The Spurgeon Underground

Re-Launch

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:22:00 +0000

This blog is re-launching at a new address:

http://spurgeonunderground.wordpress.com/

See you there!

Do We See What the Blind Man Saw?

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:25:00 +0000

At the prompting of a good friend, I have been doing some reading lately, and that reading has prompted some considerable thought about the nature of our Savior. The mystery of the incarnation is one of those great truths that are foundational to our faith, professed by nearly everyone, and commonly ignored in practice. It is becoming increasingly evident that much of contemporary teaching and preaching ignores the great truth of Christ’s nature. This is spiritually fatal. The true nature of Christ must be declared and applied, believed and practiced. To that end, let’s look at another of the chapters in the story of God’s redemptive work.

“As he [Jesus] drew near to Jericho, a blind man, [Bartimaeus¹], was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ And he cried out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.” (Luke 18:35-43 ESV)

It was natural that Bartimaeus would want to know about the cause of the commotion passing him as he sat by the road near Jericho. He was blind, not incurious. So, he asked those around him what was happening. The crowd around him answered that it was “Jesus of Nazareth.” They were using Jesus’ human appellation, which was natural enough for that was how the crowd knew him. The crowd correctly knew Jesus for his compassionate work among the sick and unfortunate and for his religious and moral teachings. His teachings drew great crowds as we see in the story of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and his teaching on the other side of the Sea of Galilee when he fed the 5,000 from five loaves and two fish (John 6). He was very popular and his teachings, like those of John the Baptist before him, were a refreshing relief from the corrupt and hypocritical fundamentalism of the Pharisees. It was a very important part of his ministry, and it is important to note that Jesus commanded his disciples to carry on his compassionate work and his teachings.

In spite of his blindness, Bartimaeus saw something the crowd did not see. When he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing, he called out to Jesus, “Son of David,” using Jesus’ messianic appellation. He knew that this man Jesus was more than a healer of bodies and a teacher of truth. He knew that Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s covenant with his people. Jesus said that he had come to ‘seek and to save the lost.’ ² Before Jesus’ birth, the angel told Joseph that Jesus would ‘save his people from their sins.’ ³ It is a less visible part of Jesus’ work, but it is ultimately the reason he ‘became flesh and dwelt among us.’ ⁴ The crowd did not understand this, but Bartimaeus did and acted accordingly. He addressed Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, and called out to him for mercy.

It is interesting that when he called out to the Son of David, those in the front of the crowd, the more visible ones, rebuked him and told him to be silent, but Bartimaeus would not be silenced. He knew that Jesus was the Messiah and called all the more for Jesus’ attention. That faith was rewarded. The passage does not tell us the crowds reaction when Jesus commanded that Bartimaeus be brought to him, but I am sure they were astonished. Just as they did not see Jesus’ messianic side, neither did they see the deeply spiritual side of Bartimaeus. The crowd could not see the faith Jesus saw. Jesus did more than simply give Bartimaeus the ability to see. He redeemed his soul as well, as we know because from that time Bartimaeus followed Jesus. He left his old life behind for a new life in Christ. Granted, the life of a blind beggar in the first century would be pretty easy to leave behind, but following Jesus as he did was the fruit of repentance both John the Baptist and Jesus taught was the proof of redemption.

Things really have not changed much. Many know Jesus of Nazareth, but few really see and know Jesus Son of David. Many are content with Jesus’ work as a miracle worker and moral teacher, but few are willing to accept his hard teachings about redemption. Many, I suppose from a sense of duty, attempt to apply Jesus’ teachings to their activities, but few truly understand the nature of his redemptive work and our role in it. Many boisterously follow him down a road eagerly awaiting his next wonderful act, but few truly call out to him in life-changing faith. That reading I mentioned earlier in this post confirms this. The authors have some good things to say, but they miss one very important point. The true prophetic voice points men to Christ and him crucified. No matter how loudly or eloquently one may speak of Jesus and the need to follow him and him alone, if he does not focus on the cross of Christ his teachings are just “espuma.” ⁵ They are form without substance.

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¹ The Luke account of this story does not name the blind man, but the Mark 10 account gives his name as Bartimaeus.

² Luke 19:10 ³ Matthew 1:21 ⁴ John 1:14

⁵ Espuma is the Spanish word for ‘foam’ or ‘lather.’ It is often used to describe something that is without substance.

Pet Peeves

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

By Lance Johnson

We all have our pet peeves. You know what I mean. It is that little something that really irritates us. Everyone has at least one. Most of us have several. They range from the serious to the ridiculous, from the important to the trivial. There is no end of pet peeves in this world. A couple of years ago I asked some Christian brothers on an internet forum to list their top three pet peeves. Here are a few examples:

Squeezing the toothpaste from the middle.

Wearing a cowboy hat and tennis shoes or cowboy boots and short pants.

Trite sayings on bumper stickers, such as "No Intolerance Allowed."

People who move to a new community and immediately compare everything to their former place of residence.

Drivers who pay no attention to the road because they are talking on their cell phones.

Toilet paper hung "upside down" in the bathroom.

There were a lot more, but you get the idea.

In spite of the proliferation of pet peeves, I have one that falls into the important category. It drives me crazy when I ask someone for prayer and they respond with advice. Yes, they pray as well, but before they have a chance to pray, they are offering their solution to the problem. I don't need their solution to the problem. I need God's solution to the problem. I know they mean well, but their actions speak volumes about their view of God and prayer.

This is even common among mature believers who understand the power of God and his sovereignty. I even find myself doing it at times. In spite of all our experience that says God answers prayers and that He desires to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, we still instinctively seek human answers to spiritual problems. How short-sighted we are! Only God can change a man's heart. Only God can effectively defeat the enemy in our lives. Only God can truly heal our illness and lift our spirits. True, there is a time for the counsel of godly men, but it does not replace the fervent prayers of those same godly men. God doesn't need any suggestions from us. He already has the answer. We need only ask Him for it.

Shepherding the Flock of God

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

By Greg Van Court

1 Peter 5:1-5

Therefore I, fellow elder and witness to Christ’s sufferings and partner of the glory which is about to be revealed, exhort the elders among you, shepherd the flock of God among you by overseeing not under compulsion but willingly according to God, and not greedily but eagerly, and not as lording over your portion but as becoming examples for the flock. And when the chief shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you young, subject yourselves to the elders. And you all put on humility toward one another, since God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Introduction

The overarching purpose of Peter in 5:1-5 is to exhort, encourage, and console suffering Christians with the truth that faithful leadership, obedient submission, and a life of humility results in eternal blessing from God. He accomplishes this through a thoughtfully structured paraenesis comprising three imperatives. Peter’s aim is both pastoral and didactic. His exhortations serve to encourage the perseverance of the church in the face of persecution by teaching them how biblical leadership ought to function in the community of faith and what the eternal benefits of biblical leadership entail.

Exegesis

By opening this new section with an inferential particle (oun), Peter indicates that he is drawing an inference from what has come before. For this reason, a brief examination of the preceding context is in order. First Peter 4:12-19 presents the truth that Christian suffering, which is suffering for living the obedient and persevering Christian life, is designed by God as a blessing and a proof of Christian union with Christ. Sharing in the sufferings of Christ indicate union with him – reason for rejoicing now – and thus point to an eschatological sharing in his glory – reason for greater rejoicing in the future. The conclusion of verse 19 emphasizes that suffering is according to God’s will and God is faithful to his promises. Because of this, Peter can exhort the suffering Christians to entrust their lives to God by continuing to do the good work he has outlined in the body of the epistle (obeying masters, submitting to husbands, etc.) even though living a distinctly Christian life in a pagan culture will entail suffering. Grudem does not overstate the case when he observes that “in this one verse is summarized the teaching of the entire letter.”[1] The exhortations of First Peter 5:1-5, therefore, should be understood as specific applications of the general exhortation for all believers to “entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (4:19).

Peter first addresses the “elders” (presbuteroi), a common term used for the church leaders whose responsibility was to shepherd the believing community especially through “exhortation and preaching in the church services.”[2] Peter focuses on them “because as leaders they may face the brunt of persecution first.”[3] Peter refers to himself as a “fellow elder and witness to Christ’s sufferings and partner of the glory which is about to be revealed,” which comprises “the most extensive self-description given by the author in this epistle.”[4] Within this description is found Peter recurring “pattern of suffering followed by glory.”[5] It is a Petrine theme that will be further developed in verse 4. As a “fellow elder” (sumpresbuteros), Peter has the credibility and authority to exhort “the elders among you.” The reference to the author as a “witness” (martus) “to Christ’s sufferings,” probably does not mean an eye-witness of the crucifixion but rather a bearer of witness to the cross (i.e. “a preacher of the cross”).[6]

The content of Peter’s exhortation to the elders is given in verses 2 and 3. The rhetorical force of Peter’s paraenetic argument begins with the imperative command: “shepherd” (poimanate) “the flock of God.” This imperative is modified by the participle “overseeing” episkopountes), which should be understood as an adverbial participle of means.[7] An elder shepherds God’s sheep by serving as an overseer. This implies that the office of “elder” and “overseer” are one and the same.[8] The exhortation to shepherd by overseeing is qualified by a series of three antitheses. First, the elder is to shepherd by overseeing “not under compulsion but willingly according to God.” Whole-hearted devotion to the task is required while “begrudging service is not to be offered.”[9] Second, the elder is to shepherd by overseeing “not greedily but eagerly.” The elder is eager to do the work of a shepherd; he is not in it out of love for money. Finally, the elder is to shepherd by overseeing “not as lording it over … but as becoming examples for the flock.” Elders are not to become shepherds so that “they can boss others around but so that they can exemplify the character of Christ to those under their charge.”[10]

In verse 4, Peter reveals the result of implementing his exhortation: “the unfading crown of glory” will be given to the faithful elder “when the chief shepherd is revealed.” The reference to Christ as the “chief shepherd” serves to remind the elders that they are not independent agents but rather under-shepherds “of Christ the Chief Shepherd, to whom they will be responsible.”[11] Peter encourages the elders with the promise that the hard work of shepherding the church during persecution involves suffering that ultimately leads to sharing the glory of Christ.

Peter concludes this section in verse 5 with two more imperatives. The first, addressed to the “young,” is the command to “be subject to” the “elders.” The “young” here probably refers to the flock, “the remainder of the congregation,” which is a specific Christian use of the word employed elsewhere.[12] The church body is to submit themselves under the care of the elders. Finally, “all” are to “put on humility” in relation to one another. The conjunction hoti should be understood as causal so that the command is grounded in the Old Testament proverb: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (3:34).[13] The final antithesis promises God’s grace to the humble and warn the proud of God’s opposition. The elders are to shepherd the flock of God by overseeing them willingly, eagerly, and exemplary. The flock is to submit their souls to the elders watchful care. Everyone is to clothe themselves in humility toward one another and so receive God’s grace.

[1] Wayne A. Grudem, The First Epistle of Peter: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 184. Elliott also observes, “This final verse expresses quintessentially the spirit and substance of the entire letter,” John H. Elliott, 1 Peter, The Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 807.

[2] Frederick W. Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 862.

[3] Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003), 230.

[4] Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), 300.

[5] S. R. Bechtler, Following in His Steps: Suffering, Community, and Christology in 1 Peter, Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 162 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 201.

[6] Mark Dubis, Messianic Woes in 1 Peter: Suffering and Eschatology in 1 Peter 4:12-19 (New York: Peter Lang, 2002), 105. So also Ernest Best, 1 Peter, New Century Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971), 168; J. Ramsey. Michaels, 1 Peter, Word Biblical Commentary (Waco: Word, 1988), 280-81; and Paul J. Achtemeier, 1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 323-24.

[7] Achtemeier, 1 Peter, 325.

[8] Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 234.

[9] Jobes, 1 Peter, 304.

[10] Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 235.

[11] Jobes, 1 Peter, 306.

[12] Michaels, 1 Peter, 288-89; so also Achtemeier, 1 Peter, 331-32.

[13] Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, 238.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Achtemeier, Paul J. 1 Peter: A Commentary on First Peter. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996.

Bechtler, S. R. Following in His Steps: Suffering, Community, and Christology in 1 Peter. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series 162. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998.

Best, Ernest. 1 Peter. New Century Bible. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971.

Danker, Frederick W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Dubis, Mark. Messianic Woes in 1 Peter: Suffering and Eschatology in 1 Peter 4:12-19. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.

Grudem, Wayne A. The First Epistle of Peter: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Jobes, Karen H. 1 Peter. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005.

Michaels, J. Ramsey. 1 Peter. Word Biblical Commentary. Waco: Word, 1988.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2003.

Created to Lead: A Biblical Theology of Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

By Greg Van Court

Introduction

The unfolding storyline of the Bible, through its narrative examples, prophetic oracles, apostolic instructions, and divine admonitions, provides the necessary contours for discerning a biblical theology of leadership. The whole drama of redemption can be viewed in terms of God’s design for human leadership. God created humanity to serve as leaders over his creation. Adam brought about the Fall when he failed to lead properly, and the result of the Fall was an abdication of leadership from man to Satan. God sent his only Son as a man to forever restore proper leadership over God’s creation to a glorified human race over which he is the head. From Eden to Egypt to Canaan to Exile to Judea to the ends of the earth to the recreation of the world, proper leadership is characterized by four important qualities. First, it is a derivative leadership that originates from, reflects, and represents the leadership of God. Second, it is a leadership marked by obedience to God. Third, it is a leadership distinguished by love for those who are led. And finally, it is a leadership characterized by order, harmony, and wholeness.

Leadership in Eden

Biblical leadership is established in Genesis 1:26-28 when man is created in the image of God and is given the task of ruling over God’s creation. The role of image-bearer and the task of exercising dominion are both fundamental to man’s leadership. An essential meaning of bearing the image of God is to “represent the authority of God.”[1] Man serves as vice-regent over the creation. One critical aspect of exercising dominion over the created order is “to lead the creation in worship of the God who had created all things.”[2] It is important to note that this leadership is a leadership by example. Man leads all of creation in worship by being a perfect worshipper of God, and this entails obedience to God’s proscriptive and prohibitive instructions. The order, harmony, and wholeness of God’s design for human leadership can be seen in the fact that God creates man as male and female. While Adam “is the leader in the world which God creates,” Eve “is to help him as he leads.”[3] This one-flesh union of a man and woman is a loving relationship comprised of two unique roles coming together in complementary fashion with singleness of purpose.

This order, harmony, and completeness is tragically disrupted when sin enters the world. When our first parents disobey God’s instruction, “they repudiate their role and task.”[4] Eve takes the initiative to listen to Satan instead of her husband. Adam, who should have been faithfully leading, instead follows the lead of his wife. The consequences are disastrous. Since “it was his duty as leader to maintain the purity of the garden by ensuring that its inhabitants followed the Word of the Creator,” it is Adam whom God seeks out.[5] Because the man abdicated his leadership, it is his leadership that is most affected by the curse. While he is still under obligation to be the leader, it is Satan who has been given authority over this fallen world (Mt. 4:8-9; Jn. 12:21; 2Cor. 4:4; 1 Jn. 5:19). Under the curse, man’s leadership over creation is susceptible to being undermined because now the land fights back, the woman fights back, and the serpent is allowed to wreak havoc in the world.[6] Rather than lovingly leading, he is now tempted to selfishly rule as a despot. The rest of the biblical storyline involves the failures of human leadership under the curse and the hope of a restoration of faithful leadership as God takes the initiative to establish a people who will rightly lead his creation.

Leadership in Exodus

Prior to King David, the archetypal leader in the history of Israel was Moses. The derivative nature of leadership is clearly seen in his calling as a leader. Contrary to the view that Moses possessed “unique characteristics … that qualified him to be selected as a leader,” the Bible portrays Moses as initially ungifted as a leader.[7] He had displayed all the effects of the curse; he had lost his temper, killed an Egyptian, hid the body, and fled to Midian when the Lord commissioned him (2:11-15). Moreover, he had “never been eloquent” but was “slow of speech and slow of tongue” (4:10). God first called him as a leader and then graciously equipped him for the task (4:11-12). The life of Moses demonstrates that “a human leader is none other than God leading his own people through an anointed servant.”[8]

Moses also demonstrates leadership that is marked by obedience to God. He leads the people out of Egypt in obedience to God even when the people’s faith in God falters. While the people grumble and doubt God’s provision in the wilderness, Moses trusts the Lord for food and water. The greatest contrast is drawn when Aaron and the people defy Yahweh by worshipping the golden calf while Moses obediently meets with God on Sinai to receive the Law. As obedient a leader as Moses was, however, the fact that he was not allowed to enter the promised land because he failed to treat God as holy serves as a reminder that a full restoration of proper leadership is still needed. It also introduces a new factor to the leadership quality of love. In the fallen world, loving leadership involves not merely love for those who are led but also sacrifice and suffering. Moses becomes “a type of vicariously suffering servant” who experiences the punishment of the rebellious generation whom he led.[9]

Leadership in the Promised Land

Joshua, as a type of second Moses, takes up the mantle and leads the new generation of Israelites into the promised land. He leads the people in obedience to God, by calling on them to forsake all idolatry (Josh.24:14) and by modeling true obedience to God (24:15). The death of Joshua ushers in the period of the judges, which is marked by a lack of proper leadership. The book of Judges ends with the comment that “in those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (21:25; cf. 17:6; 18:1; 19:1). This is a repeated refrain in the last half of the book, as it closes out with descriptions of appalling incidents of rebellion and apostasy. The implication seems to be that what was missing during the period of the judges was a righteous ruler on earth who could bring order to the chaos by representing God’s reign over his people as a good shepherd.

God had prescribed just such a king when he established his covenant with Israel at Sinai (Deut. 17:14-20). The first act of a king of Israel upon his coronation was to take from the high priest a copy of the law and to make it his own personal copy to read every day. His obedience was to be representative of the people’s obedience, so that as he prospered in his obedience, God’s people also prospered.[10] It is King David, the man after God’s own heart, who is the most promising character in the Old Testament to fulfill this role and restore proper leadership. Indeed, God promises David an everlasting kingdom (2 Sam. 7). Sadly, while his “early reign over Israel is marked by divine blessing,” the end of his reign is marred by one of the most infamous and egregious abuses of authority in the entire Old Testament.[11] Over the course of their four hundred years of rule over the Southern kingdom of Judah, David’s family fell short of what a true king was supposed to be. David’s son Solomon introduced court-sanctioned idolatry. Manasseh, the most wicked of David’s heirs, actually built altars to pagan gods inside the temple in the very presence of the holy of holies, an act which provokes God to decide to “cast off Jerusalem, the city I have chosen” (2 Kings 23:27) and to send her people and her Davidic king into exile. While the Davidic kings were supposed to be representatives of God’s righteous and compassionate rule to his people and representatives to God of his obedient and worshipful people, what they became, in fact, was a demonstration of the need for a more faithful leader who would truly be a good shepherd and would follow in God’s commands blamelessly.

Leadership in the Prophets

During the darkest years of Israel’s history, when the leaders were evil and the exile was looming, the prophets exhibited true leadership despite the fact that they were often “isolated individuals, rejected by the community and in conflict with it.”[12] The derived nature of their leadership is clearly shown from the prophetic introductory formula: “thus says the Lord.” During rampant apostasy and opposition, the prophets remain obedient to God and warn the people, kings, priests, false prophets, and foreign nations of the consequences of disobedience. While decrying the appalling lack of biblical leadership, the prophets also provide hope by prophesying of the restoration of true leadership through the line of David. Israel’s Messianic hopes were all wrapped up in the anticipated restoration of the leadership of the house of David that they knew would someday come.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Zechariah all depend on the promises of 2 Samuel 7 as the source of their hope in a future leader. Amazingly, Isaiah 9:6-7 not only promises a future ideal king who will ultimately be the greatest of David’s line, but it also calls him “mighty God.” Jeremiah 22:30 prophesies against Jehoiakim, declaring that no man of his descendants will sit on the throne of David. With this, “the prophet is calling into question the permanence of the Davidic covenant.”[13] However, the prophet follows this prophesy with the promise that “the days are coming” when “a righteous branch” will be raised up for David who “will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land” (23:5). Ezekiel decries the leaders of Israel who destroy the people “like wolves tearing their pray” (22:27) and highlights the disharmony and chaos created by their lack of biblical leadership by comparing Israel to an unfaithful wife (16:1-59). The prophet goes on to prophesy of the hope of a new age where God will appoint a new Davidic shepherd, so that “a new era of peace, security and blessing will begin with a change in leadership.”[14] Over and over again, the prophets condemn the current leaders for failing to reflect and represent the leadership of God, for disobeying God, for failing to love the people, and for creating disorder. At the same time, the recurring prophetic hope is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant in which the son of David will restore true, biblical leadership that will be characterized by faithfully representing God, obeying God righteously, caring for the people as a shepherd cares for his sheep, and restoring order.

Leadership in the First Gospel

Through long years of exile and unfulfilled hopes, God had kept David’s royal line alive until, in the fullness of time, a virgin conceived, just as was foretold through Isaiah the prophet, and David’s greater son was born. No gospel writer underscores the Davidic lineage of Jesus more than Matthew.[15] The first gospel opens with a reference to the long-awaited Messiah as “Jesus Christ, the son of David” (1:1). Just as the prophets did in the Old Testament, Jesus throughout the gospel narratives rebukes the religious leaders of his day for their failed leadership. He also models and teaches about biblical leadership, identifying himself as the promised one who was sent by the Father to set all things right.

Jesus reserves his harshest, most condemnatory words for the religious leaders. As in the days of the prophets, Israel’s leaders failed to lead the people according to God’s design. They were not representing God to the people. In fact, Jesus calls them the sons “of hell” and the “sons of those who murdered the prophets” (23:15, 31). Secondly, they were not exhibiting the obedience of biblical leaders. Jesus explicitly instructs the crowds and disciples not to follow their behavior since “they speak and do not do” (23:3). Third, they had no love for the people they were leading. Jesus pronounces woe upon them for neglecting “justice, mercy, and faithfulness” (23:23). He condemns them because they “tie up heavy loads and lay them on men’s shoulders while they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (23:4). Finally, they subvert the order and wholeness that God intends. They are divided within themselves which is why Jesus repeatedly calls them “hypocrites” (23:13-15; 23, 25, 27, 29), and they oppose the restoration of order by shutting “off the kingdom of heaven from men” (23:13).

In contradistinction to the religious leaders, Jesus bears all the marks of a biblical leader. He faithfully represents God. Jesus explains that “he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (10:40; cf. 11:27). Secondly, Jesus’ entire life is marked by obedience to the Father’s will. Meeting Satan in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus picks up right where the first man failed. Tempted with “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory,” Jesus refuses Satan’s offers and chooses to obey God (4:1-10). His obedience to the Father continues even to the point of death, as he prays, “Thy will be done” (26:42). Third, Jesus exemplifies the sacrificial and suffering love of a true leader. Jesus taught that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (20:28). Finally, Jesus’ leadership is characterized by order, harmony, and wholeness. He preached, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (4:17). Jesus came to usher in the orderly kingdom that Adam abdicated at the Fall. He lets John the Baptist know that he is the promised one who will restore all things by reporting to him that “the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them” (11:5).

Not only does Jesus model biblical leadership, but he also teaches about what it involves. One important characteristic of “godly leadership” is “humble service in contrast to self-exaltation and a seeking after personal glory.”[16] Christ teaches that in contrast to “the rulers of the Gentiles” who “lord it over” those they rule, the biblical leader serves others sacrificially (20:25-26). He commands the crowds and his disciples, saying “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ” (23:10). The clear implication is that no leader should love honored titles or seek his own glory on earth but should rather seek Christ’s glory. He also teaches that a biblical leader must be humble because “whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (23:12; cf. 18:4).

Matthew ends with Jesus proclaiming, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’” (28:18). This proclamation alludes to Daniel 7:14 where God bestows upon the Son of Man “a kingship which is to be everlasting and indestructible.”[17] The first gospel opens with the royal lineage of Jesus in chapter one and his legitimate kingship underscored in chapter two in contrast to King Herod. Though mockingly given the title “King of the Jews” in 27:37, here he is more than king of the Jews only but has been given “all authority in heaven and on earth.” The kingdom of the world which Adam abdicated to Satan and which Satan offered to Jesus at his temptation belongs to the resurrected Jesus at the end of the gospel. It is with this authority, and with the assurance that he will be with his disciples always even until the age’s consummation, that King Jesus sends out his disciples to the nations to make disciples of them. This final event gives the impression not so much as an end to the Gospel but as the beginning of a new era.

Leadership in the Pauline Epistles

The early church understood Jesus to have inaugurated the restoration of biblical leadership that was abdicated at the Fall. Jesus is the “last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45). The rule of man over God’s creation that was disrupted by the Fall is being reestablished. God “begins the redemptive kingdom work first through individuals, the patriarchs, then through the nation Israel, then in the presence of his Son, and now through the Church.”[18] Jesus is the new head of a redeemed human race. Paul understands Christ to be the “first-fruits” of a glorified humanity (1 Cor. 15:20-23). The application Paul draws from this are to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). This implies that those who are “new creations” are enabled to exercise the biblical leadership that God intended humanity to exercise at creation. So Paul teaches, for instance, that redeemed wives are to “submit in everything to their husbands” just “as the church submits to Christ” and redeemed husbands are to “love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). The Christian home and Christian church can now reflect the order and harmony that God intended.

This order for the church is spelled out by Paul in the pastoral epistles. There are a plurality of elders who lead (1 Tim. 5:17ff; Titus 1:5ff) and a plurality of deacons who serve (1 Tim. 38-13). The “uniqueness of the organization of the NT church eldership against its Hellenistic or Jewish cultural setting” has been demonstrated, such that “its organizational structure is distinct from any other previous organization.”[19] This uniqueness is only fitting since Paul describes the church itself as a “mystery” (Eph. 5:32) and since “the concept of Jewish and Gentile believers united into one body forms a new entity.”[20]

Paul not only describes the biblical leadership which Jesus restores but he also models it. First, he is clear that his own leadership originates from, reflects, and represents Christ. In Galatians, he opens the letter with the words: “Paul, an apostle not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead.” He goes on to write, “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel, for I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:11-12). Both Paul’s apostleship and his message originate from and represent Christ. Paul’s leadership is also characterized by obedience, so that he can exhort the church to “imitate me” (1 Cor.4:16; 11:1). Finally, his love for the church is demonstrated by a sacrificial and suffering life that is described as “being poured out as a drink offering” (Philip. 2:17; 2 Tim.4:6).

Leadership in the New Creation

The New Testament also describes a time when the restoration of biblical leadership will be complete. Jesus alludes to it when he tells his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mat.19:28). The Greek word paraphrased by the phrase “new world” is the compound noun made from the two words palin (“again”) and genesis (“origin”). It refers to the re-creation of the world. Clearly, some perfect form of biblical leadership will be forever established in the new creation. The second chapter of Hebrews alludes to this as well. Verses 6 through 8 comprise a quote from Psalm 8: “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” This important psalm celebrates the dominion that mankind enjoyed at creation, but the author of Hebrews quotes it in the context of a future day when “the world to come” will be “subjected” to a redeemed mankind. Finally, the book of Revelation closes with the image of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1). This new creation is described in images that “are reminiscent of the Garden of Eden.”[21] It is a place of splendor where “on either side of the river” is found “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month” and “no longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him … and they will reign forever and ever” (22:2-5). Thus, the story of God’s image-bearers exercising dominion by leading all of God’s creation in worship of him serves as bookends to God’s revelation.

Conclusion

Not surprisingly, the biblical portrayal of the nature and character of leadership is often counterintuitive and sharply distinct from the world’s understanding of leadership. Rather than laying stress on innate leadership traits, the Bible portrays human leadership as something designed and initiated by God. It is both created by God and is created for God. Mankind was created to represent the authority of God and lead all of creation in glorifying God through obedience. Part of our obedience is submitting to those who are leaders over us as unto the Lord. Another part is in leading those who are placed under our care with love. When every person fulfills their role within the leadership structure that God has designed, the result is an order, harmony and wholeness that brings glory to God. While this order was disrupted when Adam abdicated his role as leader over God’s creation, the last Adam has inaugurated the restoration of biblical leadership so that all who are new creations in Christ may once again obey God. In the consummation of the new creation, glorified humanity with Christ as the head will once again perfectly rule God’s creation in faithful worship of the Father.

[1]Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 68.

[2] Noel Due, Created For Worship (Scotland: Christian Focus, 2005), 40.

[3] David Lee Talley, “Gender and Sanctification: From Creation to Transformation: A Comparative Look at Genesis 1-3, the Creation and Fall of the Man and the Woman, and Ephesians 5, the Sanctification of the Man and the Woman in a Redemptive Marriage Context,” Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 8 (Spring, 2003): 7-8.

[4] Stephen G. Dempster, “The Servant of the Lord,” in Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity, ed. Scott J. Hafemann and Paul R. House (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007): 137.

[5] Talley, “Gender and Sanctification,” 8.

[6] Ibid, 9.

[7] Ari Z. Zivotofsky, “The Leadership Qualities of Moses,” Judaism 43 (1994): 258.

[8] Timothy S. Laniak, Shepherds After My Own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible (Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2006), 92.

[9] Ibid, 90.

[10] Due, Created For Worship, 95.

[11] Laniak, Shepherds After My Own Heart, 104.

[12] Patrick D. Miller, “Toward a Theology of Leadership: Some Clues from the Prophets,” The Asbury Theological Journal 47 (Spring, 1992): 43.

[13] Laniac, Shepherds After My Own Heart, 135.

[14] Ibid, 148.

[15] D. A. Hagner, “Matthew,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, eds. T. D. Alexander and B. S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 266.

