Two Pastors and a Ph.D Student

2009-03-31T10:51:00.004-04:00

The End Has Come

2009-02-16T16:48:00.006-05:00

It is time to retire this blog. It was originally designed to be a team blog, but life became too busy for two contributers and so it just does not make much sense to continue this particular blog. I have started a new blog at http://www.jasonmorrison.wordpress.com.
The new blog is not finished yet, but I did begin blogging today, and will try to post one entry daily.

May God Bless You,
Jason

Lesson Two: Traditions are difficult to change

2009-01-06T09:40:00.003-05:00

One of the more helpful tidbits of wisdom offered in my training days at Southern Seminary came from two sources, Dr. Akin (now president of Southeastern) & Dr. Lawless, Dean of Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. Both these teachers encouraged new pastors to go slow on change and go heavy on love. I believe this to be good advice. And I believe I followed this course at Litle River BC.

But even years of service cannot change some traditions. I remember trying to change our corporate worship time on Sunday morning from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM to 10:45 AM-12:00PM after being at the church for a few years. My reasons were good and biblical. But to no avail, it was easily defeated in a church vote. So we continued to dismiss about 12:15 PM each Sunday.

One of the things I need to remind myself as I am ministering in a new church (for less than four months) is that the typical church member has not spent the last 8 years thinking about Ecclesiology and best church practices as I have. So the change that is needed will be slow going because I should not expect members to be where I am. So I need to preach, teach, and love. Hopefully over time healthy change will come.

Lord make us one.

Lesson One: Learning How to Preach

2008-12-11T10:36:00.004-05:00

I heard Tim Keller say one time that every pastor needed to throw away his first 90 or so sermons. As a Pastor who has preached 3 sermons a week for over four years now, I realize how poor those first sermons must have been.

I remember my preaching practicum course in Seminary and how we only had about 15 minutes to preach each sermon. Back then, I struggled to preach for 15 minutes, but now I struggle to preach for less than 40 minutes.

One of my first sermons was videotaped and I just cannot bring myself to watch it.

Experience is a great teacher. And there are few things which help develop a pastor's preaching like experience and opportunity. So I just want to thank Little River Baptist Church for enduring those early sermons as God helped me to grow in my preaching. If there is one thing that will definitely stick out in my mind about the four years I spent there, it will be that God taught my how to preach during that pastorate.

And I will always be grateful for LRBC as they gave me my first opportunity to be a pastor. May God continue to bless you LRBC.

Blog Silence

2008-11-10T19:55:00.002-05:00

It has been a while since my last post, but I have not had much opportunity to enter the blogging domain recently. The reason for the hiatus was my recent acceptance of a new pastorate in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We moved two weeks ago tommorrow.

In my next posts I will try to reflect and blog about what God taught me through my experience at the first church I pastored. This blog venture will also probably end shortly. Once we have a new website up for Westwood Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, I will begin blogging from there. But until then I will post reflections about Little River Baptist Church and my hopes for Westwood Baptist Church in Tennessee.

The Preaching Notes of Six Pastors

2008-09-23T16:03:00.002-04:00

In a recent blog series, Josh Harris, Pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland reveals the preaching notes of six pastors. So far, Harris has featured the notes of the following Pastors:

Mark Dever, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.
Mike Bullmore, CrossWay Community Church, Bristol, Wisconsin
C.J. Mahaney, Covenant Life Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Ray Ortlund, Jr., Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee
Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City, New York
Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Washington

You can find an introduction to each pastor here: Dever, Bullmore, Mahaney, Ortlund Jr., Keller, and Driscoll.

Click on full name to go directly their preaching notes.

The 37th Ryder Cup

2008-09-22T10:13:00.002-04:00

There is nothing like match play golf on golf's biggest stage. The American Team defeated the European team 16.5 to 11.5. Check out this great article by ESPN's Pat Forde where he focuses on the play of three country boys for the American Team, Kenny Perry, J. B. Holmes, and Boo Weekley.

September 7th AM Sermon Wordled

2008-09-09T12:26:00.006-04:00

Here is my latest sermon wordled. The title of the sermon was, "Do Not Call Me Naomi, Call Me Mara: The Kindness of God Called into Question." Wordle is a program that makes a "cloud" of the words from a text. The words used most frequently are larger in font. To enlarge, just click in the image.

Hymn of the Week

2008-09-02T14:01:00.003-04:00

The hymn of the week came to me as I read and prayed for the residents of the people in the path of Hurricane Gustav. The lyrics come from the hymn, Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken, by Henry Lyte. In keeping with the theme of the title, Lyte writes, "Storms may howl and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me." No doubt this faith comes from the promise of God's word in Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose."

You can find a traditional arrangement to the hymn at cyberhymnal. To find an alternative arrangement, check our Indelible Grace.

Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken

Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave and follow Thee.
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve sought or hoped or known.
Yet how rich is my condition! God and Heaven are still mine own.

Let the world despise and leave me, they have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God of wisdom, love and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me, show Thy face and all is bright.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure! Come, disaster, scorn and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure; with Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee, “Abba, Father”; I have set my heart on Thee:
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather, all must work for good to me.

Man may trouble and distress me, ’twill but drive me to Thy breast.
Life with trials hard may press me; heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me while Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me, were that joy unmixed with Thee.

Take, my soul, thy full salvation; rise o’er sin, and fear, and care;
Joy to find in every station something still to do or bear:
Think what Spirit dwells within thee; what a Father’s smile is thine;
What a Savior died to win thee, child of heaven, shouldst thou repine?

Haste then on from grace to glory, armed by faith, and winged by prayer,
Heaven’s eternal day’s before thee, God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

John Piper on True Revival and Lakeland

2008-08-14T13:48:00.003-04:00

John Piper weighs in on tests for authentic Spirit driven revivals in light of recent events at the Lakeland "Revival" especially after the leader's recent announcement of his separation with his wife. His post launches off of a statement made by Lee Grady , editor of Charisma, where he quotes one Pentecostal Pastor who said a large section of the Charismatic Church will follow after the Anti-Christ because they have little discernment.

Piper argues that one of the tests must be a love for truth, doctrine, and the word of God.

Hymn of the Week

2008-08-13T08:49:00.004-04:00

This hymn is one of my favorites. I have led our church to reintroduce this classic since my pastorate began, and have had a good response from the church concerning this hymn. This hymn was originally composed in German by Joachim Neander in 1680. It was translated into English by Catherine Winkworth in 1863.

You can find the traditional arrangement at cyberhymnal. Additionally, Christy Nockels has recorded a nice arrangement of the hymn on the album titled, Hymns: Ancient and Modern.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;
Praise Him in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who over all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth!
Hast thou not seen how thy desires ever have been
Granted in what He ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously, made thee;
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly falling, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord, who, when tempests their warfare are waging,
Who, when the elements madly around thee are raging,
Biddeth them cease, turneth their fury to peace,
Whirlwinds and waters assuaging.

Praise to the Lord, who, when darkness of sin is abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheddeth His light, chaseth the horrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.
Let the Amen sound from His people again,
Gladly for aye we adore Him.

Are our churches really churches if...

2008-08-06T16:28:00.002-04:00

This Sunday night, I will be arguing that the central mission of a New Testament Church is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to sinners.

If your average church is filled with a majority of members who either will not share their faith with anyone in the next year or cannot share their faith with someone in the next year, then does a true New Testament Church really even exist?

It seems to me that after four years of pastoring, this seems to be the chief shortfall of many churches, namely the absence of church members sharing the gospel with unrepentant sinners. And if this is, as I argue, the chief mission of the Church, I do not think God's blessing will ever fall until the Church is willing to proclaim the gospel outside of our Sunday meeting places.

Hymn of the Week

2008-08-05T09:19:00.003-04:00

The hymn of the week is written by Joseph Hart titled, Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy. I was listening to the hymn this week and thought to myself how this song represents my preaching and my theology. You can find the traditional format of this hymn at Cyberhymnal. You can also sample an altered version of the Hart hymn by Indelible Grace.

Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready stands to save you,
Full of pity, love and power.

Refrain
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior,
O there are ten thousand charms.

Come, ye thirsty, come, and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorify;
True belief and true repentance,
Every grace that brings you nigh.

Refrain

Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.

Refrain

View Him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold Him;
Sinner, will this not suffice?

Refrain

Lo! th’incarnate God ascended,
Pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude.

Refrain

Let not conscience make you linger,
Not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.

Refrain

Spurgeon: Thoughts on the Last Battle

2008-07-24T23:10:00.002-04:00

In preparation for preaching through 1 Corinthians 15, I checked to see if any of Charles Spurgeon's sermons in 1 Corinthians 15 were published and found his sermon titled Thoughts on the Last Battle, preached May 13, 1855. Although I do not regularly read Spurgeon sermons, it is easily one of the top three I have read and would encourage everyone to read it.

Here is an excerpt from the sermon that I used in part in my own sermon:

2. But I must take it in another sense. "The sting of death is sin:"—that is to say, that which shall make death most terrible to man will be sin, if it is not forgiven. If that be not the exact meaning of the apostle, still it is a great truth, and I may find it here. If sin lay heavy on me and were not forgiven—if my transgressions were unpardoned—if such were the fact (though I rejoice to know it is not so) it would be the very sting of death to me. Let us consider a man dying, and looking back on his past life: he will find in death a sting, and that sting will be his past sin. Imagine a conqueror's deathbed. He has been a man of blood from his youth up. Bred in the camp, his lips were early set to the bugle, and his hand, even in infancy, struck the drum. He had a
martial spirit; he delighted in the fame and applause of men; he loved the dust of battle and the garment rolled in blood. He has lived a life of what men call glory. He has stormed cities, conquered countries, ravaged continents, overrun the world. See his banners hanging in the hall, and the marks of glory on his escutcheon. He is one of earth's proudest warriors. But now he comes to die, and when he lies down to expire, what shall invest his death with horror? It shall be his sin. Methinks I see the monarch dying; he lies in state; around him are his nobles and his councillors; but there is somewhat else there. Hard by his side there stands a spirit from Hades; it is a soul of a departed woman. She looks on him and says, "Monster! my husband was slain in battle through thy ambition: I was made a widow, and my helpless orphans and myself were starved." And she passes by. Her husband comes, and opening wide his bloody wounds, he cries, "Once I called thee monarch; but, by thy vile covetousness thou didst provoke an unjust war. See here these wounds—I gained them in the siege. For thy sake I mounted first the scaling ladder; this foot stood upon the top of the wall, and I waved my sword in triumph, but in hell I lifted up my eyes in torment. Base wretch, thine ambition hurried me thither!" Turning his horrid eyes upon him, he passes by. Then up comes another, and another, and another yet; waking from their tombs, they stalk around his bed and haunt him; the dreary procession still marches on, looking at the dying tyrant. He shuts his eyes, but he feels the cold and bony hand upon his forehead; he quivers, for thesiting of death is in his heart. "O Death!" says he; "to leave this large estate, this mighty realm, this pomp and power—this were somewhat; but to meet those men, those women, and those orphan children, face to face; to hear them saying, 'Art thou become like one of us?' while kings whom I have dethroned, and monarchs whom I have cast down shall rattle their chains in my ears, and say, 'Thou wast our destroyer, but how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou brought down as in a moment from thy glory and thy pride!'" There, you see, the sting of death would be the man's sin. It would not sting him that he had to die, but that he had sinned, that he had been a bloody man, that his hands were red with wholesale murder—this would plague him indeed, for "the sting of death is sin."

