his religious heritage through Judaism.
"Paul looks back into his own deepest roots. He goes back to David, to Moses, to Abraham. He reveres the faith that came down to him even filtered through Jewish tradition," said Ortlund.
"Unlike some preachers today, Paul did not 'unhitch' the Christian faith from the Old Testament … And for him personally, Christian conversion did not take his Jewishness away. It made Jesus the Lord over his Jewishness and over his conscience, both of which, he continues to honor."
For his part, Stanley explained that critics needed to understand the context, especially since his remarks were more for an audience that is turned off by biblical arguments.
"I told my kids growing up, if anyone ever asks you 'do you believe Adam and Eve are real people?' here is how you are to answer: do not say 'yes because the Bible says Adam and Eve were real people,'" commented Stanley in an interview with Michael Brown last July.
"You say this: 'I believe Adam and Eve were historical characters because Jesus did. And when somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, I go with whatever they say.'"
The message didn’t change, and God did NOT ‘want child sacrifices’ in the Old Testament.
He is why I stay away from religious philosophies regarding the greatest book ever written, The Holy Bible. If we recognize the historical significance, maybe we will quit making the same mistakes over and over and ......
Jesus is in the Old Testament (but not by name) as well as the New. Do not discard Gods Word so easily. We are to search the Scriptures diligently to seek His Will.
Agreed.
All you need is a New Testament to be saved. That’s why we give out so many of them.
Who is this idiot?
so you threw a stink bomb into the room and ran away...say you aren’t related to “A Perfect Lady” are you?...she is also a teacher and says stuff like you...!
Looks to me like when he referred to this, he didn’t have the Book/Verse in mind and just flung it out there...Kind of like when Hillary was asked years ago what her favorite Bible verse was - she mumbled something along this same line or it was “do unto others”....convenient when you don’t know your Books of the Bible.
I just recently heard of this guy and can’t say I’ll seek out anything else he’s written or spoken.
And I wonder if Christ would also say to you as he did to the scribe who recited to Christ, when Christ asked him, what the two great commamdments were?:”Thou are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Bless you!
Please consider:
The Sabbath Never Commanded of Any But Participants in The Religion of Israel
God’s covenants apply only to those who are named as party to them. Most of us have probably heard the story of the man impressed with his need to obey God’s word. So he determined that he would close his eyes, open his Bible, flip through the pages, and at some random point, he would stick his finger on the page. Then he would open his eyes and do what the Bible said at that verse. On the first try, he opened his eyes and read, “And Judas went away and hanged himself.” Not to be outdone, he determined that he would try this approach one more time and see if he didn’t get better results. On the second try, he turned to the pas¬sage that says, “Go thou and do likewise.” He decided that he would give the procedure one more trial before he quit entirely; he again closed his eyes, flipped the pages once again, and stuck his finger on the page. When he opened his eyes, he read, “What thou doest, do quickly.”
This story illustrates the principle that God’s instructions and covenants apply only to whom they’re given. God commanded someone to build an ark, but it wasn’t Christians. God commanded someone to circumcise their children, but it wasn’t Christians. God commanded someone to keep the sabbath, a day off, not a day of collective worship (synagogues originated over 1000 years later in Babylonian captivity), but it wasn’t Christians.
In the ten commandments, God told the Jews what to do on the sabbath. In Dt. 5.15, he said:
“And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.”
Do any of you do that on the sabbath? Not Sunday, for in the New Testament, the sabbath and Sunday were two separate days, and they still are, see Mt. 28.1: “Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
Another difference in the two is that the sabbath was a holy day, but Sunday is not. To Christians, Paul wrote in Rom. 14.5: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.”
Thanks for reading, and considering.
Ya, I can see that. Agreed heh.
I think actually Stanley’s anecdote about his kids and Adam and Eve is a good “additional response” in addition to your response which also good. Some folks eyes ALSO glaze over when the scientific responses are trotted out as well.