[16] A. D. Clarke, “Leadership,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, eds. T. D. Alexander and B. S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 638.

[17] R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 1112.

[18] Gerry Breshears, “The Body of Christ: Prophet, Priest Or King?,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37 (March, 1994): 7.

[19] David W. Miller, “The Uniqueness of New Testament Church Eldership,” Grace Theological Journal 6 (Fall, 1985): 327.

[20] Mal Couch, A Biblical Theology of the Church (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), 75.

[21] T. D. Alexander, The Servant King: The Bible’s Portrait of the Messiah (Vancouver: Regent College, 1998), 163.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Alexander, T. D. The Servant King: The Bible’s Portrait of the Messiah. Vancouver: Regent College, 1998.

Due, Noel. Created For Worship. Scotland: Focus Publications, 2005.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.

Hoekema, Anthony A. Created in God’s Image. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986.

Mal Couch. A Biblical Theology of the Church. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999.

Laniak, Timothy S. Shepherds After My Own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible. Downer’s Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2006.

Articles

Breshears, Gerry. “The Body of Christ: Prophet, Priest Or King?” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37 (March, 1994): 3-26.

Clarke, A. D. “Leadership.” In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, eds. T. D. Alexander and B. S. Rosner, 636-640. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001.

Dempster, Stephen G. “The Servant of the Lord.” In Central Themes in Biblical Theology: Mapping Unity in Diversity, eds. Scott J. Hafemann and Paul R. House, 128-178. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007.

Hagner, D. A. “Matthew.” In New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, eds. T. D. Alexander and B. S. Rosner, 262-267. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001.

Miller, David W. “The Uniqueness of New Testament Church Eldership.” Grace Theological Journal 6 (Fall, 1985): 315-327.

Talley, David Lee. “Gender and Sanctification: From Creation to Transformation: A Comparative Look at Genesis 1-3, the Creation and Fall of the Man and the Woman, and Ephesians 5, the Sanctification of the Man and the Woman in a Redemptive Marriage Context.” Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood 8 (Spring, 2003): 6-15.

Zivotofsky, Ari Z. “The Leadership Qualities of Moses.” Judaism 43 (1994): 258-269.

The Greatest Commandment

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0000

By Steve Owen

The Greatest Commandment.
Read Mark 12:28-34

Of all the people in the New Testament with whom the Lord Jesus talked, I think this Scribe, or Teacher of the Law is one of the most interesting. He is the third of three sets of people who came to Jesus with trick questions to try to trap Him in His words. First the Pharisees and Herodians came with their questions about paying taxes to Rome; then the Saducees, the liberals of their day, had their turn with their question about marriage after the Resurrection. Our Lord confounded both of these groups with His answers so this Scribe says to himself, “This Jesus of Nazareth is a very clever man. Let me see if I can ask something really subtle.” And his question is so subtle that many commentators don’t think that it is a trick question at all, but if you consider the context of the other two questions and also the parallel passage in Matt 22:34-35, there is no doubt that this Teacher of the Law is being very foxy indeed.

The scribes were the custodians of the Hebrew Law. We read of Ezra that he was ‘A skilled scribe in the Law of Moses which the LORD God had given’ (Ezra 7:6 ). We owe these scribes a debt of gratitude under God because they were responsible for the maintenance and copying out of the Law which task they did with great diligence. They knew just how many words there are in the Pentateuch, and exactly where the mid-point is so that they could check that the copying had been done properly and that no words were missing. The scribes were also great analysts of God’s word so that this man would have known that there are in fact 613 commands in the Mosaic law of which 248 are positive and 365 negative.

So he asks the Lord Jesus, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Of course, he is not asking which was the first to be given, but which is first in importance. He is not so much trying to catch Jesus out as to bog Him down. He was doubtless expecting Him to name one of the Ten Commandments. If He were to say, “Oh, the most important is the first one: ‘You shall have no other gods before me,’” the Scribe could say, “Aha! So you don’t think murder is important then!” Or if He replied, “’You shall not kill’ is most important,” then the Scribe could say, “Jesus of Nazareth doesn’t think duty to God is paramount.” In fact, there is a rich vein of totally useless argument to be had here. Imagine how much time you could waste discussing whether breaking the Sabbath is better or worse than not honouring one’s mother or father. And this is just the sort of stuff that the Teachers of the Law used to spend their time on, and it’s such nonsense because nowhere does the Bible give one commandment priority over another. Deut 27:26 says, ‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ All of them. Or as the New Testament says in James 2:10, ‘For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all’!

So how does the Lord Jesus answer this man? He does so by going outside the Decalogue to two other Old Testament verses: Deut 6:4-5 and Lev 9:18. Let’s look at the first of these as Mark gives it to us. ‘Hear O Israel, the LOD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.’ What does this tell us?

Firstly, it tells us that the whole moral law- all those ‘Thou shalt nots’ that unconverted people find so restricting- can be summed up in one word- Love. And this love is to be directed first of all towards God. It is a response, of course, to God’s love for us. 1John 4:19 tells us, ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ What could be more natural than to love God who has created us, sustained us and, when we rebelled against Him, redeemed us at measureless cost? And how are we to love Him? With heart and soul, mind and strength. The heart in Scripture speaks of the centre of man’s existence, the mainspring of all his thoughts, words and deeds. The soul is the seat of emotional activity; the mind is the intellectual capacity and strength equates to power.. Ever faculty of man is to be united in love to God. And not in some half-hearted manner; ‘ALL your heart, ALL your soul, ALL your mind and ALL your strength.’ When God loves, He loves whole-heartedly. ‘For SO God loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son......’ How can we be half-hearted towards a whole-hearted God? There are plenty of people who will tell you, “Oh, you don’t want to be some kind of religious nutcase. An hour in church is quite enough once a week and then forget it all and get on with the real world.” As Bishop Ryle once said, there are many folk who will give you a hand along the road to hell; not so many who will guide you onto the path to heaven.

Of course, this love does not stop at God, but it must extend to all those who bear God’s image. ‘You shall love you neighbour as yourself.’ As the moon reflects the rays of the sun, so we must reflect the love of God towards our fellow men and women. 1John 4:20 says, ‘If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.’ If we love our neighbour, how can we lie to him, steal from him or covet his possessions? Rather we seek his good. When David finally became king of Israel, he asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?” (2Sam 9:3, NIV). The usual practice was to kill off all members of the old royal family as quickly as possible (cf. 1Kings 15:29 etc), but avid sought out Saul’s grandson, the cripple Mephibosheth and looked after him.

What sort of love is it that is being talked about here? It’s not some gooey, sentimental feeling, but the state of mind that says, “For Jesus Christ’s sake I’ll seek your good, even to my own hurt.” We must show this love not only to our friends and relatives, but also to even our enemies. It is here that our righteousness must ‘Exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees’ (Matt 5:20 ). The Lord Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven’ (Matt 5:43-45 ).

Jesus ends by saying, “There is no other commandment greater than these.” Why? Because faith and hope both accept or take something from God; love returns something to Him. Moreover, all other virtues are comprehended in love. Look at 1Cor 13:4-7 and you will see that love implies kindness, patience, humility, self-control, unselfishness, faith and hope. Finally, love, at its best and highest, is patterned after God, for He is love (1John 4:16 ). Love then is the true meaning and purpose of the law (cf. 1Tim 1:5 ).

Now this scribe is just overwhelmed by all this. “Well said, Teacher,” he replied. “You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” His former antagonism towards the Lord Jesus has vanished, replaced by admiration. He sees now, perhaps for the first time, that the law has a spiritual element to it- that it is more than just keeping a set of rules. It is seeking to live a holy life- out of love for Jesus Christ- otherwise it’s just Pharisaism. He also sees that burnt offerings and the like are no substitute for a life of loving obedience to God. How many of his fellow Israelites thought they could come to the Temple, dump an offering on the altar and then push off home and carry on with their lives? And how many so-called Christians think the same? How many think they can come to church, sing a few hymns, stick a pittance in the offering and then say, “Well, that’s it. I‘m all sorted out with God for another week.” What madness! To think that you can fob God off with a dead animal or a couple of coins in and offering plate or a standing order. No, no! It was the repentance and faith of the Jews who brought the sacrifices, trusting not in the offerings themselves, but in the mercy of God and in His Messiah, that wrought forgiveness for them and this was something that this scribe had not yet learned, as we shall see.

‘Now when Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”’ Not far from the kingdom of God; what an interesting and cryptic comment! What does it tell us? Well first of all it tells us that there are varying distances at which non-Christians are from the kingdom. We may easily observe this; many people today are totally materialistic. They believe in their foolishness that the whole of life can be explained by natural processes and if you can’t see a thing or hear it or measure it in some way, they don’t want to know it. They are as far from the kingdom of God as you can imagine. Then there are others who have some sort of spiritual awareness; these are into New Age or Feng Shui or whatever. They at least have an awareness of some sort of divine essence in the universe, but as to a real knowledge of the living God, they are still pretty clueless. They are perhaps nearer to the kingdom than the first group, but still a very long way off. Then there are others who have read the Bible and are really quite interested in religion and like to get into discussions about it, and so on until you get to this Scribe and he really is right at the gates of the kingdom. He knows the Scriptures back to front; he knows that the Law is not based on outward observance; he knows that Jesus of Nazareth is a great Teacher and so our Lord says to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

‘Not far from the kingdom of God.’ What a terribly dangerous place to be! I was brought up on stories about the British Empire and two of them come to mind. Captain Scott of the Antarctic was ‘not far’ from his supply camp when he and his men perished in the snow. A relief column was ‘not far’ from Khartoum when General Gordon and his troops were overwhelmed and killed by the Sudanese; and more recently, the car ferry, Herald of Free Enterprise, was ‘not far’ from harbour when it capsized, killing more than a hundred passengers. And lastly, John Bunyan wrote in Pilgrim’s Progress, ‘Then I saw that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven.’ Let me put this another way. Suppose you are in a queue of twenty or thirty people waiting for the last ‘bus home. The ‘bus arrives and people start climbing aboard. Just as you are about to get on the ‘bus, the conductor says, “Sorry! We’re full,” And the ‘bus leaves without you. It makes no difference whether you are the next person to get on or if there are fifty people ahead of you. The ‘bus has gone. You have to walk home. So it is with the kingdom of God; being near it doesn’t help at all in the final analysis. You’re either in the kingdom or outside it; you’re either saved, or you’re lost.

So what was the matter with this man? Well, when our Lord said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God,” I see him as being rather pleased. Perhaps he went home and said to his wife, “You know, that Jesus of Nazareth says I’m not far from the kingdom of God,” and his wife said, “Oh, that’s nice, dear!” And perhaps he sat in his favourite chair and thought to himself, “Not far from the kingdom of God, eh? Not bad!” You see, he had heard the Lord Jesus say that the greatest commandment was to love God with heat, soul, mind and strength and to loves one’s neighbour as oneself and he had agreed with Him. But he had never asked himself, “Do I actually do this?” ‘For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified’ (Rom 2:13 ). Are you, the reader happy to stand before God on the Last Day and tell Him that you have kept these two commandments perfectly and constantly? Of course not! ‘As it is written, “There is none righteous, no not one”’ (Rom 3:10 ): not this scribe, not me and not you. ‘For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified’ (Gal 2:16 ). It can’t be done. To hear God’s law as this scribe had done, to approve of it, even to preach it, can save nobody. Only perfect obedience can satisfy our thrice-holy God and fallen men and women cannot achieve it. Worse than that, we are constituted sinners in the eyes of God, and are under His active displeasure. The Bible tells us, ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom 3:23 ), and that ‘God is a just Judge; God is angry with the wicked every day’ (Psalm 7:11 ).

If we cannot save ourselves, then what we need is a Saviour: someone to stand between us and the righteous anger of an outraged God. We need an ark to shield us from the torrent of God’s wrath; a city of refuge to which we can run to be safe from His justice; a hiding place from His indignation (Isaiah 26:20 ). In short, we need Jesus Christ. He is for us a perfect Saviour in every respect. He has led the life of perfect obedience to God’s commandments that we cannot live; and He has taken upon Himself the punishment that our sins deserve. There on the cross, all the sins of those who trust in Him are laid upon His sinless shoulders and His perfect righteousness is credited to them.

So what should this Scribe have done? Well, there was another way in which he was not far from the kingdom of God; he had the King standing right in front of him and yet he let Him go away. He should have laid hold of Him and pleaded with Him: “Jesus, you’ve got to help me. If what you’ve said is true, I’m lost! If these are the greatest commandments, I can’t keep them. I know I break them every day. What can I do, Lord? How can a sinner like me get right with God?” You see, there is only one way to enter the kingdom of God- by repenting of your sins and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And His blood, shed for sinners on the cross. He tells us, ‘Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth’ (Isaiah 45:22. cf. John 3:15 ); and again, “The one who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out’ (John 6:37 ). If there is anyone reading this who has not done so before, come to Jesus in true repentance and faith and you will know sins forgiven and peace with God.

Is All Religion Acceptable to God?

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:00:00 +0000

by Gregory Van Court

A Meditation on James 1:26-27

Just one month before his re-election, the President was reaching out to undecided voters when he made an appearance on Good Morning America. At one point in the interview, Charles Gibson asked, "Do we all worship the same God, Christian and Muslim?" And the president replied, "I think we do. We have different routes of getting to the Almighty." Gibson then pressed him for clarification asking, “Do Christians and non-Christians and Muslims go to heaven in your mind?” And again, the president stated unequivocally, “Yes, they do. We have different routes of getting there.” And it’s that idea – that all roads lead to heaven -- which distinctly marks the spirit of this present age. We’re told that when you boil it all down, all religion is basically the same.

But the Bible tells a different story. According to Scripture, all roads do lead to the same ultimate destination – that is, all except for one. Because, when you boil it all down, there are only two religions in this world. James 1:26-27 describes each of these religions: warning us against the one, while calling us to the other.

Verse 26 describes worthless religion. “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.” It is important to understand at the outset that the worthless religion which James has in his cross-hairs here is none other than Christianity. Writing from a Christian perspective to the church, James assumes that all non-Christian religions fall under the category of worthless religion, but his focus here is on the worthlessness of nominal Christianity. We know this from the context of the epistle, as James draws the contrast between the person who merely says that he has faith in Christ and the person who is able to demonstrate his faith by his works. And so just as the warnings against worthless religion were germane to the original Christian audience so they are also relevant to you and me who profess faith in Christ. Is our Christianity worthless? How can we tell?

James gives several defective qualities of worthless religion. Notice, first, that worthless religion is characterized by self-approval. The person whose religion is worthless enjoys a hearty dose of religious self-esteem; he’s religious in his own eyes. He text says he “thinks” or “supposes” himself to be religious. Jesus tells the story of two men who went up to the temple to pray. One of the men’s prayers went like this: “God, I thank you that I’m not like other men, swindlers, unjust, adulterers; I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I get.” It’s an easy trap to fall into, to think well of yourself, to suppose yourself to be religious by applying your own standards rather than God’s. “God, I thank you that I’m not like the sell-outs, the pleasure-seekers, the materialists who spend their lives pursuing the American dream; I sacrificed all that to surrendered myself to a life of ministry.” Or how often do we foster an attitude of religious self-approval based on the doctrine we hold or in simply being in agreement with popular religious leaders. Beware of sanctification by association. The faulty logic goes something like this: John MacArthur is a religious man; I agree with MacArthur; therefore, I’m a religious man. We can also fall into the trap of basing our religious status on our religious feelings. We can be speeding in our car and cutting people off in traffic all the while feeling religious as we listen to our favorite praise music CD. If you’re religious in your own estimation because of your Bible knowledge or your confession or your feelings or because of any other human standard, your religion is worthless. When Isaiah the prophet had his pivotal religious experience, he cried out, “Woe is me, I’m undone, I’m a man of unclean lips” and the tax-collector was unwilling to even lift up his eyes to heaven, beating his chest, saying, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” But the person whose religion is worthless holds himself in high regard.

Secondly, worthless religion is characterized by a lack of self-restraint. The person whose religion is worthless is not known for his self-control. The text says that he doesn’t bridle his tongue. For James, a person’s inability to control his speech is the ultimate example of a general lack of self-restraint. In chapter three, he says that the one who is able to bridle the tongue is a perfect man who is able to bridle the whole body as well, and he explains that an unbridled tongue defiles the entire body. Let me ask you this, reader. Do you sometimes just pop off, say things off the top of your head? They are hurtful and destructive, you don’t mean them to be, you often wish you could take them back. Or are you a person that’s very careful, able to keep from being hurtful or insulting, speaking the truth in love? Do you like to get into an argument or do you give soft answers that turn away wrath. If you’re able to control your tongue, you’re able to control other sins as well. But if you can’t control your tongue, then you lack self-restraint in general, and your religion’s worthless because you’re controlled by your passions. I remember when it became public that Woody Allen had committed adultery with the adopted daughter of his common-law wife of 12 years. When asked to give an account for his shameful actions, he famously replied, “The heart wants what it wants.” A life ruled by passions and impulses is a scandal and a disaster. Consequently, religion that provides no power for self-restraint is worthless.

Lastly, worthless religion is characterized by self-deception. The person whose religion is worthless lies to himself; he deludes himself. The text says that he deceives his own heart. One case in point is Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler. This man asked Jesus, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus replied that he would have to keep the commandments, and he named some commandments, and then the young man said that he’d kept all these. “What do I still lack?” Jesus said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and come, follow me.” Knowing the sinner’s heart, Jesus simply took the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” and made a practical application to this man’s life: “Sell all and follow me.” Jesus showed that the rich young ruler’s self-righteousness was only self-deception. It’s such a deadly state to be in because in order to become self-deceived you have to first pretend that you don’t know the truth about yourself – that you lack self-restraint -- and then as a habit of life become a serial pretender until you become unable to see the truth about the condition of your own heart. Instead, you actually see yourself as religious. Self-deception is a hallmark of worthless religion.

The only alternative to worthless religion is religion that is pure – religion that is undefiled. James describes pure religion in verse 27. “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James gives several important contrasts here to worthless religion. Notice first that pure religion is characterized by the Lord’s approval. It is in the sight of God or in the judgment of God that a person’s religion is pronounced pure and undefiled. The person whose religion is pure is religious in God’s eyes. This stands in contrast to the person who is religious in his own eyes. When Jesus teaches about judgment day, he says that “Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy, cast out demons, and perform many miracles in your name?'” So here are people who were obviously religious in their own eyes, but Jesus says, “I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'” But to the sheep on his right hand, he’ll say, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom. For I was hungry, and you fed me; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in.” And do you remember how the righteous respond? When did we do all these things?! There’s a humility and a self-forgetfulness to the virtuous Christian life.

Notice secondly, that pure religion is characterized by a love for others. The person whose religion is pure cares for the vulnerable and the needy. He does good to others. He demonstrates love for his neighbor. The text says he visits orphans and widows in their distress. There’s a danger in our conservative circles to associate active social work with theological liberalism and to confine our conservatism to the realm of personal piety. So you lay stress on your devotional life, your quiet time, your personal spiritual disciplines – all of which are acceptable Christian activities. But you leave the hard work of caring for the weakest and most vulnerable of your fellow creatures to the mainstream denominations. But if you concern yourself primarily with personal religious things without demonstrating your love for God by loving people, then your religion is worthless. Pure religion involves a love for others that is purposeful, intentional, and active, not just sentimental and emotional. There has to be a demonstration, an act, something done for others when they’re most in need of help. A profession of love without demonstration is empty. In the next chapter, James illustrates this point by saying, “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” That’s worthless religion. But pure religion acts. And it acts deliberately, in specific demonstrations of love for the most vulnerable of people. It’s the kind of love that sacrifices one’s free time to volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center or a homeless shelter. It’s the kind of love that regularly visits the elderly and sick in your community or that takes in a child who has been orphaned or given up for adoption. It’s this active love for others that characterizes pure religion.

Finally, pure religion is characterized by a life of purity. The person whose religion is pure maintains a walk of personal purity. He lives a holy life. He’s a godly man. He doesn’t allow the sinful culture to pollute him. The text says that he keeps himself unstained by the world. I’ll never forget receiving a letter from my local church before I was a Baptist, back when I was an Episcopalian. Like many liberal churches, they did great when it came to social work, but the emphasis on holy living was lacking. The letter revealed a situation that sadly is probably familiar to many of you. The pastor was divorcing his wife and marrying his secretary with whom he had been carrying on an adulterous relationship. The real shocker, however, was that the letter included an invitation to a farewell party that the church was throwing for the pastor, who had decided to return to his law practice, for the purpose of wishing him and his fiancé well and expressing gratitude to them for their faithful service to the church. Well, in his grace, God used that occasion to help me see that my church had become polluted by the world. But we all know too many stories to be able to deny that there’s a danger even in our circles of failing to keep ourselves unstained by the world. There is also a danger in thinking that one way of keeping yourselves unpolluted from the world is by spending all your time with fellow believers. You’re not insulated from the world, or if you are, you ought not to be. We’re to keep ourselves unstained from the world and yet very much involved in the world. Pure religion is active in the world but is not of the world. And isn’t this the religion that Jesus himself models for us? He spits in the dirt and gets his hands in the mud and touched the useless eye of a blind outcast and yet remains unstained. He dines with sinners and tax-collectors and attends wedding feasts and remains spotless. He lets a sinful woman pour perfume over him and wash his feet with her tears & hair and remains unpolluted by the world. And he expects the same of us. “My prayer,” he said in John 17, “is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.” Pure religion in God’s eyes is deeply active in the world while remaining unsullied by the world.

Not all religion is acceptable to God. There’s religion that’s pure, and there’s religion that’s worthless. This biblical distinction may be an outrage in a pluralistic world in whose eyes any person of faith is religious. But in the eyes of our God and Father, the truly religious person is the person of faith in Christ exclusively, the person whose saving faith has united him with Jesus Christ, the person who’s been born again and empowered by the Spirit to live out his salvation. Christians, let us live out our new life in Christ as an unpolluted demonstration of God’s love in the world.

The Marvelous Resevoir

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 05:00:00 +0000

AMONG the greatest marvels which the traveler will see near Naples is the Piscina Mirabilis, a vast underground reservoir, to which water was brought from fifty miles distance by an aqueduct. Upon descending into it by a long flight of forty steps, it appears to be fitted for a temple or a palace, its area is so extensive and its architecture so imposing; it measures 220 feet by 83, and its vaulted roof of massive masonry is supported by forty-eight enormous pilasters, the whole structure being as firm as when it was first put together. It chills the visitor to his very marrow, and makes him glad to escape to the sunny air above. Once it was put to valuable use, and contained refreshing floods, but now it is as dark as it is stupendous. Such is Calvinistic doctrine: if the life be in it, it is a fountain of living waters, a splendid store-house of vital nourishment, a gathering up of sacred streams from the divine wellhead of truth; but if the inward vitality be gone it is dark and dreary, repulsive to many, and chilling to all who enter it. We have known men who have dwelt in its empty vaults till they have become wretched as ghosts wandering among the tombs, and fierce as mountain wolves. To them the purposes of God were only dark retreats from the responsibilities of life, or prisons for the hopes of their fellow men. Pour in the life-bearing floods, and then you shall see the glory of that marvelous system, which comprises more of divine revelation than any other which the mind of man has ever discovered in the inspired page. Calvinism, or, better still, Pauline doctrine, is a collection of the living waters of the gospel and so abundant are the stores which it treasures that they are the daily joy and rejoicing of ten thousand saints. We prize the reservoir, not for its masonry but for its contents; and so we value Calvinism; not so much for its massive logic, its stupendous grandeur, its sublime conceptions, and its vast compass, as for the gospel of our salvation which from its depth it has poured forth for the supply of human needs. Let its professors see to it that it becomes to them no dry doctrine, empty and void and waste; but let them receive it in its spiritual fullness and divine energy, and they need never blush to own in all companies that their faith is bound up with it. Our creed is no pigmy's fancy, no ephemeral creation;—it is worthy of the loftiest genius, though plain enough to be comprehended by the wayfaring man. It is alike sublime and simple, for it is truth.

C. H. S - Sword and Trowel, December 1872

Fruit or Fluff?

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:00:00 +0000

reprinted from pastorway

Often in the life of a family or a church we reach a point in time where we are forced to look at what we do and why we do it. If this examination is to be fruitful then we must test our traditions and our accepted practices against the Scripture. What does the Word of God say? Just as often, when we are faced with such a situation we seem rather quick to test our doctrine and practice against experience instead.

We see that things are not working as we think that they should and we see needs and places where in our beliefs and our living we are lacking in godliness, holiness, or effectiveness. Usually it is when we think we have been ineffective that we are challenged to think about these things. At heart we are all very pragmatic. We want to know what works. What brings success?

Even if our motives are right - a desire to see the lost saved and the church sanctified and grown - too often we allow this pragmatic spirit to drive us toward the things that are perceived to be effective, no matter the doctrinal underpinning for the programs. That is why books by Rick Warren and Joel Olsteen are best sellers. People want results. People want success. And people by and large do not care what the Bible says about it. After all, Warren and Osteen both quote the Bible in many versions often and abundantly. (Don't let little things like context and proper interpretation get in the way though, for these kinds of teachers seem to be able to make the Bible say whatever they want it to say to make their point and sell their books.)

Pastors are no exception to this desire for success. Our ministry is always under scrutiny. The congregation, the church association, the community, and other pastors look to see if our efforts are bearing fruit. If they are seen to be effective, then we are interviewed, grilled even, and we are emulated and imitated. Good or bad, right or wrong, in this environment results mean success.

We are taught how to dress, speak, act, walk, and interact with others so that we are the model of Christian maturity, deference, and success. We learn to be professionals. We learn to do our job. And sadly, we often learn how to hide the truth about whom and what we are and we do our job whether we are qualified or not.

That is why men like Ted Haggard can hold the highest positions within evangelicalism all the while living the life of disqualified depravity. And this is why Jimmy Swaggert can still raise money for the "ministry." Because they know how to look successful whether or not their lives are bearing fruit or just blowing fluff.

But what about the little men? The unknowns? Those who are pastoring without the fanfare and the fame. What about their ministry? How can we know if it is fruit or fluff? We can know by seeing how pastors define a few terms. These things are critical, indeed crucial to being a pastor. What are these terms? We need to know how our pastors define success, fruit, growth, and failure. We also need to know how they define their own jobs - what is it to be a pastor?

Biblically, let us define these terms.

Success

Biblically success is not measured by money, approval, influence, or by numbers. Success is measured in terms of faithfulness. The Bible tells us that wisdom brings success (Eccl 10:10). To be wise is to see things from the right perspective. And what is it that can change our perspective when it is wrong? It is the Word of God. No wonder then that we are told in Joshua 1:8 that it is when we meditate on the Word of God that we are guaranteed success.

The trap and the deceit are found in those who would define success in worldly terms. Why in the world would we think that worldly measures of success mean anything to God? But this is what we tend to believe. We think that money, approval, influence, or numbers mean success. We think in terms of Wall Street and seek to make a profit on our "investments" yet all the while the Bible teaches success through death! It is through the mortification of the flesh, it is through crucifying the flesh, and it is through self denial that we find true success.

To put an end to this ludicrous idea that worldly fame and success can be equated with pleasing God let us look at one verse. 1 Corinthians 3:19 tells us, "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." That sums it up. The things that are taken as successful in worldly terms are foolishness to God. Want an illustration? Here are two:

Noah preached 120 years without one convert. Jeremiah went his whole ministry being mocked, scorned, and persecuted. Think about these things. There was nothing in these ministries that can be taken as success from a worldly standpoint. And yet these men were faithful to God and pleased Him. That is the measure of success.

Another way to look at it is found in asking a pastor a simple question. Ask him, "How is your church?" Nine times out of ten the answer will deal with the number of people attending! We really do equate numbers with success. Yet how many would answer and talk about fruit, or about holiness, or about maturity? Success is not about the number of people we reach - it is about being faithful.

When we do what we are supposed to do in obedience to Christ then He will build His church. And when the saints are equipped and serving, then the church is succeeding - no matter the numbers, the money, the fame, or the accolades of the world. Face it, when the world loves the gospel we preach then we have failed to preach the true gospel!

Fruit

What is it to bear fruit? The answer is so simple and so overlooked! The Bible tells us what fruit we are to bear. However, we are told that to bear fruit is to have numbers, to have a list of converts, baptisms, rededications, accompanied by pledges for giving to fund our latest "kingdom endeavors." We equate fruit with the number of people, the amount of money, and the level of commitment to our programs.

But the Bible tells us that fruit is nothing short of godly living. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Gal 5:22-23). In fact, a proof of false teaching and bad doctrine is ungodly living. What does that say about our churches and our families? When we claim to hold to sound doctrine and yet live like the world we prove that either we are liars and do not believe the truth, or we are holding to false doctrine. Sound doctrine accords with godliness - that is, it produces good fruit.

Jesus told us plainly that we would know a man, and by extension a church, by their fruit (Matt 7:20). What is the lasting fruit being produced? Think about it in the context of dealing with sin. When a man is confronted with sin, rebuked Biblically, and encouraged to repent, what does he do? Does he get defensive? Does he lash out? Does he try to justify his behavior or his words? Or does he do what John the Baptist said was necessary - does he bear fruit worthy of repentance? (Matt 3:8).

In truth, if we are bearing fruit, when we are rebuked we will do several things. We will humble ourselves. We will admit our sin (confession). We will not make excuses or try to defend ourselves; instead we will beg for forgiveness from all we have wronged. These are fruits worthy of repentance.

Think of Zacchaeus. When he met the Lord and was converted he immediately confessed his sin and made restitution, paying back what he had stolen. He was glad to do this. He had to do this. For when we repent, we bear fruit.

