Cup of Coffee Talk

Last Post (here)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 9 Aug 2006 12:16:00 -0400

This is officially the final post for Cup of Coffee Talk on Blogger. We are moving to a new home, with some nice new features. You can now visit Cup of Coffee Talk's New Home. Please do not forget to change your bookmarks to the new address.

The Mission of the Church

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 8 Aug 2006 09:41:00 -0400

*this is an excerpt of a sermon preached at the GBCB Youth Camp this Summer*

Matthew 28:18-20

b. The World-Wide Mission

There is more to this mission than just making disciples of the people that are around you. Look ay what Christ says, “make disciples of all nations.” When Christ says go it applies to your everyday sphere of influence, but it also applies to “all nations.” Since Christ used the terms “nations” I think that it is appropriate to distinguish these two different areas of our mission as “foreign” and “domestic.” The goal of the foreign mission is to transport and adapt the domestic mission (which we already talked about) to people groups who are not disciples of Christ. This is what they are doing at The Master’s Mission. They have a passion to see disciples in every nation. I hope that this week some of that passion rubs of on us. John Piper said this about our Lord’s great commission to the Church: “There are three possibilities with the Great Commission. You can go. You can send. Or you can be disobedient. Ignoring the cause is not a Christian option.” Whether you go back to Brandon, FL and never leave again, or go to Kenya and plant churches there you are a part of the Church and you have a mission.

In Matthew 24:14 we see Christ talking about this mission. Our job is to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world so that the nations my know King Jesus and submit to Him, and honor Him. As we saw earlier this week God is committed to His own name, and His reputation in the world. We must have this same commitment to see God glorified world-wide through nations of people trusting Him with all their affections. Let me point out something to you about this Matthew 24:14 passage. Let me do so by starting with this question, “how many of you have looked at the Mission of the Church outlined in Matthew 24:14 and been overwhelmed.” Maybe you thought, “how can every person in the world hear the Gospel?” This is an understandable feeling, but it is unnecessary for two reasons. First, Christ promises that the “gospel… will be proclaimed,” and that “the end will come.” It is a done deal. We can be confident in the sovereignty of God to do what He has promised. Remember, “All authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to Christ to complete this mission. If we are disobedient to Christ's command then it will not be the mission that looses. The mission is a done deal, Christ has accomplished it. Ultimately we will be the one’s who lose if we are disobedient to Christ’s command. God has given us an opportunity to be a part of his world-wide cause, and if we do not take advantage of that then God will still accomplish His purpose but we will not get to be a part of it. God will simply pass over us and do his supernatural work without us.
The Second reason that you should not feel overwhelmed with the mission of the Church is less obvious. Christ says that the “gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Look at that word “nations.” When the bible talks about nations it is not usually talking about nations as we might think (i.e. geo-political nations like the U.S., Argentina, China, etc.). Nations usually means ethnic groups with distinct cultures, and languages. It makes a lot of sense for Christ to command us to reach these different groups. The cultural, and language differences that exist between these groups makes it hard for the gospel to spread from group to group. When we think of the mission in these terms Revelation 5:9 becomes and important text, “And they sang a new song, saying, are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” This means that the mission is able to be finished. If the mission were to reach every single person in the entire work then how would we ever finish. Because the number of people groups, or nations, does not change all that much we can “see the finish line.”

With the finish line in sight I want to point one more aspect of this text out to you. Look at what v. 9 says. Here we see the price of the mission. We will have to suffer to complete the mission. The people that we are rubbing elbows with at the Master's Mission understand what this verse means. They understand the tribulation, and suffering, and even death is the price of the mission. The apostle Paul understood this when he penned Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” You have a choice. You can be radical about the mission that Christ has given the Church, or you can pursue a nice comfortable life. You cannot do both. The price of completing the mission will be suffering. The choice is yours. You can go; you can send; or you can be disobedient.

Do you smell smoke?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 2 Aug 2006 18:55:00 -0400

Have you ever been awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of fire alarms going off, and wondered how you are going to get you pregnant wife out of a burning building. I have; last night in fact. Come to find out we had some type of problem with the alarm system and so it went of continually for an hour and a half. It stoped when I ripped some wires out of a smoke detector. Anyways there is a pretty good conversation going on between myself and Christopher Cuddy in the comments section of the blog. If you want to ring in on RCC vs. Protestant issues jump in!

The Mission of the Church

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 1 Aug 2006 09:13:00 -0400

*this is an excerpt of a sermon preached at the GBCB Youth Camp this Summer*

Matthew 28:18-20

Introduction:
Yesterday we spoke quite a bit about what the Church is; today I want to talk about the work of the Church. You may think that the work of the Church is not all that important to you. You are not one of the pastors, you’re just one the youth. But the fact of the matter is that this is important for you. Remember, the Church is not a building, or localized to just one group of believers. The Church consists of everyone who is a follower of Jesus. If you would consider yourself a follower of Jesus then the work of the Church is important to you, because you are part of the Church.
There have been countless causes taken up those claiming to be the church. Some were noble, some were not so noble. Take for instance the Crusades. For those of you who are not brushed up on your history, the Crusades were a serious of wars fought between the Ottoman Muslims and the European Christians. These wars were fought over land in the Middle East, not the least of which was the city of Jerusalem. As is the case in war thousands died. What makes this relevant to our subject is that the claim that these wars were fought by the church for God. In fact, many soldiers were recruited through an appeal to religion. In some cases individuals were told that if they went and fought for the “Holy Land” and died they would receive penance and go straight to heaven. The question that we are left with as we look back at history is, “were the crusades a legitimate work of the church?” Are wars, political agendas, and social causes what the church has been called to labor at? As we look at what Scripture has to say I think that we can definitively answer, no. The Church has been called to a much higher purpose than this. The church, which is Christ body, has been left a mission. In His last words on this earth Christ left us with a mission, and He left us with the tools that we need to accomplish this mission. What is this Mission? We find the answer to that question in Matthew 28:18-20.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority
has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and bmake
disciples of call the nations, dbaptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, aI am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I. The Work of the Church.