Paul offers a recounting of some personal disasters in 1 Corinthian 15 and in a sense asks...”would I go through all that for a fable?
“29If these things are not so, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I face death every day, brothers, as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
So I think Stanley is right to say...”Hey if Jesus predicted his own death and Resurrection and it happened then go with what he tells you to do and believe!”
quote(Another difference in the two is that the sabbath was a holy day, but Sunday is not. To Christians, Paul wrote in Rom. 14.5: “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind.”)
Why is Saturday holy?
Isn’t that a date Antichrist Judaism has been forced to follow because they don’t have the Son and have no idea what day the Passover Lamb dies?
LOL!!!!
The God haters think they win an argument with what they consider a *Gotcha* question and then bail cause they can’t stand the thought of having their excuses for rejecting God shot down.
Ex. 20.8 - remember the sabbath, to keep it holy. The entire day was set aside for rest and remembrance of the Jews deliverance from Egypt.
Sunday is nowhere spoken of as a day of rest or holy.
Wow.
Shouldn’t have to tell you this Andy, but the “Sermon on the Mount” you guys love to quote like it’s the only passage in Scripture wasn’t written directly to us Christians today, either. When The Lord Jesus Christ spoke those words, He was speaking to Jews still under Mosaic Law. There wasn’t one Christian in the audience (the word “Christian” didn’t even exist yet!), not one church anywhere, and not one born-again person saved by the shed blood of Christ listening to His voice. How can you not know this stuff - it’s basic doctrine? Please, if you’re going to present yourself as a preacher and expositor of the words of God, start by RIGHTLY DIVIDING THEM. 2Tim 2:15 KJV
My wife agrees with a previous poster, as she thinks the Dad was (is?) an excellent Bible teacher.
Yes, we are under the law of love. But, we are also under the Ten Commandments. The latter part is affirmed in two places:
Matthew 19:16-19 (Jesus says that the young rich man should follow the Ten Commandments to be saved)
Romans 13:8-10 (Owe no many anything but to love one another, and more than this, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, ... i.e., a synopsis of the Ten Commandments)
Of these two verses, the first might be said to only apply to Jews (including, perhaps, Jews who follow Jesus). But the second, from the epistle to the Romans is clearly to non-Jewish believers and, more so, is stated in the context of the law of love.
To be sure, we are not under the dietary laws, ceremonial laws, etc., that Jews were and may still be under. But, I would point out that Jews distinguish between the sins that offend God and our fellow man, and the sins against the law that meet the Jews apart from the rest of mankind as a holy people. During Yom Kippur, in asking God’s forgiveness for sins, Jews list the sins they have committed against God and against their fellow man, including even sins of which they are not aware. They don’t ask to be forgiven for eating pork.
We are called not merely to avoid sin. Indeed, dwelling on not sinning pays a certain homage to the deceiver. We are called to do good, confident that our good works will be sanctified by the atoning sacrifice of our savior, and acceptable to God.
If only because of our ignorance and weakness of will, we know that we will all sin. We will even sin in our efforts to do good. But, God knows this, because he made us, and has provided in advance for forgiveness.
So, in confidence and joy let us seek to do good. Let us not merely not kill our neighbor, but celebrate life. Let us not merely not steal from one another, but be productive. Let us not merely not commit false witness against our neighbor, but correct our brothers and sisters with lovingkindness.
Romans 11 commands Christians not to boast against the natural branches (Jewish people).
The Sabbath day is holy in Judaism because of the fourth of the Ten Commandments.
Ping.
There is NO evidence he was talking about the Sabbath in this verse. That would be totally out of character and contradictory to the Paul we know about. The preponderance indicates this was about other ceremonial days and holidays. Is it a sin to not observe Christmas? There were two additional (sabbaths) holidays mentioned in the O.T. in laws of ordinances. There were constantly secular holidays declared by Emperor decree and so on and so forth.
The Sabbath was made for all of mankind and we know this because it was first started by God in Genesis to commemorate His creation. Gen. 2:2,3
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