We see then that fruit is not counted in terms of things, but in terms of obedience and godliness, and holiness.

Growth

This is a catch phrase to be sure. There is everything from the church growth movement to personal growth. There are huge self help sections even in "Christian" book stores. Everybody wants to grow. So how do we define growth?

Often growth is defined again by numbers. How many people do we reach? How many make decisions? How many are involved in our work? Every year we pat ourselves on the back as we review the numbers, as if they tell the true story of what kind of growth has occurred. Growth, simply put, should be measured in terms of maturity.

Are we maturing in the faith? Are we becoming men and women of character? Are we equipped to sow the seed of the Word of God and are we content to leave the results in His hands?

Often it is the most immature who are zealous - it is the baby Christian who is the most excited about service in the church. And the result is that these newborns are handed responsibility for teaching and leading in the church. How foolish is it, and how harmful to the church and to these new Christians to put then in a place where they will be held to a higher standard of judgment as teachers of the Word of God? That is why pastors above all should be mature and "not a novice" (1 Tim 3:6).

Growth then is not zeal, excitement, or even the acceptance of sound doctrine. People who make doctrinal shifts quickly and often surely frighten me. They are tossed about and move from one position to another without thinking through the Biblical basis for what they believe. And even more often we find that the immature are not growing because they are still taking in milk when they should be eating meat. They are quick to argue for the truth and the doctrines which they believe but those who are immature always argue from a selfish standpoint and never from a position of love for the body of Christ.

Growth then is not change, it is not accepting new or novel doctrinal positions, and it is not adding numbers or gaining followers. Growth is maturing in our understanding of the Word. What then are the marks of true growth in our lives and in our churches?

True growth brings humility, obedience, love, sacrifice, selflessness, patience, and faithfulness. If we do not have these things then we are not growing, no matter how many of us there are.

Failure

What is it to fail? To tell a funny story there was an event early in my life that drove me to be really good at spelling. Many say that I am a walking dictionary now. I am asked often how to spell words. What was it that drove me into this compulsive mania of correct spelling? It was my first spelling bee. I was in the fifth grade and everyone had to participate, and there I was in front of the whole school when the first and last word I was given to spell was "failure."

I really did think about it. Nervously I began to spell, "F-A-I-L....." What comes next? At the time I honestly did not know. My mind went blank. So I sounded it out, and finished spelling, ".....E-R." Wrong. I was out of the spelling bee. And I have never misspelled "failure" since.

In our lives and in our churches if we have a wrong view of success, fruit, and growth, then inevitably we will have a wrong view of failure. We will often think we have failed when in reality God is trying us, testing us, and proving our faith. We see lack of response to our preaching and witnessing as failure. We see declining church attendance as failure. We see a small congregation as being on the brink of failure.

But how does the Bible define failure? Scripturally the term failure is often used to describe something not working as it should. Something is off. Something is wrong. It is not necessarily about amount, but quality. When the crops fail there is not enough good fruit or food to eat. When flocks fail the offspring die or are sick. And when the endeavors of men fail they have failed to please God.

In everything we do we are to glorify God. In everything we are to be faithful to Him, obeying His Word and doing His will. We are to rightly handle the Word of God so that the people we teach and minister to are able to be equipped for the work of service to God and to the body. To fail is to stop pleasing God.

That means that even if we preach 120 years and no one is converted, as long as we have faithfully and diligently preached the word then we have not failed. How can I say that? God's Word never fails. And if it is preached faithfully, then it is God's job to give the increase. If He does not, and we have been faithful, then we have not failed.

This does not excuse laziness or a failure to diligently study, interpret, and preach the Word. But it does mean that the results are to be left up to God. We preach not to please men but to be faithful to God. In fact, throughout the Old Testament we are given a picture of the priest ministering before the people. But to whom is he actually ministering? He is ministering before the people, to God.

Failure then is not pleasing God. It is being unfaithful. And frankly, the single biggest pressure placed on preachers that lead to real failure is the pressure to succeed in worldly terms. We must learn though not to be men-pleasers. If we please men we will not please God and if we do not please God then it does not matter how many men we please!

The Pastor's Primary Task

Having defined these terms then we need to ask what the primary task for a pastor is in the church. How does he define his job? What is it to be a pastor?

To be clear, the ministry in not a vocation or a profession. It is a calling. We are not professionals. We are not CEOs. We are not business people. We are pastors. And to understand the job we need to understand the terms used throughout Scripture to define the position to which we are called.

The New Testament gives us three words used to describe to office of a pastor. Here they are as the Bible uses ad defines them:

Overseer, or Bishop

Translated from the Greek word episkopas it is a word that means "overseer, guardian, decision maker, or manager." Here are a few verses where the word is used:

1 Peter 2:25 speaks of Christ as the "Overseer of your souls." Philippians 1:1 refers to those who were appointed as elders of the church at Philippi. 1 Tim. 3:1-2 introduces us to a paragraph of Scripture that tells us about the qualities necessary for a man who is given as a pastor to the church. And Acts 20:28 makes reference with this word to the Ephesian elders.

Roman and Greek cultural usage of the word episkopas finds an overseer being the authority figure representing Caesar in a conquered territory (like Pontius Pilate for instance). The term signified the person’s authority, their accountability to a higher power, and their task of introducing a new order of life!

Elder

The word presbuteros is translated "elder". It speaks of a man who is older or mature. In Acts 14:23 we see that a new local church is planted by the appointing of elders. Churches all over Asia are identified as having a leadership structure consisting of elders (1 Peter 1:1; 5:1-2).

Paul sent for the elders of the Ephesian church (Acts 20:17), and he also served as an elder in the church as well as being an Apostle (Acts 13:1). And we see a meeting of these church leaders in Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23; 16:4.

These were men who are mature in the faith, some older in years but all "older" regarding spiritual maturity and character. Biblically, the elders (plural) rule the church by unanimous decision led by the Spirit and guided by the Word of God. (1 Cor 1:10; Eph 4:3; Phil 1:27; Phil 2:2).

Pastor, or Shepherd

The third word used is the word poimen which is translated "pastor." The word means "a shepherd, one who cares for, protects, and leads."

In Heb. 13:20-21 Christ is identified by this term as our shepherd. And interestingly 1 Tim. 5:17 shows us the labor involved in pastoring, speaking about the work of shepherding by referring specifically to the effort of the work, not the amount. And 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9 give us the required qualifications for these men who would shepherd the church of God.

The pastor then is a shepherd, serving under and appointed by Christ to lead, feed, and protect the flock, the local church. The pastors model of course is Christ, who Himself is the Good Shepherd.

In examining these terms then we see that they do describe one man in one office, that of a pastor-teacher. The term elder refers to who the man is (his identity as mature in the faith), the term overseer refers to what he does (his job as manager), and the term pastor refers to his heart as he does the job (his character as a shepherd)!

If a man does not meet the Biblical qualifications for the office (1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9), and if he does not actively LIVE the definitions of these descriptive terms for the office, then he should step down and stop pretending to be something he is not.

If he does meet the qualifications then what is his job description? The simplest job description given is found in Acts 6. There we read:

1 Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

There it is. In order to pastor effectively the pastor does not need to be up on the latest academic and doctrinal controversies. He does not have to be versed in the latest best sellers and programs. He does not have to go out of his way to please all the people all the time - that in and of itself is impossible anyway.

In order to be successful, in order to bear fruit, in order to see true growth, and in order to avoid failure, a pastor must be given to prayer and preaching. It really is that simple. He must pray and he must preach. Both must be done fervently and faithfully, at every opportunity, with a view toward faithfulness to God and His Word.

Too many think that they have succeeded and are bearing fruit and are growing and are avoiding failure when in reality they are spending all of their time and energy on everything but prayer and preaching. It is here that we find the difference between the fruit and the fluff. As Ravenhill stated many times, "No man is greater than his prayer life." And this is true - a man who does not pray will not succeed, bear fruit, or grow. But he will fail. And a man who preaches to please and impress men rather than to faithfully declare the Word of the Lord also will not succeed, will not bear fruit, and will not grow. But he will fail.

Why is it then that we have so little fruit and so much fluff in our churches? I think it is because we have moved away from the Biblical model of ministry and we have begun to follow men. We have redefined terms and we are seeking success in worldly terms and are settling for growth that is shallow, sickly, and sinful!

We need men who will pray and who will preach no matter the cost. And the truth is that when they do pray and preach then they will succeed, they will bear fruit, and their churches will grow. Maybe not the way we have been deceived into thinking - but God will be pleased, and at the end of the day that is all that really matters.

Preachers - you are called to do one thing well - you are called to speak. Speak to God in prayer and speak to men in preaching. Nothing else in your ministry matters and if you fail here you have most certainly failed, no matter what any mere man says to you about it.

Pray then. And preach. As if lives depended upon it. Because they do - and the task of speaking to God and to men has been given to you by Divine calling. You will not, you cannot succeed, bear fruit, or see real growth without both. Pray without ceasing. Preach in season and out. Pray and preach, remembering that the glory belongs to God and He will give the increase as He so desires.

If you want to see fruit instead of fluff, put away childish things and act like a man. Seek to please God and nothing men say will deter you in your task.

The church today, as always, needs men who will pray and who will preach. Pour out your life in these endeavors and you have nothing to fear when you give an account before God, as all teachers will.

Pray and Preach. Then we will see the fluff blown away as the fruit comes into season. Fruit that lasts forever to the glory of God.

Paedobaptistic Myths

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 01:30:00 +0000

by Steve Owen

Four Paedobaptist Arguments Reviewed and Critiqued

Those who baptize babies have a number of problems if they want to think of themselves as following the Bible. There is no command to baptize babies in the Bible; there is no instance of the water baptism of babies in the Bible; there are no regulations governing the baptism of babies to be found in the Bible. Moreover, throughout the New Testament, baptism is coupled with repentance, faith and discipleship (Matt 3:6; 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 4:1; Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12f, 37; 11:47; 1Cor 1:16 taken with 16:15 ).

Yet Paedobaptists do not let these things discourage them. They have a number of arguments of their own. I want to look at three that are relatively new, along with a fourth argument which is much older and is perhaps the most important of them all. I hope to show that they do not stand up to Biblical scrutiny, and are in fact, myths.

The first argument concerns Acts 2:37-9:-

‘Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."’

Now the paedobaptist argument from time immemorial has been that the reference to children means that children are part of the New Covenant. However, the natural reading of the text is that the children reference is not a promise that all the children of believers are in the New Covenant, either internally or externally, but it is a promise that the Holy Spirit will be given to all who repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and that this is true for all generations (‘you and your children’) and also for all the Gentile nations (‘to all that are afar off’- compare Eph 2:11-13, 17 ). Repentance and faith in Christ are not inherited (John 1:12-13 ).

The new argument states that Peter could not possibly have referred to the Gentiles because up until his encounter with Cornelius in Acts 10, he thought that salvation was only for the Jews. Therefore he must have been referring to the children, grandchildren and later descendants of the Jews. This is a quite ridiculous statement unless one supposes that Peter did not know the Jewish Scriptures. Starting with Gen 12:3, there are literally dozens of OT Scriptures that speak of the inclusion of the Gentiles in the Covenant (eg. Psalm 22:27; Jer 16:19; Zech 2:11 ). Peter himself refers to one of them in Acts 2:17, quoting Joel 2:28: ‘And it shall come to pass afterwards (ie. in New Covenant times) that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.’ Peter knew perfectly well that the Gentiles would come into the Covenant and that it would happen in the time of the Messiah (Isaiah 60:1-3 ). What he did not understand until Acts 10 was that the Gentiles would not first need to become Jews by being circumcised. This was a misunderstanding shared by many Jewish Christians, even some considerable time later (Acts 15:1 ).

The truth of this interpretation is clearly seen in Acts 2:41: ‘Then those who gladly received his word were baptized.’ This is a limiting statement. Who were baptized? Those who gladly received Peter’s word. They did not go and fetch their infant children who had not even heard Peter, and would not have understood him anyway, so that they could be sprinkled. It was a simple case of Believers’ Baptism. If further proof of this be needed it is found in verse 42: ‘And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.’ Can tiny infants learn and continue in Apostolic doctrine? Would paedobaptistic churches be happy to have them sharing in the breaking of bread?

The second argument concerns a part of Hebrews 10:30. ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ The paedobaptist case is that people in the New Covenant are subject to judgement, and so the Covenant cannot be composed solely of believers as Reformed Baptists claim. This claim has no respect for either the immediate or the larger context of the argument of Hebrews. It is important to note at once that these words are a quotation from the Old Testament (Deut 32:36 ) and therefore originally applied to Israel.

It is generally agreed by commentators that the author of Hebrews was concerned that the Jewish believers to whom he was writing were being tempted to revert from their faith in Christ back into Judaism once more. Therefore much of the letter is taken up with proving the superiority of Christ to the prophets, the angels, to Moses, to Joshua and the Levitical Priesthood, to the Temple and, in the early verses of Heb 10, to the OT sacrifices and the Mosaic Law itself.

Let us now consider Heb 10:14. For by one offering [Christ] has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.’ The word for ‘perfected’ (Gk. teleo) could equally well be translated ‘completed’ or ‘consummated.’ The state of Christians is infinitely better than that of those under the Old Covenant, who were obliged constantly to offer the animal sacrifices that could never finally take away their sins (vs1-3 ). The Christian has been cleansed once and for all from his sins by the blood of Christ (Rom 8:1 ) and is regarded by God judicially as perfect, even though he is still ‘being sanctified’ and receiving God’s Parental chastening, mentioned in 12:5ff.

It is these Christians who make up the New Covenant, as is made perfectly clear in vs15-18. The covenant promised by God through Jeremiah and inaugurated by the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20 etc) is made with the people described in verse 14. The law which had been written on tablets of stone as a ministry of condemnation to the Israelites (2Cor 3:7-11 ) is now written by the Holy Spirit on the hearts of believers and God is pleased to forget all their sins.

In the light of all this, the writer to the Hebrews urges these wavering Jews to place their trust fully in the promises of God in Christ (vs19-23 ). They are justified by faith, so long as they really have faith, and so he urges them to ‘hold fast the confession of our hope,’ and to encourage each other with the promises of God. He continues (vs24-26 ):-

'And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…….’.

What then is this ‘wilful sin’ that places us outside the mercy of God, bearing in mind that in verse 17 we were told that God remembers the sins of New Covenant members ‘no more’? Surely it is the sin of unbelief? These Hebrews are being tempted to reject their Lord, to forsake the assembling of themselves together in His Church and to return to Judaism. But the writer warns them that if they do that there will remain for them, ‘no longer a sacrifice for sin.’ The Old Testament sacrifices looked forward to Christ, but if Christ is rejected, then no meaning remains in the sacrifices. Moreover, if they will return to the Law, to the Law they shall go. If the penalty for sinning against the Law was death (v28 ), how much greater will it be for those who sin against Him to whom the Law pointed, despising the very blood of the covenant by which our Lord was set apart for the saving of sinners (v29. cf. John 17:19 )?

If they will return to the Old Covenant, they will be judged by it. The Israelites were God’s chosen people under the Old Covenant, but by their rejection of their Messiah, they came repeatedly under judgement (Isaiah 1:9; Matt 23:37-8 etc). If these Hebrews will reject Christ, then ‘The Lord will judge His people,’ and they will be found to be ‘Not My people’ (Hosea 1:9 ) because they have scorned His way of salvation. They were never truly His and the Lord Jesus will say to them, “I never knew you” (Matt 7:23. cf. 1John 2:19 ) and they will find just what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. These words, ‘the Lord will judge His people,’ do not refer therefore to true Christians, who are kept by the power of God (1Peter 1:5 ), but to those who follow Christ for a while and fall away (cf. Mark 4:16-17 ).

The third argument states that baptism is the successor to circumcision, and therefore because infants were circumcised under the Old Covenant, they should be baptized under the New. This myth has a much nobler pedigree than the first two, being traceable to Calvin. That, however, does not make it true. The two ordinances are very dissimilar in nature. If a man were blindfolded and then had one of them performed upon him, I think he would be able to tell which one of them it was!

The most obvious difference between circumcision and baptism is the fact that circumcision was performed only upon males. We will return to this presently. The second obvious difference is that while baptism is repeatedly and specifically associated with faith, repentance and discipleship, as we saw at the beginning, circumcision is never associated with anyone’s faith except Abraham’s. In Rom 4:9ff, we are told that faith, not circumcision was accounted to Abraham for righteousness, and then that circumcision was the seal, not of his faith, but of the righteousness of his faith- a righteousness that would be gained for him in due time by Christ. It was a faith, moreover that he had before he was circumcised (Gen 15:6 ). Even the Abrahamic covenant was made while Abraham was still uncircumcised (Gen 15:18 ), and the sign of that covenant appears to have been the animal sacrifices, rather than circumcision (vs 8-9 ).

Circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of the faith of Abraham, and of him alone. No faith was required of any of Abraham’s servants when they were circumcised (Gen 17:13, 27 ), nor of Ishmael, nor, indeed, of Isaac. Nor was circumcision a voluntary business. ‘He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised’ Gen 17:13 ). Anyone who refused was to be ‘cut off from his people’ (v14 ). Nor was faith required under the Mosaic Covenant. All Hebrew infants were to be circumcised, whether or not their parents were true believers. A foreigner living in Israel who wanted to partake of the Passover had to be circumcised along with ‘all his males’ but no mention is made of a true faith in Jehovah (Exod 12:43-49 ). Yet Naaman the Syrian, who did come to true faith (2Kings 5:15 ) was not circumcised. Nor apparently were those Persians who became Jews as reported in Esther 8:17. Circumcision seems to have been reserved for those of Jewish blood, and those foreigners who were living in Israel and who wanted to eat the Passover, along with their families and servants. It was never a sign of or for those with true saving faith. It is worth noting that Ishmael was circumcised despite being specifically excluded by God from the covenant (Gen 17:18-21, 26 ). Indeed, Ishmael stands as a type of those who persecute the true people of God (Gal 4:28-31 ).

‘Circumcision neither signed nor sealed the blessings of the covenant to the individuals to whom it was by Divine appointment administered. It did not imply that they who were circumcised were accounted the heirs of the promises, either temporal or spiritual. It was not applied to mark them individually as heirs of the promises. It did not imply this even to Isaac and Jacob, who are by name designated heirs with Abraham. Their interest in the promises was secured to them by God’s expressly giving them the covenant (Gen 26:4; 26:13f; Exod 2:24 ), but was not represented in their circumcision. Circumcision marked no character, and had an individual application to no man but Abraham himself……………. The covenant promised a numerous seed to Abraham; circumcision, as the token of that covenant, must have been a sign of this; but it did not sign this to any other. Any other circumcised individual, except Isaac and Jacob, to whom the covenant was given by name, might have been childless. -Alexander Carson

What then was the purpose of circumcision, if it sealed nothing to those who received it? God ordained it to be administered to all of Abraham’s male descendants to distinguish from all other nations that people from which the Messiah should come. It served as a continual reminder that from the Abrahamic stock, the promised Seed should spring and, along with the Scriptures and the Mosaic Law, kept them separate as a nation so that Christ should be born into a people that had at least an outward knowledge of the true God. Therefore, once He had come, circumcision lost all significance (Gal 5:6; 6:15 ). Next, circumcision was the title deed to the earthy inheritance of Abraham, this being a figure of the heavenly inheritance that is what Abraham truly sought and found (Heb 11:16 ). As A.W.Pink points out, ‘The servants and slaves in Abraham’s household “bought with money” beautifully adumbrated the truth that those who enter the kingdom of Christ are “bought” by His blood.’

Nor should we imagine that the Abrahamic Covenant is somehow in force today. God has not promised to me, nor to you the reader, that we should be the father of many nations, nor that we shall inherit any real estate in the Middle East. The land promises were fulfilled completely to Israel after the flesh (Josh 21:43-45 ). The other promises were fulfilled in Christ (Gal 3:16 ), and come through the New Covenant in Christ’s blood, not to those who have Abraham’s circumcision, but to those who have his faith (Gal 3:7-9 ). It is they who are the proper recipients of baptism.

If baptism were the successor to circumcision, we might expect to see some reference to it in the Bible, but there is none. In Acts 15, we see a great palaver over the question of whether the Gentile Christians should be circumcised. Why didn’t Paul simply say to the Judaizers, “These people have been baptized; they have the new version of circumcision. Why would they need the old version as well?” It would have ended the discussion at a stroke. Moreover, those who were baptized on the day of Pentecost were all Jews (Acts 2:5 ). The males had all been circumcised. Why did they need a second covenant sign when they already had the first? It appears that the Jewish Christians continued to circumcise their boy babies even after Pentecost. We read in Acts 21:20 that they were all, ‘zealous for the law’ which obviously included circumcision. Yet Paul seems to have been quite relaxed about this situation and was happy to be associated with them in an Old Covenant ceremony. The fact is that circumcision was for the physical descendants of Abraham. It had nothing to do with faith, as we have seen. Baptism is for Abraham’s spiritual descendants, the children of promise (Gal 4:28-29; 3:7 )

There is one place in the Bible where circumcision and baptism are mentioned together. It is Col 2:11-12. A. W. Pink has a simple but accurate explanation of this text:-

It is a mistake to suppose that baptism has come in the place of circumcision. As that which supplanted the Old Testament sacrifices was the one offering of the Saviour; as that which superseded the Aaronic priesthood was the high priesthood of Christ; so that which has succeeded circumcision is the spiritual circumcision which believers have in and by Christ. ‘In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ’ (Col 2:11)- how simple! How satisfying! ‘Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him’ (v12 ) is something additional: it is only wresting the Scriptures to say these two verses mean, ‘Being buried with Him in baptism ye are circumcised.’ No, no; verse 11 declares the Christian circumcision is ‘ made without hands’ and baptism is administered with hands! The circumcision ‘made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh’ has come in the place of the circumcision made with hands. The circumcision of Christ has come in place of the circumcision of the law. Never once in the New Testament is baptism spoken of as the seal of the New Covenant; rather is the Holy Spirit the seal (Eph 1:13; 4:30 ). - A. W. Pink: The Divine Covenants (Pietan Publications )

Note that Paul is speaking to all the Colossian Christians; ‘In whom you were also circumcised…’ All of you. Every true Christian has the circumcision of the heart which was lacking in Israel after the flesh (Jer 9:25-26; Acts 7:51 etc). It is having God’s law placed in the mind and written on the heart as described in Jer 31:33. It is being born again by the Spirit of God through faith in Christ (1Peter1:3ff). This is the reason why both male and female are baptized, whilst only males were circumcised. Ciecumcision had nothing to do with anyone's faith but Abraham's and nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. It signified that that the coming Messiah should be born (according to the flesh) of the line of Abraham. Baptism signifies the New Birth and the coming of the Spirit, which according to Joel and repeated by Peter on the Day of Pentecost, would be given to both male and female (Joel 2:28; Acts 2:16ff). This is not, of course, to say that no one under the Old Covenant received the Holy Spirit, but at Pentecost, the Spirit was given in a new and much wider way.

Immediately I foresee an objection from my paedobaptist brethren. Baptists do not know, they say, that those whom they baptize are born again just because they have professed faith. This is true, but it misses the point. We are not comanded to baptize only regenerate people for the very good reason that we don't know who they are. On the Day of Pentecost, 'those who gladly received' Peter's words were baptized (Acts 2:41 ). Maybe not all of them were regenerate, and some fell away. We are not told. But the Apostles did not for that reason baptize everyone in the crowd, but only those who professed faith. Those who later revealed themselves not to be true disciples were disciplined and eventually expelled from the Church (Acts 8:21; 1Cor 5:13; 1Tim 1:20 ).

A helpful analogy here is that of banks. If you ask a banker to whom he lends money, he will answer, 'only to credit-worthy people.' However, he knows perfectly well that occasionally mistakes are made and money is lent to people who cannot repay it. However, they do not therefore throw up their hands and lend to everybody. On the contrary, they run their credit checks and vet their customers all the more closely because they know that mistakes are inevitable. So it should be with the churches. Because we know that unregenerate people are sometimes baptized, we should seek to make this as rare as possible by ensuring as best we can that professions of faith are credible.

The final argument need not detain us long. It is the claim that we should not look for Scriptural evidence for infant baptism because there is no such evidence for women being admitted to the Lord’s Supper. This is a wretched suggestion. If paedobaptists can really not find such evidence then they should bite the bullet and not admit women to Communion. In fact, the proof is not hard to find if one follows the principle of comparing Scripture with Scripture. It is clear that women were counted as members of the church (Acts 1:14; 8:12; Rom 16:1 etc). Then in 1Cor 11:17ff, we learn that the whole church came together for the Lord’s Supper. Therefore women must have joined in. It is this clear Scriptural evidence that is lacking for infant baptism. It simply isn’t there; no command, no instance, no regulation, and therefore no warrant.

This is the Will of God

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:00:00 +0000

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

We have been given in the Word of God everything we need to know God's will. Let me say that again. We have been given in the Word of God everything we need to know God's will. Here in the context of 1 Thessalonians 5, as we learn to walk in peace with fellow believers in the community of faith, we have been given a series of short specific commands that will help us along in our pursuit of holiness and pleasing God. So what are these commands?

Rejoice Always

As followers of Jesus Christ we have every reason to be full of joy all the time! It truly should not be a difficult thing for us to obey this command. We should always be rejoicing. Think about it - our sins have been forgiven, we have been given new life and a right standing with God, we have been adopted as His child, He promises to provide for every need, and He is in complete control of all of creation. What have we got to fear or worry about? Nothing. Nothing at all! And yet it seems so hard to rejoice always. Why is that?

It is often hard to rejoice always because in the church today we have confused happiness and joy. We all want to be happy. Let us call to mind all the titles of self-help books that are on the market today. All these books filling book shelves and filling minds promising lasting happiness and therefore fulfillment, because we have all been told that happiness is the chief end of man! If only we can be happy. You know, dream the dream and live happily ever after.

But happiness does not last. Why? Because happiness is an emotional response to happenings and given time both emotions and circumstances will change. Joy is not an emotion. It is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). It is a spiritual satisfaction accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit that lifts us up and holds us up even in the midst of hard times, trials, and tests. We learn as we walk in the Spirit that we are even able to grieve and have joy at the same time, because joy is not an emotional response to our surroundings. Joy at times needs to be renewed as we lose it, subdue it, or quench it. But it is certainly more lasting than happiness - and more fulfilling too.

So seeing all that we have been given by God, what is stopping us today from rejoicing? For the Bible tells us that we are to rejoice always. To be full and overflowing with joy at all times. And only as we walk in the Spirit are we able to maintain this attitude of real and lasting joy.

Pray Without Ceasing

But now it really gets hard. It can become routine to be full of joy! Really. We can get used to the joy of the Lord. It is after all, our strength. But now we are told to pray without ceasing.

That means first of all that prayer must be more than an every eye bowed every head closed folded hands King Jameth Speaketh communication heavenward! "O Lord, we Thou humble servants do beseech Thee in Thy mercy......" For we are told to pray without ceasing. That means pray without stopping. Without interruption. Without distraction. How on earth is that even possible?

Well it is possible, just as rejoicing always is possible, through the power of the Holy Spirit in a yielded life. As we submit to the Lordship of Christ and walk in the Spirit, being filled and controlled by Him, He does live through us - giving us the power, ability, and desire to do what would normally be impossible.

We must also realize what prayer is. It is communication with God. It is not just taking God a list of wants and needs, asking Him to bless the people we love, or blessing a meal. No. It is talking, listening, meditating, communing with God. We talk. We listen through the Word. We ask, request, intercede, praise, adore, worship, exalt, and glorify. In fact, prayer is very much an act of worship you know, that is why we are not to pray to anyone but to God - for He alone is God and He alone is to be worshipped.

So we can pray without ceasing when we learn what prayer is and what interrupts prayer. Often interruptions come from distractions, desires of the flesh to stop praying. Sin. Anything that causes us to cease communing with God is an enemy of prayer. And let's be clear - we have all heard the phrase "Prayer changes things", but prayer does not change anything - GOD CHANGES THINGS as He responds to our prayers!

Prayer is such a neglected topic these days and yet we are told to do it without ceasing. The lowest attended meeting of the church is the prayer meeting. The hardest thing to do is spend just an hour praying. The flesh does not want to pray, it wants to play! Can't sleep? Pray - your flesh will be more than willing to get tired and go to sleep then!! Prayer, communing with God, means death to self. You cannot talk to God rightly and be proud and self centered.

And let us be clear too, while there is a place for public prayer, more often than not the Bible teaches us to pray in private - we see in the Scriptures the command to pray in our closet! Away from public view. Just us and God. Humbling isn't it? Of course - because public prayer all too often allows us to show off our supposed spirituality. Study what the Bible says about prayer and as we do we should ask why prayer is not more emphasized in our preaching and teaching. After all, how many other things does the Bible command us to do without stopping?

In Everything Give Thanks

Next we see the command to give thanks in everything. In every circumstance, in every hardship, in every victory, in everything give thanks. We must have an attitude of gratitude. Everything we have is a gift from God by His grace. Every blessing, every provision, everything. Even the hard times and the bad times - they are a gift from His hand. And He promises it will ALL work together for our good and His glory. So what happens in our lives that we should not be thankful to God for?

And yet just as prayer is so hard, it is also difficult to thank God as we ought. Often thanking God is the last thing we do. Even when He answers a direct prayer request we are usually quick to tell our friends and family and those who were praying with us - but then we forget to thank God for the answer He has sent.

Thankfulness must come from a humble and dependent heart. Thankfulness also must come from sincerity. We must be truly grateful to God for who He is and all that He has done on our behalf for His own glory. I mean, if everything that happens is within His control and used for His glory then what could happen that we could not thank Him for?