Or, suppose another character—a minister. He has stood before the world, proclaiming something which he called the gospel. He has been a noted preacher; the multitude have been hanging on his lips; they have listened to his words; before his eloquence a nation stood amazed, and thousands trembled at his voice. But his preaching is over; the time when he can mount the pulpit is gone; another standing-place awaits him, another congregation, and he must hear another and a better preacher than himself. There he lies. He has been unfaithful to his charge. He preached philosophy to charm his people, instead of preaching truth and aiming at their hearts. And, as he pants upon his bed, that worst and most accursed of men—for surely none can be worse than he—there comes up one, a soul from the pit, andlooking him in the face, says, "I came to thee once, trembling on account of sin; "I asked thee the road to heaven, and thou didst say, 'Do such and such good works,' and I did them, and am damned. Thou didst tell me an untruth; thou didst not declare plainly the word of God." He vanishes only to be followed by another; he has been an irreligious character, and as he sees the minister upon his deathbed, he says, "Ah! and art thou here? Once I strolled into thy house of prayer, but thou hadst such a sermon that I could not understand. I listened; I wanted to hear something from thy lips, some truth that might burn my soul and make me repent; but I knew not what thou saidst; and here I am." The ghost stamps his foot, and the man quivers like an aspen leaf, because he knows it is all true. Then the whole congregation arise
before him as he lies upon his bed; he looks upon the motley group; he beholds the snowy heads of the old, and glittering eyes of the young; and lying there upon his pillow, he pictures all the sins of his past life, and he hears it said, "Go thou! unfaithful to thy charge; thou didst no divest thyself of thy love of pomp and dignity; thou didst not speak

'As though thou ne'er might'st speak again, A dying man to dying men.'

"Oh! it may be something for that minister to leave his charge, somewhat for him to die; but worst of all, the sting of death will be his sin: to hear his parish come howling after him to hell; to see his congregation following behind him in one mingled herd, he having led them astray, having been a false prophet instead of a true one, speaking peace, peace, where there was no peace, deluding them with lies, charming them with music, when he ought rather to have told them in rough and rugged accents the Word of God. Verily, it is true, it is true, the sting of death to such a man shall be his great, his enormous, his heinous sin of having deluded others."

Priorities: American Patriotism or Zeal for God

2008-07-15T23:02:00.003-04:00

This past July 4th, the blogosphere was alive with talk concerning the appropriateness and inappropriateness of Patriotic displays in Christian worship gatherings. Dr. Russell Moore, guest host of the Albert Mohler Radio Show, even dedicated an entire show to the debate with two guests who do not favor patriotic displays in corporate worship.

I may catch some heat for what I am about to say, but ultimately Christians are supposed to fear God more than they fear man, so here goes...

Personally, I am not in favor of grand displays of patriotism in Christian worship gatherings. I do not believe pledges of allegiance to the American Flag in Christian worship gatherings are helpful. I do not believe the Star Spangled Banner should be sung. I believe if I see one more power point of the American flag as the backdrop with an image of Jesus at the forefront I going to be sick.

I do believe in our Christian corporate worship gatherings we should give thanks unto God for the freedom we have in this country to worship freely and without governmental interference. We should pray for our governmental leaders, including the commander-in-chief. We should pray earnestly for the men and women and the families of those who serve our country admirably in the military. We should pray for peace.

But at the center of every Christian corporate worship gathering should be Jesus Christ. I know this is difficult for previous generations to believe, but people like myself who do not favor grand patriotic displays, are patriotic, however, I am much more zealous to see the Kingdom of Christ increase more than American zeal. I know you can have zeal for Christ and American patriotism, but the problem I see is that most people I run into have a far greater concern for America and its future than Christ's Kingdom and the future of their own local church.

For example...

You are far more likely to find in many Christian churches members who are talking about the increase of gas prices and its impact on Americans than the increase of unbelief in the community and its impact on God's glory.

You are far more likely if the subject of Hispanics is raised in many Christian churches to have members making comments about how Hispanics are taking jobs from Americans and how Hispanics need to learn English than how we might reach them for Christ and bring them into the fellowship of our churches.

You are more likely in many Christian churches to have members extremely more incensed when the nation is attacked than when the nation repeatedly attacks the character of God.

You are more likely in many Christian churches to have tears run down the cheek of a member's face or the stirring of a member's affections when God Bless America is sung than if the hymn There is a Fountain Filled with Blood is sung.

You are far more likely to have Christian members of your local church who will fight and die while serving in the military for their country than you will have members who will die while serving their Lord on the mission field in the hard places.

You are more likely to have many Christian members in your local church who celebrate July 4th weekend more than they celebrate Resurrection weekend.

In some Christian churches you are far more likely to hear a comment about "bombing those Muslims" than "preaching the gospel to those people of the Muslim faith."

You are far more likely in some Christian churches to hear conversations about the problems of America and how to fix them than to hear the problems in the local church and how to fix them.

You are far more likely to hear a heated conversation from a church member in many Christian churches over illegal immigration than a heated conversation about regenerate church membership.

You are far more likely in many Christian churches to hear conversations about the decline of the American economy than to hear conversations concerning the decline of baptisms.

How many readers can quote the pledge of allegiance to the American Flag? Now how many of you who quoted the pledge of allegiance to the American Flag can quote Matthew 22:37-38, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, or Acts 4:12?

When I see the day where more Christians are more concerned with the Lord's Kingdom than concern for the future of America I will be less concerned about songs like America the Beautiful being sung on July 4th weekend.

Hymn of the Week

2008-06-30T13:49:00.003-04:00

Back on May 13, I featured the relatively unknown hymn Friend of Sinners by Augustus Toplady. This week I will feature perhaps his most known and beloved hymn, Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me. You can find a traditional musical arrangement to the hymn at cyberhymnal. You can also find a sample of the hymn with an alternative musical arrangement here on Upward: The Bob Kauflin Hymns Project.

Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
[originally When my eye-strings break in death]
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Excellent Audio Resources

2008-06-26T09:40:00.005-04:00

The following sermons and conference addresses are very powerful. I suggest you take the time and download these to your MP3 Player and listen and be challenged and be edified.

Church Planting Evangelism by Mark Dever. Given at an Acts 29 Boot Camp in Chicago.

I have listened to this talk about four times so far. This talk has great application regardless of whether you are a church planter or not.

Adoption by C.J. Mahaney. Preached at Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

This sermon opened my eyes to the significance of this truth and the joy to be found in this truth. I do not recall hearing enough sermons on this topic.

Pastoral Character and Loving People by C.J. Mahaney. Given at the National Resurgence Conference titled Text and Context.

Mahaney in this address gives great application in how to look for God's presence among church members.

How My Pastoral Ministry Shapes My Pulpit Ministry by John Piper. Given at the National Resurgence Conference titled Text and Context.

In the first part of the address, Piper gives examples of how the Bible and Theology shape his pulpit ministry. Then he gives pastoral care examples that shape his pulpit ministry. Many of these are extremely moving.

Calvinism: A Cause for Rejoicing, A Cause for Concern by Jeff Noblit. (Just scroll down to the appropriate message) Given at the Building Bridges Conference sponsored by The Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The Founders Organization.

I have also listened to this address multiple times. This is not only a good address for those who share Noblit's theological convictions, but would be great for those who know little about Calvinism, maybe those who have only heard negative comments by others and have done no research themselves.

The Role of Men, Part I
The Role of Men, Part II
The Role of Men, Part III by Matt Chandler. (Just scroll down the 2007 sermon archive to find these three sermons) These sermons were preached at The Village Church.

These sermons are great for engaging men, which the church so desperately needs today.

Note: Most of these sermons may still be located on ITunes.

A Hard-hitting Article

2008-06-24T09:36:00.003-04:00

Russ Moore has published a must read article over at his blog called Southern Baptists, the Family, and the Rule of the Appetites. Check it out!

New Pictures IV

2008-06-23T23:09:00.003-04:00

Our little one, Karis

New Pictures III

2008-06-23T22:59:00.003-04:00

The young ones at Little River Baptist Church

New Pictures II

2008-06-23T22:43:00.005-04:00

Here are some pics from both Lydia and Chloe's birthday parties.

New Pictures

2008-06-23T22:09:00.005-04:00

Here are some recent pics of Lydia at her first dance recital.

Tuesday is for Hymns

2008-06-17T15:02:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite hymns is There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood by William Cowper (1731-1800). Cowper and Amazing Grace author John Newton collaborated in writing hymns of which the fruit can be found in the Olney Hymns. Newton ministered to Cowper who suffered from severe depression and tried on more than one occasion to take his own life. You can find some information on Cowper at cyberhymnal and much more at igracemusic. In fact Newton's suggestion of the Olney Hymn Project was to help Cowper in his depression.

There are several musical arrangements to this classic hymn, some of which can be found on the previous cyberhymnal link. There is a new arrangement of music for this hymn found here recorded by Red Mountain Church which I have grown fond of recently.

There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine.

The Hymn of the Week

2008-06-11T12:32:00.003-04:00

For the life of me, I cannot figure out why this relatively new and popular hymn is not found in the current Baptist Hymnal published in 1991. However, according to Lifeway, The Love of God will be included in the new Baptist Hymnal.

The third stanza of this song comes from a Jewish poem dated to around 1050. For more information on the author, Frederick Lehman and the song check out cyberhymnal.

The Love of God

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

IMB Policy Change

2008-06-04T15:40:00.002-04:00

Thought you might all be interested in the online petition and letter to the IMB found at this site http://imbchange.info/. This is of course in reponse to fairly recent IMB policy changes that invalidate baptism outside of a Southern Baptist church and reject as missionary canidates those with a private prayer language.
The petition began with former IMB trustees but seems to have branched out since it's beginning a couple days ago. I believe this is a huge issue and a lot is at stake if the IMB is not held accountable on this. Not only are they going outside of the realms of scripture on making this requirement, but the BFM 2000 in no way addresses these issues.
I for one will join the ranks of Chris and Elisabeth Hilliard and affix my name to this important document.

Tuesday is for Hymns

2008-06-03T09:36:00.002-04:00

My introduction to Hark! the Voice of Love and Mercy comes from the album titled Help My Unbelief, by Red Mountain Church, which is retitled It Is Finished -- Part II. The authors of this hymn are Jonathan Evans and Benjamin Francis. You can listen to the music for the hymn on cyberhymnal (by William Owen) or you can listen to the hymn set to a different arrangement by Jeff Koonce at Red Mountain Music.

