Sunday in the South

1 Corinthians 12 - Spirituality and Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 12:17:00 -0400

Market Day. It is the day that brings everyone together, especially outside the city. The farmers, the lappa sellers, even the entertainers. Each person brings something to the market that the community needs, yeah? Life in the village would be impossible without the market. Like the market, a healthy church is made of people with many skills and abilities, and they offer those gifts to benefit others. A market with few stalls indicates a weak village, and a church with only a few workers points to a weak church. Just as the diversity and quality of the marketers promote a thriving community, so the diversity and quality of spiritual gifts exercised in the church help grow and mature and expand the church. In our passage today, we see the value and power of a spirituality that uses the gifts given by the Holy Spirit to grow and plant churches.

Key Truth: Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 12 to teach believers that unity in the church comes from a spirituality develops spiritual gifts and relationships.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about spirituality and the local church.

Key Verse: 1 Cor. 12:7

Pray and Read: 1 Corintian 12 in Liberian Kolokwa

1 Now den, ma broda an sista, I na wahn fa you na know le trute bout le differen-differen gif dat le Holy Spiri’ done gii. 2 You know when you wa’ sinna, somehow you went around bad people to go da wrong way and do wrong ting around medicine dat can’t talk. 3 So den, I wahn fa you to ondastan dat no pwoson talkin by le Holy Spirit can talk say, “I curss Jesus.” An nobody na able ta say, “Jesus le Lord,” ecep by le Holy Spirit.

4 Dey plenty gift na, but de same Spirit. 5 Dey plenty different kind o’ service wey pippo do, but le same Lord. 6 And dey plenty workin, but le same God doing all le work in all men.

7 Na to each pwoson le Holy Spirit can show hisself fa everybody so-so good. 8 To one, dere is given tru le Spirit plenty God sense, an anoda plenty idea tru le same Spirit, 9 to anoda fait tru le same Spirit, to anoda le gift o’ curing tru dat one Spirit, 10 to anoda plenty power for miracle, to anoda le power to prophesy, to anoda le power to tell le diffren between le spirits, le power to speak different kind o’ Spirit word, and to anoda le power to explain le Spirit word. 11 All-o’-nem la-le work o’ le one and same Spirit, an he give dem according to he own will.

12 Da body e one ting but made o’ plenty parts, but having plenty parts, dey still make one body. Da same ting wi Chris’. 13 For all o’ u’ wer’ bapti’ by one Spirit into le one body – no matter Jew o Greek, slave o free – an all o’ u’ wer’ given le one Spirit to drink.

14 Now-Now da body na made o’ one part but plenty. 15 If our foot say, “I na hand, so I na belong to le body,” that mo na be da reason dat it should na be part o’ le body. 16 An if our ear should say, “I na eye, so I na belong to le body, that mo na a be da reason dat it should na be part o’ le body. 17 If da whole body wa eye, den how you be able to hear? If le whole ting hearing, den how will you be able to smell? 18 But now-now God have put togeda le parts in le body all o’ dem da way he want dem to be. 19 If all o’dem wa one part, where would da body be? 20 But now der plenty parts, but one body.

21 Le eye cannot say to da hand, “I na need you.” An le head cannot say to da feet, “I na need you.” 22 On da oda side, dose parts o’ le body dat seems to be lazy, dey more important. 23 An da parts o’ le body dat we tink have less respect, we treat wi’ more respect, an le parts na to be seen are treate’ good, 24 but da parts dat are to be seen na need no special care. But Go’d put togeda da group o’ da body an have given plenty respect to the parts that na get it 25 so that der will be no difference in da body, dat each part should have da same care for one anoda. 26 An if one group suffer, all da group wif it suffer, an if one group get respect, all da group is happy wif it.

27 Now-now you pippo are part o’ da body o’ Chris’t, and every one o’ y’all are a part o’ it. 28 An in da house o’ Go’d, Go’d ha choose hi’s first o’ all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers o’ miracle, also dose wif gift to cure, dose able to help odas, dose wif gift o’ managing, dose speaking different-different Spirit words. 29 Can all o y’all be apostle? Can all o y’all be prophet? Can all o y’all be teacher? Can all o y’all work miracle? 30 Can all o’ y’all have gift o’ curing? 30 Can all o’ y’all speak Spirit word? Can all o’ y’all interpret? 31 But mostly ask fo da best gifts. An now I will show you a betta way.

Contextual Notes:

The Apostle Paul outlined his letter to the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:5-9. He wrote to them about the importance of speaking and knowledge (1 Corinthians 1:18-4:21; cf. 1:5), the importance of being blameless and holy (1 Cor. 5:1-11:34; cf. 1:8), the importance of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12:1-14:39; cf. 1:7), the importance of revealing the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15; cf. 1:7), and the importance of fellowship (1 Cor. 16; cf. 1:9).

We find ourselves in a new section of the letter today, 1 Corinthians 12-14, which is about the importance of spirituality and grace gifts. These three chapters should be taken together as one section. In chapter 12 Paul gives the principles of spirituality in the context of spiritual gifts. In chapter 13, he demonstrates that we cannot have real spirituality without love, and in chapter 14, we see the practice of spirituality in the context of spiritual gifts. So while chapter 12-14 discuss spiritual gifts, there are deeper truths here about true spirituality.

Sermon Points:

1. Grow Your Gifts to bring unity in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-13)

2. Grow Relationships to bring unity in the Church (1 Corinthians 12:14-31)

Exposition: Note well,

1. GROW YOUR GIFTS TO BRING UNITY IN THE SPIRIT (1 Cor. 12:1-13)

a. 1 Corinthians 12:1 – Pneumatikon: This may surprise you, but the word “gifts” is not found in the original text here. It is better to read this verse without that word and see these chapters 12-14 as a teaching on spirituality.

b. 1 Corinthians 12:1-3: In the ancient world, ecstatic utterance was considered a sign of possession and approval of the gods. Even epilepsy was a divine disease, and the sayings of drugged priestesses at the nearby Oracle of Delphi who breathed in the sulfuric gases of a volcano in the ground and then spoke from that state of drunken brain poisoning in unintelligible language then interpreted by the priests. Their words were believed to be messages from the gods. Perhaps from demons, but not from gods. Paul says that when they were pagans and ignorant, they were influenced and led astray by idols which could not speak.

c. 1 Cor. 12:4-7: Here we find key teaching on spiritual gifts. We learn several things here.

i. Lists of gifts are found in Romans 12:4-8; 1 Corinthians 7:7; 12:1-11, 28; 14:1-25; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Peter 4:10-11

ii. Service – diakonia, lit. “deaconing” “ministries” Biblically, deacons are servants, heads of ministries, not an executive board

iii. Working – energēmatōn, lit. “energizings” power

iv. Word of Knowledge – ability to grasp facts, principles

v. Word of Wisdom – ability to apply spiritual principles in life

vi. Faith – mountain-moving 1 Cor 13:2; Mt 17:20; 21:21

vii. Healing – Acts 19:11-12; 20:9-12

viii. Miracles – Acts 5:1-11; 13:11

ix. Discerning of Spirits – 1 Thess 5:20-21; 1 John 4:1

x. Tongues & Interpretation of Tongues – apparently a usual practice in the life of the Body, not a one-time evidence.

xi. Tongues was probably one of the most prized gifts in pagan Corinth. WHY? Larry Richards: The problem was that the attitude toward highly ecstatic or emotional utterances, such as tongues, was carried by converts to Christianity into the church. They believed that this was evidence of being closer to God, and therefore more spiritual than others. Even when these “prophecies” contradicted basic Christian truth, some of the congregation were awed into believing them. In this cultural background, Paul speaks into what is true spirituality, spiritual gifts, and the proper exercise of the gift of tongues.[1]

d. APPLICATION: Spiritual Gifts are not talents, skills. They are a divine grace given to believers. We learn several important things about gifts.

i. There are different kinds of gifts.

ii. Each gift comes from the Holy Spirit, and He distributes them.

iii. No gift indicates a person has “more” of the Spirit than another.

iv. Each person has a spiritual gift (usually a cluster of them)

v. Spiritual gifts function within the church for the common good of the body.

vi. How do I find out my gifts? Serve others and see how God uses you in their lives and in the church.

2. GROW RELATIONSHIPS TO BRING UNITY IN THE CHURCH (1 Cor. 12:14-31)

a. 1 Corinthians 12:12ff. This is one of the three major images used to define what the church is. The church is a living organism, and each member makes an important contribution to the health of the body. The image of the body emphasizes that the church is built on close, loving, interpersonal relationships in order for spiritual gifts to function and the church to be healthy.

b. 1 Corinthians 12:13 – Unity of the Spirit (Many parts - One Body - One Spirit). This verse defines “baptism of the Spirit.” It is not something that happens to a believer after salvation to enable them to speak in tongues. Baptism of the Spirit is the work of the Spirit to unite all Christians to the living body of Christ. Notice the word “all.” This is important. It means that every believer is baptized by the Spirit at conversion. It must take place a that time because all are baptized by one Spirit.

c. 1 Cor. 12:21-22 – Independence cannot exist in Body of Christ. v. 24-25 – “God has combined the members”

d. APPLICATION: People joining local body bring gifts, talents, viewpoints, ministries. The church needs different gifts functioning in order to be healthy, grow, serve, and multiply (vv. 14-20). We are dependent on one another. We promote unity in the church when we discover we depend on one another (vv. 21-26).

e. 1 Corinthians 12:28 -- Order same as Ephesians 4:11.

i. Apostles: not restricted to Twelve, but incl. Barnabas, James the Lord’s brother (Gal 1:19), Paul, lesser known figures (Rom 16:7) cf. 1 Cor 15:5, 7 indicates wider group than Twelve.

ii. While prophets and teachers not necessarily apostles, apostles are both prophets, teachers (4:17; 14:6; Col 1:28; 1 Tim 1:11) Gift leads to Office. Serve on basis of gifts

f. 1 Corinthians 12:31 – Desire the greater gifts. This encouragement is directed at the whole church, not individuals, to stop emphasizing less significant gifts.

Invitation:

Sources:

Africa Study Bible. Oasis International, 2016, 1677.

Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, gen. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 1392.

Lawrence O. Richards, The Bible Reader’s Companion (Wheaton: Victor, 1991), 768.

Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament, vol. 1: Matthew-Galatians. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1989, 607-609.

Preached:

10:30am Sunday, June 16, 2024, at Grace Evangelical Church, Congo Town, Liberia

[1] Larry Richards, BRC, 768.

Reformer Andreas Osiander

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Thu, 30 May 2019 19:25:00 -0400

Andreas Osiander was a well-known and controversial German Protestant Reformer, and direct ancestor 16 generations hence.

Encyclopedia Britannica:
"Andreas Osiander, original name Andreas Hosemann, (born Dec. 19, 1498, Gunzenhausen, Ansbach [now in Germany]—died Oct. 17, 1552, Königsberg, Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia]), German theologian who helped introduce the Protestant Reformation to Nürnberg.