Ingratitude flows from a self-centered heart. A lack of thankfulness is carried by pride and envy, jealousy and hatred. It is a hard, sinful, rebellious heart that refuses to be thankful to God for His grace and goodness. And beyond the command, we must see that we have every reason to give thanks in everything! The goodness of God toward us in Christ Jesus is in itself reason enough to thank God forever and always.

Do Not Quench the Spirit

We are commanded to not quench the Spirit. As we will see the next several verses tell us how we quench the Spirit, but before we get to those specifics let us look at our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, truly and completely God, is described to us as the Comforter. We also know that He is the One who calls us to life from the dead when we are born again. He is the seal of our salvation. He convicts us of sin, convinces us of truth, empowers us to live the Christian life, and He indwells us.

When we repent of our sin and place our faith in Christ we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He lives is us and through us, bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God, and enables us to cry out, "Abba, Father" when we approach God with humility and love.

Where would we be without the Holy Spirit? Lost. Alone. Hopeless!

But beyond Who the Holy Spirit is and what He does for us, we must approach this passage and ask a question - why is it that we are to not quench the Holy Spirit?

The word "quench" means to choke or confine and so to quench the Spirit is to work to prevent Him from doing what He is doing in our lives. Whether it be running from the conviction of sin or refusing to listen to a warning from our conscience we must be careful not to attempt to refute what He leads us to do and empowers us to be. In fact, in order to learn how not to quench the Spirit we need to see how we are supposed to respond to Him in our daily walk. Let us look then at 3 verses that tell us how we are to relate to the Spirit.

Ephesians 4:30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

We must not quench the Spirit, and neither should we grieve Him. Were you aware that God could be grieved? We know that Jesus wept. And we see illustrations of the emotions of God throughout the Scripture as He is angry, forgives, shows mercy, has compassion, loves, and judges. Not that He is moody, but He is a rational Being and He can be grieved by His people's sin. In this context, to grieve Him is to refuse to abandon our sin and embrace righteousness. When we hold on to our sin and fail to respond immediately to the convicting power of the Spirit we grieve Him.

We further grieve Him when we sin against others within the Body. It is after all the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace that we are to uphold at all times in the fellowship. And to cause division, to sin without remorse, to neglect repentance - all of these grieve God. So as we strive to please Him and be at peace with one another we must learn to discern what does and does not grieve the Spirit - and just as we would not intentionally do something to hurt the ones we love, neither should we intentionally grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Ephesians 5:18

And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.

Just as we are not to be intoxicated (controlled by a substance such as drugs or alcohol), we must not yield control of our bodies or our lives to those things that will harm us, but instead we must be controlled by Spirit.

This being under the influence so to speak is in reality a willful surrender, a yielding of ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that He might lead us and protect us and walk with us through whatever we face day to day. To be filled in fact means just that, to be controlled by Him. Are we controlled by the Holy Spirit of God? We know and confess that Jesus is Lord, but do we live under the control of the Holy Spirit or are we continually wrestling Him for control? He is Lord. He has bought us. Live like it!

Galatians 5:16

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

What a powerful and oft neglected verse this is. Are you struggling with sin and temptation? Are you losing the battle? Does it seem that you just cannot get free from your sin, as though it owns you and controls you and won't let you go? Learn to walk in the Spirit!

The promise is this, if we walk in the Spirit then we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. To walk in the Spirit then must be a priority, right? But how many people know what it means to walk in the Spirit?

It is not complicated. It is not some mystical thing reserved only for the super spiritual in our midst who receive a special endowment or so-called second blessing. No. It is as simple as living life according to the Word of God. To walk in the Spirit is described in terms of a continuous progressive action. And in its most basic form this is a reference to actively and continually responding in obedience the commands of Scripture.

Do you obey the Word of God? To obey the Word is to walk in the Spirit! To do what He has told us to do and to not do what He has told us not to do. It is not complicated. This verse tells us plainly that if we obey the Word of God then we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

As we are commanded, "Do not quench the Spirit" we read in the next verses, "Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." And here is the key. To quench the Spirit is to despise prophecies and embrace unsound doctrine! Sounds simple, and at first you might wonder how this verse says that, but let's look at it for a moment.

Do Not Despise Prophecies

The command, following the injunction against quenching the Spirit, tells us that if we are not to quench the Spirit then we must not despise prophecies. So what are prophecies? Here in this usage the term prophecies refers directly to the preaching of the Word of God. It is the task of the minister of the gospel to preach the Word, in season and out of season. The pastor-teacher is to use the Word, explained and expounded, in order to equip the church for service to God and to one another. He also rebukes sin, challenges the vain philosophies of his day, and encourages sinners to obey the gospel, repent, and believe in Jesus Christ for the salvation of their souls.

Preaching is the tool that God uses to convert sinners (1 Cor 1:21), convict us of sin (Titus 1:9), set the standards of holiness for the church (Romans 16:25), and to teach us what He expects of us! Preaching is vital and necessary to the life of the church and the spread of the gospel around the world. No wonder preaching is under attack. People would rather have short, simplistic, pep rally sermons than a good meal at the Table, feeding on the solid food of the Word of God. No wonder so-called churches are trying to replace preaching with drama, art, and other ritualistic distractions! No wonder - for the devil has always HATED the Word, especially as it is preached with power!

But if we despise the preaching of the Word, if we refuse to listen, to obey, to hear and do what is preached, and if we mock preachers and hate the preaching of the Word of God then we quench the Spirit. We reject and neglect the very tool He uses to convict us of sin and call us to new life. We choke off the work of the Spirit when we fight against the Word - though trust me, He is able to overcome our attempts and even bring back sermons to our minds word for word - even though we may have heard them many years ago! Why? Because it is the preaching of the Word of God, and His Word NEVER returns void but always accomplishes the purpose for which it was sent out.

Abstain from Every Form of Evil

And here we have the second part of what we must do in order to not quench the Spirit. Not only must we refuse to despise the preaching of the Word but we must also cling to sound doctrine and reject unsound doctrine. You see, this verse is often taken and mis-interpreted. Too many legalists, and too many who would have us believe that living the Christian life is all about a set of extra Biblical rules and regulations have often quoted this verse and preached that we must avoid every appearance of evil. I have heard this taken to all sorts of extremes. Usually it is applied by saying that as a Christian we must never do anything that another person might think is sinful. Well I have a simple solution for us then. We need to all live alone in a cave in the woods. Because I guarantee there will be things I do with a completely clear conscience that someone else will think is a sin!

The best example I can think of for this happened at a youth Bible study that I was teaching. After the Bible study we had snacks and cokes (sodas or pop for those of you not from Texas). And a few of the guys had brought some IBC root beer. Have you seen IBC? Or better yet, have you tasted IBC root beer? Wonderful stuff! And to protect the flavor, IBC's trademark is that it comes in a dark brown glass bottle. In fact, real beer comes in dark brown glass bottles too. And one person at the Bible study took offense and was truly upset that these boys would drink IBC root beer - because as she so loudly proclaimed, they were not avoiding every appearance of evil because someone might see them with those bottles and think that they were a couple of home schooled 13 and 14 year old boys sitting in a Bible study and drinking (gasp) BEER!

Beyond all the other discussions we could have now.... :)

The truth is that this is a misapplication of the verse! For we are told not to despise the preaching of the Word, but to test all things. Why do we test all things when it comes to preaching? So that we might "hold fast what is good", that is, hold on to and affirm with our lives sound doctrine as it is preached to us. And it is not enough just to affirm sound doctrine and good Biblical preaching, for the text continues, telling us that in order to not quench the Spirit we must not despise the preaching of the Word, but should hold fast to good doctrine, and "abstain from every form of evil."

In context then this is referring directly to the preaching of unsound doctrine! Remember that "evil" means that which causes harm. And what can harm us more than unsound doctrine? So if we want to quench the Spirit in His work then all we have to do is despise the preaching of the Word, hate sound doctrine, and embrace unsound and false doctrine! To do so is to try and stop the Spirit from doing what He does.

Of course we will fail, for no man can stop the Holy Spirit. But nevertheless, we should not ever put ourselves in the position of working to quench the Spirit, working against Him by advancing unsound doctrine. We should indeed be like the Bereans. We should try every word we hear preached and hold it up to the Word of God to make sure that those who teach us are rightly handing the Word of God. If they are, then we should hear and do what they preach. For to despise the preaching of the Word is to fight the Holy Spirit. And that is one battle we are sure never to win.

This Is the Will of God

Notice then that as we hear and obey the Word of God, re-adjusting out attitude so that we might rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything, we are told that these things are the will of God for us. Now how often does someone say that they are looking for the will of God? They are trying to make a decision and begin to hope that a voice will come booming out of heaven telling them what to do or where to go. That would sure make it easy wouldn't it?

So many people work so hard at finding the will of God, and look - here it is. It is given to us in black and white right on the printed page of our Bibles. God's will for us is that we rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything. Sounds simple and yet it is so hard. But there it is. Want God's will? Do these things and you are IN HIS WILL!

Don't forget though that without the help of the Holy Spirit we cannot find or do God's will! We must not quench Him, we must instead rely upon Him as we are filled with the Spirit, so that as He leads us into all truth we will hear sound doctrine and do the will of God.

Often as we think about finding God's will we focus on the decision making process and we worry about making the right decision. But if we learn to discern then we can make those decisions easily. How? Well, when we are doing the will of God - rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in everything - then it really is not that difficult to make good decisions.

Do you have a hard decision to make today? Then let me tell you what to do - rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in everything, and more than likely the decision you need to make will be so clear that you wonder how you missed it in the first place. We miss it when we look so hard at the decision that we forget about trusting God and relying on Him. And I will promise you something - if we are rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and giving thanks in everything we will see that the Spirit will make decision making easy!! For if we are doing these things then His will is not nearly so difficult to discern.

Got Milk?

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:00:00 +0000

Hebrews 5:12-13

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

Were you aware that babies need milk? It's true. Babies of every sort find nourishment for their growing bodies by drinking milk. God has designed mothers to produce milk for their babies. And no one ever found fault with a baby who needed and wanted milk as if that were some sort of an aberration.

Spiritually speaking we know that milk is used by writers in the Bible to refer to the simplest and most basic elements of the Christian life. Just as newborns need milk, so too, new believers need to be fed the milk of the Word - the simple, basic, foundational truths from God's Word that will nourish their souls.

However, what is strange is the notion that a person who is grown would refuse to eat solid food and would instead only seek to drink milk. As we grow we learn to eat solid food. We outgrow the milk stage and while we as a grown up may enjoy milk (especially with Oreos) we know that milk is not enough to sustain us. We need solid food if we are to be nourished.

So think with me a minute about what the writer of Hebrews has written here. He has stated that there are those who are dull of hearing, they refuse to learn to discern, and as a result of this sinful behavior we are told that they have not grown, they have not been nourished by eating meat, but by some deformity and some irregularity they have come to need milk instead of solid food.

These people should by now know enough to be teaching the Word to each other (making disciples - Matt 28:19-20) and assisting each other in their spiritual growth and development. However, they are not teachers and instead need to be taught. And the real tragedy here is not that they need to be taught - for indeed we all need to be taught continually. The trouble is that they need to be taught the "first principles of the oracles of God", that is, the foundational basic truths found in the Word of God.

These people, through the hardness of their hearts and the dullness of their hearing have forgotten the most basic things about God and His Word. They have come to need milk. It is not that they have failed to grow into eating solid food. No. They have fallen back into needing milk. They have lost ground! They have returned to an infantile state.

Now, we are to be childlike in our faith, but we are never to be childish. And here we see that one of the results of failing to discern is that we lose ground, we backslide. We miss the differences between right and wrong and slide back to the point that we actually need to have the simplest doctrines reiterated to us so that we might walk in the truth.

We cannot miss the point that milk is important. Babies need milk. Without it they will not be nourished, they will not grow, and they cannot live! However, what we have here are people who have outgrown this stage and yet have now fallen back into it. They are stunted and harmed in their lives because they have dulled their hearing. They have, in the words of our text, become unskilled when it comes to the Word of God.

As we grow out of our spiritual infancy and mature into "adulthood" we not only move beyond needing milk to needing solid food, but we also learn how to handle the Word of God. We learn to read, interpret, apply, and obey the Word. The goal for us all is that we be workers who need not be ashamed because we are able to rightly handle the Word of Truth (2 Tim 2:15). But if we slide back into infancy and immaturity then we will fail in our attempts to handle the Word of God. We will be unskilled.

How can we be unskilled in the Word and worship as we ought? How can we be unskilled and be pleasing to God? We can't. If we fail to discern, harden our hearts, and backslide then we will fail in the Christian life and our duty to God and one another.

We are God's children in that He has adopted us and made up part of His family. But we are not to find ourselves in a constant and unending state of infancy. Babies are cute. Grown men wearing diapers and drinking from a babies bottle are not cute but rather quite unnatural. There is nothing cute, admirable, or worthwhile to be found in a group of people who dull their hearing, fail to discern, and therefore cannot help but backslide and act like big babies.

We are to desire the meat of the Word. And just as every child wants to grow up we too must strive to grow in grace and mature in our walk with the Lord. Milk is good and necessary for nourishing babes. But we should be past that already.

Are we growing in our walk with the Lord? If not, what is holding us back? Are we only drinking milk? We know the phrase - Got milk? Well, if all we've got is milk then perhaps it is time we learned to ask, "Where's the beef?"

I Thirst

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:00:00 +0000

The Shortest of the Seven Cries

A Sermon
(No. 1409)
Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, April 14th, 1878, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst."—John 19:28.

IT was most fitting that every word of our Lord upon the cross should be gathered up and preserved. As not a bone of him shall be broken, so not a word shall be lost. The Holy Spirit took special care that each of the sacred utterances should be fittingly recorded. There were, as you know, seven of those last words, and seven is the number of perfection and fulness; the number which blends the three of the infinite God with the four of complete creation. Our Lord in his death-cries, as in all else, was perfection itself. There is a fulness of meaning in each utterance which no man shall be able fully to bring forth, and when combined they make up a vast deep of thought, which no human line can fathom. Here, as everywhere else, we are constrained to say of our Lord, "Never man spake like this man." Amid all the anguish of his spirit his last words prove him to have remained fully self-possessed, true to his forgiving nature, true to his kingly office, true to his filial relationship, true to his God, true to his love of the written word, true to his glorious work, and true to his faith in his Father.

As these seven sayings were so faithfully recorded, we do not wonder that they have frequently been the subject of devout meditation. Fathers and confessors, preachers and divines have delighted to dwell upon every syllable of these matchless cries. These solemn sentences have shone like the seven golden candlesticks or the seven stars of the Apocalypse, and have lighted multitudes of men to him who spake them. Thoughtful men have drawn a wealth of meaning from them, and in so doing have arranged them into different groups, and placed them under several heads. I cannot give you more than a mere taste of this rich subject, but I have been most struck with two ways of regarding our Lord's last words. First, they teach and confirm many of the doctrines of our holy faith. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" is the first. Here is the forgiveness of sin—free forgiveness in answer to the Saviour's plea. "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Here is the safety of the believer in the hour of his departure, and his instant admission into the presence of his Lord. It is a blow at the fable of purgatory which strikes it to the heart. "Women, behold thy son!" This very plainly sets forth the true and proper humanity of Christ, who to the end recognised his human relationship to Mary, of whom he was born. Yet his language teaches us not to worship her, for he calls her "woman," but to honor him in whom his direst agony thought of her needs and griefs, as he also thinks of all his people, for these are his mother and sister and brother. "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" is the fourth cry, and it illustrates the penalty endured by our Substitute when he bore our sins, and so was forsaken of his God. The sharpness of that sentence no exposition can fully disclose to us: it is keen as the very edge and point of the sword which pierced his heart. "I thirst" is the fifth cry, and its utterance teaches us the truth of Scripture, for all things were accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, and therefore our Lord said, "I thirst." Holy Scripture remains the basis of our faith, established by every word and act of our Redeemer. The last word but one, "It is finished." There is the complete justification of the believer, since the work by which he is accepted is fully accomplished. The last of his last words is also taken from the Scriptures, and shows where his mind was feeding. He cried, ere he bowed the head which he had held erect amid all his conflict, as one who never yielded, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." In that cry there is reconciliation to God. He who stood in our stead has finished all his work, and now his spirit comes back to the Father, and he brings us with him. Every word, therefore, you see teaches us some grand fundamental doctrine of our blessed faith. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

A second mode of treating these seven cries is to view them as setting forth the person and offices of our Lord who uttered them. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"—here we see the Mediator interceding: Jesus standing before the Father pleading for the guilty. "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise"—this is the Lord Jesus in kingly power, opening with the key of David a door which none can shut, admitting into the gates of heaven the poor soul who had confessed him on the tree. Hail, everlasting King in heaven, thou dost admit to thy paradise whomsoever thou wilt! Nor dost thou set a time for waiting, but instantly thou dost set wide the gate of pearl; thou hast all power in heaven as well as upon earth. Then came, "Women, behold thy son!" wherein we see the Son of man in the gentleness of a son caring for his bereaved mother. In the former cry, as he opened Paradise, you saw the Son of God; now you see him who was verily and truly born of a women, made under the law; and under the law you see him still, for he honours his mother and cares for her in the last article of death. Then comes the "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Here we behold his human soul in anguish, his inmost heart overwhelmed by the withdrawing of Jehovah's face, and made to cry out as if in perplexity and amazement. "I thirst," is his human body tormented by grievous pain. Here you see how the mortal flesh had to share in the agony of the inward spirit. "It is finished" is the last word but one, and there you see the perfected Saviour, the Captain of our salvation, who has completed the undertaking upon which he had entered, finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in ever lasting righteousness. The last expiring word in which he commended his spirit to his Father, is the note of acceptance for himself and for us all. As he commends his spirit into the Father's hand, so does he bring all believers nigh to God, and henceforth we are in the hand of the Father, who is greater than all, and none shall pluck us thence. Is not this a fertile field of thought? May the Holy Spirit often lead us to glean therein.

There are many other ways in which these words might be read, and they would be found to be all full of instruction. Like the steps of a ladder or the links of a golden chain, there is a mutual dependence and interlinking of each of the cries, so that one leads to another and that to a third. Separately or in connection our Master's words overflow with instruction to thoughtful minds: but of all save one I must say, "Of which we cannot now speak particularly."

Our text is the shortest of all the words of Calvary; it stands as two words in our language—"I thirst," but in the Greek it is only one. I cannot say that it is short and sweet, for, alas, it was bitterness itself to our Lord Jesus; and yet out of its bitterness I trust there will come great sweetness to us. Though bitter to him in the speaking it will be sweet to us in the hearing,—so sweet that all the bitterness of our trials shall be forgotten as we remember the vinegar and gall of which he drank.

We shall by the assistance of the Holy Spirit try to regard these words of our Saviour in a five-fold light. First, we shall look upon them as THE ENSIGN OF HIS TRUE HUMANITY. Jesus said, "I thirst," and this is the complaint of a man. Our Lord is the Maker of the ocean and the waters that are above the firmament: it is his hand that stays or opens the bottles of heaven, and sendeth rain upon the evil and upon the good. "The sea is his, and he made it," and all fountains and springs are of his digging. He poureth out the streams that run among the hills, the torrents which rush adown the mountains, and the flowing rivers which enrich the plains. One would have said, If he were thirsty he would not tell us, for all the clouds and rains would be glad to refresh his brow, and the brooks and streams would joyously flow at his feet. And yet, though he was Lord of all he had so fully taken upon himself the form of a servant and was so perfectly made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he cried with fainting voice, "I thirst." How truly man he is; he is, indeed, "bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh," for he bears our infirmities. I invite you to meditate upon the true humanity of our Lord very reverently, and very lovingly. Jesus was proved to be really man, because he suffered the pains which belong to manhood. Angels cannot suffer thirst. A phantom, as some have called him, could not suffer in his fashion: but Jesus really suffered, not only the more refined pains of delicate and sensitive minds, but the rougher and commoner pangs of flesh and blood. Thirst is a common-place misery, such as may happen to peasants or beggars; it is a real pain, and not a thing of a fancy or a nightmare of dreamland. Thirst is no royal grief, but an evil of universal manhood; Jesus is brother to the poorest and most humble of our race. Our Lord, however, endured thirst to an extreme degree, for it was the thirst of death which was upon him, and more, it was the thirst of one whose death was not a common one, for "he tasted death for every man." That thirst was caused, perhaps, in part by the loss of blood, and by the fever created by the irritation caused by his four grievous wounds. The nails were fastened in the most sensitive parts of the body, and the wounds were widened as the weight of his body dragged the nails through his blessed flesh, and tore his tender nerves. The extreme tension produced a burning feverishness. It was pain that dried his mouth and made it like an oven, till he declared, in the language of the twenty-second psalm, "My tongue cleaveth to my jaws." It was a thirst such as none of us have ever known, for not yet has the death dew condensed upon our brows. We shall perhaps know it in our measure in our dying hour, but not yet, nor ever so terribly as he did. Our Lord felt that grievous drought of dissolution by which all moisture seems dried up, and the flesh returns to the dust of death: this those know who have commenced to tread the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus, being a man, escaped none of the ills which are allotted to man in death. He is indeed "Immanuel, God with us" everywhere.

Believing this, let us tenderly feel how very near akin to us our Lord Jesus has become. You have been ill, and you have been parched with fever as he was, and then you too have gasped out "I thirst." Your path runs hard by that of your Master. He said, "I thirst," in order that one might bring him drink, even as you have wished to have a cooling draught handed to you when you could not help yourself. Can you help feeling how very near Jesus is to us when his lips must be moistened with a sponge, and he must be so dependent upon others as to ask drink from their hand? Next time your fevered lips murmur "I am very thirsty," you may say to yourself, "Those are sacred words, for my Lord spake in that fashion." The words, "I thirst," are a common voice in death chambers. We can never forget the painful scenes of which we have been witness, when we have watched the dissolving of the human frame. Some of those whom we loved very dearly we have seen quite unable to help themselves; the death sweat has been upon them, and this has been one of the marks of their approaching dissolution, that they have been parched with thirst, and could only mutter between their half-closed lips, "Give me to drink." Ah, beloved, our Lord was so truly man that all our griefs remind us of him: the next time we are thirsty we may gaze upon him; and whenever we see a friend faint and thirsting while dying we may behold our Lord dimly, but truly, mirrored in his members. How near akin the thirsty Saviour is to us; let us love him more and more.

How great the love which led him to such a condescension as this! Do not let us forget the infinite distance between the Lord of glory on his throne and the Crucified dried up with thirst. A river of the water of life, pure as crystal, proceedeth to-day out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and yet once he condescended to say, "I thirst," before his angelic guards, they would surely have emulated the courage of the men of David when they cut their way to the well of Bethlehem that was within the gate, and drew water in jeopardy of their lives. Who among us would not willingly pour out his soul unto death if he might but give refreshment to the Lord? And yet he placed himself for our sakes into a position of shame and suffering where none would wait upon him, but when he cried, "I thirst," they gave him vinegar to drink. Glorious stoop of our exalted Head! O Lord Jesus, we love thee and we worship thee! We would fain lift thy name on high in grateful remembrance of the depths to which thou didst descend!

While thus we admire his condescension let our thoughts also turn with delight to his sure sympathy: for if Jesus said, "I thirst," then he knows all our frailties and woes. The next time we are in pain or are suffering depression of spirit we will remember that our Lord understands it all, for he has had practical, personal experience of it. Neither in torture of body nor in sadness of heart are we deserted by our Lord; his line is parallel with ours. The arrow which has lately pierced thee, my brother, was first stained with his blood. The cup of which thou art made to drink, though it be very bitter, bears the mark of his lips about its brim. He hath traversed the mournful way before thee, and every footprint thou leavest in the sodden soil is stamped side by side with his footmarks. Let the sympathy of Christ, then, be fully believed in and deeply appreciated, since he said, "I thirst."

Henceforth, also, let us cultivate the spirit of resignation, for we may well rejoice to carry a cross which his shoulders have borne before us. Beloved, if our Master said, "I thirst," do we expect every day to drink of streams from Lebanon? He was innocent, and yet he thirsted; shall we marvel if guilty ones are now and then chastened? If he was so poor that his garments were stripped from him, and he was hung up upon the tree, penniless and friendless, hungering and thirsting, will you henceforth groan and murmur because you bear the yoke of poverty and want? There is bread upon your table to-day, and there will be at least a cup of cold water to refresh you. You are not, therefore, so poor as he. Complain not, then. Shall the servant be above his Master, or the disciple above his Lord? Let patience have her perfect work. You do suffer. Perhaps, dear sister, you carry about with you a gnawing disease which eats at your heart, but Jesus took our sicknesses, and his cup was more bitter than yours. In your chamber let the gasp of your Lord as he said, "I thirst," go through your ears, and as you hear it let it touch your heart and cause you to gird up yourself and say, "Doth he say, 'I thirst'? Then I will thirst with him and not complain, I will suffer with him and not murmur." The Redeemer's cry of "I thirst" is a solemn lesson of patience to his afflicted.

Once again, as we think of this "I thirst," which proves our Lord's humanity, let us resolve to shun no denials, but rather court them that we may be conformed to his image. May we not be half ashamed of our pleasures when he says, "I thirst"? May we not despise our loaded table while he is neglected? Shall it ever be a hardship to be denied the satisfying draught when he said, "I thirst." Shall carnal appetites be indulged and bodies pampered when Jesus cried :I thirst"? What if the bread be dry, what if the medicine be nauseous; yet for his thirst there was no relief but gall and vinegar, and dare we complain? For his sake we may rejoice in self-denials, and accept Christ and a crust as all we desire between here and heaven. A Christian living to indulge the base appetites of a brute beast, to eat and to drink almost to gluttony and drunkenness, is utterly unworthy of the name. The conquest of the appetites, the entire subjugation of the flesh, must be achieved, for before our great Exemplar said, "It is finished," wherein methinks he reached the greatest height of all, he stood as only upon the next lower step to that elevation, and said, "I thirst." The power to suffer for another, the capacity to be self-denying even to an extreme to accomplish some great work for God—this is a thing to be sought after, and must be gained before our work is done, and in this Jesus is before us our example and our strength.

Thus have I tried to spy out a measure of teaching, by using that one glass for the soul's eye, through which we look upon "I thirst" as the ensign of his true humanity.

II. Secondly, we shall regard these words, "I thirst," as THE TOKEN OF HIS SUFFERING SUBSTITUTION. The great Surety says, "I thirst," because he is placed in the sinner's stead, and he must therefore undergo the penalty of sin for the ungodly. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" points to the anguish of his soul; "I thirst" expresses in part the torture of his body; and they were both needful, because it is written of the God of justice that he is "able to destroy both soul and body in hell," and the pangs that are due to law are of both kinds, touching both heart and flesh. See, brethren, where sin begins, and mark that there it ends. It began with the mouth of appetite, when it was sinfully gratified, and it ends when a kindred appetite is graciously denied. Our first parents plucked forbidden fruit, and by eating slew the race. Appetite was the door of sin, and therefore in that point our Lord was put to pain. With "I thirst" the evil is destroyed and receives its expiation. I saw the other day the emblem of a serpent with its tail in its mouth, and if I carry it a little beyond the artist's intention the symbol may set forth appetite swallowing up itself. A carnal appetite of the body, the satisfaction of the desire for food, first brought us down under the first Adam, and now the pang of thirst, the denial of what the body craved for, restores us to our place.

Nor is this all. We know from experience that the present effect of sin in every man who indulges in it is thirst of soul. The mind of man is like the daughters of the horseleech, which cry for ever, "Give, give." Metaphorically understood, thirst is dissatisfaction, the craving of the mind for something which it has not, but which it pines for. Our Lord says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink," that thirst being the result of sin in every ungodly man at this moment. Now Christ standing in the stead of the ungodly suffers thirst as a type of his enduring the result of sin. More solemn still is the reflection that according to our Lord's own teaching, thirst will also be the eternal result of sin, for he says concerning the rich glutton, "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment," and his prayer, which was denied him, was, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." Now recollect, if Jesus had not thirsted, every one of us would have thirsted for ever afar off from God, with an impassable gulf between us and heaven. Our sinful tongues, blistered by the fever of passion, must have burned for ever had not his tongue been tormented with thirst in our stead. I suppose that the "I thirst" was uttered softly, so that perhaps only one and another who stood near the cross heard it at all; in contrast with the louder cry of "Lama sabachthani" and the triumphant shout of "It is finished": but that soft, expiring sigh, "I thirst," has ended for us the thirst which else, insatiably fierce, had preyed upon us throughout eternity. Oh, wondrous substitution of the just for the unjust, of God for man, of the perfect Christ for us guilty, hell-deserving rebels. Let us magnify and bless our Redeemer's name.

It seems to me very wonderful that this "I thirst" should be, as it were, the clearance of it all. He had no sooner said "I thirst," and sipped the vinegar, than he shouted, "It is finished"; and all was over: the battle was fought and the victory won for ever, and our great Deliverer's thirst was the sign of his having smitten the last foe. The flood of his grief has passed the high-water mark, and began to be assuaged. The "I thirst" was the bearing of the last pang; what if I say it was the expression of the fact that his pangs had at last begun to cease, and their fury had spent itself, and left him able to note his lessor pains? The excitement of a great struggle makes men forget thirst and faintness; it is only when all is over that they come back to themselves and note the spending of their strength. The great agony of being forsaken by God was over, and he felt faint when the strain was withdrawn. I like to think of our Lord's saying, "It is finished," directly after he had exclaimed, "I thirst"; for these two voices come so naturally together. Our glorious Samson had been fighting our foes; heaps upon heaps he had slain his thousands, and now like Samson he was sore athirst. He sipped of the vinegar, and he was refreshed, and no sooner has he thrown off the thirst than he shouted like a conqueror, "It is finished," and quitted the field, covered with renown. Let us exult as we see our Substitute going through with his work even to the bitter end, and then with a "Consummatum est" returning to his Father, God. O souls, burdened with sin, rest ye here, and resting live.