Hark! the Voice of Love and Mercy

Hark! the voice of love and mercy
Sounds aloud from Calvary;
See, it rends the rocks asunder,
Shakes the earth, and veils the sky.
“It is finished!” “It is finished!”
“It is finished!” Hear the dying Savior cry;
Hear the dying Savior cry.

“It is finished!” O what pleasure
Do these precious words afford;
Heav’nly blessings, without measure,
Flow to us from Christ the Lord:
“It is finished!” “It is finished!”
“It is finished!” Saints the dying words record;
Saints the dying words record.

Finished all the types and shadows
Of the ceremonial law;
Finished all that God had promised;
Death and hell no more shall awe:
“It is finished!” “It is finished!”
“It is finished!” Saints, from hence your comfort draw;
Saints, from hence your comfort draw.

Tune your harps anew, ye seraphs,
Join to sing the glorious theme;
All in earth, and all in heaven,
Join to praise Emmanuel’s Name;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Glory to the bleeding Lamb!
Glory to the bleeding Lamb!

A Son's Rememberance of his Father's Prayers

2008-06-03T09:03:00.003-04:00

I am currently working through a series on Sunday evenings focusing on prayer. Last night I shared an excerpt from John Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, concerning his Father's prayers. John Piper rightly concludes that John was the man he was in part because of the godly influence of his father. I weep just about every time I read this as it is a great encouragement in my own life to lay before my own children a godly heritage of prayer unto God. I am hoping it will also build up the type of dependence upon God that leads my children to do great things for the glory of God.

The following is taken from John Piper's autobiography on John Paton, given at the 2000 Desiring God Pastor's Conference. Paton's autobiography can be found through Banner and Trust Publishers:

There was a small room, the "closet" where his father would go for prayer, as a rule after each meal. The eleven children knew it and they reverenced the spot and learned something profound about God. The impact on John Paton was immense.
Though everything else in religion were by some unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, were blotted from my understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the victorious appeal, "He walked with God, why may not I?" (p. 8)

How much my father's prayers at this time impressed me I can never explain, nor could any stranger understand. When, on his knees and all of us kneeling around him in Family Worship, he poured out his whole soul with tears for the conversion of the Heathen world to the service of Jesus, and for every personal and domestic need, we all felt as if in the presence of the living Savior, and learned to know and love him as our Divine friend. (p. 21)

One scene best captures the depth of love between John and his father and the power of the impact on John's life of uncompromising courage and purity. The time came for the young Paton to leave home and go to Glasgow to attend divinity school and become a city missionary in his early twenties. From his hometown of Torthorwald to the train station at Kilmarnock was a forty-mile walk. Forty years later Paton wrote,

My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost unbroken silence – my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in hand, while his long flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later years white as snow) streamed like a girl's down his shoulders. His lips kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our eyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain! We halted on reaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: "God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from all evil!"

Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him – gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I rounded the corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dike to see if he yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he gazed eagerly in my direction for a while, he got down, set his face toward home, and began to return - his head still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as he had given me. (pp. 25-26)
The impact of his father's faith and prayer and love and discipline was immeasurable. So much more could be said.

Thursday Can Be for Hymns Too

2008-05-29T09:01:00.003-04:00

Well it has only been three weeks now since I began posting one hymn a week on Tuesday, however I forgot to post the hymn on Tuesday this weel. So two days past due, I post the hymn of the week. The selection for this week is In the Secret of His Presence. This hymn was written by a woman named Ellen Lakshmi Goreh (1853-1937) from India. Her father was a convert to Christianity, but gave her up for adoption, when his wife died when Ellen was two months old. She was raised by a Rev. Stores in England, but later returned to India to live and minister. Dr. Hudson Taylor reported that this hymn was the favorite among his missionaries in China.

For more info on the song, look up the song at Cyberhymnal.

In the Secret of His Presence

In the secret of His presence, how my soul delights to hide!
Oh, how precious are the lessons which I learn at Jesus' side!
Earthly cares forever vex me, all my trials lay me low;
But when Satan comes to tempt me, to that secret place I go,
To that secret place I go.

When my soul is faint and thirsty, 'neath the shadow of His wing
There is cool and pleasant shelter, and a fresh and crystal spring;
And my Savior rests beside me, as we hold communion sweet:
If I tried, I could not utter what he says when thus we meet,
What He says when thus we meet.

Only this I know: I tell Him all my doubts, my griefs and fears;
Oh, how patiently he listens! And my sorrowed soul he cheers:
Do you think He ne'er reproves me? What a false friend He would be,
If he never, never told me of the sin which He must see,
Of the sin which He must see.

Would you like to know the sweetness of the secret of the Lord?
Go and hide beneath his shadow: This shall then be your reward;
And whene'er you leave the silence of that happy place,
You will surely bear the image of the Master in your face,
Of the Master in your face.

Church, Remember the Exodus and Wilderness: A Sermon from 1 Corinthians 10:1-11:1

2008-05-27T14:24:00.003-04:00

Sunday Morning Gathering
May 25, 2008
1 Corinthians 10:1-11:1

Introduction

As we have progressed through the letter called 1 Corinthians, we have seen how the Apostle and the Church at Corinth are having a back and forth. We find the church asking specific questions to Paul on how to live in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

--What should the church do in response to the sexually immorality of a church member?

--How should Christians settle grievances that they have with one another?

--How do Christians avoid sexual immorality?

--What should Christians think about marriage in light of the gospel mission?

--Should we marry if we are single?

--Should we divorce if we are married?

--Should we stay betrothed?

We are now in our fourth and final sermon based on Paul answer to the question, “Should we eat food sacrificed to idols in the temples of pagan gods?”

Cause No Brother or Sister to Stumble

Paul’s first teaching that arises from this particular teaching is concern for the weak. Although Paul conceded that idols and pagan gods were not real, he warned the Corinthians that some who are weak among them may fall back into idolatry by participating in these pagan celebrations. So Paul’s first teaching is that we should have concern for others and do nothing to cause another brother and sister to stumble as he or she pursues Jesus Christ in discipleship.

Forsake Your Freedoms for the Gospel

Paul’s second teaching arising from this question of eating meat addresses Christian freedom. The Apostle’s argument is simply: Do everything for the sake of the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ even if it means we sacrifice personal rights. In other words, the freedom that God has given us through Christ is to be used for the sake of the Gospel and introducing sinners to this gospel. Paul then proceeds to lift himself up as an example to the Corinthians as one who has forsaken many rights to see the gospel proclaimed.

Idolatry Kills

Finally, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that flirtation with and participation in idolatry kills.

He takes us back to the event of the Exodus. God brings great judgment upon Egypt and the Pharaoh in order to display his glory and to free the Israelites. God freed the Israelites who had become slaves. He brought them salvation. Then he began to lead them to the Promised Land of Canaan. God brought them through the waters of the Sea and used the Sea to slay the Egyptian armies. By day he would lead them by a great pillar of smoke and by night he would lead them by a great pillar of fire. When they were hungry, he feed them. When they were thirsty, he gave them water.

But guess what happened to the adult generation of Israelites who were saved out of Egypt? They all perished except Caleb and Joshua outside the Promised Land. Paul says in verse 5, “Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.”

Why does Paul remind us of the events of the Exodus and the deaths of the people of God in the wilderness? He says in verse 6 that they are examples for us that we should not desire evil as they did. What happened that caused God to destroy the very people he rescued? Answer: They committed idolatry. They were sexual immoral. They tested Christ? They grumbled against God?

You probably can recount their idolatry. Moses was up on Mt. Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights and the people decided that Moses was not going to return so they asked Aaron to make an idol. Then the Israelites worshiped and made sacrifices to the idol and the text says “they rose up to play”, which many interpreters interpret to mean sexual immorality was committed in the worship of the idol by the Israelites (See Exodus 32). Twenty-three thousand Israelites were slain in one day for this idolatry.

What is Paul’s point? His answer is in verse 12, “Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” In other words, the same experience of the Israelites could be our own fate if we do not cling to God and flee from idolatry. Paul’s ultimate pronouncement concerning eating this meat sacrificed to idols is a participation in the demonic. While he concedes that idols are nothing, there is a true reality behind them, and he describes it as demonic.

Read 1 Corinthians 10:19-20

1 Corinthians 10:23-11:1 are filled with the Apostle’s application on how to live with regards to this question.

For example…

v24, “Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor” – Do not cause others to stumble

vv25-26 – Do not worry about meat put into the marketplace regardless of its origin.

vv27-30 – eating food at a neighbor’s is fine so long as the neighbor does not indicate that it has been dedicated to pagan gods.

v31 – Do everything for the glory of God; focus on the gospel

vv32-33 – Do not make anyone stumble but put before many the gospel.

However, I believe the most important application for our church is the admonition to stay away from idolatry for we do not have to worry if the meat we buy at Publix or Walmart was sacrificed to Satan. However for too long in efforts to attract people, increase membership and attendance, and appear successful in the eyes of other churches, we have given false assurances to people concerning their salvation. And we need to let the Exodus and Wilderness example be a great and terrible warning who find salvific assurances in other places outside of daily repentance of sin and daily faith in Jesus Christ.

Observations from the Exodus and Wilderness of Israel

1. Just because I receive some of the benefits of God’s salvation does not mean that I myself have been saved.

All of Israel was delivered from slavery in Egypt, but not all made it to the Promised Land. I warn especially those here who have been raised up in the church culture. Kids raised in the church are often the recipients of so many of God’s blessings, but being a child of a Christian father and mother does not mean you are reconciled with God. Are you trusting in God today? Is Jesus Christ your Lord? Are you looking to him for your joy?

There have been a great many walk the isles of local churches not because they had experienced the new birth, but because their momma wanted them to or because their friends walked the isle.

2. Just because you have been baptized, does not mean you will inherit the new heavens and the new earth.

Israel experienced a baptism as they went through the parted waters of the Sea, but few reached the Promised Land.

I have seen too many times decisions for Christ be merely decisions that later became decisions to depart from Christ.

3. Just because God is working in your life and his presence is in your very midst does not mean you are assured of eternal life with God.

The pillar of fire and smoke, which was the presence of God protected and guided the people of Israel on their way, but all but two of those over the age of 20 save Joshua and Caleb perished in the wilderness and did not enter into God’s rest.

The presence of God was all around Israel and yet they still perished. Just ask Judas about this. Just ask the Pharisees. Just ask the rich young ruler?

4. Just because you eat of the bread and drink of the cup at communion does not mean that you are abiding in Jesus Christ.

The Israelites eat manna from heaven and drank water from Christ himself, yet they also drank of the cup of idolatry, drank from the well sexual immorality, tested the Lord himself, and grumbled against God and they forfeited the Promised Land.

Those who drink both from the cup of Christ and Demons will provoke the Lord to jealousy (v22).

5. Just because you sing to the Lord does not ensure that he is your heart’s desire.

When God destroyed the Egyptians by closing the sea upon them, the Israelites sang a song expressing great truths about him like:

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?”

“Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

“The Lord will reign forever and forever.”

Yet their songs would soon be turned to other idols.

6. A good beginning does not ensure a good ending.

Israel was obedient to spread the blood over their doorposts and the Angel of Death came over Egypt killing the firstborn. It is said of Israel after the waters crushed the armies of Pharaoh, “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses (Exodus 14:31).”

But their faith was not enduring as they would soon trade it for a golden calf and sexual immorality.

Brothers, sisters, friends the salvation of God has two dimensions: the already and the not yet. God did a work in the Old Testament bringing deliverance to Israel. But many Israelites did not find the consummation of that salvation because they gave themselves to idols. God has done a great work of salvation in the New Testament. Christ has made atonement for sinners on the Cross. It has already happened. Yet our final salvation is in the future when our bodies will be glorified and we will live with God in the new heavens and in the new earth, but it is only for those who endure to the end, Jesus says. Do not walk away from Jesus Christ.

The Israelites experienced deliverance from Egypt, but so many failed to see the Promised Land. So “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Friends, did you start out years ago with your heart surrendered to the Lord only to find your heart today surrendered to sexual immorality, idolatry, and grumblings against God. Then it is not too late to genuinely receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Repent of all your idols, the things you value more than Jesus and put your faith in Jesus. Pray that God grant you repentance. Pray that God help your unbelief.

There is a great danger in growing up in the south where for generations there were present very strong Christian roots because we can assume that if we do the church thing, then we know God. But I want to ask each of you this morning…

Where is your treasure?

How do you find your joy?

What do live for?

Where is your purpose in living found?

Whom do you love and serve?

There is coming a day children when you will leave the home of your parents or guardians. This will be the great test for you whether or not you will continue to live for Jesus. This will be a day when your obedience will be more clearly evaluated as obedience to parents or obedience to God.

There is coming day when we will all find ourselves before God giving account. And you will not be able to look at your father, your mother, your husband, your wife; you will not be able to look to your water baptism, your participation at communion, the songs you sung, but only to Jesus Christ whose blood can make you clean.

As we turn in our small hymnal to page 30 to close by singing What a Day that Will Be, when we sing the words “There is coming a day…what a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace; when he takes me by the hand, and leads me through the Promised Land, what a day, glorious day that will be,” what will your heart reveal about Jesus. Will you sing with a soul full of joy because Jesus is your Savior or will you merely mouth the words because everyone else is?

Book Review: Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament

2008-05-22T13:01:00.004-04:00

Wright, Christopher J. W. Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992. 256 pp, $16.00.

One of my favorite teachers I had the honor of sitting under during my years at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was Dr. Daniel Block. It was under his teaching that my appreciation for and knowledge of the Old Testament grew in leaps and bounds. It was under Block’s teaching from the three courses I sat under him that I began for the first time to really see the Scriptures as a grand narrative of God’s salvific actions to redeem his creation.

It was also through his recommendation that I became acquainted with the book Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. Dr. Block highly advised all his students to read this selection in order to understand Jesus in light of the Old Testament. I recently purchased and finally read this book which he so highly recommended and it did not disappoint.

Wright starts his book out in the Gospel of Matthew and notes how for many Christians, the beginning of understanding Jesus starts at Matthew 1:18. Yet what is missed in the previous verses of Matthew 1:1-17 is the Old Testament roots of Jesus. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, the same Abraham through whom God promised to bring blessing to all peoples and nations. It is in Jesus that the Old Testament promises find their fulfillment. Or as Wright says, “The Old Testament tells the story which Jesus completes (p 2).

Jesus is also a new beginning. As Wright notes, Matthew’s gospel begins literally, ‘An account of the genesis of Jesus the Messiah…’ For any Jew, this would have caused them to recall the words of Genesis 2:4 and 5:1 (p 7). Just as we find a new work in the Book of Genesis, we find a new work of God in the Book of Matthew.

Wright says that Matthew 1:1-17 really tells us through a genealogy the long history of God and his people, Israel. The names point us to the call of Abraham, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, the covenant made at Mt. Sinai, the inheritance of the Promised Land, the kingship of David, the splitting of the kingdoms, the unrest of Israel through evil kings, the destruction of Jerusalem and exile of God’s people into captivity, the restoration of Israel, and up to the time to the birth of Jesus.

In chapter 2, Wright details how five events in the life of Jesus as a baby and child reveal fulfillments of Old Testament promises:

1. The son conceived in Mary was a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14, where a virgin shall conceive a child.

2. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem fulfilled Micah 5:2, where a ruler is prophesied to be born for Israel.

3. Jesus’ escape to and then return from Egypt fulfilled Hosea 11:1, where it is said, “Out of Egypt I have called my Son.”

4. The murder by Herod of the young boys in Bethlehem fulfills Jeremiah 31:15.

5. The fifth fulfillment is a bit more difficult to detail as Wright acknowledges, but he points to Jesus settlement in Nazareth as a fulfillment of the prophets.

The particular stories that are detailed about Jesus’ early life are given to us with the purpose of helping us understand how the Old Testament was preparing and leading to the birth and mission of this man named Jesus.

Additionally much of the chapter is spent on commenting on the nature of God’s promises and covenants, and their implications. For example, when Wright talks about the implications of being in Christ as it relates to the promise made to Abraham he writes:

To be ‘in Christ’ was to be ‘in Abraham’, and therefore to share in the inheritance of God’s people. And that inheritance now far transcended the national territory, and included rather all the blessings and responsibilities of the fellowship of God’s people. He was the Passover lamb protecting God’s people from his wrath. His death and resurrection had achieved a new exodus. He was the mediator of a new covenant. His sacrificial death and risen life fulfilled and surpassed all that were signified in the tabernacle, the sacrifices and the priesthood. He was the temple not made with hands, indeed he was Mount Zion itself, as the focus of the name and presence of God. He was the son of David, but his Messianic kingship was concealed behind the basin and towel of servanthood and the necessity of obedience unto death (pp 74-75).

Chapter three focuses on the identity of Jesus in light of the Old Testament. Wright argues that Jesus partly understand his own mission as the Son of God from three Old Testament “son” texts, Psalm 2:7, Isaiah 42:1, and Genesis 22:2.

1. From Psalm 2, Jesus is identified as the Son of David and as King is the authoritative spokesman for all Israel.

2. From Isaiah 42:1, Jesus understands himself as a servant son. This Davidic, Kingly Son would serve his people even unto death as the Servant Songs of Isaiah teach us. The servant would suffer so that we his people might be healed.

3. From Genesis 22:2, Jesus sees himself as the beloved only son of God like Isaac unto Abraham. Yet in stark contrast, Isaac was spared, Jesus will not be.

Wright additionally launches into a major section on viewing the New Testament fulfillments of Old Testaments texts through typology. Here he makes 6 points about typology (pp 110-16). This discussion will definitely help many in the church who have a difficult time understanding in what sense many NT events are fulfillments of OT events, as we typically think of fulfillment as being only fulfillments of specific predictions.

Chapter four is largely spent surveying the mission of Jesus as the Messiah. Wright covers common Jewish expectations. But the large portion of this section is spent surveying the Servant Songs in Isaiah. In the songs, Wright says we find the Messiah’s mission to Israel, but also to the Gentiles. For example the Lord says in Isaiah 49:5-6,

And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and My God is My strength), he says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

Wright concludes this chapter by addressing what implications Jesus’ own mission has for understanding our own present mission as God’s people. Wright concludes, “Mission lies at the very heart of all God’s historical action in the Bible. Mission to his fallen, suffering, sinful human creation, and indeed ultimately to his whole creation as well. That is why he called Abraham, sent Jesus, and commissioned his apostles. For there is one servant people, one Servant King, one servant mission (p 175).”

In the closing chapter, Wright looks at the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness by Satan. Wright notes that Jesus’ rebuttals to Satan all come from the early parts of Deuteronomy, so Wright looks to Deuteronomy 4-11 as an instructive paradigm for living before God as his people. This leads into a proper understanding of the place of the law in the life of God’s people. Wright’s major point here is that law is always a response to salvation and then he lists four major reasons or motivations for Godliness.

This last chapter is filled with helpful teaching on how to grasp the way in which we are called to live as the people of God, where to place our priorities in light of the way Jesus prioritized his values. Perhaps one of the most helpful summarizations Wright leaves us with in closing about living for Jesus comes on pages 247-8 and this is where the review will end as well. Wrights says:

To enter the Kingdom of God means to submit oneself to the rule of God and that means a fundamental reorientation of one’s ethical commitments and values into line with the priorities and character of the God revealed in the scriptures. The point of being Israel and living as the people of Yahweh was to make the universal reign of God local and visible in their whole structure of religious, social, economic and political life. They were to manifest in practical reality what it meant to live as well as sing, ‘the LORD reigns’.

Can there be any doubt that this statement should also be true of the church of God which has been grafted into Israel through Jesus Christ? Should not our goal be also to be the visible and local manifestation of God’s reign here on earth?

I would recommend this book to both pastors and church members. Wright’s style is easy to take in. He thoroughly explains larger theological terms. The book does not have footnotes that distract the common reader. I would use this book as the answer to someone’s desire to learn about how the Old Testament relates to the New Testament and more importantly, to Jesus.

Tuesday is for Hymns

2008-05-20T09:33:00.003-04:00

This week's devotion is the hymn titled most often as Majestic Sweetness Sits Entroned, but also found as To Christ the Lord Let Every Tongue. The hymn was written by Dr. Samuel Stennett, who also wrote On Jordan's Stormy Banks. The version found below has been slightly altered by Laura Taylor.

Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned

To Christ the Lord let every tongue, its noblest tribute bring
When He's the subject of the song, who can refuse to sing?
Survey the beauties of His face, and on His glories dwell
Think of the wonder of His grace, and all his triumphs tell.

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned, upon His awful brow
His head with radiant glories crowned, His lips with grace o'erflow
No mortal can with Him compare, among the sons of men
And fairer He than all the fair, that fills the Heavenly train.

He saw me plunged in deep distress, He fled to my relief
For me He bore the shameful cross, and carried all my grief
His hand a thousand blessings pours, upon my guilty head
His presence guilds my darkest hours, and guards my sleeping head.

To Him I owe my life and breath, and all the joys I have
He makes me triumph over death, and saves me from the grave
To heav'n the place of His abode, He brings my weary feet
Shows me the glories of my God, and makes my joy complete.

Since from his beauty I receive, such proofs of love divine
Had I a thousand hearts to give, Lord they should all be Thine
A thousand men could not compose, a worthy song to bring
Yet Your love is a melody, our hearts can't help but sing.

Red Mountain Music

2008-05-19T09:50:00.006-04:00

Back in December, I made a post about Indelible Grace, a group of Christian artists who collaborate together to set new music to older hymns in a effort to make them more accessible to the younger generations. I also want to introduce you to another group of musicians who are doing the same thing. They hail from Birmingham, Alabama and many of them belong to the same church there called Red Mountain Church. You can find their music and information about them at redmountainmusic.com.