a. The Local Mission

Do you see what the mission is? There is a lot there, but to begin lets boil down to one thing, make disciples. Our Lord’s mission for His people is to make disciples. I think that we can all agree that it is important for us, as the Church, to follow Christ command, but what does it mean to make disciples? The force of this command is for the believer, who is a disciple of Christ, to duplicate himself wherever he may be. The term disciple means pupil, or follower, or even apprentice. With all of these words in mind I think that it is best to think of a disciple of Christ as a student learner submitted to his Teacher. This is the work. I think that it is worth pointing out that to become a student learner of Christ takes more than just a profession of faith. Let me explain what I mean by this. In order to be faithful to this mission we must do the work of evangelism, but it does not stop there. Jesus is commanding his own disciples to invest their lives in others with the purpose of making others disciples. In other words, Jesus commanded His disciples to do what He had done for them. Are you fulfilling your commission? Are you living your life in such a way that disciples are being made? These are question that we must constantly be asking. Whether or not you tell someone, “hey I am discipling you” does not matter. The goal is to get to know them, and to love them in a distinctively Christian way by doing them good spiritually. This could mean sharing what Christ has done in your life with someone who has never known Christ. This could also mean helping your Christian friends understand why you choose not to do some of the things that they choose to do. This is all a part of being the one body, a community of believers helping each other to glorify God.

to be continued...

(by the way blogger has not been publishing my pictures and I cannot figure out why, if anyone has an answer I would love to see it)

The New Creation, Christ's Bride

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:09:00 -0400

*This sermon was preached at the GBCB youth camp last month*

II. The New Community

a. Christ’s Bride

Yesterday we discussed regeneration and sanctification. All of this leads into our discussion of the Church because those who are regenerate and being sanctified make up the Church. There is a lot of confusion over what the church is, and how to define the church because the term church has been misused and redefined. In our culture people say they are “going to church on Sunday,” or they “belong to the church,” to most people the church is just a building. This is not the way that the NT defines the church. The NT defines the church as all of those individuals who have been reborn of God, and redeemed into the body of Christ. This is exactly what Ephesians 5:23 teaches us when it says “Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.” So the Church proper consists of all those people who have submitted to Christ as their head and Savior. Within this Universal Church there are local communities of believers. We would call this the local church. For example, Grace Bible Church is not the church, but rather a local church body within the universal church.
The NT uses several images to describe the Church that I would like to look at (This is not an exhaustive list, but rather a sampling of how the NT views the Church). First, the NT refers to the Church as the “people of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:16 says “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Again, the NT refers to the church as people not a building. The image of the Church being God’s people emphasizes God’s initiative in choosing a people for himself. The second image that I would like to look at is the Church as the body of Christ. I will only briefly discuss this now because I want to come back to it. We read in detail this image in 2 Corinthians 12:12ff. This image of the church as the body of Christ emphasizes the close connection of the church as group of believers to one another, and to Christ. The final image that I want to discuss is the image of the Church as the “Bride of Christ.” In Ephesians 5:31-33 we see that the church’s relationship with Christ can be compared to the relationship of a husband and wife. This again emphasizes the closeness of the believers who make up the church to one another, and to Christ. But there is more to this image than just this closeness. There is also an eschatological reference here. In Revelation 21:9 we see the bride of Christ, the Church, being given to Christ at the consummation of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Christ paid for this Bride with his own blood, and at the end of time Christ will receive His bride.

b. The One Body

Being the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ carries with it great responsibility. In Ephesians 4:1-6 the apostle Paul tells us that we must live lives that are worthy of this amazing calling. We do this, in part, by preserving the unity that God has provided for us in the Church. What is amazing about this passage is that Paul does not say that we need to create a unity, but rather we must maintain the unity that God has already provided for us. In verses 4-6 we see what that this unity is. There is one church body, one Spirit, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and finally one God and Father. This community of regenerated individuals is in itself an amazing work of God and the unity of the Church comes from this work of God. Joshua Harris, writing on this subject, said “The longer that I’m a Christian, the more aware I become that I cannot live the Christian life on my own. My individual and direct relationship with God through Jesus is the greatest privilege and He is truly all I need—and yet God in His wisdom has created all of us to need others, too.” John Piper went so far as to say that “sanctification is a community project.” This means that as we are working out our salvation we must do so together. God has made us one through Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

God has done an amazing work to create the church, and for us to not take that seriously is a sin. When we do not pursue peace, and lift one another up we are, by our actions, demonstrating that this work of God through Christ is unimportant to us. We must remember that God has done this amazing work in the Gospel not only to save us individually, but also to set apart for himself an entire group of people. We are a part of that group and we must remember that was we seek to live out our Christian lives.

P.S.
Yesterday Anonymous left a comment questioning my view on the Church. I hope this answers some of the questions that he left. Also, in light of the passages listed here I cannot imagine taking the RCC view of the Church (the Church refers to the hierarchy of the RCC). I would love to debate my constant commenter on this issue if he would drop the anonymous, and actually deal with me rather than secretly send me RCC dogma. Otherwise I will continue to delete his comments.

The New Creation, Christ’s Bride

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 11:51:00 -0400

*This sermon was preached at the GBCB youth camp last month*

Introduction:

Over the last few weeks we have talked a lot about the how a man can be made right before a perfect and holy judge. This knowledge is foundational, and is required for what we are going to talk about. Today I want to talk about the church; and without the salvation we have already spoken of there could be no church. In Ephesians 5:25 we see just how important the church is to Christ, “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This designation of “the Church” sets us apart. There are no other institutions or organizations like the church, because Christ has died only for the church. We are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, purchased by the blood flowing from His own veins. Even the term church has immense meaning. The Greek word that we have translated as church has the idea of a calling. This makes the Church a group of people summoned together by God. What an amazing thing! God has worked out his plan not only to save individuals, but also to create a world-wide community of these individuals. If the church is so important to God that He sent Christ to die for her, then it should be important to us as well. This is why I want to talk about the church this. Before we can get a discussion of the church body we must first talk about the individuals within that body. The church is a community that is made of “new creatures.” But what are these new creatures? To answer that question we need to start at the very beginning.