III. We will now take the text in a third way, and may the Spirit of God instruct us once again. The utterance of "I thirst" brought out A TYPE OF MAN'S TREATMENT OF HIS LORD. It was a confirmation of the Scripture testimony with regard to man's natural enmity to God. According to modern thought man is a very fine and noble creature, struggling to become better. He is greatly to be commended and admired, for his sin is said to be seeking after God, and his superstition is a struggling after light. Great and worshipful being that he is, truth is to be altered for him, the gospel is to be modulated to suit the tone of his various generations, and all the arrangements of the universe are to be rendered subservient to his interests. Justice must fly the field lest it be severe to so deserving a being; as for punishment, it must not be whispered to his ears polite. In fact, the tendency is to exalt man above God and give him the highest place. But such is not the truthful estimate of man according to the Scriptures: there man is a fallen creature, with a carnal mind which cannot be reconciled to God; a worse than brutish creature, rendering evil for good, and treating his God with vile ingratitude. Alas, man is the slave and the dupe of Satan, and a black-hearted traitor to his God. Did not the prophecies say that man would give to his incarnate God gall to eat and vinegar to drink? It is done. He came to save, and man denied him hospitality: at the first there was no room for him at the inn, and at the last there was not one cool cup of water for him to drink; but when he thirsted they gave him vinegar to drink. This is man's treatment of his Saviour. Universal manhood, left to itself, rejects, crucifies, and mocks the Christ of God. This was the act too of man at his best, when he is moved to pity; for it seems clear that he who lifted up the wet sponge to the Redeemer's lips, did it in compassion. I think that Roman soldier meant well, at least well for a rough warrior with his little light and knowledge. He ran and filled a sponge with vinegar: it was the best way he knew of putting a few drops of moisture to the lips of one who was suffering so much; but though he felt a degree of pity, it was such as one might show to a dog; he felt no reverence, but mocked as he relieved. We read, "The soldiers also mocked him, offering him vinegar." When our Lord cried, "Eloi, Eloi," and afterwards said, "I thirst," the persons around the cross said, "Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him," mocking him; and, according to Mark, he who gave the vinegar uttered much the same words. He pitied the sufferer, but he thought so little of him that he joined in the voice of scorn. Even when man compassionates the sufferings of Christ, and man would have ceased to be human if he did not, still he scorns him; the very cup which man gives to Jesus is at once scorn and pity, for "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." See how man at his best mingles admiration of the Saviour's person with scorn of his claims; writing books to hold him up as an example and at the same moment rejecting his deity; admitting that he was a wonderful man, but denying his most sacred mission; extolling his ethical teaching and then trampling on his blood: thus giving him drink, but that drink vinegar. O my hearers, beware of praising Jesus and denying his atoning sacrifice. Beware of rendering him homage and dishonouring his name at the same time.

Alas, my brethren, I cannot say much on the score of man's cruelty to our Lord without touching myself and you. Have we not often given him vinegar to drink? Did we not do so years ago before we knew him? We used to melt when we heard about his sufferings, but we did not turn from our sins. We gave him our tears and then grieved him with our sins. We thought sometimes that we loved him as we heard the story of his death, but we did not change our lives for his sake, nor put our trust in him, and so we gave him vinegar to drink. Nor does the grief end here, for have not the best works we have ever done, and the best feelings we ever felt, and the best prayers we have ever offered, been tart and sour with sin? Can they be compared to generous wine? are they not more like sharp vinegar? I wonder he has ever received them, as one marvels why he received this vinegar; and yet he has received them, and smiled upon us for presenting them. He knew once how to turn water into wine, and in matchless love he has often turned our sour drink-offerings into something sweet to himself, though in themselves, methinks, they have been the juice of sour grapes, sharp enough to set his teeth on edge. We may therefore come before him, with all the rest of our race, when God subdues them to repentance by his love, and look on him whom we have pierced, and mourn for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. We may well remember our faults this day,

"We, whose proneness to forget
Thy dear love, on Olivet
Bathed thy brow with bloody sweat;
"We whose sins, with awful power,
Like a cloud did o'er thee lower,
In that God-excluding hour;
"We, who still, in thought and dead,
Often hold the bitter reed
To thee, in thy time of need."

I have touched that point very lightly because I want a little more time to dwell upon a fourth view of this scene. May the Holy Ghost help us to hear a fourth tuning of the dolorous music, "I thirst."

IV. I think, beloved friends, that the cry of "I thirst" was THE MYSTICAL EXPRESSION OF THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART—"I thirst." I cannot think that natural thirst was all he felt. He thirsted for water doubtless, but his soul was thirsty in a higher sense; indeed, he seems only to have spoken that the Scriptures might be fulfilled as to the offering him vinegar. Always was he in harmony with himself, and his own body was always expressive of his soul's cravings as well as of its own longings. "I thirst" meant that his heart was thirsting to save men. This thirst had been on him from the earliest of his earthly days. "Wist ye not," said he, while yet a boy, "that I must be about my Father's business?" Did he not tell his disciples, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?" He thirsted to pluck us from between the jaws of hell, to pay our redemption price, and set us free from the eternal condemnation which hung over us; and when on the cross the work was almost done his thirst was not assuaged, and could not be till he could say, "It is finished." It is almost done, thou Christ of God; thou hast almost saved thy people; there remaineth but one thing more, that thou shouldst actually die, and hence thy strong desire to come to the end and complete thy labour. Thou wast still straightened till the last pang was felt and the last word spoken to complete to full redemption, and hence thy cry, "I thirst."

Beloved, there is now upon our Master, and there always has been, a thirst after the love of his people. Do you not remember how that thirst of his was strong in the old days of the prophet? Call to mind his complaint in the fifth chapter of Isaiah, "Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein." What was he looking for from his vineyard and its winepress? What but for the juice of the vine that he might be refreshed? "And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes,"—vinegar, and not wine; sourness, and not sweetness. So he was thirsting then. According to the sacred canticle of love, in the fifth chapter of the Song of Songs, we learn that when he drank in those olden times it was in the garden of his church that he was refreshed. What doth he say? "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." In the same song he speaks of his church, and says, "The roof of thy mouth is as the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak." And yet again in the eighth chapter the bride saith, "I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate." Yes, he loves to be with his people; they are the garden where he walks for refreshment, and their love, their graces, are the milk and wine which he delights to drink. Christ was always thirsty to save men, and to be loved of men; and we see a type of his life-long desire when, being weary, he sat thus on the well and said to the woman of Samaria, "Give me to drink." There was a deeper meaning in his words than she dreamed of, as a verse further down fully proves, when he said to his disciples, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." He derived spiritual refreshment from the winning of that women's heart to himself.

And now, brethren, our blessed Lord has at this time a thirst for communion with each one of you who are his people, not because you can do him good, but because he can do you good. He thirsts to bless you and to receive your grateful love in return; he thirsts to see you looking with believing eye to his fulness, and holding out your emptiness that he may supply it. He saith, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." What knocks he for? It is that he may eat and drink with you, for he promises that if we open to him he will enter in and sup with us and we with him. He is thirsty still, you see, for our poor love, and surely we cannot deny it to him. Come let us pour out full flagons, until his joy is fulfilled in us. And what makes him love us so? Ah, that I cannot tell, except his own great love. He must love, it is his nature. He must love his chosen whom he has once begun to love, for he is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. His great love makes him thirst to have us much nearer than we are; he will never be satisfied till all his redeemed are beyond gunshot of thee enemy. I will give you one of his thirsty prayers—"Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." He wants you brother, he wants you, dear sister, he longs to have you wholly to himself. Come to him in prayer, come to him in fellowship, come to him by perfect consecration, come to him by surrendering your whole being to the sweet mysterious influences of his Spirit. Sit at his feet with Mary, lean on his breast with John; yea, come with the spouse in the song and say, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for his love is better than wine." He calls for that: will you not give it to him? Are you so frozen at heart that not a cup of cold water can be melted for Jesus? Are you lukewarm? O brother, if he says, "I thirst" and you bring him a lukewarm heart, that is worse than vinegar, for he has said, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." He can receive vinegar, but not lukewarm love. Come, bring him your warm heart, and let him drink from that purified chalice as much as he wills. Let all your love be his. I know he loves to receive from you, because he delights even in a cup of cold water that you give to one of his disciples; how much more will he delight in the giving of your whole self to him? Therefore while he thirsts give him to drink this day.

V. Lastly, the cry of "I thirst" is to us THE PATTERN OF OUR DEATH WITH HIM. Know ye not, beloved,—for I speak to those who know the Lord,—that ye are crucified together with Christ? Well, then, what means this cry, "I thirst," but this, that we should thirst too? We do not thirst after the old manner wherein we were bitterly afflicted, for he hath said, "He that drinketh of this water shall never thirst:" but now we covet a new thirst. A refined and heavenly appetite, a craving for our Lord. O thou blessed Master, if we are indeed nailed up to the tree with thee, give us a thirst after thee with a thirst which only the cup of "the new covenant in thy blood" can ever satisfy. Certain philosophers have said that they love the pursuit of truth even better than the knowledge of truth. I differ from them greatly, but I will say this, that next to the actual enjoyment of my Lord's presence I love to hunger and to thirst after him. Rutherford used words somewhat to this effect, "I thirst for my Lord and this is joy; a joy which no man taketh from me. Even if I may not come at him, yet shall I be full of consolation, for it is heaven to thirst after him, and surely he will never deny a poor soul liberty to admire him, and adore him, and thirst after him." As for myself, I would grow more and more insatiable after my divine Lord, and when I have much of him I would still cry for more; and then for more, and still for more. My heart shall not be content till he is all in all to me, and I am altogether lost in him. O to be enlarged in soul so as to take deeper draughts of his sweet love, for our heart cannot have enough. One would wish to be as a spouse, who, when she had already been feasting in the banqueting-house, and had found his fruit sweet to her taste, so that she was overjoyed, yet cried out, "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love." She craved full flagons of love though she was already overpowered by it. This is a kind of sweet whereof if a man hath much he must have more, and when he hath more he is under a still greater necessity to receive more, and so on, his appetite for ever growing by that which it feeds upon, till he is filled with all the fulness of God. "I thirst,"—ay, this is my soul's word with her Lord. Borrowed from his lips it well suiteth my mouth.

"I thirst, but not as once I did,
The vain delights of earth to share;
Thy wounds, Emmanuel, all forbid
That I should seek my pleasures there.
Dear fountain of delight unknown!
No longer sink below the brim;
But overflow, and pour me down
A living and life-giving stream."

Jesus thirsted, then let us thirst in this dry and thirsty land where no water is. Even as the hart panteth after the water brooks, our souls would thirst after thee, O God.

Beloved, let us thirst for the souls of our fellow-men. I have already told you that such was our Lord's mystical desire; let it be ours also. Brother, thirst to have your children save. Brother, thirst I pray you to have your workpeople saved. Sister, thirst for the salvation of your class, thirst for the redemption of your family, thirst for the conversion of your husband. We ought all to have a longing for conversions. It is so with each one of you? If not, bestir yourselves at once. Fix your hearts upon some unsaved one, and thirst until he is saved. It is the way whereby many shall be brought to Christ, when this blessed soul-thirst of true Christian charity shall be upon those who are themselves saved. Remember how Paul said, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." He would have sacrificed himself to save his countrymen, so heartily did he desire their eternal welfare. Let this mind be in you also.

As for yourselves, thirst after perfection. Hunger and thirst after righteousness, for you shall be filled. Hate sin, and heartily loathe it; but thirst to be holy as God is holy, thirst to be like Christ, thirst to bring glory to his sacred name by complete conformity to his will.

May the Holy Ghost work in you the complete pattern of Christ crucified, and to him shall be praise for ever and ever. Amen.

The Third Foundation of Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Fellowship: Our Duty to One Another in the Church
By Phillip M. Way

Previous Articles in this series:
The First Foundation of Fellowship: One Body, Many Members
The Second Foundation of Fellowship: Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

Part 3 -

The Third Foundation of Fellowship:
Fellowship in the Gospel - Philippians 1:1-11

Introduction

In review, we would all be quick to affirm the truth that we are commanded to fellowship with one another within the church. However, as we have seen, defining fellowship tends to be problematic. Many have come to think of fellowship as any social activity with other people who are members of our church or who present themselves to us as fellow followers of Christ. The truth that seems so evasive is that fellowship is a very specific set of actions that must be motivated by love for God and for each other within the Body of Christ. And we must not forget that for all we seem to not know about fellowship, it is a duty assigned to us by Christ that must be fulfilled if we are to be obedient to Him.

We learned in our previous visits that in order to understand and apply what the Bible tells us about fellowship it is necessary for us to see that there are several foundations of fellowship. Each foundation helps give us a more clear idea of what exactly we are commanded to do for one another in the church.

The first foundation of fellowship we reviewed was the basic understanding that we are many members but one body. We strive to be unified because we are one body and members of each other. That is why we must be humble, esteeming others as better than ourselves. By not having too high a view of ourselves we are allowed to enjoy genuine, unpretentious fellowship.

The second foundation of fellowship states that we are not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. To be clear, Paul in 2 Corinthians 6 has given us a multitude of ways to look at the command. He covered everything from comparing believers and unbelievers to light and darkness to the extremes of using the illustration of Christ and Satan. The context helps us see that the command is given in light of spiritual pursuits, ministry, and intimacy. How can two people pursue spiritual things on a common level if one of them is still a "natural man"? (1 Cor 2:14). If a person is saved they have put off the old, natural man and are a new man in Christ! How can there be any deep unity in a spiritual pursuit between one who is alive spiritually and one who is still dead? In fact, how can they minister together? This is the primary error of ecumenism - thinking that we can work together in ministerial pursuits with those who do not even believe the basic fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The truth is that there can be no real spiritual intimacy at all between two people who are members of different spiritual kingdoms.

With these things in mind, let us now examine the third foundation of fellowship:

Fellowship in the Gospel

Let us begin with a reminder of our definition of fellowship: "to share in or with; participate; take an interest in; partner with; be connected; or to share in a common pursuit."

Philippians 1:1-11 tells us:

Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

As Paul introduces this epistle to the church at Philippi, he thanks God for them and makes mention of the fact that the basis of their fellowship with each other and with him is found in the gospel. Our fellowship must be centered on the Person and Work of Jesus Christ – the gospel, the good news that He has come to seek and save that which was lost.

The gospel is necessary to fellowship because the gospel is the power of God for salvation. As such the gospel gives us confidence as we are bolstered throughout the trials and tests of our lives by the truth that the work of salvation that Christ has begun in us He will bring to completion. He is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2). He begins the work and He will continue the work and He will complete the work without fail. The Holy Spirit has been given to us, sealing us until we are finally and completely redeemed (Eph. 1:13-14). How permanent then is our relationship with Christ and His Body? He tells us that when it comes to the life of the church the gates of hell and death itself cannot stop the church.

We share in this salvation as members of one another. We see the beautiful truth of this foundation of fellowship in Paul’s words, “I have you in my heart.” Even while he is in chains suffering for the sake of the gospel it is the gospel that joins him to Christ and to the believers at Philippi. In his suffering he can rejoice in the good report given from the church – they are his children, spiritually speaking, and he has great affection for them.

So the gospel is where we start in determining with whom we fellowship. The gospel is the standard; it is the single most important common denominator for fellowship. If we disagree with others about the gospel then we have nothing upon which to build a lasting unity and cannot pursue common spiritual goals. And yet, if we agree on the gospel we should be very careful about whom we will and will not fellowship with – we partake of the same grace and have been saved by the same Savior, so our lines of separation must be built upon the essentials of the gospel and the Word of God.

Fellowship is a duty that has come at a high price. The blood of Christ had to be shed in order to break down the walls of separation that bring disunity and division to people around the world (Eph. 2:14). So for those who would deny the gospel, who would demean the work of Christ or the glory of God, we must withhold fellowship.

Remember, we are not talking about removing ourselves from the world. We are talking about fellowship. Those closest to us must be and should be fellow members of the Body of Christ.

Part of fulfilling this duty to one another is found in the many exhortations given throughout Scripture just as Paul explains in verses 9-11. He tell us how we are pray for on another and relate to one another as we fellowship in the gospel. Indeed, prayer should be our first response to one another in fellowship – bearing one another’s burdens before the Throne of God. As we rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, we do so before God in prayer as we carry each others burdens. We seek the glory of God for those with whom we rejoice and we seek grace and comfort for the afflicted.

We are told to pray for all men everywhere (1 Tim. 2:1), so how much more should we be investing ourselves in the work of intercession for those who share in the grace of God with us? We are, after all, only following the example that we have been given from God Himself. Jesus lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25) and the Holy Spirit takes the things that we cannot even express with words (Rom. 8:26-27) and utters them to the Father!

The prayer Paul offers is a prayer that the church will grow in love and discernment. Too often the world sees the church as a bunch of bitter, contentious hypocrites, always fighting and dividing. But Jesus says that the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35).

So what does discernment have to do with love and fellowship? As Tim Challies has defined it:

“Discernment is the skill of understanding and applying God's Word with the purpose of separating truth from error and right from wrong." 1

We see then quite obviously that if we are to truly love one another then we must understand what God’s Word says about love, and we must know who to love and how to love them! Discernment is crucial to fellowship, for how else do we know who shares this foundation of the gospel? We must discern the Body, even as we are told to do in the observance of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:29).

Further we see from Paul’s instructions that we are to pray for one another that we might approve that which is excellent. The church should never settle for second best. In fact, there is no such thing as second best – something is either the best, or it is not the best. And while we know that there are some things that are good for us, those same things may not be the best (1 Cor. 10:23) – and we are to pray and love and discern so that we seek after the best in and for each other.

Fellowship is also aided when we are sincere. Offenses often mar fellowship. So we pray for one another for sincerity in our love and service to each other. Hypocrisy truly is the enemy of fellowship; however, since we have all played the hypocrite from time to time, let us not think that hypocrisy is the unforgivable sin. It is as we are sincere in our love that we see the “fruits of righteousness” and are able to glorify God and praise our Savior Jesus Christ.

This is the goal of fellowship – that we glorify God by bearing the fruits of righteousness. They declare the praise of God as He works in and through us. This is, by the way, why we see that fellowship is part of worship. It is though fellowship that God is glorified. Let us never fall for the myth that fellowship is something we do “outside” the church. Fellowship is part of how we worship God when we meet together for corporate worship or when we are out and about throughout the week.

This is illustrated for us in Acts 2 as the members of the New Testament church met with each other from house to house daily and ministered to one another to the point that if one member had a need others would sacrifice and do without to meet that need. How far we have come in the church today! Or should I say, how far we have fallen at times from this kind of fellowship – daily fellowship founded on our being members of one another as believers in Jesus Christ, sharing in the grace of the gospel as His heirs.

We see then that the third foundation of fellowship must be the foundation given to us in the gospel, of which Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6-7).

Greaten God

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:59:00 +0000

Taken from Spurgeon's sermon on Luke 1:46 - Mary's Magnificat

Dear friends, albeit that this magnifying of the Lord is an occupation to be taken up by all Christians, do not let us think little of it. To magnify the Lord seems to me the grandest thing we mortals do, for, as I have already said, it is the occupation of heaven. When the saints of the Most High pass into their glorified state they have nothing else to do but to magnify the Lord. The word signifies, to put it in a Saxon form instead of a Latin one, to "greaten God." We cannot make him really greater, but we can show forth his greatness. We can make him appear greater. We can make others have greater thoughts of him, and that we do when we are praising him. We can ourselves try to have greater and yet greater thoughts of him—make him to our apprehension a greater God than we once knew him to be; and this, I say, is no mean occupation, because it is followed in heaven by all redeemed and perfected spirits. Even here, it is the end of everything. Praying is the end of preaching, for preaching and hearing are nothing in themselves except men be brought to Christ and led to prayer. But then praying is not the end: praising is the end of praying. Prayer is the stalk of the wheat, but praise is the ear of the wheat: it is the harvest itself. When God is praised, we have come to the ultimatum. This is the thing for which all other things are designed. We are to be saved for this end, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved." We are not saved for our own sakes. How often does the Scripture tell us this in sense, and sometimes in words, "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you; be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel." The glory of God is to my mind the highest conceivable end—it certainly is the chief end of my being. So, my dear brother, if you cannot go out to preach—if after looking over all your condition you feel that your sickness and other circumstances may excuse you from active service, and even if you are compelled to keep your bed, do not suppose that you are useless as to the highest end of your being. You may still serve it by lying upon the couch of pain and magnifying the Lord by patience. Have you ever looked at those lovely lilies which adorn our gardens with their golden petals and their milk-white leaves? How they praise God! And yet they never sing. You do not even hear a rustle, but they stand still and praise God by existing—by just, as it were, enjoying the sun and the dew, and showing what God can do. A genuine Christian shut up under pain and sickness may glorify God by being his beloved child, by receiving the love of God, by showing in his common-place daily character, which is only noticeable from its holiness, what the grace of God can do. Oh may this be the occupation of us all since it is so noble a pursuit! "My soul doth magnify the Lord." Come, what are you doing to-night? Have you been during this day murmuring and complaining and grumbling? End that, and begin praising. Some of you are farmers, and I have no doubt you have grumbled because of the weather. I do not wonder, but I hope that you will not do it any more, but rather believe that God knows better about skies and clods and clouds and crops than you do. If we had the management of the weather, I have no doubt we think we should do it very splendidly, but I question whether we should not ruin all creation. Our great Lord and Master knows how to manage everything. Let us cease from all criticism of what he does, and say, "My soul does not grumble. My soul does not complain; I have taken up a better business than that. 'My soul doth magnify the Lord.' That is her one engagement from which she will never cease."

Never say, "It is of no use inducing such a man to attend the means of grace. He is a blaspheming wretch. All that he would do if he heard a sermon would be to make sport of it for the next week. I have no faith in taking such a man to hear a ministry which he would be sure to ridicule." Such unbelieving talk is making little of God. Is it not so? Is it not dishonoring God to think that his gospel cannot reach the most depraved hearts? Why, if I knew that a man had seven thousand devils in him, I believe the gospel could drive them all out. Get the sinners under the sound of the word, and the worse they are, oftentimes, the more does God love to display the greatness of his grace in casting down the power of their sin. Believe great things of God. I can honestly say this—that since God saved me I never doubted his power to save anybody. All things are possible now that he has brought me to his feet, and kept me these years as his loving child. I must think great things of God who has done such great things for so great a sinner as I am. Greaten God, my brethren; greaten God. Believe great things of him. Believe that China can be made into a province of the celestial kingdom. Believe that India will cast her riches at Jesus' feet. Believe that the round world will yet be a pearl on Christ's finger-ring. Do not go in for the dispiriting, despairing, unmanly, un-Christly ideas of those who say, "The world is not to be converted. It is a poor wreck that will go to pieces, and we are to fish off here and there one from the water-logged hulk." Brethren, never believe that we are to stand by and see the eternal defeat of God. Deem not that our God is unable to win upon the old lines, and must needs shift the plan of the campaign. It shall never be said that God could not save the world by the preaching of the gospel, and by the work of the Holy Spirit, and therefore must needs bring in the advent of the Lord to do it. I believe in the coming of the Lord, but, blessed be his name, I believe also that the battle which he has begun in the Spirit he will fight out in the old style, and finish with a victory in the very manner in which he opened the conflict. It pleases him by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, and it will please him to continue to do so till the whole round earth shall ring with hallelujahs of praise to the grace of God, who by the feeblest of his creatures shall have defeated sin, and death, and hell. Do not get into a desponding state of mind, and rush into half-insane theories of prophecy in order to excuse your unbelief and idleness. Never throw down your weapons, and pretend that the victory is to be won by doting and dreaming: we are to fight to the end with the same weapons, and in the same name. We will drive the devil out of the world yet, by the grace of God, by the old, efficient weapons of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Greaten God, and magnify his name, by believing in the success of the gospel of his dear Son.

Our text should be used as a GUIDE IN OUR THEOLOGY. We will finish with that. Here is a very useful test for young disciples who are beginning to study God's word. "My soul doth magnify the Lord." If you will carry this with you it will often save you from error, and guide you into truth. There is certain teaching which makes a great deal of man: it talks much of man's free-will, ability, capacity, and natural dignity. It evidently makes man the center and end of all things, and God is placed in a position of service to his creature. As for the Fall: father Adam slipped and broke his little finger, or something of the kind, but this theology sees no great ruin as the result of the fall. As for salvation: it is a slight cure for a small ill, and by no means the infinite grace which we consider it to be. Dear brethren, let those have this theology who like it, but do not you touch it even with a pair of tongs. It is of no use to man, for it mistakes his position, and only ministers to his pride. Man's place is not on the throne, but at the foot of the cross. Listen to another theology, in which the sinner is laid low, his sinfulness is exposed, his corruption is unfolded, Christ's redemption is magnified, free grace is extolled, and the Holy Ghost is adored. That is the theology for you, believe it: that is the theology of the Scriptures, accept it. I do not think that you will often be led wrong if this be your mode of judgment: that which glorifies God is true, and that which does not glorify God is false.

Sometimes you will meet with an undoubted teaching of God's word which you do not understand. You know that the doctrine is taught in the word, but you cannot make it coincide with some other truth, and you cannot quite see, perhaps, how it glorifies God. Then, dear brother, dear sister, glorify God by believing it. To believe a doctrine which you see to be true by mere reason is nothing very wonderful. There is no very great glory to God in believing what is as clear as the sun in the heavens; but to believe a truth when it staggers you—oh, gracious faith! oh, blessed faith! You will perhaps remember an illustration taken from Mr. Gough, where the little boy says, "If mother says it is so, it is so if it is not so." That is the kind of believing for a child towards its mother, and that is the sort of believing we ought to exercise towards God. I do not see the fact, and I cannot quite apprehend it, but God says it is so, and I believe him. If all the philosophers in the world should contradict the Scriptures, so much the worse for the philosophers; their contradiction makes no difference to our faith. Half a grain of God's word weighs more with us than a thousand tons of words or thoughts of all the modern theologians, philosophers, and scientists that exist on the face of the earth; for God knows more about his own works than they do. They do but think, but the Lord knows. With regard to truths which philosophers ought not to meddle with, because they have not specially turned their thoughts that way, they are not more qualified to judge than the poorest man in the church of God, nay, nor one-half so much. Inasmuch as the most learned unregenerate men are dead in sin, what do they know about the living things of the children of Cod? Instead of setting them to judge we will sooner trust our boys and girls that are just converted, for they do know something of divine things, but carnal philosophers know nothing of them. Do not be staggered, brothers and sisters, but honor God, glorify God, and magnify him by believing great things and unsearchable—past your finding out—which you know to be true because he declares them to be so. Let the ipse dixit of God stand to you in the place of all reason, being indeed the highest and purest reason, for God, the Infallible, speaks what must be true.

So, then, I come back to where I started. Let us go forth and practically try to magnify the name of the Lord. Go home and speak well of his name: gather your children together and tell them what a good and great God he has been. Some of you who have a swarm of youngsters could not do better than spend half an hour in telling them of his goodness to you in all your times of trouble. Leave to your children the heirloom of gratitude. Tell them how good the Lord was to their father, and how good he will be to his children: tell your servants, tell your work-people, tell anybody with whom you come in contact what a blessed God the Lord is. For my part, I never can speak well enough of his adorable name. He is the best of masters, his service is delight; he is the best of fathers, his commands are pleasure. Was there ever such a god as our God, our enemies themselves being judges?

Magnify his name by the brightness of your countenances. Rejoice and be glad in him. When you are in sorrow and must needs fast, yet appear not unto men to fast, but anoint your faces and still wear a smile. Let not the world think that the servants of a king go mourning all their days. Make the world feel what a great God you serve, and what a blessed Savior Christ is, and thus evermore let your soul magnify the Lord. God grant you grace to do so, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

The Goldilocks Theory of the Universe

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 03:30:00 +0000

(and the Mother Bear Solution)

by Steve Owen

Have you ever heard something on the radio that made you wonder whether or not it was April 1st? Something so strange that you wondered whether you were listening to a comedy programme rather than to Current Affairs? I can only assure readers that I really did hear what I’m about to describe, and that it was broadcast on the B.B.C. In my secular work, I have to drive a good deal and recently, having heard enough music for a while, I switched over my radio to B.B.C Radio Five, a ‘news and current affairs’ channel. An interview had just started with a scientist (I didn’t catch his name) concerning his new conception, the Goldilocks Theory of the Universe.

His thesis was this: the Universe as we know it shows a multitude of features that makes it ideal for life. He mentioned the structure of atoms and molecules; the force of gravity, which is neither too great nor too small; the quantities of vital elements like oxygen and carbon, which are found in exactly the right amounts; the ready combination of oxygen and hydrogen to make water with its unique properties, and several others. It looks, he said, almost as if the Universe had been especially designed for life. At this point the interviewer interrupted him to ask if that was not then the logical assumption to make. Perhaps it had indeed been designed? “Ah, no,” He replied. “You cannot allow the idea of a Designer into your thinking, because that is unscientific. Also, it merely moves the problem of the Universe back a stage. After all, who designed the Designer?”