The son of a blacksmith, Osiander was educated at Leipzig, Altenburg, and the University of Ingolstadt. Ordained in 1520, he helped reform the imperial free city of Nürnberg on strictly Lutheran principles and in 1522 won over Albert von Hohenzollern, grand master of the Knights of the Teutonic Order, to the Lutheran movement. Osiander also helped write the influential Brandenburg-Nürnberg Church Order (1532) and compiled the liturgically conservative Pfalz-Neuberg Church Order (1543). By substituting his own preface in 1543 to Nicolaus Copernicus’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI (“Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs”), which introduced Copernican theories in a purely hypothetical manner, he helped keep this controversial work off the Index of Forbidden Books until the next century.

In 1548, when the Holy Roman emperor compelled Nürnberg to accept the Augsburg Interim, a provisional imperial religious ordinance, Osiander fled, first to Breslau and then to Königsberg, where despite his lack of a theological degree he was appointed professor primarius of the new university’s theological faculty (1549). The envy of his colleagues and apparently his own stubborn personality produced a violent controversy the next year. One Lutheran faculty and synod after another declared its opposition to Osiander’s deprecation of forensic justification of sinners and his exaggerated stress on the indwelling of Christ himself as the essential factor in justification. In addition to his Harmonia Evangelica (1537), Osiander wrote several treatises expounding his theological views, which his followers, the Osiandrists, continued to promote until 1567."

https://alchetron.com/Andreas-Osiander:"Born at Gunzenhausen, Ansbach, in the region of Franconia, Osiander studied at the University of Ingolstadt before being ordained as a priest in 1520 in Nuremberg. In the same year he began work at an Augustinian convent in Nuremberg as a Hebrew tutor. In 1522, he was appointed to the church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg, and at the same time publicly declared himself to be a Lutheran. During the First Diet of Nuremberg (1522), he met Albert of Prussia, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, and played an important role in converting him to Lutheranism. He also played a prominent role in the debate which led to the city of Nuremberg's adoption of the Reformation in 1525, and in the same year Osiander married.

Osiander attended the Marburg Colloquy (1529), the Diet of Augsburg (1530) and the signing of the Schmalkalden articles (1531). The Augsburg Interim of 1548 made it necessary for him to leave Nuremberg, settling first at Breslau (Wrocław), then, in 1549, at Königsberg (Kaliningrad) as professor of the newly founded Königsberg University, appointed by Albert of Prussia. Osiander lived and worked in Königsberg until his death in 1552. Osiander's son Lukas (1534–1604), and grandsons Andreas (1562–1617) and Lukas (1571–1638) also worked as theologians. His niece married the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer.

Osiander published a corrected edition of the Vulgate Bible, with notes, in 1522 and a Harmony of the Gospels in 1537. In 1533, Brandenburg-Nuernbergische Kirchenordnung vom Jahre 1533 was published, with Osiander assisting in both the source material the final editing. This combined order of worship and catechism was the first work to include the Keys section of Luther's Small Catechism, of which Osiander is a suspected author.

In 1543, Osiander oversaw the publication of the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolution of the celestial spheres) by Copernicus. He added a preface suggesting that the model described in the book was not necessarily true, or even probable, but was useful for computational purposes. This was certainly not the opinion of Copernicus, who was probably unaware of the addition. As a result, many readers, unaware that Osiander was the author of the preface, believed that Copernicus himself had not believed that his hypothesis was actually true. Osiander also did not sign the preface added to Copernicus' book, therefore many readers at the time assumed that this is what Copernicus had actually thought himself.

In 1550 Osiander published two controversial disputations, De Lege et Evangelio and De Justificatione. In these, he set out his view that justification by faith was instilled in (rather than ascribed to) humanity by Christ's divinity, a view contrary to those of Martin Luther and John Calvin although he agreed with Lutheranism's fundamental opposition to Roman Catholicism and Calvinism. These beliefs were maintained after his death by Johann Funck (his son-in-law) but disappeared after 1566. Osiander's view has been described as similar to Eastern Orthodox teachings on theosis.

Some historians, such as Tuomo Mannermaa, have argued that Luther's own views of justification, especially early in his life, were actually closer to the views of Osiander than to those of Flacius or what would later become confessional Lutheranism.

Theology
Osiander was a Christian mystic and his theology incorporated the idea of mystical union with Christ and the Word of God. He believed that justification for a Christian believer resulted from Christ dwelling in a person. Contrary to Luther's belief that justification was imputed by God's grace, Osiander believed that the righteousness of a believer was accomplished by the indwelling of God; thus, God finds one righteous because Christ is in that person. Calvin rejected these views of Osiander, as did Melanchthon and Flacius. Flacius' opposing view was that God justifies us by Christ's work of obedience on the cross, not by his presence in us.

John 19:25-27 - The Care of Mary

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 16:33:00 -0400

There they stood. Aghast. Shocked. Numb. Was this real? Certainly surreal. Her Son was hanging there, treated like a traitorous criminal.

It had all happened so fast. The oppressive Roman soldiers had already taken out their vengeance on Him, whipping and scourging His body. Pilate, it seemed, in some kind of dark humor, had baited his anti-Semitic troops with that tongue-in-cheek charge plate over His head: KING OF THE JEWS. The crown of thorns they had used to mock Him was still stuck on His head. And He hung up there, bloodied, exhausted, exposed, humiliated. They listened to the public shaming and cursing. Her first-born Son.

Now it felt like
time stood still. They stood – watching – waiting for the inevitable. Counting His breaths. Watching for His slightest chest movement. Everyone it seemed had run, scared they’d be next, but His mother wouldn’t run. And her family was there to support her.

What would her future hold? Her Eldest Son, the One responsible for her, was dying a painful, slow death of dehydration, strangulation, blood loss, and congestive heart failure. And that was only what was seen in the natural. He was actually bearing the sin of the whole world. As a widow without her eldest Son, she would be destitute, empty, void.

As she stood there with the women who were brave to join her, all those happy memories came back, the morning the angel startled her with the news He was coming, those days of holding Him as a little guy, that hard night He was born with nothing to dress Him in and nowhere to lay Him but a feed trough, those days He toddled around the house while they were refugees hiding in Egypt, His first day of synagogue school in Nazareth, his bar-mitzphah when he turned twelve, the day he finished memorizing Deuteronomy to finish his primary education.

How He had taken on the hard work of His father, trained under that honorable man Joseph who had kept her from embarrassment and married her even though it didn’t make sense. So glad he didn’t have to see this. What will happen next? Where will she live? How will she eat? Her sisters and friends who stood with her couldn’t do much. The questions lingered in the air much like the approach of death did.

Over nearby was the young John, (“beloved of YHWH”), the youngest Apostle from Bethsaida in Galilee. John was in his early to mid-twenties, a full decade younger than His Lord whom he watched dying. His father, Zebedee and mother Salome was Mary’s sister (Matt. 20:20; 27:56; Mark 1:19-20; 15:40; John 19:25; 21:20-24). Therefore, John was one of Jesus’ first cousins and Mary’s nephew. The Zebedees ran a good fishing business (Mark 1:20) out of Capernaum.

Young John, the beloved, as John describes himself, making a pun on his own name, (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), suddenly listened to the Word Himself speaking from the cross to His mother, “Dear woman, here is your son,” nodding toward him, then the Lord spoke directly to him, “Here is your mother.” It made sense. Mary was his aunt. A dying Man’s command. John took responsibility that day. Mary stayed at John’s house that night and from then on.

With his brother James, John bore the sobriquet, Sons of Thunder, humorously dubbed on them by the Man he stood watching die. That “Son of Thunder” had been greatly influenced by the Man on the cross, and in time it would show. Jesus’ life poured into John’s life had already begun to mellow him from that fiery zealot who wanted to call down fire on people with whom he disagreed (Luke 9:54) to one who one day would write, “Beloved, let us love one another” (1 John 4:7-8).

In Acts 8:14, John was associated with “the apostles who were at Jerusalem,” and Paul called him one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church in Galatians 2:9. Later his brother James would be martyred by Herod (Acts 12:2). When the Jewish Revolt began in A.D. 66, many church leaders fled to Asia Minor, including John and those whom he was mentoring, and he took with him Mary the mother of Jesus, John’s aunt. John made their home in the great coastal city of Ephesus where he took the pastorate of the church there.

A few years later (A.D. 70) the Roman General Titus would destroy the Temple and city of Jerusalem. Later in the reign of Domitian, John was banished to the Isle of Patmos where he had the prophetic visions of The Revelation. After Domitian’s death, John returned to Ephesus and, though of advanced age, continued as pastor of that great church.

It is said that his Aunt Mary, the mother of Jesus, died in Ephesus under John’s care, care which went all the way back to Jesus’ dying desire from the Cross. Today there is a tomb of Mary in Ephesus, a testimony to John’s faithfulness to His Lord’s command.

Adrian Rogers on the Word

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Sat, 15 Sep 2018 00:02:00 -0400

At the June 11-13, 1985, Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, a special committee was created to study and determine the sources of controversy and from their conclusions make recommendations to bring harmony. This group became known as the Peace Committee. They made their report on June 16, 1987, while Dr. Rogers served his second term as president of the SBC.

At a certain point in their many deliberations over the Bible’s inspiration, Rogers made his epic and unforgettable assertion after
a lawyer from the moderate camp said to him, “Adrian, if you don’t compromise, we will never get together.” Rogers kindly replied: “I’m willing to compromise about many things, but not the Word of God. So far as getting together is concerned, we don’t have to get together. The Southern Baptist Convention, as it is, does not have to survive. I don’t have to be the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. I don’t have to be loved; I don’t even have to live. But I will not compromise the Word of God.”
From: http://sbctoday.wpengine.com/adrian-rogers-prophet-of-the-conservative-resurgence/

Are you making disciples? 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:13:00 -0400

(Wikipedia)

A large manufacturing plant came to a town to produce shoes. The corporate management invested great sums of money and many hours among many people to produce the finest shoes possible. Investors spent money on salaries for the best staffing and management they could find.

Digital sewing machinery was installed for shoe-making. Materials were purchased from all over and shipped in to make the shoes. The plant went into operation with several hundred employees busily working hard. Machines were running at full capacity. Activity was at a maximum.

Today the international president of the company arrives for an inspection and asked the production manager, “How many shoes have we produced so far?”

“None,” the manager answers matter of factly.

“None!” the president is shocked. “How long has this plant been in operation?”

“Two years.”

“Two years? And still no shoes?”

“That’s right,” says the manager, “no shoes, but we are really busy. In fact, we have been so busy that we are nearly all tired out. We don’t have any shoes yet, but we have been very active in our jobs.”