They currently have produced five albums: This Breaks My Heart of Stone, Help My Unbelief, The Gadsby Project, Heaven, and Depth of Mercy.

There will be some hymns of which you will be familiar like Pass Me Not, O Gentile Savior, There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood, My Jesus, I Love Thee (all on Depth of Mercy album), but the great majority of hymns found on these albums will be unfamiliar. However, do not let this be an obstacle to purchasing the albums. These unfamiliar hymns will soon become some of your favorites.

You can preview and purchase the hymns online. Currently you can purchase the three most recent albums for $30. You can also find guitar chords and sheet music for their hymns here.

Great Hymns as Devotionals

2008-05-13T14:41:00.005-04:00

I have found that some of the best devotional books are hymnals. Starting this Tuesday, I will each week post a hymn each Tuesday that has particularly moved my soul. I probably will add no commentary as the words of the hymn will be sufficiently more enriching than anything I could possibly say. This week's hymn is titled Friend of Sinners, written by Augustus Toplady.

Friend of Sinners

Redeemer! Whither should I flee, or how escape the wrath to come?
The weary sinner flies to thee for shelter from impending doom;
Smile on me, gracious Lord, and show thyself the Friend of sinners now.

Beneath the shadow of thy cross the heavy laden soul finds rest;
I would esteem the world but dross, so I might be of Christ possessed.
I'd seek my every joy in thee, be thou both life and light to me.

Close to the highly shameful tree, Jesus, my humbled soul would cleave;
Despised and crucified with thee, with thee resolved to die and live;
This prayer and this ambition mine, living and dying to be thine.

There fastened to the rugged wood by holy love's resistless chain,
And life deriving from thy blood, never to wander wide again.
There may I bow my suppliant knee, and own no other Lord but thee.

Book Review: The Gospel & Personal Evangelism

2008-05-05T16:51:00.003-04:00

Book Review: Dever, Mark. The Gospel & Personal Evangelism. Wheaton: Crossway, 2007. 124 pp, $9.99.

Mark Dever’s plan for biblical evangelism is summarized as “A God-given commission and method, a God-centered message, and a God-centered motive. We should all evangelize. Evangelism isn’t all those other things we considered; it is telling the good news about Jesus, and doing it with honesty, urgency, and joy, using the Bible, living a life that backs it up, and praying, and doing it all for the glory of God (p 107).

In seven chapters, Dever asks and answers seven crucial issues concerning the issue of evangelism:

Chapter 1 Why Don’t We Evangelize?
Chapter 2 What Is the Gospel?
Chapter 3 Who Should Evangelize?
Chapter 4 How Should We Evangelize?
Chapter 5 What Isn’t Evangelism?
Chapter 6 What Should We Do After We Evangelize?
Chapter 7 Why Should We Evangelize?

The most important chapter in the book is “What is the Gospel?” No issue rises above getting the gospel right for the Christian because the gospel is what makes us Christian. It is the message that God uses to forgive, reconcile, and redeem sinners. If the Gospel message itself is confused, evangelism will not take place and God will not be honored.

Dever tackles common modern misconceptions about the gospel. The gospel is not God saying we are okay (pp 32-35). The gospel is not a message that “God is love (pp 36-37).” The Gospel is not simply “Jesus wants to be our friend (pp 37-39).” The Gospel is not a message about right living (40-43). Dever writes, “One of the early stages of becoming a Christian is, I think, realizing that our problems aren’t fundamentally that we have messed up our own lives, or have simply failed to reach our full potential, but that we have sinned against God (p 35).”

Dever closes the chapter by presenting the gospel. “The good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in his image to know him. But we sinned and cut ourselves off from him. In his great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law himself and taking on himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in him. He rose again from the dead, showing that God accepted Christ’s sacrifice and that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted. He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God.”

Chapter 5, “What Isn’t Evangelism” complements nicely with chapter 2 because here Dever gives examples of how well-intentioned Christians fall short of evangelism. One of the most common ways I have seen this personally is in the giving of personal testimonies. Personal testimonies are often full with ways God has blessed, but far too often the gospel itself is never spoken. Jesus is often completely left out.

An additional confusion when it comes to evangelism is the lumping in of decisions made or not made after the presentation to a sinner. Many believe evangelism occurs when someone hears the gospel and embraces it. However, evangelism is simply sharing the gospel. Dever writes, “We don’t fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not converted; we fail only if we don’t faithfully tell the gospel at all. Evangelism itself isn’t converting people; it’s telling them that they need to be converted and telling them how they can be.”

A great strength of this book is its practicality. Chapters 1 and 4 are filled with helpful suggestions for how a Christian can evangelize more frequently and more faithfully. Particularly helpful was the author’s teaching on balancing honesty, urgency, and joy in presenting the gospel (pp 55-60). First, be honest about the cost of following Jesus Christ. Those who follow Jesus will live a cross-bearing life. Sins will need to be repented of and forsaken. Second, be urgent in your presentation of the gospel. No one knows the day or hour when Christ shall return therefore we should not harden our hearts to God’s gospel. We do not become coercive in our urgency, but we should plead with men for Christ’s sake. Third, we should infuse the joy of salvation into our gospel presentations. Talk much of the love of God. Talk about the joys of eternal life. Talk about the joys of being reconciled to our Creator God.

The book alone is worth the price for the great stories concerning evangelism. The opener about John Harper is truly remarkable. But perhaps the most encouraging is found on page 81 in the context of trusting in God for conversion.

“It took a long time for the conversion of Mr. Short. He was a New England farmer who lived to be one hundred years old. Sometime in the middle of the 1700’s he was sitting in his fields reflecting on his long life. As he did, “he recalled a sermon he had heard in Darmouth [England] as a boy before he sailed to America. The horror of dying under the curse of God was impressed upon him as he meditated on the words he had heard so long ago and he was converted to Christ—eighty five years after hearing John Flavel preach.”

We thank Mark Dever for this helpful contribution concerning the oft neglected duty and privilege to evangelize sinners. Let us glorify God by being more faithful and diligent to tell others the greatest news ever.

"Jesus Christ is Precious"

2008-05-05T13:36:00.004-04:00

The following story is taken from Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions, by Kenneth W. Osbeck:

The story is told of this converted slave ship captain preaching one of his final sermons before his home-going at the age of 82. His eyesight was nearly gone and his memory had become faulty. It was necessary for an assistant to stand in the pulpit to help him with his sermon. One Sunday Newton had twice read the words, "Jesus Christ is Precious." "You have already said that twice," whispered his helper; "go on." "I said that twice, and I am going to say it again," replied Newton. Then the rafters rang as the old preacher shouted, "JESUS CHRIST IS PRECIOUS!"

Taken from the excerpt devoted to the Hymn, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds, which Newton wrote (p 278).

Highlights from Why We're Not Emergent

2008-04-30T23:20:00.015-04:00

I just finished reading Why We're not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be and I commend it highly. I am not reviewing the book, but wanted to give some highlights of why I enjoyed the book so much.

1. I liked how the authors showed how many emerging writers can be very dogmatic with their particular beliefs while at the same time question the dogmatic beliefs of others, especially Protestant Evangelical ones. The following is an excerpt from pages 43-44.

What bothers me is all the other times McLaren chastises us supposed moderns for being too linear and too persuaded of our own fallible interpretations, when, at the end of the day, he reaches his conclusions like every other mortal studying the Bible. He asks, "Does this make sense with the context? Does this fit together with other parts of Scripture? Does this piece together a myriad of readings without contradiction?"

We can know some things after all, then. We are not trapped in a hermeneutical spiral pulling us down into the morass of "all we have are our interpretations." There is meaning in the text. There are bad interpretations and good interpretations. Bell may list a series of stumper questions about the Bible to convince us that "the Bible is open-ended (Velvet Elvis, 46)," but he is certain that the first three miracles in the book of John are directly related to Dionysus, Asclepius, and Demeter, and that the reference to women being saved in childbirth is a direct reference to Artemis, and that the first chapters of Revelation follow the sequence of the Domitian games (Velvet Elvis, 64-65). It appears that the dance of uncertainty is fun but hard to keep up for a whole book, let alone a lifetime.

2. I liked how the authors showed how emerging and non-emerging churches are often times doing many of the same practices and disciplines, the only real difference is the language the emerging crowd are using to pump up their own and play down others. The following is an excerpt from pages 153-154.

The supposed radical difference between modern spirituality and postmodern spirituality is often nothing more than semantics. For example, many of Kimball's side-by-side comparison charts are especially guilty of hyperbolizing the differences between the modern church and the postmodern. Kimball says that preaching in the emerging church "teaches how the ancient wisdom of Scripture applies to kingdom living as a disciple of Christ" while the modern preacher "serves as a dispenser of biblical truths to help solve personal problems in modern life (The Emerging Church, 175)." Those two sentences would say the same thing if not for Kimball's choice of language, employing uninspiring words like "dispenser" and "solve" for the modern church instead of cool words like "ancient wisdom" and "kingdom living." Similarly, in the modern church "the Bible is a book to help solve problems and means to know God," and discipleship is based on modern methodology and helps." Conversely, in the emerging church, "the Bible is a compass for direction and a means to experience God," and "discipleship is based on ancient disciplines (The Emerging Church, 215).

Meanwhile, Pagitt says we must distinguish between storytelling and testimony time. "sharing our stories is not the same thing as giving our testimonies.... While not sounding like 'testimonies' in the traditional sense, these stories of the way God bubbles up in others' lives serve as testaments to who God is and how God acts in our lives. Telling and hearing these stories shapes us and forms us (Reimagining Spiritual Formation, 56-57)." So, let me get this straight. They aren't testimonies, just stories that serve as testaments to what God is doing in our lives. Sounds like a testimony to me.

3. I liked how the authors showed that when you reduce or conflate orthodoxy into orthopraxy you get something that looks very much like old liberalism. Here are two excerpts from pages 177-178 and 111-112.

According to the piece, "the movement's innovations go beyond worship and extends to theology. McLaren isn't preoccupied with hell--who's in and who's out." It seems to me to be the proverbial Wide Gate, and for a movement that has generated so much controversy, is completely un/controverisal. As an addendum, the paper lists nine characteristics of emerging churches: 1. Identify with the life of Jesus. 2. Transform the secular realm. 3. Live highly communal lives. 4. Welcome the stranger. 5. Serve with generosity. 6. Participate as producers. 7. Create as created beings. 8. Lead as a body. 9. Take part in spiritual activities.

Out of curiosity and for the sake of comparison, I looked up the guiding principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association on the UUA Web site: We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote 1. The inherit worth and dignity of every person; 2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations; 3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations; 4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning; 5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large; 6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all; 7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Both lists, for the record, are full of good and noble things; however, there is nothing said in either list of guiding principles about Jesus' death and resurrection and the need of both for our salvation...Hell is tricky because, though I may not be preoccupied with it now, when it is time to be "in or out" it may be too late to engage the topic.