I. The New Creation

a. Regeneration

The place that we must begin when talking about the new creation is the doctrine of regeneration. If conversion refers to the response of man to God’s calling, then regenerations is the other side of conversion. Regeneration is God’s transformation of an individual so that they can accept Christ. In this act God, or more specifically the Spirit, renews a person so that they are no longer unable to seek God because of their sin. The most extensive explanation of this concept is found in John 3:1-8. Here the Lord Jesus Himself describes this concept of regeneration to Nicodemus. In this passage Jesus answers the question that Nicodemus didn’t even ask. Jesus knew Nicodemus’ heart, and that his true need was for spiritual regeneration. What we see here is that this regeneration is not something that can be achieved through human effort. In fact, the key to understanding this concept is understanding man’s need for transformation. The human being is spiritually dead and thus needs a new spiritual birth. We will find the origin to this spiritual death in Genesis 3. In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam that “in the day” that he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would “surely die.” In Genesis 3 we find that Adam did eat of that tree, but physical death did not occur. Instead, Adam died spiritually. Just as the second birth that Jesus spoke of was spiritual birth rather than a physical birth, so to the death of Adam was spiritual rather than physical. Christ understood this need completely when He said that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In short, regeneration is the work of the Spirit to take a person who is spiritually dead and makes them alive. The act of regeneration is no small thing. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul, describing this concept, said “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.” By this supernatural work humans can be transformed, and spiritually brought back to life.

b. Sanctification

We would view regeneration as an instantaneously complete event, but it is not an end in itself. Regeneration is a beginning, but there is much more to come. In Philippians 1:6 the apostle Paul made this point clear when he wrote “And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Later Paul refers to the manifestation Christ’s work in your life as the “fruits of the Spirit.” These fruits of the Spirit are the direct opposite of the fruit of the old nature, the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23). This continuing work is what we would call sanctification. Sanctification is the work of God in the life of the believer, making him or her holy. The definition of holy can be complicated, but for our purposes I want to make it as simple as possible. Thus, our working definition of holy will be “bearing an actual likeness to God.” From here what we must understand is that sanctification takes place subsequent to justification. This means that when God is working out your sanctification He is causing your moral condition to catch up with your legal status before God. Let me explain. After regeneration we are able to repent and put our faith in Christ. At this time we are justified; that is to say God looks at us as being justified because of the work of Christ. However, even though God has declared us to be justified we still have sin in our lives. Our minds are stilled filled with the pollution caused by a sinful life. Here is where the doctrine of sanctification comes in. Sanctification is an actual transformation of the character and condition of a person. It is the cleaning out of the remaining pollution from sin. This does not happen all at one time; it a progressive work that is accomplished over the entirety of the believers life.
To this you may be thinking, “That’s great. I am glad that God is doing this work, and I am glad that I know the logical sequence of events that go into salvation. But how does this affect my life?” Let me tell you how it will affect your life. As we have already seen Scripture is very clear in teaching that this is a supernatural work of God in your lives. But Scripture also teaches us that we have a responsibility in our sanctification. Philippians 2:12 says “work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” This verse does not refer to salvation by works (it can’t Ephesians 2:8-9), but rather the believers responsibility to pursue obedience to God in their sanctification. This is something that you should be actively working on everyday. The question that we are left with is, how? First of all, we must remember that it is the presence of the Spirit in our lives that works this sanctification out. And as we have said many times, it is the Spirit of God working through the Word of God that makes a lasting change in our lives. By this we mean that the chief tool that the Spirit of God uses in the process of your sanctification is the Bible. Thus, in order to work out your salvation and clear your mind of sinful pollution you must immerse yourself Scripture. This is exactly the picture that is painted for us in Romans 12:2. Our minds must be renewed by the Spirit through Scripture. In order for this to happen we must be in Scripture. If you want a radical change in your life to rid you of the evil stain that sin leaves in your life, then you must immerse yourself in God’s Word.
At this point you may be thinking about the times that you have fallen short of this, and even now the lack of time you spend in God’s word. Let me encourage you in two ways. First of all, you are so young. If you will develop habits in your life that are spiritually profitable, and responsible they can last you a life time. Learn to make time for God’s Word every day, just like you would make time for food. Second, know that if you are a true believer in Christ Jesus then you can be assured that He will complete the work that he began in you. We saw in Philippians 2:12 that we must work out our own salvation, and if we go on to verse 13 we read “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This is the new creature that has been created by God; these are the individual that make up the Church.

Keep your eye on the JE center

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:02:00 -0400

Over the couple of years or so work has been going on to compile the many works of Jonathan Edwards online at the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. I was lucky enough to find this resource in its infancy, and be a part of the beta testing. In the beginning there was not much to test, however that has changed over the last few months. Currently there is no better place to find such an exhaustive compilation of the works of Edwards. What makes this site so useful in study, and devotions is the relative ease with which you can preform a search. I believe that you can still sign up as a beta tester and receive a free year of access to this resource. I would highly recommend it to all of my readers.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:22:00 -0400

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

Here is where we last left off:
The question that we are now left with is, what should our response be to God’s glory in the Gospel?

The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about this question is humility. Honestly, it should be utter humiliation and this is exactly what we see in Ezekiel 36:22-32. In this passage God blessed the people with grace so that He would receive the glory. This is the Gospel. God does not save someone because of who they are. God saves people because of who He is.
Do you love the gospel because God has made much of you, or do you love the Gospel because it has freed you to make much of God forever? If you love the Gospel because God has made much of you then you need to humble yourself and remember that your joy should be rooted in the infinite value of God.

If you have great guilt in your life from sin your hope should not be in you, but rather your hope should be in the name of Christ. Do not get wrapped up in esteeming yourself highly and think that it is the Gospel. The whole point of the Gospel is not that we are so good that God saved us, but rather that we are so bad yet because God is so good He has saved us. At the thought of our salvation we should not say to ourselves “I must be something because Jesus died for me.” Ezekiel makes it very clear that the thought of God’s grace in light of our sin should leave us confounded and ashamed.

This leaves us with an interesting tension that is particularly highlighted in the NT. We are to remember our sins yet forget them. Ephesians 2:12-13 tells us that we must remember our sins, but Philippians 3:12-13 tells us that we must forget our sins. The key to understanding this is found in the beginning of Philippians 3:12. Paul understands that he has not already obtained perfection, and so he remembers his sin but forgets. I think that we can find this balance if we remember enough to be ashamed by our sin and satisfied with God’s grace; but don’t remember (or dwell on) your sin to the point that you are paralyzed by it. The Gospel should humble us, not make us proud. We should be ashamed and confounded by our sin so that we will be happy and satisfied with God’s grace.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 10:30:00 -0400

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

Romans 3:25-26

Here is where we left off yesterday:

Someone might say well John 3:16 says that God saves men because of His love; and 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love is not self-seeking; so how can God be out for His own glory in the salvation of men?