What do you think the management would do in such a case? Have coronaries? Become angry? Be concerned? Fire somebody? Find the problem and fix it? Probably all these things, because the reason for this shoe plant’s existence is to produce shoes.u

Now let’s think about the church. There is a lot of activity. Men and women are here working very hard. The budget shows a lot of money being invested into a lot of ministries. The church is very active. But the purpose of the church is to produce disciples.

When the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association goes into a city to do an evangelistic outreach, they make numerous calls to churches to get the names of men and women who know their Bibles well enough to lead someone to Christ. In one large city, when the caller got the church secretary on the phone and asked her for such a person, she replied, “Would you repeat those qualifications again, please?” The man from BGEA did.

After a long pause, the secretary said rather wistfully, “You know, we did have a man like that in our church once, but he moved away.” Jesus himself said, “the harvest is plentiful but he workers are few" (Matt. 9:37). If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that the same is true today. Spiritually qualified workers – disciples who labor to make other disciples – are rare.[1] Most churches are really busy, but they are not producing any disciples, any leaders – and they just keep on going.

Contextual Notes:

With a population of over 200,000 in the first century, Thessalonica was the capital city of Macedonia, within sight of Mount Olympus, and a free city, a reward for helping Augustus gain the emperor=s mantle. Thessalonica was the largest commercial center in southeast Europe, a coastal city on the Egnation Way, the main road from Rome to the East. Because of the city=s importance in business, there was a large Jewish population there. Many Gentiles, frustrated with paganism, had begun attending synagogue as "God-fearers," attracted to the God of Israel. Thus, Most of the Thessalonian Christians were Gentiles who had come out of idolatry (1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2:14-16).

After the rough handling Paul and his team received in Philippi (1 Thessalonians 2:2), they arrived in Thessalonica about AD 49/50. There was a Jewish synagogue there, and Paul set to tent making to make some extra money (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8). In only three weekends in Thessalonica, Paul had planted a church, started grounding them in the faith, and created "a stir -- such a stir that the Jews accused him of "turning the world upside down" (Acts 17:6).

The Thessalonians became a missionary-sending church in short order (1 Thessalonians 1:8). That is because, after less than a month in town, Paul had to leave Thessalonica suddenly. He had encountered great opposition there, ending in a riot that got his cousin Jason (Romans 16:21) in trouble with the local authorities. He and Silas and Timothy had been staying at the Jason=s home in Thessalonica. After the riot (Acts 17:1-9), Jason had to post bond with a statement that he would get Paul & Co. out of town permanently. Perhaps it explains 1 Thessalonians 2:18.

Written 50/51 AD from Corinth on Paul's Second Missionary Journey. One of the earliest of Paul=s letters, only Galatians possibly being earlier. He is writing back to the Thessalonians he had so swiftly left behind. After Paul=s overnight skedaddle to Berea (Acts 17:10), his heart remained with the Thessalonians whom he had left so suddenly. Paul didn’t have the time he wanted to instruct the believers in Thessalonica, and he was worried about them. When the Thessalonian Jews began to cause trouble for the ministry team in Berea, Paul headed for the coast and set sail for Athens. He left Silas in charge in Berea and sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to look after the believers there (1 Thessalonians 3:1). Paul later preached in Athens and then headed south to Corinth where he met Priscilla and Aquila. Later Silas and Timothy joined Paul in Corinth. Timothy brought news and questions from the Thessalonian believers, and 1 Thessalonians was sent back to them.

Key Truth: Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 to demonstrate to believers how making disciples is sharing with another believer real life-on-life relationship with Christ and modeling for another believer a life of integrity before the Lord.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about making disciples.

Pray and Read: 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12

Sermon Points:

1. Are you sharing with another believer how to live a life of relationship with the Lord? (1 Thess. 2:7-9)

2. Are you modeling for another believer how to live a life of integrity before the Lord? (1 Thess. 2:10-12)

Exposition: Note well,

1. ARE YOU SHARING WITH ANOTHER BELIEVER HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD? (1 Thess. 2:7-9)

a. Investment of Christ’s Life: Pouring your life in Christ into the life of another (2 Tim 3:10, 14)

b. Vision of Multiplication: More time spent with fewer people results in greater Kingdom impact (2 Tim 2:2)

c. What is the thing that brings you more joy than anything else in life? Leading someone to Christ? I agree. But there is something greater than that. What could possibly be greater than seeing a person come to Christ? When the person you have led to Christ grows and develops into a fruitful, mature disciple who then goes on to lead other to Christ and help them in turn as well.

d. As you look back over your life, judging the times you were growing the most in Christ, how much has personal involvement versus church programming contributed to your developing as a Christian?

e. Ephesians 4:11-12 – God has given leaders to the church in order to build up and train the rest of us in the work of ministry. This approach works and it is Scriptural: Matthew 28:18-20; 9:37-38. I have seen it work myself.

f. THE PRINCIPLE: When you start spending individual time with another Christian for the purpose of having a ministry in his or her life – time together in the Word, prayer, fellowship, systematic training – something happens in your own life as well.

g. ‘What would you rather have, one hundred people who are 90% committed or ten people who are 100% committed?’ Your own answer to that question will determine your philosophy of the ministry and how much effort you would be willing to put forth in developing a committed band of spiritually qualified workers for Jesus Christ.

h. “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19-20)

i. What was Jesus’ purpose in choosing the Twelve? See Mark 3:14. Jesus chose them to be with him and that he might send them out. That was not a new idea. Elijah chose Elisha to help him and carry on the work. Elisha was not enrolled in the school of the prophets, studying, meditating, but out in the field working (1 Kings 19:15-16, 19). Jesus also called his disciples from their daily work, meaning he was looking for real people living real lives in the real world (Matt. 4:18-22; 9:9).

j. Leroy Eims: The effect “of making disciples by association is powerful, dramatic, and life changing. It is almost unbelievable to see the transformation that took place in the lives of the twelve apostles. It is one of the most spectacular miracles in Scripture. To watch them go from the humble shores of Galilee to the sophisticated center of Jerusalem and more than hold their own with the most august assembly Jerusalem could produce is a wonder to behold (Acts 4:5-22). Note the change in John and his awe at the transformation (Luke 9:54; 1 John 4:7-8; 1 John 1:1-2).

k. Every church has people in the congregation who are spectators, but they would pay any price to be involved in the real heart of ministry. But it will cost them. They need sermons and Bible study and prayer, but they also need someone to share their life with them (1 John 3:16).

l. We have a growing, healthy church. God is blessing his work here. BUT we have a problem: It is a bottleneck. Unless we have more spiritually qualified workers among both the men and women, many will not develop into the robust disciples of Jesus Christ we need. And there is another problem: Your pastor cannot do it all while putting out the small brush fires and needs that are typical around a congregation this size.

m. Wouldn’t it be great if we have a dedicated, ever-growing band of spiritually qualified men and women who could handle some of the “spiritual” issues that arise in church? I don’t mean visiting shut-ins or helping the needy or teaching Sunday School or managing church business. I mean people who can win another person to Christ and then take that person from conversion to help her or him become a solid, dedicated, committed, fruitful, mature disciple who could repeat that process in the life of another.

n. Or how about another scene. Four couples are meeting for Bible study. Three of the couples are new Christians. As they start a cell phone rings, and the caller wants Joe, a four-month old Christian, to come to his house immediately. Joe tells the group about the situation. His business partner has had a marital fight with his wife and he wants Joe to come and help them. The Bible study agrees for Joe to go and they will stay and pray. Joe, a four-month old Christian, goes out to save a marriage. They find out later that Joe led his partner and wife to Christ and has been meeting with them to study the Scriptures. Which scenario sounds more Biblical? Which one sounds more reality?

o. Is it worth it? What is the dividend? Jesus trained the Twelve for two things: to help him right there in carrying out His mission and for them to carry on after he was gone. These country boys preached to the great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, to the philosophers in Athens, to wealthy women like Lydia, to Roman soldiers – even the Praetorian Guard, to government officials and Caesar’s Court at Rome, to idol worshipers, to wild barbarians, to jailers, to anyone who would listen. He knew they would be stoned, beaten, and imprisoned, so their preparation was vital. Shallow training and half-hearted commitment would not cut it.

p. ILLUSTRATION: “Today we are riding a groundswell of interest in the Bible by the people in our congregations. Many would love to have a personal working knowledge of the Word of God. Many long to be more effective in their witness for Christ. Many more decry their ineffectiveness in prayer. They dream of being stalwart men and women of God ‑‑strong in faith, fervent in spirit, deep in their devotion for Christ. They crowd the bookstores to get the latest from the Christian publishers; they crowd the evangelical seminaries and the bible institutes for some Bible training; they crowd the seminars and lectures by well-known speakers and visiting lecturers. But the answers to many of these milling masses, who are clamoring for spiritual reality, could be found in a quiet, solid, ongoing program of discipleship training in their local churches. This is the challenge to today=s generation.@ -- LeRoy Eims

q. APPLICATION: Churches have two kinds of people: spectators and participants. Spectators want just enough of God to inoculate them against serious commitments. Jesus experienced many spectators in the crowds (Luke 14:25a), and he once turned to the seekers, skeptics, and window shoppers and thinned them out by raising the bar on in three different areas. Jesus called them to make Him the priority above personal relationships (Luke 14:26), personal goals (Luke 14:27), and personal possessions (Luke 14:33).

r. Participants are the church’s backbone. In all that the church does, people are primary, because people help people. Programs do not help people. Personal care makes the difference (see Eims, 50). Each of us has special needs that can only be handled by people, not programs. Automated systems do not meet individual needs. Not everyone will be interested in being discipled, but a few will. You work with those want to be discipled, and from them will develop a seed bed of leadership for the local church. The characteristics of a person who wants to be discipled are (1) they are motivated to be a disciple, (2) they desire regular fellowship with Christ, and (3) they want to witness for Him.