The scientist continued that the only possible answer to the dilemma of the Apparently Designed Universe is the ‘Goldilocks’ Theory. Readers will recall that when Goldilocks came to the house of the three bears, she did not immediately find a bowl of porridge that she liked; rather, she found three seemingly identical bowls. On inspection, however, she found that the contents of two of these bowls were quite unsuitable. One was much too salty and another much too sweet. She didn’t like them at all. It was only when she tasted the porridge in the third bowl, that she found that it was ‘Just Right.’ It may be, declared the scientist, that the Universe is very much like that. Just as there were three parallel bowls of porridge, from which Goldilocks found one that was edible, so perhaps there are many parallel universes, possibly millions of them, out of which the one that we live in is the only one that is ‘Just Right’ for life.

Well, my first thought on hearing this was the scientist was guilty of tautology. A universe, by definition, is unique- ‘uni-‘ means one. You cannot have multiple ‘universes,’ or if you do, you need to call them something else. My second thought was that it was a case of life imitating art. Perhaps this scientist has been watching the science-fiction television series, Stargate, where intrepid travellers bob from one parallel ‘universe’ (‘multiverse’?) to another. This led me to my third conclusion, which is that whatever it is that this man was proposing, it isn’t science. Science deals with facts and evidences that can be demonstrated. What we have here is an idea without the slightest evidence to back it up. It can be neither proved nor disproved because there is no test to discover whether or not these parallel ‘universes’ exist and therefore nothing that can be done to show that they do not. Before 1969, it was possible to argue that the Moon was made of green cheese, because no one had yet gone to the Moon, chipped a bit off, brought it back and tried to spread it on a cracker. The fact that it could not be disproved, however, did not make the Green Cheese Theory of the Moon genuine science.

This seems to be the way with modern science. It has been observed that comets lose a portion of their mass every time they approach the Sun. It has been worked out that if the Solar System is more than a million or so years old, almost every comet would have wasted away to nothing by now. You might suppose that this would make astronomers think for a moment; “Hold on! Perhaps the Universe isn’t as old as we thought.” Not a bit of it! They have invented a great layer of comets, just outside the Solar System, called the Oort Cloud, and they suppose that comets just fall out of it from time to time. The only problem with this wonderful solution is that there is not the slightest evidence that the Oort Cloud exists. No one has ever observed it; but this of course is its great strength. If there is no evidence for it, then it cannot be disproved until some astronaut flies to the edge of the Solar System, looks for it and finds it isn’t there.

Let us now consider our scientist’s lordly rejection of the possibility of a Creator. He gave two reasons. The first one is that it’s unscientific. There’s a sense in which he’s right. You cannot prove God scientifically. He reveals Himself to those who diligently seek Him, not in a laboratory with a test-tube or Bunsen burner, but in prayer and in His word. But if God is true (and He is!), then any scientific theory that seeks to deny Him must be unscientific in that it is wrong. What science can and should say is that all the evidence points to a great Designer of the Universe. There is nothing unscientific about that; indeed, the scientist himself admitted as much at the start of the interview.

Our scientist’s second argument was that proposing a Creator only moves the problem back further. If there is a God, who made Him? There can hardly be a parent of a three year-old who hasn’t been asked this question: “Daddy, who made God?” And the answer to three year-olds down the ages has been the same; no one made God; He has always been and always will be. ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come’ (Rev 4:8 ). It is a scientific maxim that nothing can come from nothing; there has to be a first cause. The proponents of the ‘Big Bang’ theory say that in the beginning all the matter contained in the Universe was gathered together in one dense ball, and then it exploded. OK, if God is unscientific, so is this ball of matter; where did that come from? Who made it? Furthermore, if it had been there for countless billions of years- from all eternity- why did it suddenly explode at a certain point in time? The Law of Inertia states that a body at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. If everything was wrapped into this ball, what was left to act on it? It appears that the only scientific explanation of the Universe is that there is no Universe. If nothing can come from nothing then there can be only nothing and so nothing exists! The only problem with this theory is that it doesn’t seem to fit the observed facts, namely that we actually do exist.

I would now like to propound my Mother Bear Theory of the Universe. When Goldilocks entered the cottage of the three bears and saw the bowls of porridge, what thoughts might have entered her mind? Had she been an imaginative child, she might have thought of a ceramics factory to make the bowls and a shop to sell them. As she contemplated the porridge, her mind might have conjured up images of fields of oats, of cows being milked, and of great plantations of sugar cane in the West Indies. But the mere existence of ceramics, oats, milk and sugar does not make a bowl of porridge. I doubt that Goldilocks would have thought to herself, “Well, to make this porridge there must have been a spontaneous explosion in the kitchen and the oats milk and sugar must have been blown out of the kitchen (I don’t know how they got there in the first place) into the living room and on the way they must have mixed together and sort of cooked themselves whilst in the air and then they miraculously fell into the bowls which I suppose must have been here from all eternity, and because this is so wildly improbable, there must be countless millions of parallel houses where the same spontaneous explosion has occurred.” No, in order for there to be even one bowl of porridge, there has to be intelligent input. In other words, the fact of porridge pre-supposes someone to assemble the ingredients, cook and serve it.

Now Goldilocks could know something about the maker of the porridge merely from the fact of the porridge itself. She could know that the maker was sentient and that had the ability to make not one, but three bowls of the stuff, each one designed to suit a particular recipient. But of the character and intention of the maker she could know nothing until it was revealed to her. That the maker was actually a talking bear she would have had no inkling until Mother Bear came through the door and declared, “Someone’s been eating my porridge!” Only by revelation could Goldilocks know that Mother Bear had made the porridge for herself, Father Bear and Baby Bear and that she was likely to be extremely hostile to human porridge-stealers. So it was when these facts were revealed to her by the entrance of the three bears, that she knew how to react to the porridge-maker, and prudently she ran away ‘as fast as her legs would carry her.’

In the same way, humans can discount the idea of the Universe having somehow ‘come together’ and the laws of nature and science having just ‘happened.’ It is too ridiculous to be true. The former Astronomer Royal, Prof. Fred Hoyle, likened it to imagining that a whirlwind could go through a scrap yard and spontaneously assemble a jumbo jet. If even a bowl of porridge is too complicated to have occurred by chance, how much more the Universe! Someone therefore has designed this Universe and this planet on which we live. We can know something of Him, just by looking at what He has created. We can understand His infinite power and intelligence by considering the colossal vastness of space, the many features of design within it and the laws that govern and sustain it. As the Psalmist put it, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork’ (Psalm 19:1 ). The apostle Paul tells us that men are ‘without excuse’ when they exclude God from their thinking (Rom 1:20 ) because, ‘Since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Divine nature.’

It is one thing, however, to know that there is a God- even the demons in hell know that (James 2:19 )- but another to come to know Him and to understand His gracious purposes for this world. These things cannot be discovered from nature, nor by science or philosophy (Job 11:7-9 ); instead, they have been revealed to us in His word. It is there that we discover that, ‘For so God loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16 ).

Enriching Souls

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:00:00 +0000

"Consider carefully what you hear." Mark 4:24

It is sad to see how many preachers in our days, make it their business to enrich men's heads with high, empty, airy notions; instead of enriching their souls with saving truths.

Fix yourself under that man's ministry, who makes it his business, his work to enrich the soul, to win the soul, and to build up the soul; not to tickle the ear, or please the fancy. This age is full of such light, delirious souls--who dislike everything--but what is empty and airy.

Do not judge a minister . . .
. . . by his voice, nor
. . . by the multitude who follow him, nor
. . . by his affected tone, nor
. . . by his rhetoric and flashes of wit;

but by the holiness, heavenliness, and spiritualness of his teaching. Many ministers are like empty orators, who have a flood of words--but a drop of matter.

Some preachers affect rhetorical strains; they seek abstrusities, and love to hover and soar aloft in dark and cloudy expressions, and so shoot their arrows over their hearers' heads--instead of bettering their hearers' hearts. Mirthful things in a sermon are only for men to gaze upon and admire. He is the best preacher, not who tickles the ear--but who breaks the heart.

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."
- 1 Cor 2:4-5

from Thomas Brooks, The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

(HT: Lance)

An early view of CH Spurgeon

noreply@blogger.com (Jonathan Hunt) — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:48:00 +0000

On October 11, 1856, the London Illustrated Times ran an article on Pastor CH Spurgeon. At the time, he was 22 years of age, and, perhaps, not quite the household name he later became. About a year ago, I bid a few pounds on ebay for an image of CH Spurgeon (left) from the same newspaper. To my delight, the page contained the entire article. I am going to reproduce it for you here. Perhaps you will be suprised by it - possibly amazed - but I'm sure if you have read any of the major biographies such as Dallimore or Holden Pike - you will have noted the comments about what the press wrote about CHS - much of it was very unkind. It is instructive to read this article, and I will offer a few comments at the end - I am sure that you will have many of your own.

The Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon.

HIS ORIGIN.

Mr Spurgeon was born in Kelvedon, in Essex, says "The Patriot;" but another informant says that Colchester was his birth-place. He came into the world on the 19th June, 1834; he is, therefore, rather over twenty-two years of age: - a young man to make such a noise in the religious world. His father, Mr John Spurgeon, was, and is now, for aught we know to the contrary, a clerk in the office of Mr. Mann, a merchant at Colchester, and preaches on the Sunday at the Independent Chapel at Tollesbury. His son Charles, the popular preacher, was educated at the School of Mr. Henry Lewis of Colchester; subsequently, he went to the Agricultural College at Maidstone for a year; afterwards, as a teacher, to a school at Newmarket; and from thence, as usher, to Mr Leedham of Cambridge. At school, he showed no remarkable signs of talent, and when he left, could not devote much time to study, as, in addition to his duties of usher, he very soon had preaching engagements. His first settlement as a dissenting minister was at Waterbeach, Cambridge, where he was very popular, and it was from this time that he was allured to New Park Street Baptist Chapel by the deacons and managers, who were in want of a popular man to fill their deserted pews. Every Sunday did they look over their "beggarly account of empty boxes", and sigh at the remembrance of old times, until at length the bruit of this young man's fame reached them. The style of his preaching was very different to the old sobrieties of Dr. Rippon and his successors, and, moreover, he was "o'er young" to undertake a "London charge;" but, after due consideration had, the invitation was sent, and the tyro "came, saw and conquered." Indeed, it is now a question whether his success is not too great for the deacons and managers; for it is not unlikely that Mr Spurgeon may soon contemplate a higher flight, and aspire to some still larger place of worship, and leave the Park Street deacons in worse case than they were before.

HIS POPULARITY.

Mr Spurgeon's popularity is unprecedented; at all events, there has been nothing like it since the days of Wesley and Whitfield. Park Street Chapel cannot hold half the people that pant to hear him, and even Exeter Hall is too small. Indeed, it is reported on good authority that his friends mean to hire the Concert-room at the Surrey Gardens, and firmly believe that he will fill that. Nor is his popularity confined to London; in Scotland he was very much followed; and lately, we ourselves saw, on a weekday, in a remote agricultural district, long lines of people all converging to one point, and on inquiring of one of the party where they were going received for an answer "We're a gooing to hear Master Spudgin, sir."

ITS CAUSE.

This is a ticklish subject, for of all people we have met with in our career, the Spurgeonites are the most belligerent and fierce. They are as jealous for the reputation of their idol, as a Roman Catholic priest is for the authenticity of his "true Cross;" and only hint to one of them that you are not an enthusiastic admirer, and they "flare up" in a moment, as when a spark "Lights on a heap of nitrous powder."

Still we must venture - premising, by way of deprecation of their wrath, if we should not quite agree with his worshippers - that as we are not of his professed followers, so we are not his enemy - we belong to no religious faction. First, then, let it be remembered that ennui, as it is called in fashionable life, is to members of the religious world very distressing on a Sunday. During the week, most of them are actively engaged in business, time flies fast enough; but on the Sunday, dulness and wearisomeness reign. They may not read newspapers, or what are called secular books - no business must be attended to - even walking or riding for pleasure is considered to be of questionable propriety; and the places of worship to which they resort, some twice and some three times, are generally the most awfully dull places in the world.

It may be said, "Why do they not break through these customs? - read what they please? - walk and ride where they choose? - and go where they like, or stop at home when they are so minded?" But those who ask these questions little know the quiet tyranny that reigns in the religious world. What would the minister say if Stubbs were not regularly in his pew? What would the "deacons" say if he were known to "break the Sabbath" by reading "secular books," or walking out as "worldly people" do? In short, what would Mrs Grundy say? Now, this being the case, it is easily seen that anyone who brings a little liveliness, novelty, or strangeness into this dull scene must be a God-send. And this Mr Spurgeon has done; and we are persuaded that this in the main is the cause of his popularity. Go to most of the "places of worship" and you will find that the dullness is intolerable. Execrable singing, wearisome long prayers, and sermons as soporific as opium; but in Park Street, if there is nothing more, there is at least liveliness, and, for the present, novelty.

We have been several times to Mr Spurgeon's chapel, and for the life of us we can discover little more than this to account for the crowds that follow him. In the man himself, and in his preaching, there is really nothing remarkable, excepting his oddities. His doctrine is not new; on the contrary, it is nothing more than old Calvinism revived in its most uncompromising form. He is not an orator, scholar, nor man of genius; and he is the very worst reasoner we ever heard. But he is lively - says strange, odd, daring things, which keep the attention brisk, amuse the hearers, and give them something to talk about. Some have compared him to a great preacher of the last century, and say that he is a "second Whitfield;" but this is rubbish. Whitfield was a fervid orator, a man of genius, a scholar and a polished gentleman; but Mr Spurgeon is neither of these. This is, in our view, one great cause of his popularity; and this view is confirmed by observing who they are that form the staple of his congregations. Whitfield and Wesley gathered together thousands who never were accustomed to go to chapel or church - miners, sailors, craftsmen, and labourers of all sorts. But it is not so with Mr Spurgeon. His congregations are made up, not of those "outcasts" who "go nowhere" but of the middle-class regular chapel-goers, who, weared with the dulness of their own places of worship, come here for excitement. Outside of the "religious world", Mr Spurgeon has been little heard of. Even the echo of his name has not been heard in the higher classes, and amongst the lower he is quite as little known.

HIS SUCCESS.

It is true that we hear much of his success, but we must take all that we hear cum grano salis at present. If he has made the drunkard sober, debauchees chaste, or rogues honest, then he has been successful; but if he has only increased the number of fierce and intolerant belligerants for a creed, they had better been as they were. "They're worse for mending." We have too many of them already.

WILL HIS POPULARITY LAST?

We more than doubt it. It stands on no firm basis. Thousands who go now to hear him only go through curiosity. Men are very much like sheep; one goes through a hedge, then another, and another; at last the stream gathers crescit cundo, and the whole flock rushes madly forward. This has been a good deal the case with Mr Spurgeon's congregation, but the current will soon turn and leave him; and to those who have gone from a slightly different, if not better motive, it is hardly likely that he will retain them long. He must bid high if he does - offering them every Sunday a stronger dram than they had the last. Some short time ago we went to see the hippopotamus in the Regent's Park, and there we moralised upon the vanity of popular favour. When that poor brute first came to the Gardens, thousands rushed to see him, and for the convenience of the crowd seats, rising one above another, were erected; but now all this is past and gone. The reason is - there really was nothing specially attractive in the poor brute. His neighbour the giraffe was infinitely more graceful - the elephant was far more clever, and in his own element the otter and seal were much more agile and interesting; but he was strange, odd-looking, and novel; and so crowds and crowds hurried to see him, and for a time he was simply the most popular animal in all London. But, of course, this novelty soon wore away, his appearance became as familiar as the street monkeys, and as he had no new tricks to offer, his popularity rapidly declined. Now, Mr Spurgeon is the hippopotamus of the religious world - there have been and are many preachers far superior to him in every respect, but he is at present strange, odd, something new.

HIS APPEARANCE, MANNERS, STYLE &c.

We had intended to give a description of Mr Spurgeon's personal appearance, but there is no occasion, as the portrait from Cox's photograph will do that better than we can by words. Suffice it to say, that there is nothing about his head than indicates intellectual power, but everything to justify the opinion that we have formed after hearing him preach several times and read some dozen of his sermons. In all his productions there is one decidedly and unmistakeable proof that the author is not a man of an enlarged and cultivated mind. The audacious presumption with which he dogmatises on the profoundest mysteries, rushing in "where angels fear to tread," is quite decisive on that point. Every great man is reverent and modest in the presence of great mysteries; but Mr Spurgeon, on subjects that have perplexed and wearied the greatest thinkers of all time, never doubts, never hesistates, nor even condescends to reason.

"I am not here to argue," we heard him say, "but to proclaim the truth," that "truth" involving such questions as "fate, fore-knowledge, and free-will." As if he should say, "I am Sir Oracle; when I ope my mouth, let no dog bark."

Nor does he hestitate what to do with his opponents. He consigns them to perdition without mercy. "Arminianism," the creed of Wesley, and a whole host of pious and learned men, "will sink back to its birth-place in the pit." And in one of his sermons he draws a picture of a whole parish howling after a poor parson in hell because he had preached the efficacy of good works. "You advised me," he makes one of the parishoners say "to do such and such good works. I went and did them, and I am damned"

Mr Spurgeon's manner in the pulpit is not to be commended. His manner of praying is to our mind shocking. Most ministers when they pray, kneel down and cover their faces; but Mr Spurgeon stands up, stretches his hands out above his head, and fixing his eyes upon the ceiling, as if he saw someone up there to whom he was speaking, halloos at the top of his voice in the most irreverent and familiar manner. That this is all affectation we cannot doubt for a moment, for it is quite impossible to suppose that a man's devotional feelings would impel him to assume this ridiculous attitude. Mr Spurgeon's prayers are to us the most offensive part of the service. "Fantastic tricks" in speaking we can forgive - but "fantastic tricks before High Heaven" in prayer!! Of his manner when preaching there is little to be said; there is the usual amount of gesticulation - sometimes appropriate, and oftentimes not.

His sermons sometimes remind us of "Billy Dawson," the noted Methodist Yorkshire farmer, and sometimes of William Huntingdon, the famous antinomian; but he is not equal to either of them in natural ability. The chief characteristic of his preaching, and that which alone makes it attractive, is his coarse, vulgar metaphors. A little while ago, in addressing certain imaginary persons, who affected to think that they could give but little light in the world, he told them "that God would stick them in a saveall, for he loved to burn up His small pieces of candle." Sometimes he attempts the dramatic style, introducing upon the stage God, Jesus, Gabriel and himself. Now and then he says a good thing, and displays a touch of humour. For example, in a printed sermon, he says "There are some who find unneccessary and absurd fault with the things of this world, and call jewels 'gaudy toys' and gold 'sordid dust'. I have often admired some of my friends when I have heard then talking about gold as 'sordid dust,' for I have wondered why they did not give it to the dustman the next time he came round. If they were to do that, I would not mind going round myself for once with the bell."

But we must stop - we have said enough. There is one excuse for Mr Spurgeon: he is very young - only twenty-two. When he shall be a few years older, he will probably learn that "there are more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in his philosophy," and be less dogmatic and bigoted; and if we mistake not, will wish that much of his strange career and earlier utterances may be forgotten; especially if he shall be made to feel, as he will be, the fickleness of human applause.

*******************

Well, there you go. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing? Holden Pike quotes from this very news article in his biography of Spurgeon as summative of the type of criticism he received. Of course there were very much more favourable notices given, and many directly contradict this author (who is unknown) - particularly with regard to the young man's oratory, and 'genius'.

This article is notable for 'what happened next'. Just over a week later, when the Surrey Gardens Music Hall was engaged for Spurgeon's ministry as predicted, a tragic 'prank' was played when someone shouted 'fire', and seven were killed in the rush to escape. We have just passed the 150th anniversary of this sad event.

The next sermon delivered there was November 23rd, 1856, when Spurgeon, who had slowly recovered from great anguish after the tragedy, preached on Romans 5.6 - 'But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'. It is a fantastic sermon, and gives the lie to the body of text above!

The author of the article claims to belong to 'no religious faction'. I'd say he probably did - a rather large faction of Anglicans who attended church out of social custom to be entertained with the latest textual theories and developing liberalism - even modernism, one might say. In fact, there is a hint even of post modernism in what the author says - in objecting so strongly to Spurgeon's remark "I am not here to argue ... but to proclaim the truth", he effectively challenges the existence of objective truth at all!

Amusing to note as an aside is his remark on Spurgeon's head shape. I don't know if phrenology was particularly fashionable at the time, but I believe it was (if Sherlock Holmes is anything to go by!). Apparently, the appearance of ones head could 'indicate intellectual power' !!

Also amusing is his effusive praise of Whit(e)field - his praise for the preaching of a man he had NEVER HEARD. No doubt had he lived in those days he would have joined the general condemnation for such outrageous and irreligious open air preaching!

Spurgeon did, of course, aspire to some larger place of worship - but he didn't leave the New Park Street deacons behind - he took them with him! (Bar one, apparently, who kept the old place open till he died!)

Another overriding theme in the article is the author's inability to attribute to Spurgeon, or those around him, the pursuit of anything but personal fame and full church collection boxes. It surely says more about the heart of the author himself than about his subject. We also wonder what place this man has given to the Holy Spirit in what he has observed? No place whatsoever - because all fame and 'success'; must be explained away by 'natural' phenomena. The author no doubt considered himself a 'christian' gentleman - but the signs of life are sadly lacking!

We also do wonder what 'more' there could possibly have been in 'heaven and earth' that could have expanded the view of Spurgeon as his life progressed - he already had a sure and certain view of this world, as given by God in his Word.

Perhaps the author had cause to change his mind in future years as the Lord blessed, and as people of ALL classes and conditions were converted in their thousands. But for such an insincere reporter, who spent the times of prayer at New Park Street staring at Spurgeon rather than bowing his own head before almighty God... we have to quote his own words:

"We more than doubt it."

From www.glosbaptist.blogspot.com

We Have Fallen and Can't Get Up

noreply@blogger.com (Lance Johnson) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:47:00 +0000

By Lance Johnson

What is God like? Most in our society, both those active in church and those with little or no religious conviction, would answer that God is love. Certainly, one of God's prominent characteristics is his love. It is a major theme in the Scripture. A casual computer query of the New American Standard translation of the Bible returns 540 occurrences of the word 'love' or one of its forms. (Biblical linguists would probably take exception to my casual query, but it is sufficient to make my point.) However, there is a much more common characteristic of God in the Scripture. A similar casual query of the NASB text returns 670 occurrences of the word 'holy' or one of its forms, and 175 occurrences of the related terms 'sanctify' and 'consecrate' or one if their forms. That's astounding. So much is said in the church about God's love and so little is said about God's holiness, yet the Scripture talks much more about God's holiness. Granted, the two concepts really cannot be separated. John 3:16 says that Jesus died because heloved us. Titus 2:14 tells to what purpose he died, "[Christ Jesus] who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." In other words, holiness. His purpose is that the redeemed be a holy and separate people.

(Contemplate this. It is the holiness of God that requires man's repentance/redemption and the love of God that makes man's repentance/redemption possible. That, however, is a topic for another day.)

Sadly, the popular view of God, even among active believers, puts so much emphasis on God's love that his holiness is for all practical purpose lost. It is a lop-sided, unbalanced understanding of who God is, how he works, and how he relates to men, particularly the elect. This results in an emphasis not on God,but on men. What? How does one come to that conclusion? Simple. The focus of love is on the object of that love rather than on the subject of that love; on the one loved rather than on the one who loves. The love of God is an appealing characteristic for it focuses on us. The result is a church that lives in a state of self-indulgence rather than self-denial. A church that is turned inward rather than upward. A church that is weak rather than strong; defeated rather than victorious.

The greatest example of the importance of the holiness of God's people is in Joshua 7. It is a familiar story. The Israelites were riding a spiritual high after God so soundly defeated Jericho on their behalf. It was certainly a great demonstration of God's mighty work. It was done in such a way that no one could mistake the power behind the victory. It was God's and God's alone. The Israelite army simply obeyed God's command and he did a great thing. However, when a few days later the Israelite army went to battle a small town called Ai, they were soundly defeated because of the sin of just one man, Achan.

Joshua and the other Israelites were astounded and perplexed. Why had they been defeated by such a small, insignificant enemy? To his credit, Joshua immediately fell on his face and sought God's counsel. God answered simply and plainly in Joshua 7:11-12, "Israel has sinned . . . For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies . . . Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you." God had told them that all the spoils from Jericho were to be destroyed or dedicated to God. Achan, however, was more concerned with himself than with God's commands.

Generally, we have a difficult time making the connection between sin and defeat, or even sin and consequences. Certainly, sometimes the connection is easy, such as the connection between drunkenness and being injured in an accident. Other times it is not so clear because the link between the spiritual and the physical is not discerned with the five senses, but by the spirit of the living God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Even though the connection is less visible, it is no less real. This is a topic in and of itself that is beyond the scope of this blog entry, but look at Psalm 32. The Psalmist connects sinfulness with the fatigue of the daily grind of life. He says that his "vitality was turned into the drought of summer. (Psalm 32:4)" In these days of pandemic fatigue, this is definitely food for thought.

The result in the case of Achan, however, was tragically clear. The Israelite army was defeated by a small, militarily insignificant town. Far from the God-glorifying victory over Jericho, this was a humiliating defeat. God told Joshua that because of the sin among them they could not stand against their enemies. This in itself was bad enough, but the worst was yet to come. The secondary defeat was less visible, but more tragic. God told Joshua that not only could they not stand against their enemies,but that he, God, would not be with them any more unless they destroyed the accursed things from among them (Joshua 7:12). Contemplate the ramifications of that statement. God said that as long as there was sin among them he would not be with them. They would be on their own. They would have no strength. God told Moses the same thing in Exodus 33 after the incident with the golden calf. If God was not with them they knew they would perish. If only the church of today would learn that lesson. Without the presence of God, the church is powerless and pitiful.

Our response to Achan's sin is that it was such a little thing. After all, Achan was just one man among several thousand, some scholars would say one man among a couple of million. If we were speaking of human issues, it would be just a little thing. But we are not talking about human issues. We are talking about the divine issue of holiness. God took great pains to demonstrate just how serious sin is and how completely it debilitates his people. God's method of exposing the sin was to march the people by Joshua first by tribe, then by family, then by household, and finally by man. This served at least two purposes. First it showed that no matter how many were innocent, the sin affected all God's people, not just the sinner. This is something else we often forget. Second, it demonstrated that no matter how deeply buried, sin still debilitates and God still sees it. God may have had to work through the various layers of tribe, family, household, man, and even the man's tent to expose the sin, but it was exposed. It was not buried so deeply that God could not find and expose it . Remember Numbers 32:23, "and besure your sin will find you out."

Why all the fuss? Simple. God's purpose for the Israelites was not a political or military victory, but holiness. Their enemies were to be defeated spiritually rather than politically or militarily. Their primary enemy was not the Canaanites, but Satan himself and the destructive power of sin. Nothing has changed.God's purpose for his people is still holiness. Jesus died that his people might be holy (Titus 2:14). Our enemy is still spiritual. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.(Ephesians 6:12)" Our enemies are still to be defeated not by political or military power, but by the power of the Lord "'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah4:6) The church in general and the "religious right" in particular would do well to learn this truth.

Interestingly, Achan's particular sin was significant. It was the sin of covetousness or worldliness. This is a particularly pernicious sin for it eats away at the very foundation of holiness. The Israelites spent 40 years in the wilderness for the purpose of learning complete dependence upon God. That dependence was necessary for God to be glorified and for the conquest of the land. There are many examples and open declarations of the dangers of worldliness—the tenth commandment, many passages in Proverbs, the story of the rich young man in Luke 18, several passages on self-denial, Paul's emphasis on dying to self,and James 4:4: "do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." Worldliness always results in disobedience and a lack of holiness. Holiness requires that we go against the flow of society not with the flow of society. On this point, the church has failed. It has become so worldly that there is little difference between believers and the unchurched.

OK, so what is holiness? Theologians will certainly spend lots of time and ink debating the details, but for all practical purposes holiness is an issue of redemption and obedience. The Israelites were holy because, by the grace of God, they had been redeemed. They became unholy when just one among them disobeyed God's clear command. The obedience God demands is total, complete obedience. Achan was just one among an entire people of God, yet his disobedience destroyed that people's relationship with God and crippled their ability to stand before their enemies. This is not just an Old Testament concept. Jesus said that those who love him keep his commandments (John 14:15-24 and 1John).

The modern church in the West certainly cannot stand against its enemies. This is not what God had intended. Jesus told Peter, "upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)" His plan is that the church be on the offensive and Satan and his evil hosts be cowering behind the walls of the city. (See Joshua 5:1.) Why the church cannot stand is obvious. Sin. The church tolerates sin on every level. Today's Dallas Morning News (November 1, 2006) has an article about the misuse of $1.3 million dollars intended for new church plants. Many pastors have recently been in the news because of their sexual infidelity or other sins. More importantly, several studies have shown that the incident of occurrence of virtually all sins/vices—alcoholism, domestic violence, adultery, premarital sex and pregnancy, drug abuse, etc.—is the same among active church attenders as among the population in general. Why? Because we have believed Satan's lie that sin does not matter. We are unwilling to confront sin in the church. We are unwilling to confront sin in our ownlives. We tell ourselves that it is a little thing, and consequently willingly live defeated lives. We cannot stand against our enemy and God is not with us. We are truly "pitiful, wretched, and blind."

Reformation Day

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:00:00 +0000

In 1384, John Wycliffe, the morning star of the reformation, died of a stroke in Lutterworth, England. His life, until its end, was the beginning of a recovery of the Scriptures and the Gospel from the corrupt and power hungry Church of Rome.