To that I would answer this way. First of all, God does save men because He loves them. Because He loves them He wants what is best for them, and the best thing in the universe is God. If God were to give you all the riches of this world to enjoy, but withhold Himself then He would be demonstrating hatred toward you. But, if God were to withhold every earthly enjoyment from you but himself that would be the ultimate demonstration of love. John, in 1 John 3:1, says that the love of the Father is the reason that we can be called the children of God. Thus, we must say that God has saved men for His own glory, and because of His love. But how do those two ideas fit together, and how does God seek his own glory but Scripture says that love is not being self-seeking? Let me try to explain. To love you God must give you what is best for you. God is what is best for you. God has given Himself to us so that we can enjoy Him, and take pleasure in Him forever. He does not want us to take pleasure in anything above himself because He is jealous for His glory, and because it is not what is best for us. God wants us to have ultimate pleasure in Him, and if we are going to do that we must express that pleasure through praise. Think about you favorite hobby, or sport, or food, or even person. You love to talk about those things which you enjoy, right? When something great happens what is the first thing that you want to do? Tell someone! It is almost as if you cannot completely enjoy the moment until you tell someone else. The same is true about you enjoyment with God. You will not be able to enjoy God, and take pleasure in Him until you praise Him giving Him the glory. This is why God’s passion for His own glory is not self-serving it is for your benefit. The question that we are now left with is, what should our response be to God’s glory in the Gospel? We will discuss this tomorrow.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:23:00 -0400

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

Romans 3:25-26

We find the answer to the question, why would God go to such great lengths to set apart for Himself a redeemed people, twice in vv. 25-26. Two times Paul states that God has done these great things in order to show His own righteousness. It was for His name’s sake, His own glory, that he sent Christ as a sacrifice. This may sound strange to you that God has saved you first and foremost because he loves His own glory, but this is what Scripture teaches us. I want to take the time to look at several passages to make this point clear. In 2 Samuel 12:6-25 we see this same principle at work. The people of Israel had sinfully asked for a human king. They had been living under a Theocracy, and God was their King. But they wanted to be like the other nations. They wanted to depend on a man to lead them into battle rather than God. So, they asked for a king. This was a great act of wickedness (v. 17) because it brought shame upon the name of God. The people of Israel disgraced God’s name in front the watching nations and in vv. 19-20 we see His response. “Do not be afraid.” This must be wrong; it should read “be afraid.” But, this was not God’s message and in v. 22 we see why. It was for “His name’s sake,” or His glory, that He spared Israel.
Look at Isaiah 48:9-11. Here, again, we see God deferring his anger. Six times in this passage God tells us why he deferred His anger. “For my name’s sake… for the sake of my praise… for my own sake, for my own sake… how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” We are, of course, the beneficiaries, but ultimately God saves us for His glory. John MacArthur put it this way, “The primary reason we are redeemed is not so that we may escape hell- that is a blessed benefit, but not the major purpose. The central objective for which we are redeemed is not even so that we might enjoy the manifold eternal blessings of God. In fact, the supreme motive in our redemption is not for us to receive anything. Rather, we have been redeemed so that God may receive worship- so that our lives might glorify Him.” Someone might say well John 3:16 says that God saves men because of His love; and 1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love is not self-seeking; so how can God be out for His own glory in the salvation of men? I will speak to this issue in the next post.

The Gospel: God's Glory & Man's Humilitaion

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 12:35:00 -0400

*This Sermon was preached last month at the GBCB Youth Camp*

“In His divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” These are the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 3:25. This is a reference to God’s dealings with human beings before Christ. We spoke yesterday about the justification, redemption, and propitiation that are found in Christ, but what about those who were before Christ. Paul tells us that God passed over, or overlooked sin. God postponed the full penalty of sins previous to the cross allowing certain sinners to stand before Him without an adequate satisfaction for His holy justice. This poses a serious theological problem! Most people see Hell as a problem saying something to the effect of “How could a loving God send someone to Hell?” The problem is not Hell, the problem is forgiveness. How can a perfect and righteous God who is supposed to be the perfect and righteous judge of the universe just over look sin. If we had a judge letting rapists, and murders back onto the streets there would be a public uproar. However, this is exactly what God did in 2 Samuel 12:13. David looked upon another man’s wife, took that woman for himself, and sent her husband out to die. Yet, the Lord put away his sin, and he did not die. How can this be? How could God just overlook this sin? Not only is God just overlooking sins, He is also ignoring the dishonor showed to Him by men. In doing this it seems as though He is condoning men in their esteeming of themselves to be more trustworthy in their judgment than God. It is almost as if God is allowing Himself to be more lowly than His own creation. Basically, it is as if God is saying that it doesn’t matter. “But for God thus to deny the infinite value of his glory, to act persistently as if the disgrace of his holy name were a matter of indifference to him- this is the heart of unrighteousness. This if God is to be righteous e must repair the dishonor done to his name by the sins of those whom he blesses. He must magnify the divine glory man thought to deny Him.”1

To find the answer to our theological problem we must look carefully at vv. 25-26. The first thing that we must see in these verses is that the righteousness that Paul speak of here is different from the righteousness mentioned in v. 21. This righteousness does not refer to the righteousness that God has made available to men through Christ. Rather, this righteousness refers to the righteous character of God Himself. I would define this righteousness as God’s commitment to His glory, and absolute faithfulness to act for His name’s sake (More on this to come). In vv. 21-25a we saw the righteousness of God manifest through Christ, and made available to men. Here we see God’s righteousness displayed, but how? Basically, what we see here is God’s actions in passing over sins previously committed being justified. Here again, this justification is different from what we saw in v. 24. This justification is not man’s justification from sin, but God being justified in justifying. God showed that he was not unjust in his forgiveness of the OT saints when he sent Christ to be the sacrifice for all the saints. This public display of Christ’s sacrifice demonstrates that God was righteous all along in his forbearance. In fact, what we see is that God exercised his forbearance in light of the certainty of the sacrifice of Christ. It all began in Genesis 3:15 when, instead of killing Adam and Eve right there on the spot, God gave mankind the hope of salvation. As we saw yesterday all throughout the OT we can find the foreshadowing of Christ sacrifice. Look at v. 26. God sent Christ, at the perfect time, so that he might demonstrate His perfect righteous justice, and at the same time justify the ungodly through faith. This was the twofold purpose of Christ’s work. When we understand how truly amazing God’s purpose in Christ death was we are left with the question why would God go to such great lengths to set apart for Himself a redeemed people?