2. ARE YOU MODELING FOR ANOTHER BELIEVER HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF INTEGRITY BEFORE THE LORD? (1 Thess 2:10-12)

a. Jesus’ earthly ministry was a little over three years long. One of his key focus points was training his twelve disciples, the foundation of His whole ministry. He had no backup plan. He told them, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This is the key verse of the book of Acts.

b. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11), the disciples were in the marketplace, communicating with remarkable understanding the Good News, and with boldness, quoting Scripture. The people were amazed (Acts 2:7). Peter, a plain-spoken Galilean fisherman, stood and preached the first sermon recorded in Acts. He quoted from memory a passage of Scripture from the prophet Joel to answer his detractors. He had not been to the prestigious Jewish yeshiva to receive his training. Peter preached a crucified and risen Messiah, supporting his points with Scripture.

c. How did Peter know how to preach at Pentecost? Acts 2:14ff; 22‑24, 37, 41. The answer is obvious. He had walked over three years with Jesus, seen him answer His critics, learned the Bible under Jesus’ leadership. And the results? They were convicted (Acts 2:37), converted (2:41), and discipled (Acts 2:42). The test of any message is not whether it is good or bad, but whether God uses it. Is God’s anointing on it?

d. What happened between verses 41 & 42? How did they organize? How did they feed them? Where did they sleep? Trained by Jesus, the disciples did it. These people were planning to attend the Feast and go home across the Mediterranean. But the disciples had other plans. They understood that discipleship is a command (Matt 28:19). Their commission not to get converts to come forward – it was to make disciples. They knew Jesus’ standards: John 15:7‑8; 8:31‑32; 13:34‑35; Luke 14:26‑27, 33.

e. Today, we would have patted ourselves on the back that we saw 3,000 come to faith in Jesus and sent them home to tell their families and co-workers. But the disciples were not going to let them walk out of town. Peter had made a commitment to disciple them (John 21:15-17). Peter now had 3,000 sheep to feed and disciple, and he took that commitment seriously.

f. The Normal Christian Life – The church went into emergency mode to handle the logistics (Acts 2:44-47). These new converts are not mentioned in the next few chapters, but they are listening, watching, and learning to imitate. And their numbers grow (Acts 4:4; 5:14). What is going on inside these new converts as they watch the apostles threatened, beaten, imprisoned, miraculously set free (Acts 4:17; 5:18, 40). They watched the disciples proclaim the Good News boldly at every opportunity (Acts 3:14-15; 4:10, 33; 5:30-31). They watched the joy with which the disciples endured persecution (Acts 5:40), they listened carefully as the disciples diligently taught them the things of the Lord (Acts 5:42), they saw how the apostles handled ethnic conflict in the church that threatened unity (Acts 6:1-6).

g. APPLICATION: If we want a certain attitude or action to develop in those with whom we are working, we must remember the tremendous power of personal example. Take Philip for example (Acts 8:5, 8, 35). How did he know how to do that? He had been discipled by the apostles. Others were from Cyrene in North Africa (Acts 2:10). They did what they thought was normal for a Christian (Acts 11:19-21). And the apostles did not forget them (Acts 11:22-24). They continued to keep up with them and help them. They took seriously the commitment and time and effort, and they saw the lasting life-changing results multiply.

h. Then what is the problem today? Why is this not normal in our churches? Why are vital, growing disciples such a rare species? We have depended on programs, study guides, and PowerPoint to do the job that can only happen through relationships. Ministry is carried by people, not programs. Someone must do it, not something. Disciples are not mass produced in a production line. We know that does not work. It takes time and patience to make disciples. Remember, we are growing oaks of righteousness, not spring flowers (Isaiah 61:3). It takes personal attention. It takes hours of prayer. It takes understanding and patience to teach them to get into the Word of God for themselves, to learn to feed and nourish their own souls, and to apply the Word to their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it takes modeling it. So be patient with yourself and give yourself the time and patience to take the time to make disciples. It is actually fulfilling the Great Commission!

Invitation:

[1] LeRoy Eims, The Lost Art of Disciple-making (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978), 59-61.

John 3:16-21 - What about those who have not heard?

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 16:19:00 -0400

With Chief Mulbah Killinpowen and friends, May 2014

In 2014, I was at the City of Refuge orphanage in Belimu, Bong County, Liberia. During the course of the week, I met Town Chief Mulbah Killinpowen, the oldest living person in Bellemu, and the chief zoe of his area, wielding great spiritistic power over the people. He had lived all his life without hearing a clear witness to Christ until he saw the JESUS film in Kpelle. During the invitation to follow Christ, Chief Mulbah did something unprecedented for a tribal elder or a zoe.

He stood up, something elders never do, to honor the name of Jesus and came forward to make a commitment to Christ, encouraging the young people to follow Christ like he had. At the second showing of the JESUS Film, like the first, Chief Zoe Mulbah stood again and made a public commitment, like Zaccheus in the Bible, to restore to anyone any goat, sheep, or bull he had required from anyone for sacrifice to complete witchcraft rituals. Chief Mulbah is preparing for baptism. That is transformation. Transformation happens when people hear. They hear when people tell.

But wait a minute. What is the fate of those who never hear the good news of Jesus Christ? Can those who never hear the gospel, at least not from any human messenger, be saved? Can a sincere follower of another religion somehow be saved? These questions have been debated for years, and it is our turn to seek God over these things.

Key Truth: John wrote John 3:16-21 to teach believers that eternal life comes through belief in Jesus Christ.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about eternal life and a relationship with Jesus.

Key Verse: John 3:18

Pray and Read: John 3:16-21

Tip for the Trail: Because of sin, the default destination for every person is hell. There is one way into heaven – a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Contextual Notes:

The Apostle John, the son of Zebedee and Salome, wrote the Gospel of John to help people believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah (John 20:30-31). John focuses on Jesus’ deity, that He is God, and he shows us what it means to believe in Jesus. In John 3, Jesus has a late night meeting under cover of darkness with one of the great leaders of Israel, one of the 70 members of the Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin. His name is Nicodemus, and he has heard enough of Jesus’ teachings to want to know more. He is intrigued by this man from Galilee who doesn’t look like what most expect in a Messiah. He wanted to meet him, but he couldn’t do it publicly for fear of his reputation and position. Still, he had some questions he wanted Jesus to answer one-on-one. He needed the answers for his own satisfaction, for his own conscience, for his own peace over this rabbi from Galilee.

By the time we get to our passage, Jesus is concluding his answers for Nicodemus. And here we find profound truth that deals with many questions about eternity and eternal life. The question before us today is this: What about those who have never heard the Gospel? Will they go to heaven or will they go to hell?

Sermon Points:

1. God’s Son came to save whoever believes in Him (John 3:16)

2. God’s Son came not to condemn but to provide for the condemned (John 3:17-18)

3. God’s Son came to bring light to a dark world (John 3:19-21)

Exposition: Note well,

1. GOD’S SON CAME TO SAVE WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM, NOT TO CONDEMN (John 3:16)

a. There are two words that are not liked by polite society these days. Hell and submission. We don’t like the idea of submission because that means that someone else might tell us what to do – someone else is in charge. It actually means someone else is responsible. We don’t like hell because we chafe at that idea of punishment for doing whatever we want to do, so we make up all kinds of reasons why hell does not exist and submission is not necessary. Even within evangelical, Bible-believing culture, we have theses creeping doubts about the depth of human depravity (Aren’t people really down deep at their core, good?), the authority of Scripture (Look, humans wrote it down. There has to be some errors in there somewhere, right?[1]) Then there are doubts about the validity of other religions (There is truth in all of them, right? How can we say we have all the truth there is?) The fact is, though, that submission to the Lord Jesus Christ is a vital part of entering the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and hell is the punishment if we choose not to.

b. Universalism: Everyone goes to heaven . God is a God of love. In fact the Bible says God is love. His grace is so great that, His love is so great that God must save everyone. Even if a place like hell really exists, how could a loving God send people to everlasting punishment in hell?

c. Why would anyone go to hell? How does God feel about lost people? Does God sadly allow some to reject him and choose condemnation? Or worse, does He choose some for hell? Or is God too loving to send anyone to hell? Or is He not powerful enough to save everyone? C.S. Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, considers hell and says that God has done everything all that is possible to save people. If they are condemned, it is their choice. “What are you asking God to do? To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh star, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has [already] done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.”[2] But there is more to it than that. There is an aspect of hell that is a measure of punishment. Part of the answer to why anyone goes to hell is that God in His justice sends people there as punishment. We have no qualms when a judge sentences a murderer to death, but we feel squeamish when the only Righteous Judge sentences anyone to hell. Perhaps we don’t feel that anyone truly deserves it, and that shows a defect in our understanding of the terribleness of sin.

d. If the only thing God did was to offer salvation, He would be justified even if no one was saved. And the fact is that if that was all He did, no one would. The Scripture says He is active in working in a person’s soul, pursuing them and drawing them to Himself through conviction of sin, knowledge of His righteousness, and warnings of the coming wrath.

e. What about children of miscarriage or abortion? What about young kids who die? What about those who do not have the mental capacity to affirm faith in Jesus Christ? This is a subject of a completely different sermon and not up for debate today, but based on 2 Sam. 12:23; Matt. 18:14, and God’s character revealed in Scripture, I believe there is ample warrant for God’s grace in those situations.

f. APPLICATION: Universalism is not true. It violates God’s character and standards He has set in His Word. Scripture is clear that there is only one way to heaven and eternal life, and it is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).

2. GOD’S SON CAME NOT TO CONDEMN BUT TO PROVIDE FOR THE CONDEMNED (John 3:17-18)

a. Agnosticism: There’s no way to know who goes to heaven. These people say that the Bible does not explicitly address the question of what happens to those who never hear the Good News. They say that the Holy Spirit may have deliberately not spoken about it and therefore Christians should not insist upon any particular position.

b. APPLICATION: It is hard to understand how a person comes to this position considering the mountain of Biblical information provided in Scripture about going to heaven. Jesus even warned of hell more than spoke of heaven.

c. Pluralism: There are many paths to heaven. Pluralists are mostly in liberal circles, not evangelical. They believe in multiple ways to God found within all the cultures and religions of the world. They say God doesn’t love some parts of the map more than others and all religions have great saints.

d. ILLUSTRATION: I have a friend named Christian who was in a philosophy class at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, where he was one of only two individuals in each class with a full ride scholarship. Christian had become a believer in Jesus Christ a few years before and had really grown in his faith. The professor was outlining for his class the glories of pluralism. He said every religion has things to admire, and no matter our religion, we are all following our own path up the mountain. Christian quietly raised his hand and asked one question, “Professor, it seems to me that you are beginning with a weak assumption. How can you be sure that every path leads up the mountain?”

e. APPLICATION: The assumption of pluralism is contrary to the biblical teaching on human sin and depravity, at all have sinned and no one voluntarily seeks God (Rom 3:10-11). The Bible says the religions of other nations are idolatrous and cannot save (Psalm 96:5; 97:7) Cornelius responded to the light he had been given, and God sent him Peter to give him the full story (Acts 10:4; 11-13-14). The strength of pluralism, the belief that all paths lead to heaven, faces deep problems with the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only one qualified as the Messiah historically, theologically, and even biologically. Jesus was not a pluralist either. He taught that it is a narrow way to heaven (Matt. 7:14) and of there being only one way to the Father (John 14:6).