Rob Bell is also suspicious of orthodoxy, putting it several notches below orthopraxy. For example, Bell admits that he believes in the virgin birth, but it is not as important as living for Jesus:
"What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archaeologists find Larry's tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? But what if as you study the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language a that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being born of a virgin also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse? What if that spring was seriously questioned? Could a person keep jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live (Velvet Elvis, 26-27)."

This emphasis on right living over against right belief is nothing new. It is, in fact, quintessentially modern, Adolf Harnack, the brilliant and popular promoter of Protestant liberalism, said the same thing at the turn of the last century: "True faith in Jesus is not a matter of creedal orthodoxy but of doing as he did."

Book Review: If You Could Ask God One Question

2008-04-28T11:24:00.005-04:00

Williams, Paul and Barry Cooper. If You Could Ask God One Question. Surrey: The Good Book Company, 2007. 127 pp.

This short paperback is designed to engage skeptics who have common objections to the Christian faith. The authors answer 12 frequent questions asked by skeptics. These are the 12 questions answered: If You’re Really There, God, Why On Earth Don’t You Prove It?; Isn’t the Bible Just a Bunch of Made-up Stories?; All Good People Got to Heaven?; If Jesus Really Was Your Son, How Come He Got Killed?; If I Can Be Forgiven Everything, Doesn’t That Mean I Can Do Whatever I Like?; How Can Anyone Be Sure There’s Life After Death?; What About Followers of Other Religions?; Isn’t Faith Just a Psychological Crutch?; Why Do You Allow Suffering?; Why Do You Hate Sex?;& Why Don’t You Just Do a Miracle?

The chapters range from 6 to 12 pages. So the book is not designed to exhaustively give every biblical evidence for each particular subject addressed, however the authors do give a concise and powerful argument from Scripture that will open the skeptics mind to what the Christian faith does claim about itself.

For example in chapter 10 titled, “Why Do You Allow Suffering,” the authors point out that if suffering really proved that God did not exist, how much worse of a reality would this create for us:

The conclusion is this: if we decide to reject God out of hand because of the suffering we see in this world, then we must come to terms with something far worse than suffering: meaningless suffering. Because without God, there is no justice, no future and no significance to human life. The very thought fills the writer of Ecclesiastes with horror: “Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless (p. 96).”

Then the authors point the reader to Jesus as God’s remedy to our suffering:

At the cross, we see a suffering God, suffering for his own people because he loves them and wants to free them from all suffering in eternity. All that remains for us to do, as Jesus told the crowd still bewildered by the loss of life at Siloam, is “repent”, or to put it another way, “turn back to God.” And those words were not spoken by someone seeking to frighten, intimidate or bully. Neither were they spoken by someone who does not know what it means to suffer. In fact, they were spoken by a man shortly to die on your behalf (p. 101).

This book could easily be expanded into an effective sermon series to address new Christians. Of course the book should be given out to skeptics that any Christian meets during the week. I am thinking about displaying copies of this book and a companion book titled, Christianity Explored in our church building, making them available to members and visitors. I highly recommend If You Could Ask God One Question.

Reflections from Together for the Gospel '08

2008-04-22T10:02:00.005-04:00

Like 5,000+ other individuals, I too just returned from T4G '08. You can find the audio of all the speakers at the T4G website. This conference like the one in '06 was thoroughly edifying to my soul for numerous reasons:

1. The messages were just the kind of spiritual food I needed. It is hard to know the weight of pastoral ministry if you have never pastored. All the speakers have pastored and the majority of them are still lead pastors at their churches. In particular, Mark Dever and C.J. Mananey always deliver soul food to the weary pastor, and they did not fail to deliver this year. Ligon Duncan and Albert Mohler instructed us who are younger in our years to stay the course on issues like Systematic Theology and Substitutionary Atonement. Both are widely being called into question especially in the Emergent Movement. Like wise teachers, they reminded us of the great value of these issues. Thabiti Anyabwile and John Piper brought great challenges for us. Thabiti called upon us to truly and un-hypocritically live out our faith seeing everyone as made in the image of God. Piper issued the challenge for us all to go outside the gate like Jesus and suffer for the cause. John MacArthur reminded us of man's complete inability to come to God apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, which helps the Pastor not get overly obsessed about success, but encourages faithfulness. Last, but certainly not least, R.C. Sproul delivered in my estimation the most powerful message centering on Christ becoming a curse for us. Just go and listen and worship.

2. The singing at these conferences is always encouraging, not because the newest and latest songs are used (they aren't) and not because of a grand orchestra of musicians (there wasn't one), but because 5,000+ souls gathered together sing with such passion and vibrance. I know it will not even compare to the singing that will take place in the next age, but I could not help but think of the line in the hymn Blessed Assurance, where it says, "Oh, what a fortaste of glory divine."

The hymns chosen always deepened the worship that had just taken place in the message. I am now encouraged to try to choose more carefully our own closing hymn as a result.

3. Visiting with friends was especially encouraging at the '08 conference. Back in '06 I came by myself. This time one of my best friends, Brent Blake (also a pastor) came along too. The conference is better when you can share it with a dear friend. Maybe in '10 extreme blogger Seth Bible might join us too.

Looking forward to 2010.

Baptist Faith & Message Article XVIII. The Family

2008-04-22T09:47:00.004-04:00

Here is my final lesson on the BF&M 2000 that I have been teaching on Wednesday evenings.

XVIII. The Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.

Introduction

The inclusion of an article on the family in 1998 reveals the great upheaval in society surrounding the family. The family was and still is in such a crisis in our day that Southern Baptists felt compelled to address the crisis by adopting a significant statement (notice its length) on the family.

The Church should be front and center in this crisis concerning the family by obediently and joyfully living out God’s will in our own homes. However, the Church has dropped the ball in many respects when it comes to the family.

If we hope to recover God’s ideal for the family it will come when preachers faithfully preach God’s word from the pulpit, Christians earnestly seek to be faithful to God’s instruction, and when the Church in love practices accountability and discipline.

A. Family as a Foundational Institution

Read Paragraph One

When we think of institutions we likely think about government, banks, or educational universities and colleges. However, the most important societal institution is the family (I am thinking of institutions common to both the regenerate and unregenerate, so the church is excluded here). In many ways how the family goes, society goes. And we would all agree that as we take stock of the family presently, we are in agreement. The family is struggling mightily. And not surprisingly, our American society is struggling too.

I believe one of the main reasons why the health of the family and society are so interwoven is stated in the article in the last paragraph where it reads, “Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth.”

Godly character should be taught and modeled in the home to each successive generation, but this is not happening by in large today. Many families are not staying intact long enough to instruct and model biblical character to the next generation. Many families have three and four generations of passing on ungodliness and are incapable apart from a miracle of God of making any significant change. Still others are so intermingled with the world they are apathetic towards their children’s future or too selfish and preoccupied primarily with themselves.

And when the institution of family suffers all the other societal institutions suffer as well because when character is not taught, when virtues are not valued, when godliness is not modeled, then business and banking institutions value greed over stability. Governments become wasteful instead of being good stewards. National leaders become corrupt and try to perpetuate their own legacies by latching on to power even through deadly means. Schools fail to educate mainly because of the failure at home.

B. Marriage as Foundational for Family

Read Paragraphs Two & Three

One of the most significant reasons why the family is struggling today is due to our low view of marriage. The low view of marriage no doubt arises when marriage is separated from the truth it was meant to display, namely the marriage between Jesus and his bride, the Church.

Additionally, marriage is more and more being severed from its roots which are in God where he married the first man and woman. Marriage today is simply viewed as a social contract that can be broken for any reason in most states (no fault divorce).

When marriage is severed from God’s intent then we also lose sight of what is good and appropriate only in marriage such as having sex and raising children as the article states, “Marriage is…the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.”

In paragraph four, the statement says, “Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage.” However, as the number of children born out of wedlock continue to rise, it becomes impossible for them to inherit godly patterns for marriage because they cannot be modeled by one parent. Furthermore the pain of having one or both parents disown their children through abandonment forever sears a child’s life and soul. It becomes near impossible for a child from this environment to even fathom a loving Father.

If the family is to be recovered then marriage must be recovered. And if marriage is to be recovered we must repent of our sin and turn to God for his instruction concerning the very institution he ordained. And when we do this we will recover important truths such as:

1. God’s expectations of a husband… “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).” The article expresses that the husband fulfills this command in part by providing for, protecting, and leading his family.

2. God’s expectations of a wife… “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:22-23).” The article elaborates more on the role of the wife calling her the husband’s helper who works alongside him managing the family and nurturing their children.

3. The marriage covenant between a man and a woman should display in many ways the new covenant between Christ and the Church… “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32).”

4. This truth leads us to the permanency of marriage just as Christ will never forsake his Church, so a husband should never forsake his wife and vice versa. 1 Corinthians 7:10-11 says, “To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.”

5. When sex is reserved for a man and a woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime, then children born out of wedlock become a thing of the past and families are much more prepared to bring a child into the world and properly model for them godliness.

What was very intriguing when this article was affirmed and adopted into the Baptist Faith & Message was the outcry against the statement “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.” Not surprising was the mainstream media’s attempt to paint this article negatively, but what was very surprising was the many Christians who denounced this statement because this statement comes directly from Scripture in Ephesians 5:22, 24.

C. A Biblical View of Children

Read Paragraph Four

Because our society has lost its positive view of children, Southern Baptists have deemed it necessary to also reaffirm a high view of children. First, we affirm that children “from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord.” We say “from the moment of conception” because of the terrible reality of abortion and its fruits present in our society.

While our society continues to raise standards in how we treat our land and how we treat animal life, we are making little progress in how we treat young human beings. We even have at least one political candidate who confesses that he isn’t sure whether life begins at conception but inexplicably sides not with caution but freely fights for the right of every American to have an abortion for whatever reason.

Children are not to be torn apart in the womb through abortive measures. The Scripture describes the awesome nature of procreation in Psalm 139:13-18…

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.

And Psalm 127:3-5 says of children, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate."

Children are not hindrances to be bemoaned, but rewards to be treasured. Children are not diseases to be rid of, but are blessings to be enjoyed. Children are not biological impediments that damper our futures, but human beings are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God which help parents know God more deeply and make life more meaningful.

Conclusion

The recovery of the family, marriage, and other institutions will occur to the degree that we humble ourselves and repent of our rebellion against God and his divine wisdom and begin to diligently search his revealed Scripture and embrace his perfect teaching regarding these vital institutions.

Quotes from David F. Wells

2008-04-09T11:16:00.003-04:00

I just completed No Place for Truth, by David Wells last night. I thought I would paste some good quotes from the book. All of these particular quotes come from his last chapter titled, "The Reform of Evangelicalism."