1. Piper, John. The Justification of God, 1993, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI.

Back to Business...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 07:57:00 -0400

After the short break to cover my father-in-laws story we will now return to the messages I preached at camp this year.

The Gospel:
Christ’s Righteousness & Man’s Sin (Part II)
Romans 3:21-25a

Beginning in verse 22 all the way down to verse 26 Paul explicitly defines what this godly, hope providing righteousness is. This righteousness has been made manifest through Christ. The only hope for us, who as Paul penned it “have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” is the righteousness of Christ. Because we have sinned and fell short we have to be justified before God. To be justified we must be redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ. This sacrifice is God’s public display of His righteous son as a propitiation. This idea of propitiation is slightly different from redemption and deserves our attention. Propitiation carries with it the idea of appeasement, or satisfaction. In many ancient pagan religions the idea of man appeasing his deity and pleasing him with a gift was common. However, in the NT the idea of propitiation is a work of God not of man. This means that when God justifies someone it is not as if their sins have been omitted as if they never happened. Rather, God justifies someone because their sins have been unjustly bore by another. The purpose of this substitution was that in Christ our sins may be covered. If you are paying attention then you should realize that more has to be done for us to be saved. We already saw that in order for humans to have a right relationship with God we too must be righteous. The problem that we are left with, even after our sins are forgiven, is that we do not have righteousness. This means that just as Christ had to become a substitute for our sin, he must also provide us with righteousness. This is what theologians have termed the imputation of Christ. Our sin imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness imputed to us. This is the great exchange that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 5:21. It is our sin imputed to Christ that gets us back to square one. It is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us that brings us into a righteous state before God. This ransoming propitiation was paid for in Christ’s own blood. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:18-19

“You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold… but with the precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

We have seen that the righteousness of God has been manifest through Christ, and now the only question that we have left is, “how do we receive this righteousness?” This really is the most important question for anyone to answer. To avoid any possible misunderstanding Paul gives an explanation of what this righteousness of God is, and how it works in vv. 22-26. It is the righteousness that was revealed in Christ, and the righteousness that is acquired by faith in Christ. Paul does not leave us guessing on this question. We receive this righteousness by faith. It is not our gift to God to please him, but rather His gift for us to satisfy His wrath. Faith is the means by which we receive God’s grace. This has always been the case. In Hebrews 11 we see that the OT saints were saved by grace when they believed in faith. But what is this faith, and what is our faith in? Scripture makes it abundantly clear the faith is more that just making a verbal declaration. In James 2:17ff we see that faith can only be expressed by works. So it is through faith not works that we receive this righteousness from God; but that faith will only be identifiable by the kind of fruit it produces.

Saving faith is placing one’s self in total submission to the Lord Jesus, understanding that because of sin you are helpless. This act will come from a belief in Christ that is the result of the Holy Spirit. We need righteousness, but we cannot attain it by our own works. Our righteousness can only come through Christ. Not even our faith, which is required of us, is a work. If faith was a work then salvation would be by works. If faith were a work then God would owe us. God would be obliged to save because of what we have done, rather than for His glory.

A Day in the Life of Gordon Montoya

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 8 Jul 2006 00:57:00 -0400

You may or may not have seen the headlines coming out of Tampa today, but a man attempted to force his way into the cockpit of a Delta plane landing at Tampa International Airport. This made for an exciting day here at my house, mainly because my father-in-law was on the plane. In fact, he was on the second row of that plane. Gordon Montoya, my wife's father, was the first person on the plane to react to the situation. Here is how the St. Petersburg Times put it:

"Gordon Montoya, 52, of Brandon, was sitting in the second row in the first-class cabin and tackled the man after he raced by and grabbed the cockpit door.

It was like it wasn't real," Montoya said Friday. "Fortunately, my reaction was
pretty quick to grab him. I just got out of my seat, grabbed him and wrestled
him to the ground. It just happened. There was really not a lot of thought
process that went into it."

Montoya said he said four other passengers
restrained the man. He said there was never any chance the man would break into
the locked cockpit.

"They are heroes," airport executive director Louis
Miller said of the passengers. "In my mind, they are absolute heroes."

To add to that the Tampa Tribune wrote this:

The running man also startled first-class passengers Gordon Montoya, a Brandon
businessman, and Freitag. Freitag and his wife, Lorraine, had been bumped to
first class and were seated in the first row after missing a connecting flight
at LaGuardia.

"He hit that cockpit door, pounding on the door, trying to open it," Herb Freitag said.
Montoya said that without thinking, he rushed forward and grabbed the man's legs. "I tried to get him up off the ground so I could get him down," he said.

As the two wrestled, Freitag said, he grabbed at Laimendez as well. By this time, Montoya had pinned his legs, and Davisberg placed his foot on Laimendez's chest.

Here is the story from Bay News 9:

Passengers tackled a man who was rushing toward the cockpit as a flight
approached Tampa International Airport late Thursday...
Gordon Montoya, aboard Delta flight 1850 after a business trip to New
York, jumped from his seat and grabbed Liamendez. "I pushed him into the
galley against the exit door in the galley and got him down," Montoya said.
"That's when two or three others joined in and helped hold him on the ground."
Montoya and the others held Liamendez for about ten minutes until the
plane landed and authorities took over.
...Police said Gordon Montoya was the first passenger to jump Liamendez.
Montoya said he only did what his instincts told him to do. "I wouldn't call myself a hero,"
...Montoya said. "I just wanted to live and get home to my family."

This last one from the local CBS news is my favorite (you can find video here as well). This was written by Sara Dorsey:

Tampa, Florida - Gordon Montoya, a seasoned business traveler, says as his Delta flight was making its final approach into Tampa didn't have time to think let
alone be scared.

Gordon Montoya, Subdued Soldier:
“This young man came just running down the isle past me. I was in row two and he was immediately on the cockpit door grabbing it and trying to open it.” Authorities say that man was 24-year-old Neftali Liamendez, a military policeman. His family told airport authorities Liamendez was acting irrationally after his duty in Iraq. Officials say they were told he was headed from New York to Tampa with his
brother to get mental treatment. Montoya says all he knew was he had to act.

Gordon Montoya, Subdued Soldier:
“I tried to grab his legs and get him off the ground.” Montoya's quick moves resulted in bumps and bruises but were successful.

