God does not have R&D

January 14, 2015

 

Dear City Calvary,

According to Wikipedia, did you know that the US companies spent $405,300,000,000 on research and development last year.  That is a lot.  The next closest country was China at $297 billion.  Germany spent $69.5B and the UK was $38.4B.  Our neighbors to the north, Canada spent a mere $24.3B.  American companies spending that much makes sense because ours is a very competitive consumer driven economy and manufacturers need to invest that much to stay ahead of the competition.  They want to make those improvements to keep that competitive edge.  You and I are the beneficiaries because we get better products at cheaper prices all the time.  Just look at TVs and computers.  

We learned on Sunday (1 John 2:18-27) that the Kingdom of God does not work that way at all.  God spends nothing on R & D because the Gospel cannot be improved on.  It is perfect.  Jesus is God the Son and is perfect in every way.  His word is perfect.  His truths are perfect.  He alone is the truth and there is not competition.  Anything and everything else that would "improve" or "add to" the Gospel, or change our understanding of who Jesus is, are lies that would lead us away.  John warns the people that there are those who would try to lead the believer astray.

He reminds the reader of two great protections we have - the truth and the Holy Spirit who anoints us to know the truth.  We are to remain in the truth and have that truth remain in us.  It is something we have been anointed to know.  God has made everything straight forward and we don't need any special education.  In fact, John says that we don't even need teachers.  The Lord will teach you more from your time in His word than any sermon I or another preacher could give.  We have the truth and we have the anointing to know the truth.  Praise God for that.  Make sure you are spending time regularly in the truth of the Bible.

Now for the announcement.  It is important that you be at church this Sunday because I and the elders will be sharing about the church, summarizing financials, etc.  Now I know that you may be tempted to skip because the Seahawks game begins at 12:05.  Don't skip.  We will end the service a few minutes early so that everyone can get home in time to watch kick-off.  I'll keep my message short.  Unless you have tickets to the game (like Tim Rice), I'll see you this Sunday.

Blessings in Jesus,

Pastor John