On Modern Revivalism:

"At moments like this, the customary response to the sense of Christian inadequacy, whether in relation to God or some aspect of the Christian message, has been to call for revival. In the modern period, though, revival has frequently entailed little more than proceeding with business as usual and praying that God will spice it up with some new enthusiasm and effectiveness. This is the legacy of the Finneyite conception of revival as something that can be engineered by the Church with proper techniques. Working from such assumptions, the Church will almost certainly be inclined to think of its own rejuvenation as self-engineered. But this is simply to apply modernity's solution to a problem that modernity has caused, and that is a dead end (Wells, No place for Truth, 296)."

On the Image of God:

"If we view ourselves as beings made in the image of God, we will recognize in ourselves capacities for God, truth, and goodness--capacities that cannot be meaningfully filled by that which is not divine, not true, not good. As Augustine observed long ago, we will be restless and frustrated until these capacities find their satisfaction in the God for whom they are made (Wells, No Place for Truth, 298)."

On the Relationship between Theology and the Church:

"Why should theology not be content simply to think its deep thoughts alone in the learned guild, doing its work only among scholars? The answer, quite simply, is that the learned guild cannot properly serve as the primary auditor for theology, the wider culture finds it incomprehensible, and theology developed apart from the Church rapidly loses its character. A theology oblivious to the Church as the people of God soon loses a sense of wonder because it is cut off from worship, and it soon loses productive connections to the world because it is not driven by a commitment to service. It will lose its life and character. And, conversely, without theology there can be no Church, because theology holds the key to Christian identity, to Christian continuity, to genuine piety, to serious worship, and to the sort of Christian thought that seeks to bring the import of God's Word into our world (Wells, No Place for Truth, 292)."

Baptist Faith & Message Article XVII. Religious Liberty

2008-04-09T10:55:00.006-04:00

XVII. Religious Liberty

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.

Genesis 1:27; 2:7; Matthew 6:6-7, 24; 16:26; 22:21; John 8:36; Acts 4:19-20; Romans 6:1-2; 13:1-7; Galatians 5:1,13; Philippians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; James 4:12; 1 Peter 2:12-17; 3:11-17; 4:12-19.

Religious Liberty Briefly Defined

Liberty of religion is an idea and law that modern day Americans take for granted. Every living person born in America that is living today has always been privileged to this freedom. For that reason I will define religious liberty as the term is rarely used today. Religious liberty is the freedom given to people to practice their faith and religious beliefs without any interference, especially by Kings and Princes in days past and by governments largely today.

The primary driving force behind this belief of religious liberty is that any forced or coerced prescription of religious beliefs upon a person or people against his or her will does not honor God. The assumption followed here, in a pluralistic society, is that no god desires forced submission and worship. However, there are many adherents to many religions who do not adhere to this assumption.

Baptist History and Religious Liberty

Religious Liberty as we have come to know it expressed in the Western World derives from Christian belief because it is the generally accepted position that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ does not desire worship that is forced or coerced. Now there have been certain people who have gone under the banner of Christ who have thought the opposite, but by in large this practice has been rejected today.

The rejection of forced coercion to Christianity as a movement has many of its roots in Baptist life. Baptists were some of the first Christians who systematically fought for religious liberty. And many good Christian men and women were persecuted for their participation in this movement to liberate the conscience away from the state.

The first sentence in the BF&M states, Baptists believe, “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it.” Early leaders in this movement believed that every person should have the right to interpret Scripture and commune with God according to their own consciences, not having to be led by men or a creed they differed with in interpretation.

John Spilsbury, the first pastor of Particular Baptists wrote, “No conscience ought to be forced in the matters of Religion, because no man can bear out another in his account to God (Nettles, An Exposition from the Faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, 41).” John Smyth, one of the earliest Baptists wrote while in exile, “The prince must leave the Christian religion free to every man’s conscience (Nettles, Exposition of the Baptist Faith & Message, 41).”

Baptist forefathers, long before men like John Clarke and Thomas Jefferson, were writing and championing Religious Liberty (Nettles, Exposition of the Baptist Faith & Message, 41).” But not only were Christians championing the rights of men to freely exercise the Christian religion without interference from civil authorities or state endorsed churches, some were championing the right of all men to practice any religion in freedom. For example, Thomas Helwys said, “Let them be heretics, Turcks, Jewes or whatever it apperteynes not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure (Nettles, Exposition of the Baptist Faith & Message, 41).”

The State and the Church

The battle for the freedom to practice religion in the Western world sprang from a rebellion against State Churches which dictated what could and could not be believed and what could and could not be practiced in Christian religion. In many lands, the Roman Catholic Church was the only recognized church and was the authority on every spiritual matter. In Germany, after the Reformation is was the Lutheran Church. In England it became the Church of England. In Scotland, it became the Presbyterian Church. And whatever the official church position was on a subject there was little room for differences. Thus, the religious liberty movement, which includes Southern Baptists, expressly state, “Church and state should be separate.”

We believe the state or governing authority has a role in religion, but it is not to dictate what the church should believe and how it should practice its belief. Instead, religious liberty advocates have taught that the state’s obligations to the church should be to ensure its freedom to worship without any interference. The BF&M states it this way, “The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others.”

Christian advocates of religious liberty see the state as an ordained means by which God providentially executes justice based upon Roman 13. However, the state is not to interfere in the local church domain. The two should remain distinct. Membership in the state does not entail membership in a church. The BF&M endorses this principle as it reads, “Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God.”

The BF&M further addresses how these two institutions interact at the end of the article. It reads, “The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.”

The freedom to express religious views has come under attack particularly over the issue of homosexuality. In our society today, the mere utterance that homosexuality is a sin will lead to the charge that you are homophobic. In a few countries in Europe and in Canada, pastors have been arrested and fined for merely reading Bible passages condemning homosexuality and expressing God’s judgment and condemnation of the practice.

These pastors have been arrested under hate speech laws. Activists in the homosexual community are trying to silence all opposition against homosexuality and these hate speech laws have been used to silence any criticism. Hate speech is any speech which is deemed to be potentially incendiary, and which might cause violence.

Now these pastors who have been arrested for hate speech are in no way calling for any violence against homosexuals. All they are doing is faithfully preaching against the sins the Bible names. Our very own country might see this same practice of jailing anyone who opposes homosexuality and speaks of it as a sin which God detests. As the BF&M states, we believe, “a free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies…the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.”

Kingdom Work vs. Civil Work

Baptists have traditionally argued for a separation of church and state. However, Baptists still believe there is a place for the state to obediently carry out God’s ordained will for it as an institution. A real mess arises however, when Baptists or any other Christian group seeks to do God’s will primarily through the means of civil government. The Baptist Faith & Message says, “The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work.”

Southern Baptists need to strike a healthy balance of how to involve themselves in the civil arena. On the one hand, the political arena should never be our primary focus for how we meaningfully persuade people to embrace Jesus and his teachings. On the other hand, we should not completely neglect this avenue as a means to be salt and light. The example and work of William Wilberforce is an example of the good a Christian can bring about through government.

The bottom line is this: Genuine and permanent change can only be realized through the reception of the Holy Spirit and the reception of the Holy Spirit can only be attained through repentance of sins and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And most Christians agree that it is not the responsibility of any government to be the propagator of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead this responsibility and privilege has been given to the Church of God which is the pillar and support of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15).”

The Divine Origin of the Kingdom

The BF&M message says concerning Religious Liberty, “The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends.” At the heart of this statement is the Christian belief that God’s will is accomplished through a divine power. This world was created by God. This world is saved by God. This world will be renewed and transformed by God.

No human initiative or creation will be sufficient to save our souls from God’s judgment on account of our sin. No human initiative or creation will be able to make this world as it was in the beginning, only power of God will suffice. And understanding God’s overarching aim in history will help the church to understand where its primary focus should be.

In the New Creation, governments will pass away. In the New Creation, Congresses will cease to legislate. In the New Creation, there will be only one King, one Lord, one Prince. Jesus Christ will be known and named and honored as the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Prince of Peace.

Therefore it is the great responsibility and privilege of the church, his bride, to preach the gospel of Jesus. It is our means to increase his kingdom and see it advance today. AMEN.

1 Corinthians 5: Church Discipline, Part 2

2008-04-07T09:29:00.004-04:00

Here is the second sermon on Church Discipline from my series on 1 Corinthians.

Introduction: Review of Part 1

1. Paul angered by the lack of Corinthian Church to discipline the man in sin.
2. Paul instructs the church to remove the man.
3. The reason for removing him was for his salvation (v5)

Paul now gives the church reasons why the man must be removed.

Now remember at the beginning, I said Paul’s concern was primarily for the church. He asks in verse 6, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

In our modern culture we want to make sin out to be only a personal matter. So if we sin in their money, we tend to say our money is not the church’s business. So if we sin in their sex life, we tend to say our sex life is none of the church’s business. So if we sin in how we raise our children, well how we raise our children is none of the church’s business.

This is just evidence of how rampant worldliness has infected the church. It is evidence of how popular worldly sentiments trump the Word of God in many Christian’s lives.

Scriptures teaches here and on many other occasions that the sin of one member or one family can have terrible consequences on the entire body. When we allow the odious sin of one to go unchallenged then it will not be long until the majority says we have no business challenging anyone’s sin because we are not consistent.

One of the reasons today that we do not practice discipline is that we no longer recognize church leaders to have authority in our lives. When the preacher or the preacher and deacon confront a sinful person they are often blown off, and the church, because it lacks a tradition of discipline, has no recourse for the blatant disrespect shown for the proper authorities God has placed in our lives.

Or the one confronted gets upset, and they start going to another church and the pastor there is so delighted in adding to their numbers invites them to join without investigating why they left their past church. We just perpetuate the problems so rampant in our churches.

Association With Sinners

In verse 9 Paul has to clear up a misunderstanding about associating with sinners. We do not disassociate ourselves with unconverted sinners for as he says we would have to leave this world to do this, but that we should not associate with one who “bears the name brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.”

Why?

Four reasons

1. If we continue in our daily association with him then it appears to him that the situation is not dire and urgent. But the offender needs to feel the weight of the consequences of his unrepentant sins. We want him to come to church and listen to God’s word preached and sung and prayed, but they are no longer recognized as one in the community but as one outside.

2. Our continued association with one irreparably damages the reputation of the church in the community. Brothers and sisters, we so often lament the question of why the church seems so irrelevant today. Could it be partially because so much of what we offer the world is hypocrisy?

Are we not a people who have been washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Our message says Jesus will forgive you of your sins if you repent and believe in him. You will also be given the Holy Spirit who will begin to transform you into the image of Jesus Christ. He will transform your lives. “The old things have passed away, behold new things have come.”

Yet when the world examines our claims they see few people interested in learning to observe all things Jesus has commanded. They see just as much sin in the church as they do in the world. They look at our marriage and divorce rate and laugh because it is no different than the society. Our children are committing sexual fornication at the same rates happening in the schools.

Some of the biggest gossips in the community are in the church.

Brothers and sisters, it is hard for the world to take serious what we ourselves don’t first take serious. O that we, like God would have passion and zeal for holiness and purity in this church.