Gordon Montoya, Subdued Soldier:
“By the time I had him on the ground, there were four other passengers that really had us surrounded and holding him down.”

Louis Miller, Director of Tampa
International Airport:
“They are all heroes in mind, they are absolute
heroes.” Louis Miller, Director of Tampa International Airport, says this
shows passengers are more savvy and the post 9-11 system is working.

Louis Miller, Director of Tampa International Airport:
“Thank goodness the door had been reinforced and he couldn't get in there.”

My father-in-law travels quite a bit (he has a platinum status with Delta if that tells you anything). This has been the fear of the family since 9-11 and we are thankful to God that He used Gordon restore peace and safety on the plane. Look for Gordon's name this weekend, he has done interviews with almost every single media outlet that you can think of. Also, remember he and the family in your prayers. Gordon has to get right back on a plane next week. Needless to say his wife and girls will be worried about him.

Here are several links to the story (also see above links):

Fox News
CNN

Camp '06

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 7 Jul 2006 00:17:00 -0400

As you may have noticed Youth Camp was last week. It was quite an experience to say that very least. I would have to say that Camp this year was the most positive experience that I have ever has, either as a student or a leader, with any camp. What made Camp amazing was the time spent with missionaries and missionaries in training. We spent our time at The Master's Mission this summer. We had the opportuntiy to work on several projects along with the crew there, and it was a wonderful time for all involved. Over the coming days I will be posting the notes from my morning sermons. The idea was to emphasize the gospel, then our response to the gospel. Pretty simple. You will have to excuse any typing mistakes. I was so pressed for time in all of this that I have taught through all these lessons and have not even gone through and edited them for mistakes (You can help edit these posts through the comments section of the bog).

The Gospel:
Christ’s Righteousness & Man’s Sin
Romans 3:21-25a

Introduction:
The first thing that we see in this passage is that a righteousness has been revealed. What makes this so significant is that righteousness is required for a relationship with God. We see the reason for this in Job 37:23. Here we see that, among other things, the Lord is righteous and He will not violate that righteousness. This means that in order for humans to have a right relationship with God we too must be righteous. Countless religions and systems have been formed for this very purpose, and yet here in this passage we have the answer. We see that God has revealed a righteousness whereby we can have a right relationship with Him. This is what makes the Gospel the good news.

I. A Righteousness Revealed

a. A Supernatural Righteousness (v. 21a)
As we search to understand this righteousness we see that it is a supernatural righteousness. In other words, this righteousness is unattainable to men. This is horrible news, because without this righteousness we face the wrath of God. We see that this righteousness is supernatural in three different ways in v. 21. First, look at how Paul begins this verse, “But now.” This means that the righteousness that has been manifest is in contrast to what was discussed in the previous verses. If we look back at the first three chapters of the book of Romans to see what this righteousness is in contrast to we will see an in depth description of the depravity of man. The first paragraph (1:18-23) and the concluding paragraph (3:9-20) do well in summarizing Paul’s description of the sinfulness of man. In the first paragraph we see that human beings, in their natural state, are unrighteous. Men have suppressed the truth about God, and boasting of their own wisdom they exchanged the glory of God for man made idols. So often we hear that people are basically good, and given the opportunity will do the right thing. Romans chapter 1 tells us something very different. This theme runs throughout the first three chapters of Roman until finally in 3:9-20 Paul concludes his prosecution of sinful man with a final and formal indictment against all men. From this we can clearly see that this righteousness that is being revealed is not from men.
The second indication that this righteousness is unattainable to men is the clear statement that this righteousness is from God. The source of this righteousness that has been made manifest is God. Psalm 71:19 says, “Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” The answer to that question is clearly, no one is like God! This righteousness that has been revealed must be God’s righteousness, rather than man’s righteousness.
The third indication that this righteousness is unattainable to men is found when Paul tells us that this righteousness “has been made manifest apart from the law.” Paul is not only referring to the law itself, but also man’s attempts to be righteous before God through the law. We can toil and work trying to keep every aspect of the law, but we will never attain the righteousness that God requires. To some people this seems unfair, and because of that, unbelievable. But really it makes sense. God is infinitely righteous and the judge of the world. This means that he must judge the world on the basis of his infinite righteousness. If God were to just let people get away with their sins he would cease to be righteous. But we will pick this topic up later. For now we need to understand the utter despair of this situation described here. Man needs righteousness and there is a righteousness that has been revealed, however that righteousness is unattainable to men.

b. Described by Scripture (v. 21b)
Paul continues to describe this righteousness as “being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (NASB) or “the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it” (ESV). Although we cannot attain this righteousness through the Law we can find it described in the Law as well as the rest of the OT. As you read through the book of Romans in particular you will see that one of the apostle Paul’s favorite prophets to quote was Isaiah. For this reason I think that it would most profitable to go to Isaiah and see how this righteousness was foretold. In Isaiah 11:1-5 we see there is someone coming, anointed by the Spirit, who will judge in righteousness. In fact, in verse 5 we see that he is characterized by righteousness. In Isaiah 32:15-17 we again find the prophet Isaiah speaking of a time when the Spirit of God would be poured out. This time we see that the effect of the pouring out of the Spirit will be righteousness. The effect of this righteousness will be peace, and the result of this righteousness will be quietness and trust forever. This result of this righteousness is sweet, and we are unable to attain it. Yet, in Isaiah 46:12-13 we find our hope. For you the stubborn hearted, who disobey your parents, who resent instruction, you who are far from far righteousness, you who have no hope, God has given you hope.

*I tried to post some great pictures but blogger was giving me some trouble.*

We are Home

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 3 Jul 2006 15:40:00 -0400

We are back from camp, and we are tired. It will be at least one more day before I dig myself back out, but here is a taste of Camp this year.

And on a lighter note:

It's Camp Time

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:53:00 -0400

You will have to excuse my absence this past week, and plan on my absence this next week. This week I have been preparing to take our youth to Camp in N.C. We will be leaving this weekend, and we are praying for a productive trip. I will be preaching while we are there along with a missionary candidate. We are praying that God would do something radical while we are at camp. The theme of Camp this year is "Sowing the Seeds of the Gospel."

Your prayers will be greatly appreciated while we are gone. I hope to give a full report of our trip upon our arrival home, as well as post the series of sermons as well.