Wycliffe broke with tradition by refusing to claim that the Church was the final authority in matters of faith. In 1378 he authored The Truth of Holy Scripture in which he claimed that the Bible alone was the authority for believers. He stated that church councils, tradition, and even the Pope himself were to be held accountable to the authority and teaching of Scripture.

He also proclaimed that every Christian should be able to read the Bible for himself! This was novel, for the church not only controlled and interpreted the Bible for its members, but only the clergy were even allowed to own or read Bibles! Wycliffe’s answer was to publish the Bible in the everyday language of the people.

Wycliffe went on to say that the office of Pope was an invention of men and not based on Scripture. He said that the Pope was indeed the antichrist, exalting himself in the place of Christ the Lord. Further, he stood up against the doctrine of transubstantiation – the idea that at the offering of the mass, the Eucharist, that the priest offered Jesus again as a sacrifice for God’s people and that the people then ate bread and wine which was literally the physical body and blood of Jesus.

As Wycliffe continued in the teachings and tradition of Augustine his greatest contribution to the world was the Bible translated into everyday language.

John Hus carried on the teachings of Wycliffe after his death. Hus, from Bohemia, not only encouraged the translation of the Word of God into the language of the people, but he preached in the language of the people instead of in Latin. He wanted the gospel to be heard and believed by those to whom he preached.

Hus also rejected the power and authority of the Pope, and while at a meeting to discuss his views in 1415 was arrested and burnt at the stake for his “heresy.” The council also took the opportunity to proclaim Wycliffe a heretic, even though he had been dead for almost 40 years. In fact, they dug up his bones and burnt them in contempt for his teaching and its influence on Hus.

At the end of Hus’ trial, when asked if he would appeal to the Pope for mercy, he responded, “I do affirm before you all, that there is no more just or effectual appeal, than that which is made unto Christ. Who is a higher judge than Christ?” When the chain was wrapped around his neck, binding him to the stake, he cried out, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this for my sake, and why then should I be ashamed of this rusty one?” As Hus was dying, being burned alive at the stake, he proclaimed, “What I have taught with my lips I seal with my blood. You are now going to burn a goose, but in a century you will have a swan which you can neither roast nor boil.”

The name Hus, means literally “goose.” In the 100 years from 1415 to the early 1500s another man came on the scene, a man whose family crest was the picture of a swan. That man was Martin Luther.

In the years between Hus and Luther there arose another figure of great importance, William Tyndale. He learned Greek so that he might translate the Word of God in the New Testament from the original language into English. You and I have our Bibles today because of the perseverance and hard work of William Tyndale. His English New Testament is perhaps the most important book ever published in the English language.

Tyndale, while in attendance at a meeting with priests and bishops said that he "defied the Pope and all his laws" and vowed that "a plough-boy would know more of the Scriptures than they." He was condemned as a blasphemer and heretic and burnt at the stake.

As the Word of God spread, and God continued moving upon men to proclaim the truth of the gospel, on the Eve of All Saints Day, October 31, 1517, (Reformation Day) exactly 489 years ago today, a momentous and incredible event took place at the Church in Wittenberg, Germany, in fulfillment of Hus earlier prophecy. There this Roman Catholic monk named Martin Luther, the swan, challenged the leaders of the church that had burned the goose to a debate. He did so in the form of a protest.

Luther had long been studying the Scriptures and having been regenerated by the Spirit of God was given understanding as to what the Scriptures taught about sin, salvation, and especially about the justification of lost sinners by faith alone in Jesus Christ. He came to see, as had Wycliffe and Hus, that the sole authority for the church was the Word of God.

Describing his own conversion, Luther wrote:

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In this the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’.” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives, by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.

As Luther reacted against and protested the selling of indulgences (money paid to the church for the forgiveness of sins) and many other abuses by the church – things that he saw the church doing that clearly contradicted the teachings of Holy Scripture – he made a list. His list of 95 offenses or abuses, which are referred to as Luther’s 95 Thesis was an indictment of the church and many of its tradition and practices.

In challenging the church, he wanted a public debate, and so took and nailed his list to the church door at Wittenberg. He made a public protest by posting this in such a way. It was a public statement about the condition of the church and its relation to the truth of Holy Scripture.

In response he was put on trial and challenged to recant of his thesis, which the church court saw as heresy. He challenged their ultimate and infallible authority to interpret the Word of God for the people. At this trial, know as the Diet of Worms, Luther stood his ground. In fact, his final reply to the command to recant was an absolute appeal to the authority of Scripture alone as his guide in matters of faith. Luther was asked by the court:

Do you wish to defend the books which are recognized as your work? Or to recant anything contained in them? . . .

He concluded his reply by saying:

You demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convinced by Scripture or by plain reason (for I do not accept the authority of popes or councils, for they have often contradicted each other), my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.

As history unfolded around him, this date and time at that church door have become the spark that brought FIRES of renewal to the church and freed to gospel from the clutches of the cultic church controlled by Rome and the Pope. This spark, this birth of a protest against the abuses of the Church, is known to us today as the Protestant Reformation.

This turning point in history, has given us many rich traditions and doctrines. The foundation of the Reformation of course is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. This truth sprung forth from the cornerstone, the conviction that God’s Word, the Holy Scriptures, was itself the sole infallible authority for life and faith, for salvation and Christian living, for the church and the world.

We, who carry on in the debt of those great reformers who have gone before us, believe that the truths taught and proclaimed during the time of the reformation and since that time, are truths that must be upheld. We also believe that adherence to Reformed Theology means at the very least that we follow their example and are ourselves always reforming, always offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to God so that He through His Word might conform us to the image of His Son by the renewing of our minds.

Baptism and Infants - A Baptist Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:15:00 +0000

by Steve Owen

Dr Dennis Johnson is Associate Professor of Theology at Westminster Seminary in California. The essay (linked below), originally a letter written to his daughter, has been praised as one of the simplest and most persuasive defenses of the practice of Infant Baptism. What follows is an attempt to review his essay from a Baptist perspective.

Infant Baptism: How My Mind Has Changed by Dr. Dennis E. Johnson.

“The difference of views on infant baptism unfortunately does affect Christians’ ability to demonstrate in practice our unity as the Body of Christ. “Infant baptizers” can and do recognize the baptism received by “believer baptizers” as genuine Christian baptism (although we may think that it’s administered later than it should be in the case of children of Christian parents). But “believer baptizers” cannot acknowledge that believers who were baptized as infants have been baptized at all. So if “believer baptizers” are right – if people who have received infant baptism have not received biblical baptism at all – then there have been hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of Christian believers who have never obeyed the Lord’s command to be baptized in his Name, believers such as Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, J. Gresham Machen, J. I. Packer, John Stott, R. C. Sproul, etc.”

This is disingenuous to say the least. Dr Johnson seeks to put the blame for disunity among Christians on the shoulders of Baptists. But in doing so, hundreds of years of discrimination, if not outright persecutions of Baptists by Paedo-baptists have been airbrushed out. Even today, a widely published and read Presbyterian declares that the children of Baptists should be christened by force if necessary, and discussions on a reformed internet discussion forum claim that Baptists ‘sin’ by not sprinkling their children and are in danger of hell if they do not repent. It is undeniable that the ministries of paedo-baptists like Latimer, Whitefield and many others have been greatly blessed by the Lord, just as those of Christmas Evans, Spurgeon, Carey and many other Baptists have been. Clearly the issue is not one of salvation. But one view has to be right and the other wrong, and if infant baptism is not valid, it is no good saying that it is for the sake of peace. It is Christ’s bride, His Church which is affected when unbelievers are admitted into it by infant baptism, and that is a serious matter.

Johnson continues:-

Acts never explicitly describes a situation that would make crystal clear how the apostles handled the situation of children born to Christian parents. (Obviously, if Acts had spoken directly and clearly on this point, the discussion between “believer baptist” and “infant baptist” would have been settled long ago.)

Well, I believe that the book of Acts is specific as to who was baptized, and therefore as to who is to be baptized by those who take the Bible as their rule of practice. Johnson’s argument is quite simply an argument from silence. The Bible knows nothing of infant baptism, but only that of professing believers. Consider:-

‘Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers’ (Acts 2:41-42 ).

‘But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized’ (Acts 8:12 ).

It is believers who were baptized and no one else. They heard and understood the preaching, believed that which was preached and were baptized. They then continued in the doctrine that they had received. Can infants hear and understand preaching? Can they continue in that which they have understood and obeyed? Of course not! Moreover, it was open to the Holy Spirit to add the words ‘And their children’ to either of those texts. He did not do so and it is not for us to add them (Prov 30:5-6 ).

Johnson continues (I pass over the question of household baptisms for the moment):-

Acts and the rest of the New Testament never record any statement by the Jesus or the Apostles that the infants of believers are now to be treated differently in the New Covenant from the way that the infants of Israelite believers were treated in the Old: namely, the New Testament never states that whereas Israelite children were treated as part of the covenant community, the children of Christians are to be treated as outside the covenant community that is under Christ’s Lordship.

This is just plain wrong. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that those who are in the New Covenant are very different from those in the Old (Mosaic) Covenant.

‘"Behold, the days are coming,” Says the LORD, “When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah- not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” Says the LORD. “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” Says the LORD: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people”’ (Jer 31:31-33. cf. also Heb 8:8-10 ).

The New Covenant differs from the Old at this very point. Everyone who is in the New Covenant has God’s law written on his heart (cf. 2Cor 3:3 ) and knows the Lord (Jer 31:34; Heb 8:11-12 ). Clearly this means that infants are not born New Covenant members (Psalm 51:5 ); they must be born again (John 3:3-8 ). We cannot know absolutely that everyone who professes faith in Christ is truly born again, but we are only to baptize, as the Apostles did, those who do make a credible profession of faith and to discipline and expel those who show themselves afterwards not to be true believers (1Cor 5:13; 1Tim 1:20; Titus 3:10 ). Christ’s Church is to be kept as pure as possible.

Johnson then gets onto the subject of circumcision.

One clear place to start is with the fact that circumcision was administered to infant Israelite boys at the age of 8 days (Gen. 17:9-14 ).

Now we need to recognize that baptism and circumcision are not the same thing. They don’t look alike, and they certainly don’t feel alike! Nor are they administered to the same people. Biblical circumcision was for males only, and never is it associated with anyone’s faith but Abraham’s (Rom 4:11 ) and his saving faith came before, not after he was circumcised (Gen 15:6 ). Israelite boys were circumcised as babies and foreigners were circumcised if they wanted to eat the Passover (Exodus 12:43 ) along with their households, but nowhere is faith in Jehovah mentioned. Indeed, Naaman the Syrian, who did profess faith (2Kings 5:15 ) was not circumcised, presumably because he was not a sojourner in Israel.

Baptism, on the other hand is administered to both men and women and is expressly and frequently associated with belief and discipleship. Look at Matt 3:5-9; 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 4:1; Acts 2:41, 8:12, 36-37; 16:33-34 ). Never is baptism clearly separated from faith, even if it is not invariably true, saving faith (Acts 8:13 ).

If baptism is the New Covenant replacement for circumcision, how is it that when the churches of Antioch and Jerusalem met to discuss circumcision (Acts 15 ), baptism was never so much as mentioned? How is it that Paul does not tell the Galatians that they do not need circumcision because they have been baptized? How is it that Paul is quite relaxed about the Jerusalem Jewish Christians continuing circumcision and other old covenant practices (Acts 20:20-21 ), but dead against Gentile Christians being circumcised? The answer is that circumcision and baptism are two very different things. Circumcision is an ordinance for the physical descendants of Abraham (John 8:31ff), baptism is for his spiritual descendants (Gal 3:7 ), for the children of promise (Gal 4:28 ) for whom, ‘Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation’ (Gal 6:15 ).

Abraham was instructed to circumcise all his male household, whether they believed or not; but that did not bring them into God’s covenant. Nothing is more clear from Gen 17:18ff than that Ishmael was not in the covenant.

‘And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!" Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him’ (Gen 17:18-19 ). As it is written elsewhere: ‘But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called" (Romans 9:6-7 ).

Baptism is for the spiritual heirs of Abraham, for those who have the faith that he possessed before he was circumcised. Paul tells the Galatians, ‘ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham’ (Gal 3:7 ) and a little later he tells them, ‘For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise’ (Gal 3:27-29 ). It is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we become Abraham’s seed, not by birth, and therefore baptism into Christ is only for those who have ‘put on Christ’- that is those who have trusted in Him for salvation. Does that mean that we can tell infallibly who is a Christian and therefore eligible for baptism? Of course not! We are to baptize those who make a credible profession of repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus. If the profession turns out to be false, then we must tell them what Peter told Simon Magus; “You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:21 ). The fact that we cannot invariably distinguish false professors from true ones is no reason for baptizing all and sundry. A bank cannot infallibly ensure that none of its customers are crooks, but it will still run credit checks on them! In the Bible, it was those who professed faith and repentance that were baptized. If we claim to be Bible-believing Christians, we should follow the Bible.

Johnson writes,

Circumcision and Baptism Mark the Boundaries of the Community that Is Under Christ’s Lordship.

This was certainly not true of circumcision. In Isaiah 29:13, God declares of the Israelites, “These people draw near with their mouths and honour Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.” Likewise, can we really say that the paedo-baptistic Church of England is under the Lordship of Christ? Or PCUSA? Or the huge majority of Methodist churches? Are they not more like apostate Israel of old, of whom the Lord declared; ‘"Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised-- 26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart"’ (Jer 9:25-26 ).

It remains just to touch on a couple of texts used by Dr Johnson.

Firstly, Acts 2:39. “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Dr Johnson correctly states that ‘all who are afar off’ refers to the Gentiles (Eph 2:13 ), but the only relevant question for us is, what is the promise? Surely it is that if we, our children and everyone else will repent, trust in Christ for salvation, they should be baptized, and will all be saved. There is nothing in this that contradicts the Baptist position, quite the opposite. It goes without saying that children must be old enough to understand the Gospel before they can believe it.

Next, Luke 18:15-16. It is true that our Lord received the little children and that He blessed them. What He did not do was to baptize them. Parents cannot bring their children physically to the Lord today, but they can and should bring them before the Lord in prayer and teach them about Him and encourage them to come to Him themselves in repentance and faith. What does verse 17 mean? Surely it means that those who come to Christ must set aside their worldly philosophies, doubts and prejudices and come in simple, child-like faith?

Thirdly, Johnson mentions Paul’s words to children in Eph 6:1 and notes that he does not distinguish between believing and unbelieving children. This would be remarkable if it were true. Whatever one’s view of baptism, it is vital that children come to faith. In fact, Paul treats them as unbelievers; he points them to the law. ‘The law was out tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith’ (Gal 3:24 ).

Finally, a brief word on ‘household baptisms.’ Paul wrote (1Cor 1:16 ), ‘Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanus.’ Were there infant children in Stephanus’s house? Apparently not, unless the infants were remarkably precocious! For in 16:16, we learn that that same household ‘have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints.’ Since there is no mention of a husband for Lydia (Acts 16:14-15 ), it is likely that she was either single or widowed, but if we insist upon a husband so as to endow her with infant children, then we also have to imagine that he would also have been baptized against his will so as to complete the household baptism! Finally, the Philippian jailor. We know that jailors were usually retired Roman Legionaries, so he was probably in his sixtys and his wife of similar age; but even if we imagine a young bride and newborn babies for him, it does not help the paedo-baptist cause, because we are told that he ‘Rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household' (Acts 16:34 ). The natural reading of that sentence is that the whole household believed, but even if we deny that, it must still be admitted that everyone there was old enough to know what was going on and rejoice at it which they would hardly have done if their religion was going to be changed against their wills.

A very last question: does it matter? Only in this respect, and here I speak from personal experience. If children are encouraged to believe that they are Christians when they are not, they become Gospel-proof. Why do they need to repent and trust in Christ, they wonder, when they are already Christians? I wrongly believed that I was a Christian for almost forty years purely because I had been christened as a baby and had not (in my own eyes) committed any very terrible sins. A recent survey showed that 70% of British people think that they are Christians. To anyone who knows the state of spirituality in this country, that is nothing short of bizarre, and it can only be that people think that baptism makes them Christian. They are going to hell with a false promise in their hands. The Lord Jesus tells that unless we are born again, we will not so much as see the kingdom of God, much less enter it. Baptism is to be administered after the second birth, not the first.

The Second Foundation of Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 05:00:00 +0000

Fellowship: Our Duty to One Another in the Church
By Phillip M. Way

Previous Articles in this series:
The First Foundation of Fellowship: One Body, Many Members

And now for Part 2 -

The Second Foundation of Fellowship:
Do Not Be Unequally Yoked Together with Unbelievers
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1

We would all be quick to affirm the truth that we are commanded to fellowship with one another within the church. However, as we have seen, defining fellowship tends to be problematic. Many have come to think of fellowship as any social activity with other people who are members of our church or who present themselves to us as fellow followers of Christ. The truth that seems so evasive is that fellowship is a very specific set of actions that must be motivated by love for God and for each other within the Body of Christ. And we must not forget that for all we seem to not know about fellowship, it is a duty assigned to us by Christ that must be fulfilled if we are to be obedient to Him.

We learned in our last visit that in order to understand and apply what the Bible tells us about fellowship it is necessary for us to see that there are several foundations of fellowship. Each foundation helps give us a more clear idea of what exactly we are commanded to do for one another in the church. The first foundation of fellowship we reviewed was the basic understanding that we are many members but one body. We strive to be unified because we are one body and members of each other. That is why we must be humble, esteeming others as better than ourselves. By not having too high a view of ourselves we are allowed to enjoy genuine, unpretentious fellowship. Remember, humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 tells us:

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “ I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “ Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

How often have we heard these verses quoted? Usually it is limited to the context of dating, courtship, and marriage! We tell our children and the singles in our church that they must marry a Christian because the Bible forbids marrying a non-believer. We must never even think about becoming yoked together with a lost person for then we would be violating the command, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers."

Is this true? It is true that this is but one text we can use to show that believers should marry only other believers - marrying "in the Lord" as Paul puts it - but to stop there is to miss the entire context and application of these verses. We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, should not be yoked or joined together with anyone who is an unbeliever within the realm of spiritual intimacy or ministry pursuits. But then I am getting ahead of myself. Before we delve further into what the context tells us about this command, let us spend just a moment to investigate what this principle does NOT mean.

This principle cannot be taken ever in any way to proclaim that we should have no contact or friendship with people who do not know Jesus! This is not a banner verse for setting up a monastery or a Christian social club (which is what many "churches" have indeed become) to function in such a way that we never ever have contact with anyone outside the faith.

Our proof is found in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, which hardly needs explaining:

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

We see then that the unbeliever is not to be avoided at all costs as if he really were unclean. No! Instead we see that while we are given the command to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers we are to be in the world as ambassadors for Christ preaching and living the message that God has sent His Son to seek and save that which was lost and to reconcile sinners to Himself.

We see that this command is at it foundation task oriented. It is built off of the command found in Deuteronomy 22:10 which tells us, "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together." This deals with work, with accomplishing tasks, with being closely tied together in the pursuit of a common goal. If we take a big, strong ox and yoke him to a smaller yet stubborn donkey what kind of furrow can we plow? There could not be any cooperation because these two animals by nature are different. This is how we understand the second foundation for fellowship. Two people who are different by nature, one born again the other lost in sin, cannot undertake successfully plowing a straight row, so to speak.

We have already defined fellowship as "to share in or with; participate; take an interest in; partner with; be connected; or to share in a common pursuit." So how is it that we can befriend the lost and still fulfill this command not to be unequally yoked together with them?

The context of 2 Corinthians 6 helps us see that the command is given in light of spiritual pursuits, ministry, and intimacy. How can two people pursue spiritual things on a common level if one of them is still a "natural man"? (1 Cor 2:14). If a person is saved they have put off the old, natural man and are a new man in Christ! How can there be any deep unity in a spiritual pursuit between one who is alive spiritually and one who is still dead? In fact, how can they minister together? This is the primary error of ecumenism - thinking that we can work together in ministerial pursuits with those who do not even believe the basic fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The truth is that there can be no real spiritual intimacy at all between two people who are members of different spiritual kingdoms.

This is exactly what the text we are examining goes on to prove. Let us look at the differing aspects of this truth - we must not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers because:

What Fellowship has Righteousness with Lawlessness?

Again, the term fellowship means "to share in or with; participate; take an interest in; partner with; be connected; or to share in a common pursuit." How in the world could we ever be talked into believing that righteousness and lawlessness partner with one another in a common pursuit? What common pursuit has righteousness and lawlessness? This sounds so simple and obvious, but think about it. How often do we and people in our churches pursue righteousness and lawlessness at the same time? This would be illustrated by doing the right thing in the wrong way.

The term righteousness means a state of being right with God. The term lawlessness means literally “no law.” How do we figure that we can be right with God and at the same time live with no law? "Ah ha" says the antinomian, we are free from the law and under grace. This of course misses the whole use of the Law, and it presumes that the Law has no bearing whatsoever on the life of the believer. It is a viewpoint that ignores all the commands (Law) given us in the Old and New Testaments. It is blatant licentiousness - using the liberty we have in Christ as a license for fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

The truth is that there is no righteousness without the Law for the Law tells us explicitly what it is to be righteous! And here we have it laid out plainly that a right relationship with God cannot include participation with living with an absence of the Law. The Law, to be sure, does not justify or save us, but we know that the reason we are justified by faith in Christ is because Christ kept the Law and has imputed His righteousness to us! And after the Law points us to Christ (Gal 3:24) we know that it continues to give us guidelines for godly living (1 Tim 1:5).

What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? Consider these verses:

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. - Romans 6:19

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” - Hebrews 1:19

We understand that we cannot be unequally yoked together with unbelievers because we are slaves of righteousness and they are slaves of lawlessness and sin. There can be no cooperation, no common pursuit between the two for even if we have a supposedly common goal our motives and means will be opposed to one another.

What Communion has Light with Darkness?

Further, we see the impossibility of yoking believers with unbelievers in a different light - that is, what communion does light have with darkness? If it is dark, there is no light. If it is light, there cannot be darkness. The two do not co-exist! The term communion helps us further understand fellowship. It means intimacy, referring to a close relationship. How close a relationship can light have with darkness?

Here is why we cannot fellowship with the lost - they are darkness and we are light. Note, the Bible does not say we were in darkness and are now in the light. No, we were darkness and now we are light in the Lord. What cooperation, what spiritual intimacy, what common pursuits can believers have then with unbelievers? Men without Christ are the absence of light. They are unholy, depraved, dead in sin, bound to sin, slaves of sin, able only to sin and unable to not sin! They are deep and utter darkness, void of the light of truth.

1 John 1:5-6 tells us, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." God is light. We, before Christ, are darkness. Opposite ends of the light spectrum. We have no light in and of ourselves.

Consider the difference between light and darkness within the context of believers and unbelievers found in Ephesians 5:8-14:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “ Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.”

There is the command again, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” Sounds cooperative doesn’t it? What level of intimacy can we achieve with one whose fruit and way of life we by our very life in Christ exposed? If we are walking in the light as He is in the light then our lives will reflect Christ. And that reflection will expose, it will manifest and reveal the sinful walk and ways of those who have not trusted Christ.

It is not that we work at exposing their sin by gossip, slander, or ridicule. It is that our life of holy obedience and spiritual fruit is in such stark contrast to a life without Christ that their sin is made that much more blatant and hideous. If we try and hide the light or attempt to live around the lost in such a way that we do not expose their sin then we are living in sin! We are fearing men more than we fear God. And we are denying the power of the gospel through our testimony to be used by the Holy Spirit to call people to Christ for salvation. Do we really want friends so badly that we hide who and what we are so that they cannot see the truth and be saved? How utterly selfish is that kind of life?

The fruit produced in our lives is different. The believer produces good fruit, the fruit of the spirit. The unbeliever produces bad fruit, the works of the flesh. And light and darkness cannot have communion. There is no common ground, there is no meeting in the middle. Light always exposes what is hidden in the dark or darkness always extinguishes the light.

What Accord has Christ with Satan?

In our text Satan is referred to as “Belial”. It is a word that means “the worthless one.” That is a fitting name for the devil, is it not? And we are asked what accord Christ has with Belial. Christ, the most worthy of all (Rev 5:12), is here presented in contrast to Satan, the worthless one. The term accord means agreement. What agreement can there be between Christ and Satan?

There is a progression here that we need to note for a moment. In defining the idea of not being unequally yoked together with an unbeliever we have seen Paul use the illustration of righteousness and lawlessness and then light and darkness. But here there is no confusion whatsoever – what agreement does Jesus have with the devil? Jesus, the anointed Messiah, God in the flesh, the Son of God, perfect in holiness and righteousness, Himself the Light of the world in contrast to Satan, the worthless one, a fallen angel, the father of lies, lawless, and while parading as an angel of light is actually “the prince of darkness grim.” How could these two work together in a common pursuit, on intimate terms, in cooperation?

In 1 Corinthians 10:7-21 we read about idolaters. These worship false gods. They worship themselves. Is this not Satan’s first sin? He desired to be like the Most High, coveting the Throne of God. He wanted to be God, thus committing the ultimate idolatry. We see here that all false religion, all idolatry, the worship of anything or anyone other than the True and Living God is in reality the worship of demons! False worship is demonic.

There is no connection, no agreement, no cooperation between demons and Christ. They are subject to Him and must obey Him as He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The point here is that we cannot “partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.” Yet so many try to do God’s work the worlds way and they ultimately corrupt the worship of God and find themselves sitting at the table with demons. We cannot obey the Word of God or work to advance His Kingdom and grow His Church by siding with the Enemy. It is impossible to live a life that exalts the worthiness of Christ all the while we are serving the purposes of the worthless one.

What Part has a Believer with an Unbeliever?

What part, that is, what portion does a Believer have with an Unbeliever? What do they share? One trusts Christ. One has believed to the salvation of his soul. The other does not believe. He is an unbeliever. He has no saving faith and he does not know or trust Jesus Christ. The believer is a new creation in Christ, having been given a new heart, a new mind, and a new life. The unbeliever is dead in sin, a slave of unrighteousness, with a futile mind, a hard heart, a darkened understanding, and a seared conscience.

Here are those in the faith and those who have no faith. What can they share? Proverbs 11:6 says, “The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful will be caught by their lust.” A believer will find deliverance through faith, the unfaithful will be caught by their own sinful desires. This relates specifically to how we would be motivated to pursue a common goal. As I have already stated, the motives and methods are substantially different. If we attempt to cooperate in a common pursuit we who have trusted Christ will not be thinking, speaking, or acting in the same way that those who do not believe.

The lost man cannot have right motives. Think about this. Can someone who is dead in sin, a member of the kingdom of Satan, who is unfaithful, who does not believe or trust in Christ have a right motive? We as Christians often struggle wanting to do the right thing but going about it the wrong way. How much more is this the case with an unbeliever who is incapable in his very nature of overcoming sin and lust on his own?

This is also a very strong contrast. Paul is not leaving any opportunity for the reader to believe that these two being contrasted have anything at all in common. There is no place here for intimacy in spiritual pursuits.

What Agreement has the Temple of God with Idols?

The word agreement means giving approval. So the question here is, “What approval does the Temple of God give idols?” Likewise, does Satan approve of the things of God or does he instead attempt to tempt us and lure us away from obedience to God’s Word? This is the height of ecumenism – joining together with those of other “faiths” (who in reality worship demons, whether they know it or not) with the hope that we can impact our communities or our churches for the better when in reality if we are holding to the gospel then one who would deny the gospel should find no approval from us whatsoever.

The Temple here refers to where God dwells. Can idols be there? What happened throughout the Bible when idols were introduced in the Land of Israel or at the Temple? The Land and the Temple were defiled. The idolaters were speaking out against the very presence and Person of God.

The next verse, 2 Corinthians 6:16, tells us then, “you are the temple of the living God.” God dwells in us, in His church! If we have trusted Christ, God is IN us. He has sealed us and fills us with His Spirit. We are the temple of God. We are where He dwells, in the midst of His people. In the Old Testament the people came to the Temple, in the New Testament we are the Temple.

What approval then does the household of God give to idols? God says,

I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord. “Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,” says the LORD Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

We understand that we are not to have fellowship with unbelievers, because righteousness does not have fellowship with lawlessness, light does not have communion with darkness, Christ does not have an agreement with Satan, a believer has no part with an unbeliever, and the Temple of God has no approval to give the household of idols.

Friendship with the World – James 4:1-6

In light of all of this, in order to better understand the lesson here, James 4:1-6 has a word for us.

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

The church here is being ruled by her lust, befriending the world, and making herself an enemy of God. To do things the world’s way is indeed to make ourselves God’s enemy! The word used here for friendship means a favored companion, someone we trust intimately, someone we spend time with and fellowship with and from whom we seek counsel and advice. We are not to have this kind of relationship with the world. The world, those who are not in the Church and who do not know Christ, are not to be our favored companions or intimate confidants.

To be a friend of the world is enmity we are told. Enmity means open hostility. If we make the world and those in the world our favored companions then we are being openly hostile to God. This does not mean that we cannot minister to the world, or love those in the world, or reach out to those in the world. It also does not mean that we cannot be friends with people who are lost. But what it does mean is crucial in understanding this principle of not being unequally yoked together in fellowship.

This means that we must be careful about the level of that relationship that we have with those in the world. If the people that we are closest to and most intimate with, those that we open up and share everything with are not disciples of Jesus Christ then we have moved beyond the boundary set forth in our study. If we join in common pursuits without discernment and engage in fellowship with the lost then we are befriending the world system and making ourselves an enemy of God!