3. GOD’S SON CAME TO BRING LIGHT TO A DARK WORLD (John 3:19-21)

a. ILLUSTRATION: Martin Luther, the man God used to begin the Reformation, said it was a mystery to him why God did not save everyone. He said that some things that have no explanation in the light of nature (like how God can be three in one, how God could come in the flesh, and how God could justify ungodly people and still be just) become clear in the light of Scripture. Still other things that still defy explanation might become clear in the light of glory (when we know fully in heaven). Luther hoped to understand why everyone was not saved in the light of glory. Until then he trusted the love and goodness of the Lord he knew from Scripture.

b. Inclusivism: Those who follow what light they have go to heaven. This view has become very popular in the last several decades, even among evangelical believers. Inclusivists think this way: Christ alone is Savior, but salvation may be possible apart from hearing and responding to the gospel. God will make a way for people who have worshipped God as best they knew within their religious and cultural world. So the remote tribesman who did not have all of the light but could see from nature that there was a Creator worshipped that Creator the best he or she knew. That will be good enough for God on Judgement Day, because God is a just God.

c. RESPONSE: There is very little in Scripture that encourages belief in inclusivism. In fact, Christ Himself said that the path of salvation is a narrow way found by few (Matt. 7:14).

d. Evangelism: A personal relationship with Jesus is the only way to heaven. One must hear the Good News of Jesus and respond positively for salvation. This means that all those who never hear the gospel are lost, not because they never heard the gospel, but because they never responded to what they did hear. The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message added a line to their statement of faith to clarify the position of Southern Baptists: “There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.”

e. ILLUSTRATION: Hudson Taylor was a pioneer missionary to the interior of China in the 19^th century. Taylor had shared the Gospel with an old Chinese man, the man was convicted in heart and asked him, “And this happened how long ago?” Taylor answered, “Over 1800 years.” The Chinese man looked at him and said, “Why have you waited so long to come and tell us?”

f. APPLICATION: This is why we do missions. Because we believe that apart from Christ’s salvation, there is no hope. Actually, for most of history the world has been lost. In the last 200 years especially, missions has had great victories in overcoming lostness. The proportion of those who have never heard is far smaller today than it has ever been. Out of 24,000 people groups around the world, 14,000 of them have embraced the Gospel with strong national leaders committed to evangelizing their people. In A.D. 100 there was one active believer in every 360 people on earth. By A.D. 1000 that had dropped to one in 270. By 1900, one in 21 people were active believers. Today, it is one in 9. Those who haven’t heard, the unreached peoples, are in about 10,000 groups representing roughly 2 billion of the 7 billion on earth.

g. APPLICATION: What is needed to complete the task of the Great Commission?

i. We need people to go. How many? If each of those 10,000 groups had a team of 8 missionaries, we would need 80,000 to go. Well over half of these will come from nations other than the US. The United States was until 1998 the largest missionary sending nation in the world. Today it ranks fourth behind Philippines, South Korea, and Brazil. There are 650m Great Commission Christians in the world, so assuming an average church size of 100 persons, we need one new missionary from every 81 churches to send an additional 40,000 missionaries.

ii. We need churches and people to send them. At an average of $30,000 per missionary a year, the cost to send 80,000 new missionaries would be $2.4B. Worldwide, believers give $12B annually to missions, about 5.5% of all Christian giving, or $1850 per church. To raise the money for an additional 80,000 missionaries, would require $368 more per church per year or $3.68 more per person per year. The 80m born again believers in the US could pay the full amount by giving an extra $30 a year.

iii. We need prayer. If we raise the funds and send the people who work hard but there is no prayer, very little will be accomplished. If each new missionary received an extra minute of prayer daily, that would be over 1300 hours of prayer a day for each one. A church of 50 praying members supplying 1 minute of prayer support for each member of a team of 8 missionaries will produce 6.67 hours of prayer a day for that team.

iv. In A.D. 100, there were 12 unreached people groups for every congregation. By A.D. 1000, there was 5 unreached people groups for every church. By 1900 there were 20 churches for every people group. Today there are 650 churches for every unreached people.

v. 85% of the progress of the Great Commission since Pentecost in Acts 2 has happened since 1900. 85% of that progress has happened since 1980. 85% of that progress has happened since 2000. The Lord is speeding and expanding His work on this earth.

h. In Matthew 24:14 - Jesus Himself promises that the Gospel will be proclaimed to every people before the end comes. In Revelation 7:9, the Apostle John says, “I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” All peoples will be present to worship God!

i. APPLICATION: “We have a humanity that is too precious in the sight of God to neglect. We know a remedy for the ills of the world that is too wonderful to withhold. We have a Christ who is too glorious to hide. We have an adventure that is too thrilling to miss.”[3]

Invitation:

[1] Actually, if that is true, then we just affirmed the depth of human depravity.

[2] C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 127-8.

[3] Rev. George P. Howard quoted in H.B. Garlock, Before We Kill and Eat You (Ventura: Regal, 2003), 15.

Haggai: Message, Where Christ is found

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Thu, 9 Feb 2017 14:00:00 -0500

Zerubbabel displays a plan of Jerusalem to Cyrus the Great (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Key Message: THE TEMPLE: REBUILD IT! Haggai 1:8, 14; 1 Corinthians 15:58. Get your priorities in line, Haggai says, it is time to “build the house” for God’s pleasure and glory. He encouraged them through God’s promises. (1) God promised success through His presence (Hag. 1:13-14; 2:4-5); (2) He promised to reward their work and dedication to Him with peace (Hag. 2:6-9) and blessing (Hag. 2:18-19); (3) God promised to restore David’s throne on earth through a descendant of Zerubbabel (Hag. 2:20-23). Ezra 6:14 says that Haggai saw the successful achievement of his ministry in the completion of the post-exilic Temple. Haggai and James have much in common: a partnership of faith and works.

Where Christ is found:

THE DESIRED OF ALL NATIONS: Haggai says the Lord will shake Creation and the nations and the One Desired of all nations will come. Then they will come to worship at the New Temple filled with God’s Glory (Hag. 2:6-7). In Luke 2:32, Simeon saw the baby Jesus at His dedication at this same Temple. He called Him a Light for the Gentile nations and for the glory of Israel. Haggai saw a clear vision of Revelation 7:9; 21:22, the Lord Almighty and the Lamb. Our God is a missionary God who fulfills all His promises.

ZERUBBABEL is a sign of the coming Christ. Governor of Judea under the Persians. He was of the Royal House of David and by lineage was the one who would have been king of Israel. The Lord restored the signet ring (royal authority) to Zerubbabel (Hag. 2:20-23) after revoking it from descendants of Jehoiachin (Jer. 22:24) at the beginning of the Exile. Also, Zerubbabel was descended from two of David’s sons, Solomon and Nathan -- his legal father Shealtiel descended from Solomon, his biological father Pedaiah descended from Nathan (1 Chron 3:19). So was Jesus. Jesus was not only a descendant of Zerubbabel, but like Zerubbabel, He was also a descendant of both Solomon (legally on Joseph’s side – Matt. 1:12) and Nathan (biologically on Mary’s side - Luke 3:27).

THE TEMPLES IN SCRIPTURE

Solomon’s Temple: 2 Sam. 7:1-29; 1 Kings 8.

Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. 32:28-44.

Zerubbabel’s Temple: The one here in Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, & Nehemiah. Ezra 3:1-8; 4:1-14; 6:1-22. Desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes 169 BC.

Herod’s Temple: The one where Jesus preached. Restoration of Zerubbabels Temple began in 19 BC, nearly completed when destroyed by Romans in AD 70. Since then, no Temple has been in Jerusalem.

Present Temple: Body of Christ in hearts of believers 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16-18

Temple of Antichrist: Rev. 11; 2 Thess. 2:4; site of abomination of desolation, Dan. 9:2; Matt 24:15. To be destroyed with Antichrist, Rev. 17-18.

Millennial Temple: Seen by Ezek. 40:1 - 42:20 and Zech. 6:12-13. To be built by Messiah.

Haggai - Author, Location, Date

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Thu, 2 Feb 2017 14:00:00 -0500

Haggai (12thC A.D.), Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice, Italy)

Haggai shows us Jesus Christ, Desire of the Nations

Author: Haggai which means, “My Feast” or “On the Feast.” Haggai might have been born to Godly parents on a feast day in Exile in Babylonia and came to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 538 BC (2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-4). Haggai is mentioned in Ezra 5:1-2; 6:14 as one of two prophets who encouraged the remnant from Exile to rebuild the Temple in spite of the difficulties. He exalted the LORD instead of himself. He cheered and encouraged, not just rebuked. He practiced what he preached. Haggai and the younger prophet Zechariah worked at the same time. Zechariah was the visionary. Haggai was practical get-the-job-done. These two kinds of people need to walk together.

Location & Date: post-Exile Jerusalem – 520 BC

Darius I the Great's Behistun inscription. (Wikipedia)

Haggai 1:1 dates his prophecy as the “second year of Darius,” That was 520 BC. We know because King Darius I (521-486 BC) of Persia left a detailed history of himself in stone called the Behistun Inscription. For the history of this period, see Ezra 1:1 - 4:5; 4:24 - 6:22. The moment of his prophecy is found at Ezra 4:5; 4:24-5:2; 6:14. Contained in Haggai are the transcripts of five sermons given August 29 - December 24, 520 BC. Haggai’s detailed dating is confirmed with history, archaeology, and astronomical data to provide strong reliability of the text.

The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem’s Temple in 586 BC, and God’s people were exiled for 70 years. The Post-Exilic Prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, had a new problem that earlier prophets had never had. Before the Exile, Israel relied heavily on their Temple and rituals rather than on a true relationship with God. The post-Exilic prophets ministered to a discouraged and apathetic people who had given up the idea that anything they did would make any difference. After they restored the foundation of the Temple, the Jews stopped work, and for fifteen years no work was done. God called Haggai to encourage God’s people to finish the work.

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem following the Exile and saw the destruction and rubble of the city that was still left after seventy years, they just wanted to give up. They were also influenced by the Persian idea that all religions had equal value. In consequence, the Jews saw no real reason to pay careful attention to being a distinctive people of God. They just wanted to cruise, and they were drifting away from their moorings. Outside opposition, discouragement, and self-interest had disabled God’s people. The post-Exilic prophets saw the great danger of the loss of their Biblical heritage and the promise of the Messiah. This is where we find ourselves as a nation, from God-honoring to an apathetic, pluralistic, and rebellious nation. We need Haggai’s to encourage us forward in revival!

Haggai 2:10-23 - Hope You Can Count On

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 16:46:00 -0500

Haggai (12thC AD), Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice

When we married, my wife and I made some promises to one another. Amanda promised me that she would never make me drive a minivan. Now we drive a church van. I promised her she would never be a pastor’s wife. Now we are going to Liberia as missionaries, not just to pastor, but to pastor pastors. Sometimes we make promises you can count on. Other times we don’t. Thankfully, today we will discuss a promise we can count on, a hope we can count on, and it comes from the book of Haggai.

Contextual Notes:

Haggai is the first of three prophets after the Exile who ministered to the small community of Jews who were permitted by the Persian Administration to return to their homeland. The messages we have in Scripture from Haggai’s ministry all happened between
the September and the middle of December in the year 520 B.C. His main message? “Build the house” (Hag. 1:8). We made a good start on rebuilding the Temple fifteen years ago, he encouraged the people, “when we built the foundation, but we haven’t done anything since. It is time to finish rebuilding the Temple.”