Wisdom From Above

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:58:00 -0400

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In verse 15 James solidifies his point. Whatever wisdom these people thought they had it was not wisdom from above. It was clearly not God-given skill for living righteously, because they were not living righteously. God was not the source of their wisdom. Thankfully, James did not leave us to speculate as to what the source actually was. Here we see that the sources of the false wisdom in these people’s lives, and in our own lives today, were earthly, natural, and demonic. The meaning of all three of these terms together is clear; the source of this wisdom is the opposite of God. These three terms are however, slightly more nuanced and deserve our attention.
First, James says that this fake wisdom is “earthly.” We do not have to go far to see what earthly wisdom looks like. This type of so-called wisdom is limited to what man can discover, and theorize by himself. There is no place for God in this false earthly wisdom. It is this kind of thinking that has led to non-Christian worldviews such as evolution, and atheism. For the Christian the final authority is God, through His revealed word. For the earthly thinker the final authority is himself, and he is responsible for deciding right from wrong all by himself. Unfortunately, this type of individualism has dominates the culture that we live in. It is for this reason that we must be very careful to understand what James is teaching and apply it to our lives (1:12-22).
Second, James says that this fake wisdom is “natural.” This is a reference to humans in their unregenerate state apart from the renewing work of the Spirit. Of the handful of occurrences of this word in the NT there are two that are very helpful in understanding what James is talking about here. In 2 Corinthians 1:12 Paul described the exact same thing that James did. In 2 Corinthians the same word is translated “fleshly” and it refers to that fake wisdom which is the polar opposite of “holiness,” “godly sincerity,” and the “grace of God.” The second cross reference that I think will be helpful to look at is found in Jude 19. In this passage Jude again describes the exact same thing as James. Here that same word is translated as “worldly.” What we see is that the result of this kind of “worldly” thinking is division, and this “worldly” thinking is “devoid of the Spirit.” On a side note I think that it would be helpful to take a moment to determine what devoid of the Spirit means. It has been the regular teaching of our Church, and the Bible, that the Spirit of God works through the Word of God to make a lasting change in our lives. By this we mean the chief tool that Spirit of God uses in the process of your sanctification is the Bible. Thus, if you want to avoid being “worldly-minded” and “devoid of the Spirit” in your thinking, then you must immerse yourself Scripture.
The third source that James gives for this fake wisdom is “demonic.” James saves the most serious for last. In saying that this fake wisdom is demonic James is clearly highlighting that this wisdom is in no way related to God. This type of wisdom is what Paul warned Timothy of in 1 Timothy 4:1 when he said, “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…” Wisdom apart from God is nothing more than the foolishness of demons. This is an astonishing foolishness. It was these demons, led by Satan, who rebelled against God. They were so foolish that they left the direct presence of God’s glory in order to pursue their own glory. If we fall into this demonic wisdom we too will eventually find ourselves pursuing our own glory rather than God’s and in verse 16 we see the result of this.

New Blog- Dr. Daniel Ebert

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 09:47:00 -0400

I just wanted to throw out a brand new blog for your enjoyment. The "EbertBlog
A Place for Christ Centered Trinitarian Conversation" is a blog by an old Prof of mine, Dr. Daniel Ebert. I am very excited that Dr. Ebert has entered the blog world, and will be sharing his little nuggets of wisdom electronically. I sat under Dr. Ebert for most of my major Bible classes while I was in college, and to say the least he has influenced my life greatly. Check out the new blog, you will enjoy it.

Beholding God's Word II- Chris Pixley

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:43:00 -0400

This week's podcast is, "Beholding God's Word Part II." This is a sermon preached by Chris Pixley here at GBCB. This audio sermon can also be accessed on the web by following the provided link above.

This sermon, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

Enjoy!

Wisdom From Above

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 8 Jun 2006 11:11:00 -0400

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In verses 14 through 18 James plays out for his readers the principle that he established in verse 13. That is, you demonstrate your wisdom by how you live. Here in verse 14 we see very simply that if your behavior is destructive you should not claim to be wise. Here the destructive behavior is “bitter jealousy” and “selfish ambition.” James has just finished saying that wisdom is, at least in part, demonstrated by gentleness/humility. In fact the direct source of this gentleness/humility that James speaks of is wisdom itself. So, to have jealousy and selfish ambition is to demonstrate a profound lack of wisdom.

Since wisdom is understanding the truth and applying it to our lives, then those who do not have wisdom will not have a proper view of themselves. The wise person understands that, because of the self-deceptive nature of sin, people are deceived into thinking higher of themselves than they should. It is from true wisdom, wisdom from God, that we understand our sinfulness and humiliation in light of God’s perfection. Those whose lives are based on ungodly, or false, wisdom will be motivated be self-centeredness, they will be jealous when good things happen to other people, they will look out for their own good, and seek to fulfill their own selfish ambitions. All because they do not have a proper understanding of who they are. This lack of humility is directly proportional to a lack of wisdom. This is the exact problem that the original readers of this letter were having. In 4:1-17 we see that a lack of wise humility had a very destructive result in this community. They fought (v. 1), spoke against one another (v. 11), they put their own ambition ahead of God’s will (v. 13), and all because they lacked the wisdom to see God at work. This goes right back 1:2-5. It was there that we saw that God was working in the midst of these people’s trials. We also learned that if they had faith that this was true but lacked the wisdom to see exactly how God was working, then they should have prayed for that wisdom. I think that we can deduce from chapter 4 that these people never did ask for that wisdom (vs3).
To those people who were acting this way James’ command was “do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.” Let me paraphrase James, “All of you who claim to be wise and understanding, but live self-centered lives, do not boast of your great wisdom. Because when you boast of your wisdom you are lying against the truth. You do not have wisdom.” James’ point is crystal clear. If wisdom is skill in living righteously, which it is, and you are not living righteously then you are not wise.

06-06-06 Has A Different Significance For Me

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 6 Jun 2006 07:21:00 -0400

Much of todays news cycle includes something about today's date. That's right for those of you who may have forgotten, today is 06/06/06. The media is just so curious about this, and is trying to figure out what those silly Christians (they always find the "most silly" Christians to interview) are thinking. With this in mind, I want to talk about something totally different today.

Today is 06/06 which means that it is anniversary of D-Day. On this date 1944 the Allied Forces took part in the largest amphibious operation in military history. The Allied Forces landed in Normandy on the Northern coast of France. This was possibly the most important battle in the whole war (see also the Battle of the Bulge).