To understand this we see that to fellowship with unbelievers is in fact to confuse friendship with discipleship! The mechanism we have been given within the church for intimacy, growth, friendship, and cooperation is discipleship. If however we do not understand discipleship and we seek encouragement and counsel and instruction from people who do not know Christ then we will be mislead. They cannot advise us when it comes to spiritual pursuits and goals. They cannot lead us. They cannot direct or instruct us. They do not know God!

Christ has given His church the leadership that they need (Eph 4:11-16).

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

If we go outside of the body to have our needs for fellowship and discipleship met then either the church is dysfunctional or we have separated ourselves from the Body in a sinful manner. In doing so, we are trying to force the light and the darkness to co-exist and benefit each other, and this is impossible, both in the physical and the spiritual realm. Those who know us the best and teach us need to share the common foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ.

Proverbs to Ponder

These Proverbs help us understand and illustrate this principle:

“The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.”(Proverbs 12:26). Who are our friends? Who are we close to and who do we trust? We must choose our friends carefully because if they are wicked they will lead us astray.

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24). In order to have friends we must be a friend. Another way to say this is that if we want to have fellowship we must fellowship. The unfriendly usually do not have many friends, and those who shun fellowship usually find themselves being influenced by those outside the church rather than those in the family of faith. And there are those in the Body of Christ who can be closer to us even than family members!

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:6). When we have the gospel in common and there is a need to rebuke one another in the Body of Christ, while those rebukes might hurt and wound, these actions are in their very nature acts of faithfulness. We can instruct and correct and reprove one another with the Word of God and even though it is painful it is for our good and God’s glory. On the other hand, when an enemy kisses us (Judas, for example) we find deceit. We think of enemy here as a hostile opponent charging at us to harm us and we wonder why they would kiss us, but in truth, those who are our friends who do not know Christ are indeed our enemies and the enemies of God. We are instructed to love our enemies just as God has loved His enemies. But when the people who are close to us are in their very nature our enemies we must know that their kisses, their approval, is deceitful. Even in the love and care of a kiss, we find our enemies full of deceit, for how can one who does not know the love of God know how to love us?

“Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9). Our friends give us counsel and influence us. We must guard ourselves then from being influenced against God.

James 2:23 makes the point this way, “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’ And he was called the friend of God.” Are we like Abraham, a friend of God? Or are we a friend of the world? John 15:14 tells us how we make God our friend, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” We are God’s friends when we obey Him. And we need to have as our closest advisors, our counselors, and as our intimate friends those who are God’s friend, those who know Him and obey Him.

The Danger of Spiritual Goals Pursued with Carnal Means – Romans 8:5-11

Having examined these statements we see then that we must ask with Paul, “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” Further we are motivated to ask why we would befriend the world and make ourselves an enemy of God? The underlying lesson here is that there is a great and serious danger in pursuing spiritual goals by carnal means.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. The carnal mind, the fleshly mind, the futile mind of the lost is enmity against God. Those who are not Christ’s are openly hostile to God whether they look it or not! We cannot let our guard down and forget this. We must understand that we can love people who are lost, we can minister to them and befriend them, but to step from friendship to fellowship is to forget that they are carnally minded and that they being in the flesh cannot please God.

Having a deep friendship where we are influenced and advised by those who are in the flesh means that those giving us instruction and direction are those who cannot please God. They have no faith. They do not understand the Word of God. They will mislead us.

I fear that so many in the church are involved so deeply in sinful friendships because they have not been taught how to fellowship. The church is severely deficient in this area. We are particular about our doctrines and our practice and yet we most often fail at living what we believe. We neglect our duty to one another in fellowship and so members of our churches find as their closest friends those who are in the world instead of those who are members of the same Body with them!

How do we know when we have crossed the line between friendship and fellowship? The definition of fellowship helps answer this question. Are we engaged in common spiritual pursuits? Are we involved in intimate and deep decision making with them? Are we allowing them to influence the way we think, talk, or act? Are they instructing us, telling us how to be better parents or counseling us as to how to be a better spouse? Do they have a Biblical foundation for what they teach us? Do we approve the things that they do that are displeasing to God? If so, we have crossed the line. We cannot minister to them because we have embraced friendship with the world and become unequally yoked with unbelievers.

In summing this up, anything that we do with our lost friends that detracts from our living and preaching the gospel to them attacks the very reason we are to be their friend in the first place. We must never forget that our lost friends are lost and that they need Jesus.

Friendship - the Key to Effective Fellowship

What we see then in establishing this second foundation for fellowship is that friendship is truly the key to effective fellowship. We must study and meditate on what the Bible tells us about friendship. We must guard ourselves from the influences of those around us who we love but who do not know Jesus Christ. We must be reminded that our love for the church should come first, that as we learned in the first foundation of fellowship, we are members of one another. And there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

We must not confuse friendship and discipleship. We are to learn from other believers how to live lives that glorify God. In Titus 2:1-10 we are given the characteristics of a sound church. Interestingly, Paul does not give Titus a list of doctrines or church practice. He says, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the characteristics of a sound and healthy church can be found in how the members of the church are living. We must see that sound doctrine always leads to godly living. Jesus told us that the way we would tell the difference between true and false teachers is by their fruit. What results do we see from their doctrine? This also tells us that to know sound doctrine but not live it is useless. We must hear and do the Word of God.

In examining this foundation of fellowship we must ask a final question before moving on. Are we unequally yoked with unbelievers? If so, we must get into the Word, learn the truth about friendship and fellowship, confess our sin, and start doing what we have studied – fellowship with those who share our faith and belong to our Lord. This is the second foundation of fellowship.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.

Coming Soon – The Third Foundation of Fellowship: Fellowship in the Gospel

C.T. Studd (1860-1931)

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 05:00:00 +0000

CT Studd has been one of my heroes since I was a boy. Revisiting some of his writing and his biolgraphy recently has refreshed my mind about this great man of God.

If you do not know who CT Studd is, then you must learn about him! Read about him. He was a famous cricket player who left the sport for the mission field and gave his inherited family fortune away to fund missions. He served first with Hudson Taylor and China Inland Missions, then served in India, and then founded a mission agency and went as a missionary to Africa.

Here are a few quotes from his writing:

"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

"The best training for a soldier of Christ is not merely a theological college. They always seem to turn out sausages of varying lengths, tied at each end, without the glorious freedom a Christian ought to abound and rejoice in. You see, when in hand-to-hand conflict with the world and the devil, neat little biblical confectionery is like shooting lions with a pea-shooter: one needs a man who will let himself go and deliver blows right and left as hard as he can hit, trusting in the Holy Ghost."

"Funds are low again, hallelujah! That means God trusts us and is willing to leave His reputation in our hands. "

"Our recruits come out from home vastly raw and are largely parrots. They have been crammed with religion as though for an examination, and seem to come out to carry on their education rather than finish it. So many are just taught doctrines without ever having thought them out or searched the Scriptures for themselves. They come out like infants with pop guns. They need to be trained into soldiers with real devil-defying weapons. Some arrive thinking they are the last thing in high-class Christianity and have to find out they know little. That is why I keep the newcomers here at base for a time till I can make them really think out things and settle questions, not from hearsay but from Bible-say."

"How could I spend the best years of my life in living for the honours of this world, when thousands of souls are perishing every day? "

"If you don't want the Devil to hit you, hit him first, and hit him with all your might, so that he may be too crippled to hit back. 'Preach the Word' is the rod the Devil fears and hates."

"Three of the Devil's dogs with which he hunts us are: Swelled head, Laziness, Cupidity."

"Don't go into the study to prepare a sermon -- that's nonsense. Go into your study to God and get so fiery that your tongue is like a burning coal and you have got to speak."

"The "romance" of a missionary is often made up of monotony and drudgery; there often is no glamour in it; it doesn't stir a man's spirit or blood. So don't come out to be a missionary as an experiment, it is useless and dangerous. Only come if you feel you would rather die than not come. Lord Wolsey was right: "A missionary ought to be a fanatic or he encumbers the ground." There are many trials and hardships. Disappointments are numerous and the time of learning the language is especially trying. Don't come if you want to make a great name or want to live long. Come if you feel there is no greater honour, after living for Christ, than to die for Him. That does the trick in the end. It's not the flash in the pan but the steady giving forth of light, it's shining on and on that we need out here. Our job is to make all hear the Word. God's job is to give penetration to His Word. "

"I can easily see why the folks at home want to eliminate Hell from their theology, preaching and thought. Hell is indeed awful unless its preaching is joined to a life laid down by the preacher. How can a man believe in Hell unless he throws away his life to rescue others from its torment? If there is no Hell, the Bible is a lie."

"I am getting desperately afraid of going to heaven for I have had the vision of the shame I shall suffer as I get my first glimpse of the Lord Jesus; His majesty, power and marvellous love for me, who treated Him so meanly and shabbily on earth, and acted as though I did Him a favour in serving Him! No wonder God shall have to wipe away the tears off all faces, for we shall be broken-hearted when we see the depth of His love and the shallowness of ours. "

"God has called me to go, and I will go. I will blaze the trail though my grave may only become a stepping stone that younger men may follow."

Psalm 110 - King, Priest, and Judge

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:15:00 +0000

by Steve Owen

People who are new Christians, or who are perhaps looking at the Christian faith for the first time, often ask questions like, “What is Jesus doing now?” and, “If Christ has triumphed over Satan, why is the world still in the state it is?” Or even, ”Why doesn’t God do something about all the wickedness in the world? Why doesn’t He just come and sort it out?” Questions like this are nothing new. The Apostle Peter spoke of “scoffers” who asked, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2Peter 3:4 ). The question that I want to address here is, what is the purpose of this present age? What is our Lord’s role in it, and how will it end? I shall try to answer it by referring to this very remarkable psalm.

V 1. ‘The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."’

Psalm 110 is much quoted in the New Testament. In the Gospels, we see that the Pharisees and Sadducees were trying to catch out the Lord Jesus with their questions, until He turned on them and asked, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" They said to Him, "The Son of David." He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool" '? If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?" And no one was able to answer Him a word’ (Matt 22:42-46). It’s amazing, but to whom can David be referring unless God had given him a glimpse of heaven, a thousand years into the future, to see the coronation of the Lord Jesus Christ, David’s Lord and ours?

Psalm 110 is not the only Scripture that treats of this event. If we turn to Daniel 7:13 we can see the same happening from another perspective: ‘I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.’ Now this perspective enables us to set a time for this event. The Son of Man is coming with the clouds, but not to earth; He is coming to heaven and into the presence of God. Remember what Acts 1:9 says about the ascension of our Lord: ‘Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.’ Daniel is telling of the other end of His ascension, His arrival in heaven. His great mission is accomplished, mankind redeemed, Satan defeated in that great victory on the cross (cf. Col 2:13-15 ). And now the conquering Hero is led into the presence of the Father who says to Him, "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."

What a change from the words spoken to Him on earth! There men had spat upon Him and mocked Him and cried out, “Crucify Him! Away with this Man! We have no king but Caesar!” How little did they know that all that they said was fulfilling God’s eternal plan, and their every wicked deed was according to His counsel and foreknowledge (Acts 4:27-28 ). And so the Lord Jesus comes to take His place at the right hand of the Father. “The head that once was crowned with thorns, is crowned with glory now.”

The Psalm may be divided, like Gaul, into three parts:-
The Coronation and Kingly Rule of Christ.
The Priestly Rule of Christ.
The Judicial Rule of Christ.

Let’s look at the coronation. "Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool." Here’s our timescale. How long has Christ been reigning? Since His ascension. How long will He reign? Until His enemies are under His feet. Obviously, this is something that has not yet happened. Heb 2:8-9 says, ‘For in that put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we do not yet see all things put under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.’ So our Lord will continue to reign throughout this present age until everything is under His feet. The fact that He is ‘sitting’ does not indicate rest. When a court is ‘sitting’ or ‘in session,’ that’s when it is doing its work. When a king is seated on his throne, that’s when he is governing and making decrees.

Now what sort of rule is this? You may think that if Christ is reigning there’s not much sign of it in the world at present, but what does the Bible say about the last days? It talks of wars and rumours of wars, it talks of terrible times and of wicked men becoming worse and worse (Matt 24:6; 2Tim 3:1, 13 ). There is nothing happening in the world today that God’s word has not foretold. And Christ is reigning over all of it. He told His disciples, “In this world, you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33. cf. Rev 3:21 ). We are also told, ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Rom 8:28 ). The setbacks, discouragements, trials- yes, and even the tragedies- that beset the Christian will ultimately be found to be for his good. The Lord uses them to lessen our attachment to this world and to cause us to long for heaven. Thus the Psalmist could say, ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes’ (Psalm 119:71).

v2. ‘The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies.’

The Lord Jesus Christ is ruling today in the midst of his enemies. All the wars and all the wickedness cannot prevent the Gospel from going forward into the world, with thousands of guilty sinners coming to Christ in China, in Africa, in South America. Christ’s rule is being extended despite all that Satan can do against it. Matt 16:8. ‘I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ This should fill us with hope! Do you have loved ones who don’t know the Lord and who seem to be on the downward path to destruction? By all means warn them, witness to them and plead with them; give them tracts and invite them to church; but the most important thing that you can do for them is that which you do upon your knees, praying to the One to whom all power in heaven and earth has been given, whose mighty sceptre extends from Zion. Does the case seem hopeless? Perhaps it is, for you, but for God it’s easy! I have often wondered how it would be if we could jump into a time machine, go back to first Century Palestine and ask the churches who was the person they thought was least likely to become a Christian- prior to Acts 9. I bet they would have voted Saul of Tarsus the man least likely to. There he was going round from house to house, dragging Christians off to prison (Acts 8:3 ); and when he thought he’d cleaned up Jerusalem, off he went to Damascus to do the same thing there. He couldn’t wait to get up that road to find some more of those blasphemous Christians to persecute, until the Lord said, “Enough!” And the light shone from heaven and he grovelled in the dust. Christ rules in the midst of His enemies and is kingdom is constantly expanding.

v3. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power; in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of Your youth.’

God’s power turns the most obstinate rebel into a willing soldier. The Lord Jesus’ volunteers are a holy, separated people who desire to be like their Master. The Psalmist pictures them ‘In the beauties of holiness,’ or as the NIV puts it, ‘Arrayed in holy majesty’ (cf. 1Peter 2:9 ). As at the dawning of the day, the dew gathers in countless droplets, so are the followers of Christ ‘a great multitude that no one could number’ (Rev 7:9 ), as numerous as the drops of dew at daybreak. In the tome of His humiliation here on earth, the Lord Jesus had no trappings of a king save a crown of thorns. Pilate asked Him, “Are you a king, then?” He couldn’t believe in a lowly servant King. But now, as Paul says, ‘Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow' (Phil 2:9-10 ). Has your knee bowed to Jesus? It will! But if you leave it until He returns, until the Day of judgment, it will be too late to save you. Now is the Day of salvation; now is the time of God’s mercy. Be one of Jesus’ volunteer army, come to the foot of the cross to enlist, and the blood of Jesus will wash you clean of all your sins.

v4. ‘The LORD has sworn and will not relent, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”’

We asked the question earlier; “If Jesus is ruling, why doesn’t He come down and sort this world out? Why does He tolerate things as they are?’ To a degree the question has already been answered. Now is the time of grace. When our Lord was on earth, He said, “I did not come to judge the world but to save it” (John 12:47 ). Today He offers salvation to all those who come to God through Him, for He is not only reigning as King, but also as ‘High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In Israel, the king was never allowed to fulfil the office of priest and vice versa. We read in 1Samuel 13 that king Saul was waiting for Samuel to come and offer sacrifices for the army, and when Samuel was delayed, Saul offered them himself. Samuel then told him that because he had done this and taken on the priestly role, his kingdom would not endure. Also in 2Chronicles 26, we read of King Uzziah who tried to officiate as a priest and God struck him with leprosy. The only person in whom we see the offices of king and priest combined is this strange figure, Melchizedek (Gen 14:18-20 ). The name, ‘Melchizedek’ means, ‘King of Righteousness’ and we are told that he was king of Salem, which means ‘King of peace’ so he is clearly a type or foreshadowing of Jesus. It is interesting to note that Melchizedek offered no sacrifice but instead brought bread and wine the emblems of Christ’s passion. We know nothing of Melchizedek’s birth, death or appointment as priest. The levitical priests in the Old Testament had times of appointment and of retirement prescribed for them; sometimes they died in office and they had access to the Holiest Place only once a year, and then only after offering sacrifices for their own sins as well as the people’s (Heb 9:7 ).

But we have a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek who is sinless and perfect, who has offered one sacrifice of Himself for all time, who has entered not a man-made temple but heaven itself and who has taken His seat at the right hand of God (Heb 10:12-14 ). His appointment is for all time and so, ‘Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them (Heb 8:25 ).

So Jesus is reigning in heaven as King and High Priest. He is also the last and greatest Prophet. ‘God…..has in these last days spoken to us by His Son’ (Heb 1:1-2 ). There are many people today who are happy to think of Jesus as their High Priest, as Saviour, but who don’t want Him as their Lord; who are happy to believe that Christ died for their sins, but who have no intention of turning away from those sins and of obeying Christ’s commands. The Lord Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Do you know Him in His three-fold office of Prophet, Priest and King?

Can you say, “Lord Jesus, you are my Prophet. I receive Your word as very truth. I look to no other to tell me what heaven’s about, what hell’s about, what life’s about and how to live down here until I get to heaven”?

Can you say, “Lord Jesus, You are my High Priest. I look to no other to intercede for me before the throne of Grace. I look for no other sacrifice than that which You made of Yourself at Calvary. Having no righteousness of my own to plead before God, I place my trust in Your perfect righteousness and in Your all-sufficient atonement to cleanse me from my guilt and sin”?

Can you say, “Lord Jesus, You are my King. I seek above all to obey Your commands. I place nothing else before You- not home, nor health, nor family, nor wealth, nor even life itself, if only I can be found in You on that Last Day”?

For make no mistake, there is a Last Day coming, and those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ in these ways will know Him as their Judge.

vs 5-6. ‘The LORD is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.’

We come to the Judicial reign of Christ. There is a day coming when God will bring down the curtain upon this age and bring about the New Heaven and the New Earth. But that day will also be the day of retribution upon those who have scorned the Lord Jesus Christ during the time of grace. The kings and rulers of this world who have governed in their own wisdom and by their own standards will be struck down, and not only them, but the philosophers and scientists and media people and other ‘opinion-formers’ who have set themselves against the laws of God are surely included among them. The symbolism is warlike and bloodthirsty; it’s there to show that there will be no mercy for God’s enemies when the Lord Jesus Christ returns. The Day of Grace will be over; the Day of Judgement will have begun. If it came tomorrow, or even tonight, would you be ready? “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt 24:42-44 ).

v 7. ‘He shall drink of the brook by the wayside; therefore He shall lift up His head.

Not one of God’s enemies shall escape. The psalmist is making an historical allusion. In 1Samuel 14, King Saul ordered that his army should take no refreshment until they had defeated the Philistines. Therefore many of his soldiers became faint and the enemy escaped. But in the imagery of the Psalm, Christ will drink from a wayside brook or spring to refresh Himself, and so He will be able to continue His assault until all His enemies are destroyed.

Here then are the three reigns of Christ: Royal, Priestly and Judicial. Is this how you know Him? As the King, who rules in the midst of His enemies? As the High Priest, who intercedes day and night for His chosen people? As the Judge, who treads the winepress of God’s fury (Isaiah 63:1-6; Rev 14:17-20, 19:15 )? Don’t have a lowly view of Christ. True theology is that which has the highest view of Him in all His offices.

Quotes on Family Worship

noreply@blogger.com (Phillip M. Way) — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 17:45:00 +0000

This is a collection of quotes I referenced in a sermon on the duty of Family Worship within every Christian home. Reading them demonstrates just how far we have moved away from the Biblical way of doing things in the home!

Quotes on Family Worship

Charles Spurgeon – “Home Worship” and “Morning an Evening”

"He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." (Isa 50:4)

"My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches." (Ps 63:5,6)

We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children? Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves "holiness unto the Lord"; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us.

J.H. Merle D'Aubigne, 1827

But, my brethren, if the love of God be in your hearts, and if you feel that, being bought with a price, you ought to glorify God in your bodies and spirits, which are his, where do you love to glorify him rather than in your families and in your houses? You love to unite with your brethren in worshipping him publicly in the church; you love to pour out your souls before him in your closets. Is it only in the presence of that being with whom God has connected you for life and before your children, that you can not think of God? Is it, then, only, that you have no blessings to ascribe? Is it, then, only, that you have no mercies and protection to implore? You can speak of every thing when with them; your conversation is upon a thousand different matters; but your tongue and your heart can not find room for one word about God! You will not look up as a family to him who is the true Father of your family; you will not converse with your wife and your children about that Being who will one day, perhaps, be the only husband of your wife, the only Father of your children!

Parents! if your children do not meet with a spirit of piety in your houses, if, on the contrary, your pride consists in surrounding them with external gifts, introducing them into worldly society, indulging all their whims, letting them follow their own course, you will see them grow vain, proud, idle, disobedient, impudent, and extravagant! They will treat you with contempt; and the more your hearts are wrapped up in them, the less they will think of you. This is seen but too often to be the case; but ask yourselves if you are not responsible for their bad habits and practices; and your conscience will reply that you are; that you are now eating the bread of bitterness which you have prepared for yourself. May you learn thereby how great has been your sin against God in neglecting the means which were in your power for influencing their hearts; and may others take warning from your misfortune, and bring up their children in the Lord! Nothing is more effectual in doing this than an example of domestic piety.

They are not merely to be taught out of some elementary book that they must love God, but you must show them God is loved. If they observe that no worship is paid to that God of whom they hear, the very best instruction will prove useless; but by means of Family Worship, these young plants will grow "like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither."

Rev. M. Simpson, 1882 - The Influence of Family Worship

Family Worship increases the spirit of reverence for God and His Word. Children copy their parents’ spirit and example. If parents begin the day by invoking God’s blessing, by consecrating the early hour to His service, they show their estimate of the value of worship. If business, society, wealth, and pleasure are deferred for worship, the youth feels that the claims of Deity are above all other claims. Parents thus show that they can do nothing rightly without the divine blessing, and that Divine approval is far more precious than the approval of men. God’s Book is honored. The Bible is for every day, and for the morning hour of every day. If to the parent it is more precious than gold and sweeter also than the honey and the honey comb, will not the child learn to value a volume so honored and treasured?

John Bunyan - Duties of Fathers and Parents

As touching the spiritual state of his family; he ought to be very diligent and circumspect, doing his utmost endeavour both to increase faith where it is begun, and to begin it where it is not. Wherefore, to this end, he ought diligently and frequently to lay before his household such things of God, out of his word, as are suitable for each particular.

Thy children have souls, and they must be begotten of God as well as of thee, or they perish. And know also, that unless thou be very circumspect in thy behavior to and before them, they may perish through thee: the thoughts of which should provoke thee, both to instruct, and also to correct them.

Matthew Henry – Commentary

"Masters of families, who preside in the other affairs of the house, must go before their households in the things of God. They must be as prophets, priests, and kings in their own families; and as such they must keep up family-doctrine, family-worship, and family-discipline: then is there a church in the house, and this is the family religion I am persuading you to. You must read the scriptures to your families, in a solemn manner, requiring their attendance on your reading, and their attention to it: and inquiring sometimes whether they understand what you read? Those masters of families who make conscience of doing this daily, morning and evening, reckoning it part of that which the duty of every day requires, -- I am sure they have comfort and satisfaction in so doing, and find it contributes much to their own improvement in Christian knowledge, and the edification of those that dwell under their shadow;

George Whitefield – Morning and Evening, Part 2

Would then the present generation have their posterity be true lovers and honorers of God; masters and parents must take Solomon's good advice, and train up and catechize their respective households in the way wherein they should go. I am aware but of one objection, that can, with any show of reason, be urged against what has been advanced; which is, that such a procedure as this will take up too much time, and hinder families too long from their worldly business. But it is much to be questioned, whether persons that start such an objection, are not of the same hypocritical spirit as the traitor Judas, who had indignation against devout Mary, for being so profuse of her ointment, in anointing our blessed Lord, and asked why it might not be sold for two hundred pence, and given to the poor. For has God given us so much time to work for ourselves, and shall we not allow some small pittance of it, morning and evening, to be devoted to his more immediate worship and service? Have not people read, that it is God who gives men power to get wealth, and therefore that the best way to prosper in the world, is to secure his favor? And has not our blessed Lord himself promised, that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all outward necessaries shall be added unto us?

John Gill – Christian Duty

Husbands duty to wives - In seeking her spiritual welfare; her conversion, if unconverted, and her spiritual peace, comfort, and edification, she being an heir with him of the grace of life; by joining with her in all religions exercises; in family worship, in reading, in prayer, in praise, in Christian conference and conversation; by instructing her in everything relating to doctrine, duty, and church discipline; in answer to questions she may and has a right to ask him at home (1 Cor. 14:35).

Parents duty to children - It is proper to instruct them in the necessity of faith in God and in Christ, and of the use of prayer; and to lay before them the sinfulness of sin, and show them what an evil thing it is, and what are the sad effects of it; to teach them their miserable estate by nature, and the way of recovery and salvation by Christ; and to learn them from childhood to read and know the holy scriptures, according to their capacity; and by these to be "admonished" of sin, and of their duty, to fear God, and keep his commandments; which may be meant by the "admonition of the Lord"; and the proper opportunity should be taken to instil these things into their minds,

The Puritan Directory of Family Worship

The ordinary duties comprehended under the exercise of piety which should be in families, when they are convened to that effect, are these: First, Prayer and praises performed with a special reference, as well to the publick condition of the kirk of God and this kingdom, as to the present case of the family, and every member thereof. Next, Reading of the scriptures, with catechising in a plain way, that the understandings of the simpler may be the better enabled to profit under the publick ordinances, and they made more capable to understand the scriptures when they are read; together with godly conferences tending to the edification of all the members in the most holy faith: as also, admonition and rebuke, upon just reasons, from those who have authority in the family.

The head of the family is to take care that none of the family withdraw himself from any part of family-worship: and, seeing the ordinary performance of all the parts of family-worship belongeth properly to the head of the family, the minister is to stir up such as are lazy, and train up such as are weak, to a fitness to these exercises;

On the Lord's day, after every one of the family apart, and the whole family together, have sought the Lord (in whose hands the preparation of men's hearts are) to fit them for the publick worship, and to bless to them the publick ordinances, the master of the family ought to take care that all within his charge repair to the publick worship, that he and they may join with the rest of the congregation: and the publick worship being finished, after prayer, he should take an account what they have heard; and thereafter, to spend the rest of the time which they may spare in catechising, and in spiritual conferences upon the word of God: or else (going apart) they ought to apply themselves to reading, meditation, and secret prayer, that they may confirm and increase their communion with God: that so the profit which they found in the publick ordinances may be cherished and promoved, and they more edified unto eternal life.

JI Packer – Of Vital Importance

But family worship was also, to the Puritans, vitally important. Daily and indeed twice daily, the Puritans recommended, the family as a family should hear the Word read, and pray to God.

John Knox – Giving Account

Brethren, you are ordained of God to rule your own houses in his true fear, and according to his word. Within your houses, I say, in some cases, you are bishops and kings; your wife, children, servants, and family are your bishopric and charge. Of you it shall be required how carefully and diligently you have instructed them in God's true knowledge, how you have studied to plant virtue in them, and [to] repress vice. And therefore I say, you must make them partakers in reading, exhorting, and in making common prayers, which I would in every house were used once a day at least. But above all things, dear brethren, study to practice in life that which the Lord commands, and then be you assured that you shall never hear nor read the same without fruit.

Jonathan Edwards – Every Christian Family a Little Church

Every Christian family ought to be as it were a little church, consecrated to Christ, and wholly influenced and governed by his rules. And family education and order are some of the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove in effectual. If these are duly maintained, all the means of grace will be likely to prosper and be successful. Let me now therefore, once more, before I finally cease to speak to this congregation, repeat, and earnestly press the counsel which I have often urged on the heads of families, while I was their pastor, to great painfulness in teaching, warning, and directing their children; bringing them up in the training and admonition of the Lord; beginning early, where there is yet opportunity, and maintaining constant diligence in labors of this kind.

Remember that, as you would not have all your instructions and counsels ineffectual, there must be government as well as instructions, which must be maintained with an even hand, and steady resolution, as a guard to the religion and morals of your family, and the support of its good order. Take heed that it not be with any of you as it was with Eli of old, who reproved his children, but restrained them not; and that, by this means, you do not bring the like curse on your families as he did on his."

AW Pink – Disregarding Duty

On the other hand, we may observe what fearful threatenings are pronounced against those who disregard this duty. We wonder how many of our readers have seriously pondered those awe-inspiring words "Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name" (Jer. 10:25)! How unspeakably solemn to find that prayerless families are here coupled with the heathen that know not the Lord. Yet need that surprise us? Why there are many heathen families who unite together in worshiping their false gods. And do not they put thousands of professing Christians to shame? Observe too that Jer. 10:25 recorded a fearful imprecation upon both classes alike: "Pour out Thy fury upon ..." How loudly should these words speak to us. It is not enough that we pray as private individuals in our dosets; we are required to honor God in our families as well. At least twice each day—in the morning and in the evening—the whole household should be gathered together to bow before the Lord—parents and children, master and servant — to confess their sins, to give thanks for God's mercies, to seek His help and blessing. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with this duty: all other domestic arrangements are to bend to it. The head of the house is the one to lead the devotions. but if he be absent, or seriously ill, or an unbeliever, then the wife should take his place. Under no circumstances should family worship be omitted. If we would enjoy the blessing of God upon our family then let its members gather together daily for praise and prayer. "Them that honour Me I will honour" is His promise.

The sermon is available in 2 parts here:
Family Worship