If you want more of the story, read the book of Ezra. Haggai is mentioned in Ezra 5:1; 6:14. Another prophet who spoke up about the same time was a younger man named Zechariah, the book after Haggai. He mentions Haggai in Zechariah 8:9. Haggai was a practical kind of man while Zechariah had sweeping visions of the people of Israel and the coming Messiah. We need both kinds of people – those like Zechariah who will give us the big picture, who will inspire us to greater and higher places, and we need those like Haggai, who practical and help us get the job done, who say, guys and gals, it is time to get to work. Now let’s get this Temple finished.

The passage before us includes two messages given on the same day, December 18, 520 B.C., and the people have been working almost three months on rebuilding the Temple. They also had their winter wheat planted and were hoping for the early rains. The very practical Haggai uses three illustrations to teach some very important lessons about our future hope.

Key Truth: Luke wrote Haggai 2:10-23 to teach believers that hope is reliable because it is built on a standard, has the reassurance of a blessing, and the reality of a King.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about Hope you can count on.

Pray and Read: Haggai 2:10-23

Tip for the Trail: There is a hope you can count on. That hope is a Person.

Sermon Points:

1. Hope you can count on has the reliability of a standard (Hag. 2:10-14)

2. Hope you can count on has the reassurance of a blessing (Hag. 2:15-19)

3. Hope you can count on has the reality of a King (Hag. 2:20-23)

Exposition: Note well,

1. HOPE YOU CAN COUNT ON HAS THE RELIABILITY OF A STANDARD (Haggai 2:10-14)

a. Haggai delivered this sermon December 18, 520 B.C. Two months have passed since his last sermon.

b. ILLUSTRATION: Are you old enough to remember what a telephone party line was? It was used in rural areas where there were a few customers on one telephone line. When the phone rang, all the phones at all the homes on the party line rang. Party line etiquette required that when you picked up, if the call had been picked up and was for someone else, you should hang up to give them privacy. One day when I was about 5 years old, I picked up the phone out of a kid’s curiosity and put it to my ear. Immediately I heard a gruff old man’s voice, “WHO’S ON HERE!? Get off this phone!” It scared me, and I slammed the phone down. It was Mr. Roy up the road who was on our party line. He was the meanest man around, and I had accidentally listened in on his conversation.

c. This passage before us is at first a conundrum in Haggai, because it seems we are listening in at the middle of someone else’s conversation on ritual purity, but don’t forget the context of Haggai’s prophecy. His message is that the people made a good start fifteen years earlier when they laid the foundation of the Temple, but now it is high-time to get it finished. Haggai illustrates here what he has been talking about. We can see Haggai’s stature and prophetic insight here stand out, and he poses two questions about Old Testament ritual law that teach a vital lesson about real hope.

d. ILLUSTRATION: Get this picture. The altar and foundation have been built, but the temple was just getting construction underway. Leviticus 6:27 says that whoever touches the flesh of a sin offering would be consecrated, so the “holy meat” consecrates anything it touches (like the fold of a garment), but nothing that touches the fold of the garment would in turn be consecrated. Here’s the point. If a person is touched by a holy thing, he will not be made holy, but a holy thing can be defiled if touched by something unclean. Cleanness doesn’t transfer, but uncleanness does.

e. APPLICATION: Contact with someone who is in contact with God will not make a person holy. Only contact with Jesus the Holy Incarnate One Himself can do that. People still fall for this one. They think that because they sit in a church service sometimes and hear a sermon, if they drop a ten or a twenty in the offering, that makes them holy. Friend, that is just not true. If you ask people if they have a relationship with Jesus, many times I hear, “I walked the aisle when I was a child,” but they are living like the devil. They will tell me, “I was baptized when I was little,” but they are bound hand and foot, mind and spirit by sin. They are trusting more in an aisle or an act of baptism than in Jesus. There is only one way to be holy. It is by direct contact with a holy Jesus.[1] You can’t coast off of what Mama did for the Lord. You have to live your own holy life in Christ Jesus and you must demonstrate true repentance and obedience from your heart (1 Sam. 15:22; Psalm 66:18; Jer. 7:21-23). Holiness is not “catching,” but as we see next, defilement is.

f. Hag. 2:13: transmission of impurity: Ritual uncleanness, though, was easy to pass on like a contagious disease.[2] In fact, contamination from touching a corpse was so bad that one couldn’t participate in worship (Lev. 22:4-6; Num. 5:2; 9:6; 19:11-12). Haggai’s object lesson is about the laziness and lack of moral purpose has made them unclean. He had already exhorted the people about in Hag. 1:4-11. His illustration of how ritual uncleanness can be transferred becomes a practical object lesson with deep moral principle. He teaches that falling morale and carelessness are contagious and deadly. Haggai tells them that their sin will defile the Lord’s house! They must live committed lives, or it will dismantle their house of faith before it is even built.

g. APPLICATION: Nothing undercuts progress and purpose more than laziness, spiritual indifference, apathy, and demoralization. Behind it is a spirit of death. It is there to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). It can be as debilitating to an individual as open sin. In fact, it is. It is called disobedience. That’s not all. It can suck the air out of a church, too. It only takes a couple of mouthy bad attitudes to corrupt the entire body. Just a few lazy, apathetic comments, and the whole tent can collapse. We can’t tolerate it. One rotten piece of fruit will spoil the entire box. You can surround a sick person with healthy people and expect all the healthiness to make the sick one better. No, the sick person will infect everyone else. This is a natural illustration of a spiritual principle. How do we avoid this situation? We must encourage each other to trust the Lord and join together as the Body of Christ (Heb. 10:24-25).

h. APPLICATION: And there is something else here in Haggai’s illustration. Back of his point is that God has a certain order. He is not haphazard. To Haggai, life is about responsibility. It may not be politically correct, but Haggai is practical enough to say that each of us is answerable to a God whose prerogative is executing justice in the ordinary events and the commerce of life. Haggai would tell you that there still is such a thing as being morally right and morally wrong. Haggai says pretty strongly here that there is a direct link between your moral attitude and your life experience – that living a life with the Bible as its moral authority, following its teachings, choosing what is right, yields a better quality of life – and living in rebellion against the Bible’s authority as a standard for life, doing wrong, shirking what the Bible teaches to go one’s own way in the end yields in the least regret and at its worst eternal misery. There is a standard in the universe, Haggai says, and this Jewish prophet’s practical philosophy is that living responsibly, i.e., rightly, returns good fruit and irresponsible living, i.e., wrongly, returns rotten fruit.

i. APPLICATION: But you can’t miss the rest of what Haggai is saying here. It runs just as parallel to the first insight as the rails of a railroad track. It is that God is also a God of mercy and compassion. He is ready to reward and comfort every unclean nation or person, even if it is unclean in every work of its hands and every offering it brings. If that nation or that person will only respond to God’s call, he will cleanse and make whole and restore and set free. Now what this means is that hope is a reality. It is not a wish, not a desperate grasping, not something we name and claim, not even something we can earn. Because of God’s personal character, hope is a solid, reliable reality because of the just and holy, merciful and compassionate character of God. So why don’t you give him your failures, your rebellions, your rotten fruit, and let his joyful compassion remake your life according to His standards.

2. HOPE YOU CAN COUNT ON HAS THE REASSURANCE OF A BLESSING (Haggai 2:15-19)

a. Hag. 2:15-19: God had destroyed Solomon’s Temple seventy years ago and carried everybody who was somebody off to Babylon. God will bless His people now, but this time it is because they have put Him first, not because there is a temple in Jerusalem again.

b. Hag. 2:17 – blight, mildew, hail as divine punishment: Blight is a scorching east wind that dries up and destroys grain crops. Mildew is a fungus in the grain. Hail damages and destroys grain. All three are seen in ancient Israel as divine judgement (Amos 4:9; Josh. 10:11).

c. Hag. 2:18 – the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid: (Ezra 3:10; 4:24). Haggai is preaching on the anniversary of the laying of the Temple’s foundation. This date is significant for Haggai.

d. APPLICATION: Refusing to repent is the worst of all, because it eliminates all hope of forgiveness and salvation. What a difference repentance makes! It means you turn from sin to the Lord. When we put God first, he provides for all our physical, spiritual, and material needs (Matt. 6:33). God wants to bless us, but our sin and disobedience get in the way. Sometimes we have pain in our lives to remind us that he must be first in our lives.

e. Hag. 2:19 – Is there yet any seed left in the barn? This is where the date that Haggai spoke this message is important. It is mid-December, and in Israel there is no seed left in their barns because they have finished winter planting. All their seed is in the ground, and they are hoping for winter rains. This is Haggai’s illustration: Their seed is in the ground, and they are waiting on the promise of harvest from God. He parallels that with the next question asking if the fruit trees are still without fruit. Yes, they are because it is the beginning of the season. Haggai connects the economic depression with their failure to give God the priority. Now their obedience would be rewarded, that He would bless those who honor Him.

f. ILLUSTRATION: God provided our van at a time we could not afford a van. We had test driven one, but we could not buy it. While my wife and I sat in the dealer’s office and I was saying we could not buy this vehicle, my cell phone rang. A man on the other end said, “Gene, I feel like I am supposed to help you put a down payment on a new vehicle, and I cannot get it off my mind.” The Lord provided the van.

g. APPLICATION: You can’t outgive God. Those who put God first and give Him their best will find God’s blessing in their lives.