What makes today particularly important to me is the fact that my Great Grandfather, A.W. Whidden, was there on that day. I do not know a lot about his experience there, he didn't speak much of it. What I do know is that he was ready to make the ultimate temporal sacrifice for his country.

The history of this battle is of great interest. Eisenhower, and the Allied leadership, had originally planned an earlier date for the invasion. The weather through a monkey wrench in those plans! Finally, on June 6th 1944 the weather permited (barely) an invasion. On the word of Eisenhower an armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vessels—escorts and bombardment ships—began to leave English ports. That night 822 aircraft, carrying parachutists or towing gliders, roared overhead to the Normandy landing zones. They were a fraction of the air armada of 13,000 aircraft that would support D-Day.

On this day alone over 2,000 men lost their lives in a heroic fashion. What is sad to me is that I am certain that many of these men were were not followers of Christ. It is with this thought that I encourage you to use this day to remember those who made it possible to live the life you live in this country, as well as to pray for the men who are currently serving this country.

In light of today's political climate and the heroism of Eisenhower that we remember on this day, I think that "Ike's" prayer from his inauguration speech is appropriate.

"Almighty God, as we stand here at this moment my future associates in the Executive branch of Government join me in beseeching that Thou will make full and complete our dedication to the service of the people in this throng, and their fellow citizens everywhere.

Give us, we pray, the power to discern clearly right from wrong, and allow all our words and actions to be governed thereby, and by the laws of this land. Especially we pray that our concern shall be for all the people regardless of station, race or calling.

May cooperation be permitted and be the mutual aim of those who, under the concepts of our Constitution, hold to differing political faiths; so that all may work for the good of our beloved country and Thy glory. Amen."

Wisdom From Above

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 2 Jun 2006 12:29:00 -0400

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

In 13b we see how James tested wisdom. “Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.” Those who responded to James’ question would have quickly found themselves the object of James’ scrutiny. James did not assess their claim to wisdom on the basis of their IQ, but rather in practical terms. James’ command to us is to demonstrate our wisdom by what we do. We must give a practical proof of our wisdom from our life and our conduct. Our daily living is where our wisdom is played out. Wisdom then is concerned with how we live. I think that we can find a good example of how wisdom plays out in our lives by looking at how the word of God works in our life. In 1:21 we saw that it was through the Word of God that we are saved. In 1:22 we see that when we receive this word it will result in us be doers of the word. Like the word implanted by God in the heart of the believer , the wisdom from above gives birth to deeds, humility and a way of life that grows in understanding. James goes so far as to describe what these deeds are that typify wisdom. It is a life of good behavior with our deeds done in a spirit of gentleness. The good behavior is reference to godly behavior. It is God who is the ultimate judge of good because He is the ultimate standard of good. In order to test our wisdom we must test out actions to see if they conform to the image of God. The other quality that James mentions is gentleness. This is the very opposite of what we normally think about wisdom. Usually people who think of themselves as wise are arrogant about their self-proclaimed wisdom. But this should not be. The word translated here as gentleness could have just as easily been translated as meekness or humility. The Greek word has the idea of power under control. It is a word that was often used to describe a wild horse that was broken and made useful to its owner. If we are truly wise then we will understand our shortcomings and willingly submit to the sovereign control of God. Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23). As was just mentioned, James has earlier admonished believers, “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility (prautēs) receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls” (1:21). Jesus, James’ half-brother, spoke about this same gentleness or humility. Gentleness or humility is to characterize everyone who is a part of God’s kingdom. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus said, “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.” Jesus used this same word, gentleness, to describe Himself saying, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29).

Wisdom From Above

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 1 Jun 2006 08:39:00 -0400

James 3:13-18

Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James begins this section of his letter with a simple question. “Who among you is wise and understanding?” This seems like a simple enough question, in fact from the whole of this letter I think that we can even decipher how James’ original readers would have responded. In 1:19 we see that the Jews to whom James wrote had a problem with speaking to quickly. In other words, they were so sure that they had the right answer that they had to be the first person to speak. In 1:23-24 the recipients of this letter acted as if they were above the word of God by ignoring what it clearly taught. In 2:4 we see that they made themselves out to be judges, but their motives were evil. They considered themselves wise enough to judge a person by their clothing, or by how much money they had. These are just a few examples of how the recipients of James’ letter viewed themselves. Based on what James has written up to this point I think that we can say, quite confidently, that these people would have wholeheartedly claimed to be wise. At this point we might shake our heads in disapproval of these “wise fools” (which by the way is what sophomore means), but aren’t we guilty of the same things. How many of you have been so convinced of your own wisdom that you had to be the first one to talk? Or, how many of you have been ignoring what Scripture says about purity because you want to keep watching a TV show, or go to a certain movie, or listen to a particular band? How many times have you made yourself a judge of another person based on their appearance?
Maybe you said no to all of these sins that James’ readers fell prey to. If so, let me try to hit a little closer to home. How many of you have been so convinced of your wisdom and expertise- this is the meaning of the word translated understanding- that you just knew your parents/spouse/boss/elders/etc. were wrong and you were right? Let me ask you this, did you correct your parents/spouse/boss/elders/etc. as a favor to them, so that they would no longer be in the dark?
My point is not to make everyone reading this blog out to be the worst imaginable sinner possible. Although we are all closer to that than any of us would like to admit. My point is to show you that deep down we all have a terrible tendency to view ourselves as wiser than we are. Unfortunately, more often than not our wisdom is faulty and will only lead us into trouble. The question that we must ask, and that James answers, is how do we test our wisdom to determine if it is true wisdom?

Beholding God's Word- Chris Pixley

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 31 May 2006 12:09:00 -0400

This week's podcast is, "Beholding God's Word." This is a sermon preached by Chris Pixley here at GBCB. This audio sermon can also be accessed on the web by following the provided link above.

This sermon, along with various other audio resources, will be made available in their entirety without editing. The address for the podcast is: feeds.feedburner.com/CupOfCoffeeTalk.

For those of you who are not in the podcast world it is very simple and I would highly suggest it. First, go online and download a podcasting program. I would highly recommend downloading I-tunes. It is free, and you do not need a mp3 player, only your pc. Once you have downloaded the program of your choice find the "podcast" heading and go from there. Eventually all you will have to do is cut and paste the above address into the appropriate field.

For a more detailed description go here.

Enjoy!

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