3. HOPE YOU CAN COUNT ON HAS THE REALITY OF A KING (Haggai 2:20-23)

a. December 18, 520 B.C. – The fifth prophecy happened the same day as the fourth. It was addressed directly to Zerubbabel the governor of Judah, a prince of the house of David, and it points directly to the future and reminds those returning from exile that a Messiah is coming, that God has not forgotten His promises to David.

b. Hag. 2:21 – I will shake: These are typical words that He will establish a new era in the purposes of God connected directly to the construction of the new temple.[3] The nations may shake and the whole existing world order may fall apart, but God’s chosen servant will be unshaken, secure as the signet ring on the hand of God Himself. He will be the visible embodiment of the truth that judgement originates in God. He is in charge. He is capable. He is unshaken, a sure foundation, and secure place for your faith and trust even if the whole world is collapsing.[4] Haggai points to One Man, the ultimate Chosen of God, Himself God manifested in the flesh, as the only hope that counts.

c. ILLUSTRATION: The word for overturn is the one used to describe the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Deut. 29:23; Isaiah 13:19; Jer. 20:16; Amos 4:11). Overthrow of chariots and drivers, horses and riders points back to the defeat of Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea (Exod. 15:1, 4-5). God’s enemies will turn on each other like the Midianites with Gideon (Judg. 7:22; 2 Chron. 20:23-24). Note the shades of Psalm 2.

d. APPLICATION: The behavior of the nations illustrates the self-destructiveness of sin. Those who oppose God end up destroying themselves. Only those who have trusted in and obeyed Christ will escape this final judgment and inherit the Messiah’s enduring kingdom (Dan 2:44).

e. Hag. 2:23 – “On that day” – Use of this phrase is a sure sign that Haggai is talking about the end and the Messiah, not just Zerubbabel.

f. Hag. 2:23 – signet ring: The signet ring is a person’s signature, a symbol of authority.[5] This symbol of executive power whose wearer carries the authority of the One Whom He represents. Zerubbabel stands for the Messiah to come from the same Davidic family line (Matt. 1:12-13; Luke 3:27). There is a real connection here to God’s covenant with David (2 Sam 7:1-16). David planned to build the Lord a House (2 Sam 7:1-3), but the Lord said that instead He would build David a house, i.e., an eternal royal family line (2 Sam 7:8-11). Here, Zerubbabel is building the Lord’s House (Hag. 1:1-4, 8), and the Lord repeats that He is building David’s house.

g. Zerubbabel is called the son of Shealtiel, his legal father descended through Solomon,[6] however, his actual father was Pedaiah, a descendant of King David’s son Nathan (1 Chron. 3:19). Jesus also had a legal father through Joseph, descended through Solomon but his real lineage was through King David’s son Nathan (Matt. 1; Luke 3). The Lord here reverses the judgement curse on Zerubbabel’s grandfather Jeconiah (Jer. 22:24), or Jehoiachin. He was specifically rejected as God’s signet ring, but the Lord restores that honor to Zerubbabel, a sign that the Messiah’s authority and honor will come from him (Matt. 28:18; John 5:22-23). God confirms it by calling Zerubbabel “my servant,” linking him with “Abraham my servant,” “Moses my servant,” “Joshua my servant,” and “David my servant.” Each time they point to a title of the Messiah, the ultimate Servant (Isaiah 41:8; 42:1; 49:5-6; 50:10; 52:13; 53:11; Ezek. 43:23; 37:24).

h. APPLICATION: The meaning of this illustration is that one day the Messiah will exercise God’s authority on earth, shattering the power of every other kingdom and establishing the chosen people of God. If you are believer in Jesus Christ, you have every reason to be encouraged in this solidly reliable Hope, a Hope you can count on. That Hope is a Person. Jesus Christ will ultimately, literally reign on His father David’s royal throne as King of kings and Lord of lords over all who trust in Him. Our task is to be faithfully obedient, confident in Hope, taking His Name and Fame to the nations until He returns.

Invitation:

If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, I am sorry to tell you that you have no Hope. You have wishes. You have desires. You don’t have anything solid to hang your hat on, nothing reliable that can assure you of the future. It is time to change that. Repent of your sin and ask Jesus to save you right now so that you can be saved.

Sources:

F. Roy Coad, “Haggai,” International Bible Commentary, F.F. Bruce, gen. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 959-963.

Larry Richards, Every Covenant and Promise in the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 160-1.

Lawrence O. Richards, The Bible Reader’s Companion (Wheaton: Victor, 1991), 571.

John Walton, et. al., eds., The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2000), 796-8.

Yoilah Yilpet, “Haggai,” Africa Bible Commentary, Tokunboh Adeyemo, gen. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 1075-6.

[1] The priests were the experts on the details of the law (Hag. 2:11; Lev. 10:10-11; Deut. 33:10; Ezek. 44:23; Mal. 2:7). Holiness comes through direct contact (Exod. 29:37; Ezek. 44:19; Matt. 23:19).

[2] Cf. Leviticus11:8; 22:3-9.

[3] The word for overturn is the one used to describe the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah (Deut. 29:23; Isaiah 13:19; Jer. 20:16; Amos 4:11). Overthrow of chariots and drivers, horses and riders points back to the defeat of Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea (Exod. 15:1, 4-5). God’s enemies will turn on each other like the Midianites with Gideon (Judg. 7:22; 2 Chron 20:23-24)

[4] Habakkuk closes his prophecy on the same note: Hab. 3:17-19.

[5] Signet ring cf. (1 Kings 21:8; Esther 8:8; Dan. 6:17)

[6] Possibly because of a levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5-10).

Robert Leighton, servant of Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Gene Brooks) — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 15:33:00 -0500

Archbishop Robert Leighton

Introducing one of my ancestors, a Scot who served Christ in the United Kingdom all his life, Archbishop Robert Leighton (1611-1684). I am descended from his brother Sir Elisha Leighton. Robert never married and had no children.

"Robert Leighton, some time Bishop of Dunblane, and afterwards Archbishop of Glasgow, was born at Edinburgh, in the year 1611. The name of Leighton is found in some of the oldest annals of Scottish history. The family from which Archbishop Leighton was descended, was of very ancient date, and appears to have been for a long period in possession of an estate in Forfarshire.

His father, Alexander Leighton, received his education at St. Andrew's, where he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He afterwards studied medicine in the University of Leyden, and graduated in it. On settling in London, he published some works which drew down upon him the anger of the Star Chamber. For this offence he was barbarously punished, and kept closely imprisoned for eleven years.

Alexander Leighton

Robert Leighton had one brother and two sisters. His brother, Sir Elisha Leighton, who was younger than he, turned papist, and became secretary to the Duke of York. He possessed great interest with Lord Aubigny, a nobleman high in favour at the court of Charles II., who first mentioned
Leighton to the king, as a fit man for one of the Scotch sees. His sisters were both married. One to Mr. Lightmaker, a gentleman of landed property in Sussex ; the other to a Mr. Rathband.

Robert Leighton entered the University of Edinburgh as a student in 1627, and he took his degree of M.A. in 1631. He then devoted several years to travelling abroad, and afterwards took up his residence at Douay in France, where some of his relations were settled. It was Leighton's opinion that the time spent "in visiting other countries than our own," was well employed. In after times he recommended that course to his nephew, urging, "that there is a very peculiar advantage in travel, not to be understood but by the trial of it ; and that for himself he no wise repented the time he had spent in that way." Leighton remained abroad until he was thirty years of age ; having then returned home, he received Presbyterian Ordination on the 16th of December, 1641, [his ordination sermon being preached by John Knox,] and was admitted minister of Newbottle, in Midlothian. After eleven years of close residence upon his cure, he tendered his resignation to the Presbytery: a year, however, elapsed before it was accepted, and it was not until Feb. 3rd, 1653, that his ministerial connexion with Newbottle was finally dissolved.

Having now separated himself from the Presbyterians, his own desire was to retire into a life of privacy ; this wish, however, was not gratified, for so high was the opinion entertained of his integrity, learning, and piety, that he was urgently pressed to accept the office of Principal in the University of
Edinburgh, which then fell vacant; and as this situation was totally unconnected with the Church, as a body politic, and involved him in no necessity of taking part in public measures, he consented to fill the chair. In this post he was eminently useful, and earned for himself a great and lasting reputation.

The practice of delivering to the students a weekly lecture in Latin upon some theological subject had fallen into desuetude. This custom he immediately revived. These lectures, which have been preserved, give ample proof both of his ability and his diligence. The public hall, where he delivered them, used to be crowded with auditors, whose attention was riveted by the purity of his style, as also by his animated delivery. Whilst he was Principal, he went up to London, and by his personal application, prevailed upon Cromwell to grant an annuity of 2001. for the support of the University. Charles II., soon after the Restoration, determined to re-establish Episcopacy in Scotland, and the first steps towards accomplishing that object having been taken, it only remained necessary to find persons qualified for the office of Bishop.

Sydserf, formerly Bishop of Galloway, was the only survivor of that order in Scotland ; being, however, aged, and almost past his work, he was appointed to Orkney, the least laborious see. The others selected at that time, were Sharp for St. Andrew's, Fairfowl for Glasgow, Hamilton for Galloway, and Leighton for Dunblane, to which see he was appointed at his own special request. Leighton for a long time declined the Episcopate, and his reluctance was only finally overcome by a peremptory command to accept the office, "unless he thought in his conscience that Episcopacy was unlawful."

As he by no means entertained such an opinion, he gave his unwilling consent, being careful to guard himself against the imputation of contumacy towards the king ; and feeling it also to be his duty not to shrink from a service which the interests of the Church made it incumbent upon him to undertake. When the time for the consecration of the Bishops of Scotland came on, the English Bishops (Burnet's Own Time, vol. i. p. 237. Oxford, 1823) objected to Presbyterian orders, as altogether invalid: on that account Sharp and Leighton were privately ordained Deacons and Priests ; and on the 12th of December, 1661, they, together with the other two who had been named for Bishops were consecrated in Westminster Abbey (Fairfowl and Hamilton had received Episcopal ordination before the breaking out of the civil wars.) The feasting which, took place to celebrate the occasion seems to have been very distasteful to Leighton, who refused to accompany the other Bishops in the public entry into Edinburgh.

For nine years Leighton presided over the diocese of Dunblane. He had entered upon his office with the earnest desire of healing the wounds of the Church, of purifying it from its corruptions, and of exciting a livelier feeling of piety. Failing to obtain any sufficient co-operation in these attempts, and after some time finding all his efforts to correct the existing disorders to be in a great degree fruitlegs, and being also much pained by the severities practised against those who opposed the re-establishment of Episcopacy, he requested permission, at the end of four years, to resign his Bishopric.

This, however, was not granted ; and we find him in 1667 making a second journey to Court, for the purpose of persuading the king to adopt milder measures towards the Presbyterian party, and also of warning him, that the cause of Episcopacy was endangered by the rigorous system at present practised. In the year 1669, a bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament, conferring additional power upon the Crown in ecclesiastical affairs; the first exercise of the authority thus vested in the sovereign, was the removal in the following year of Alex. Burnet from the Archbishopric of Glasgow, to which see he had been translated from Aberdeen upon the death of Fairfowl, in 1664. This dignity was immediately pressed upon Leighton by the Earls of Lauderdale and Tweeddale. He consented to accept it only under the persuasion, that his translation to a sphere of such extended influence would better enable him to accomplish those objects which lay
nearest his heart ; and receiving also a promise from the king's ministry that they would give their utmost support to his plan of bringing about some accommodation between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians.

In 1670, Leighton undertook the administration of the see of Glasgow, but still continued to reside at Dunblane, exercising the archiepiscopal functions under the title of Commendator. The following year it was considered expedient that he should remove to Glasgow. It appears that, although he was nominated and presented, he was never formally translated to that see. Leighton never relaxed in his efforts to accomplish the objects which were always uppermost in his mind, namely, to put an
end to the jealousies and differences which were distracting his country, to engender a mutual spirit of forbearance between the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, and to reform the abuses which at that time existed in the Church.

Various were the measures which he adopted to bring about so desirable an end. Immediately upon his taking up his residence at Glasgow, he summoned a synod of his clergy, where he enforced upon them the paramount duty of seconding his efforts. He himself went about the country, and in person endeavoured to allay the heat and animosity of party.

He procured two solemn conferences, to be held with the Presbyterians, one at Holyrood House, the other at Paisley. And by his appointment, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, with five other Episcopal clergymen of known piety and learning, went through the western counties, and endeavoured to win over the Presbyterians to some degree of moderation. Finding every thing fail, Leighton considered that his work was over, and determined to withdraw from a post which it now seemed impossible to retain with advantage to
the Church. His feelings respecting the step which he was about to take are thus described. He thought "that the dressing and undressing of his soul," as he used to call devotional exercises, "was the business to which his few remaining days ought to be consecrated," and he "longed to escape if only into the air among the birds, from the ungrateful service which he had not declined when summoned to it by the exigencies of the Church, but from which he held himself discharged, now that it was become evident that no good could ensue from his remaining in it." Having gone up to London, he sent in his resignation to Lauderdale, who very reluctantly obtained the consent of the king in writing, that he should be allowed to retire at the end of a year, should he not change his intention before that period expired.

Upon receiving this promise, he remarked to his friend, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, "that there was now but one uneasy stage between him and rest, and he would wrestle through it the best he could ;" and after the expiration of the year, during which he continued to discharge his duties with the same assiduity as before, he again hastened to the king and laid down his Archbishopric, which was then restored to Alex. Burnet, whose removal for Leighton's appointment had previously caused great offence to the English bishops. After a short residence in the College at Edinburgh, he retired to Broadhurst, a demesne in the parish of Horsted "Keynes, in Sussex, belonging to his sister, the widow of Edward Lightmaker, Esq. Five years after he had entered upon this retirement, he received a letter in the king's own hand, urging him to return to Scotland, and use his influence in promoting peace between the contending parties. This letter was written at the request of the Duke of Monmouth, who was then at the head of affairs in Scotland. Leighton was willing to go, provided it should be made clear that some good could be effected. With the failure, however, of the Duke of Monmouth's influence, this project seems also to have fallen to the ground.

In 1684, Leighton was requested by Dr. Gilbert Burnet to go up to London and visit Lord Perth. This nobleman feeling great remorse for his errors, and the viciousness of his past life, had expressed an earnest desire for the benefit of the Bishop's counsel. Leighton consented, though suffering from symptoms of illness, and entertaining the conviction that his own death was near. "The worse I am (said he), the more I choose to go, that I may give one pull at your poor brother, and snatch him, if possible, from the infectious air of the Court."

His friend Burnet, who had not seen him for some time, expressed his delight at his apparent health and vigour. Leighton, however, replied, "that for all that he was very near his end, and his work and journey both were now almost done." The very next day he was attacked by pleurisy, and sunk so rapidly, that on the third day, having previously lost his speech and senses, his life was brought to a close. His old and intimate friend, Dr. Burnet, was with him, and in his arms on the 25th of June, 1684, he breathed his last, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

His remains were deposited in an old chancel of the church at Horsted Keynes, where his brother Sir Elisha Leighton, who had died in the preceding January, was also buried. The following inscription marks the spot where his body reposes :—

Robert Leighton's tombstone at St. Giles
Church, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, UK

Depositum
ROBERTI + LEIOHTONI
Archiepiscopi Glasguensis,
apud Scotas,
qui obiit xxv. die Junii,
anno Domini 1684,
setatis suae 74.

The place where he died was the Bell Inn, in Warwick-lane. During his life, he had been often used to say, " that if he had the power to choose a place to die in, it should be an inn. It looked (he said) like a pilgrim's going home, to whom the whole world was but a large and noisy inn, and he a wayfarer, tarrying in it as short a time as possible, and then hasting away to His Father's house."

There is another circumstance connected with his death which may also be mentioned. Whilst resident in his diocese in Scotland, his forbearance with his tenants was so great, that at the time of his resignation considerable sums were due to him. His income after his resignation appears to have arisen principally from these arrears, which came in slowly from time to time; and the last remittance which he had any reason to expect, was made about six weeks before his death. Bishop Gilbert Burnet remarks upon this, that his "provision and journey failed both at once."

The recollection of the early years of Leighton was endeared to his parents by his extreme teachableness and piety, as also by his singular freedom from childish faults ; and the more advanced period of his college life was marked by so singular a propriety of conduct, as to cause one of his superiors, in writing to his father, to congratulate him upon having a son, in whom Providence had made him abundant compensation for his sufferings.

Whilst minister of Newbottle, he gave himself up entirely to the care of his parish ; and the pattern which he exhibited in his ministrations and life has been strictly copied by his friend Burnet in his Discourse on the Pastoral Care. At that period the pulpit was made the vehicle of political disputes; this custom Leighton never adopted, his sole aim being to win men to God. In a synod of the Presbytery, being rebuked for not preaching up the times; "Who," Leighton asked, "does preach up the times?" It was replied, that all the brethren did it. "For God's sake, then," answered Leighton, "when all my brethren preach up the times, suffer one poor brother to preach up Christ Jesus and eternity."

The following anecdote exhibits his devout and calm bearing in time of great peril. During the civil wars, when the royal army was in Scotland, Leighton was anxious to visit his brother, who bore arms for the king, an engagement being daily expected. On his way to the camp, night overtook him, and he became entangled in a thick wood, and in vain sought to extricate himself. Being almost spent with hunger and fatigue, he dismounted, and spreading his cloak upon the ground, began to pray. Resigning himself implicitly to the will of God, he entreated, that if it were not the Divine pleasure that he should then die, some way of deliverance might be opened to him. He then remounted his horse, and the animal being left to itself soon regained the high road.

During the last years of his life, Leighton lived in great seclusion, and as far as it was possible for him, gave up all society. He resumed, however, very actively the duties of a parish priest ; constantly reading prayers and preaching at Horsted Keynes, or in some one of the neighbouring churches, and being a frequent visitor at the cottages of the village ; and long after his decease the poor were accustomed to speak of him with affectionate interest and reverence.

Leighton made devotion mingle with every action of his life. It has been well said of him, "that prayer and praise were his business and his pleasure." In speaking of the Lord's Prayer, he used to say, "Oh ! the spirit of this prayer would make rare Christians ;" and he adopted as a favourite sentiment, "Necesse est, non ut multum legamus sed ut multum oremus."

And once, pointing to his books, he remarked to his nephew, "one devout thought is worth them all." How deeply and diligently he studied the Holy Scriptures his French Bible, now in the library of Dunblane, affords ample proof, by the numerous marked passages, and by the extracts from Jerome, Chrysostom, Gregory Nazianzen, and several other of the Fathers, with which the blank leaves are filled. He was particularly exact in his attendance upon public worship.

Having persisted one Sunday in attending church when hardly equal to do so from illness, he excused his apparent want of proper care, by saying, "were the weather fair I would stay at home, but since it is foul I must go ; lest I be thought to countenance, by my example, the irreligious practice of letting trivial hindrances keep us back from public worship."

The religion of Leighton imparted a peculiar character, even to many of his ordinary actions. As an instance of this, his nephew, when a little child, was so struck by the reverential manner with which Leighton said grace after a meal, as to remark to his brother, "his uncle did not give thanks like other folks." It is said of him, that he seemed to be in a perpetual meditation, and would take occasion from any passing incident to give utterance to some pious reflection. Meeting a blind beggar, he observed, "methinks this poor sufferer cries out in behalf of the whole human race, as its representative ; and let what he so earnestly craves be given him, as readily as God bestows a cure on the spiritually blind who ask it." A person having said to him, "you have been to hear a sermon," "I met a sermon," was his answer, "a sermon de facto, for I met a corpse; and rightly and profitably are the funeral rites observed when the living lay it to heart."

The liberality of Leighton was extreme. When living at Horsted Keynes, with the exception of the small sum which his own wants demanded, all his income was distributed to the poor. His alms he was careful to distribute by the hands of others, as we learn from Burnet, who was his almoner in London. His sister once remonstrated with him upon his munificence, saying, " If you had a wife and children you must not act thus." His reply was, " I know not how it would be, but I know how it should be. Enoch walked with God, and begat sons and daughters."

The accidents and behaviour which usually disturb the temper, had no power to ruflle the equanimity of Leighton. Whilst living at Dunblane, his man servant being desirous of fishing, went off one morning very early, locking the door and taking the key with him, thus making his master a prisoner ; nor did he return until the evening, when the only rebuke which he received from the Bishop was, " John, when you next go a fishing, remember to leave the key in the door."

The kindly and friendly feeling which Leighton always maintained towards those who differed from him in religious opinions, is well illustrated by the following anecdote :—A friend calling upon him one day, found that he was out ; and was told that he had gone to visit a sick Presbyterian minister, having borrowed a horse from the Roman Catholic priest.

Bishop Burnet, in the History of his Own Times describing the character and accomplishments of Leighton, remarks, "that he had a complete command of the purest Latin ; that he was master of both Greek and Hebrew ; that he was deeply read in the whole course of theological learning, and was particularly versed in the knowledge of the Scriptures ; that his memory was stored with the best and wisest sayings of all the ancients, heathen as well as Christian, in the proper application of which he was singularly choice. Speaking of his humility, Burnet says, " that he seemed to have the lowest thoughts of himself possible, and to desire that all other persons should think as meanly of him as he did of himself ; and he bore all sorts of ill usage and reproach, like a man that took pleasure in it."

And again of his temperament, " that he had so subdued the natural heat of his temper, that in a great variety of circumstances, and in the course of intimate conversation with him for twenty years, he never observed the least sign of passion in him, but upon one occasion." All he said had a visible tendency to raise his own mind, and those with whom he conversed to serious reflections. Of his preaching, Burnet remarks, "that it possessed sublimity both of thought and expression. The grace and gravity of his pronunciation was such, that few listened to him without sensible emotion. His style was rather too fine, yet the majesty and beauty of it left a deep impression. He looked upon him self as so ordinary a preacher that he was always ready to employ others ; and when he became Bishop, he preferred to preach to small congregations, and would never give notice beforehand."

The principal works of Archbishop Leighton are, Sermons,—Preselectiones Theologicae,—A Practical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Peter, (his chief work, and one which has gone through many editions,) —Expositions of "The Decalogue," "The Creed," and "The Lord's Prayer."—His Discourses, one on Matt. xxii. 37—39, the other on Heb. viii. 19, —a Short Catechism,—Meditations, Critical and Practical, on Psalms iv. xxxii. and cxxx.,—Expository Lectures on Psalm xxxix., and other portions of Scripture,—and a volume containing Rules for a Holy Life, a Sermon, and a Catechism."

Source: Robert Leighton, D.D., A Practical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Peter (London: SPCK, 1853), Vol. 1, v-xx.