3. The sin of one can bring judgment upon the congregation.

a. Look at the sin of Adam, it brought his entire posterity under sin.

b. The sin of Achan in Joshua caused his entire family to perish and Israel to be defeated in war.

c. The sin of David in murdering Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba brought God’s judgment upon his family in two ways. God said on account of his sin, the sword would not depart from his family, and the son born to him by Bathsheba died.

d. So Paul argues that this man guilty and arrogant of sexual immorality will bring judgment upon the church.

4. Tolerated sin will cause the church to become more sinful and more tolerant of sin. Paul says to Timothy in his first letter, “Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful [of sinning].”

One of the reasons why sin is so prevalent in the church is because we have forsaken the Scriptures teaching on the practice of the rebuke. For so long we never confront anyone on blatant and public sin I guess telling ourselves it is not our business and so it continues and multiplies. If the church tolerates one divorce on unscriptural grounds, then it will tolerate many more. If the church tolerates one case of adultery, then many will be tolerated. We tolerate one act of sexual fornication, and many more will be tolerated. We will begin to give a pass on most every sin. Yet Scripture says, “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Scripture says that we should judge those in the church and God judges those outside the church. So if the church rolls are our domain, then how should we go about this practice?

First, we must submit ourselves to the teaching of God’s word. There will some who object to church discipline at the outset. But in reality what these are saying is: “I am not going to do what the Bible commands me to do.”

Brothers and sisters, I do not want to be part in a church filled with people who have no reverence for the word of God. If the word of God clearly teaches a practice, then we must work to see that it is correctly initiated and correctly sustained in order to be faithful and obedient to God.

We need to recognize that obeying God’s word is not always easy. We do not have the option to pick those practices that are easy and neglect those which are difficult. We do not have the option to only adhere to those which have been passed on to us, but also those through neglect which we must recover.

When the Bible reveals that we should not associate with Christians who practice immoralities and are unwilling to repent then we must be obedient to Scripture and not associate with such a one just like Scripture teaches for those who claim Christ and are idle (2 Thes. 3:6). We need, as Paul exhorts is 2 Thes. 3 “to not grow weary in doing good.”

In order to be the competent man of God equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17) we cannot take out the part about God's word being profitable for correction.

Second, we must create a culture in the church of accountability. This does not mean that I tell all my problems and concerns with every member of the church, but there needs to be for a man a few men and for a woman, a few women that you trust and will lean upon for Christian growth and accountability.

We have to know that the people in the church love us first before we will ever be able to receive rebuke and discipline. The reason why our children receive and accept discipline from us as parents is because they know we love them and we show it. On some occasions the reason why children will not tolerate parental discipline is because they do not sense a strong presence of love in the home.

When love and accountability are absent, church discipline is like having someone you only see once a month spank your kid for some disobedience. It just isn’t right is it? The only way church discipline works is if we are indeed a strong loving family in the first place committed to the well being of the church.

Third, in order to establish church wide accountability I believe we must raise the standard here at Little River of what it means to be a member. We need standards of conduct, and we have these located in the church covenant. My suggestion would be that we take a look at the covenant and upon agreement affix our names to it understanding that we are accountable to these words. We also need to write a policy for how church discipline will take place and again affix our names to it understanding that we will be accountable to the policy.

Fourth, one of the first acts of discipline that Little River needs to exercise is the excommunication of many of its members due to their habitual absence. In excommunicating them from our membership we would not be saying that they are not Christians because of their lack of attendance, but we as a community are no longer capable of discerning whether they are or are not because they have forsaken the fellowship of the saints so we will no longer be accountable for them because of the decisions they have made. Furthermore, we do not want the leadership of the church to be accountable for them before God when there is no way they can be because of their lack of concern for the people of Little River.

Fifth, we need to understand that corrective church discipline when done well will usually be settled privately and not before the church. Church discipline is not some practice where every person’s sins must be named before the church. We all truly understand that we are all sinners.
The Bible gives clear steps in Scripture for handling sin. For example when one brother sins against another brother Jesus tells us in Matthew 18 we go to the offender by ourselves. Usually this is where discipline ends because as God teaches us, we are to forgive others of their sins and when we are confronted with undeniable sin we must confess it and repent of it.

The only occasions where discipline comes before the church is when the offending party will not repent of clear sin and when the sin, as in 1 Corinthians 5 is so egregious and public that it must be dealt with publicly for the sake of the reputation of the church and God’s name.

Conclusion

By practicing church discipline we will:

1. Save lives
2. Be faithful to God’s word
3. Maintain the reputation of the church
4. Maintain our Christian witness
5. Increase holiness
6. Give the boot to much sin
7. Have integrity in church membership
8. Help our leaders be accountable to God concerning the flock
9. We will model godliness to the next generation
10. We will hand off the church in greater health to the next generation.

Baptist Faith & Message Article XVI. Peace and War

2008-04-03T12:56:00.003-04:00

Here are my notes from my ongoing Wednesday evening study of the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.

XVI. Peace and War

It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.

The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of His law of love. Christian people throughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 2:4; Matthew 5:9,38-48; 6:33; 26:52; Luke 22:36,38; Romans 12:18-19; 13:1-7; 14:19; Hebrews 12:14; James 4:1-2.

Christian Warfare vs. Modern Warfare

There is certainly a type of warfare in which the Christian should participate. So at the outset of this topic of war and peace we need to differentiate between godly warfare and ungodly warfare. And I am not talking about just war theory.

When one is transferred into the Kingdom of God’s Son, he is enlisted as a soldier for King Jesus. This truth is captured nicely in a hymn like Onward, Christian Soldiers.

Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before! Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle, see his banner go!

At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise!

Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war; With the cross of Jesus going on before!

The mission given to the soldier has similarities to a soldier in the Marines. For example, the Christian soldier is given permission to engage the enemy in the hopes that a victory might be secured over the enemy. However, the means, or the way we go about securing victory over our enemies, is different from modern warfare. Additionally, our enemy is a spiritual one and not primarily a physical one like we see in modern warfare.

Our enemy in Christian warfare is not mankind as Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

As Scripture teaches us, mankind is not our primary enemy. Our enemies are fundamentally Satan, bondage to sin, and death. It is our enslavement to sin and its corruption of our beings which leads to division and violence between men and nations. So the goal for mankind is not to destroy one another but to be liberated from the powers and forces that lead us to violence.

Victory in Christ

Scripture teaches us that this needed liberation from evil powers and forces comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the way we participate in the victory Jesus Christ made comes when we are united to him by faith. The old self is crucified with Christ. The Holy Spirit gives birth to a new self, in which the power of sin has been broken.

The primary means by which we wage warfare is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is through the hearing of the Word of Christ that we are saved and liberated from the powers of darkness. The Baptist Faith & Message says it this way, “The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord.”

There have been many remedies offered in the past to avoid war and there will continue to be many offered in the future, but if the peace is not rooted in Jesus Christ then it will not last.

Short-lived Remedies

There are many remedies offered today…

1. Economic sanctions are levied against countries in order to ensure peace.
2. Non-Aggression treaties are signed between nations
3. Appeasement was offered in the months leading to WWII.
4. The accumulation of great armies is often a deterrent to war.
5. The remedy of war unfortunately is often more war.

In older days past, in order to ensure the peace, princes and princesses from differing kingdoms and nations were married to ensure the peace.

Peace Through Marriage to Christ

It would seem that this approach has the most similarity with God’s plan for peace. Those who are united with Jesus Christ by faith are called the bride of Christ. Jesus is the husband and all those who will join Christ in marriage will enter into God’s peace, but all those who rebel against Jesus Christ, God will destroy.

The primary reason why Jesus Christ is the only true remedy to the spirit of war is that mankind’s heart is enslaved to evil toward God, and this rebellion against God’s ways leads to devastation in our relationships with one another. Only the new birth can enact the kind of permanent change needed for everlasting peace with our fellow man, and only the work of Jesus Christ can ensure our peace with God on account of the blood of Jesus which justifies us before God.

Given that our task is to bring the liberating gospel to all men regardless of ethnicity, tongue, or nationality we should not give ourselves to the type of ungodly warfare which leads to physical death and ensures that no further opportunities for real peace can be given. Thus the Baptist Faith & Message says, “It is the duty of Christian to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.”

We are Peacemakers

Scripture is filled with teachings that instruct us on our responsibility to work for peace on earth.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9).”

Romans 12:18-21 (NASU) “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath [of God], for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 14:19 (NASU) “So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”

Hebrews 12:14 (NASU) “Pursue peace with all men…”

In his own ministry, Jesus rejected violence toward others as a means by which would inaugurate his Kingdom.

a. He did not call legions of angels who were at his disposal for protection.

b. He commanded Peter to put his sword away when the authorities arrested him.

c. He did not militarize his followers at the height of his popularity.

Instead he inaugurated his kingdom through selflessness, sacrifice, and service to others faithfully leading people to God.

Godly Resistance

Jesus was not a complete passivist though. He taught his followers to resist evil but not in the standard practices of his day which resorted to more evil.

In Matthew 5:38-48, Jesus gave three examples of creative holy resistance tactics against evil.

a. turning the other cheek: turning the other cheek creates a dilemma for the abuser. Few would be willing to use their left hand to slap someone (for the left hand was unclean). His only option would be to quit hitting you (thus the violence would end) or because his left cheek is exposed, his only option would be to strike with a closed fist which only equals in society fought this way (if he did this then he would be saying you are his equal and he probably would not do this).

b. giving your tunic and cloak: If someone sued you for your tunic and you also hand him your cloak as well, you will be naked and your nakedness will bring shame on him who sees you. The desired hope is that the one who sues you will be shamed and recognize that suing for someone’s tunic is wicked.

c. going the extra mile: Going the extra mile beyond the legal Roman proscription of one mile would potentially cause the soldier to get into trouble and would turn the table on the Roman solider concerning who had power.

Being a peacemaker is not easy work. It takes wisdom and ingenuity.

Implementing Christ’s teaching in our own lives will help us work for peace in this world. If the church would truly model the kind of service, sacrifice, selflessness, and love that Jesus demonstrated we could truly turn the world upside down.

We should pray and work for the end of peace. The Baptist Faith & Message says, “The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of His law of love. Christian people throughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace.”

Is There Such a Thing as Just War?

My own position is: where there is war where men kill one another there is also evil and wickedness. These kinds of wars are always the result of our failure to love God and love our neighbor.

The only occasion where war may be justified is when the greater evil would be to sit idly by when great injustices occur. But my belief is that few wars have been waged that fit this scenario. Furthermore, even when war is waged justifiably(?) it is still the lesser of two evils.

What we know to be true is that when our soldiers come home from wars and they have killed other human beings they are never the same. Most suffer for the rest of their lives with post-traumatic stress. And this makes perfect sense for we were never created for such barbaric conduct. Our soldiers and their families need our prayers on many fronts.

Conclusion

War is easy.
Wickedness is easy.
Retaliation is easy.

Peace is difficult.
Holiness is difficult.
Suffering wrongs is difficult.

But this is the work Jesus calls us to. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

1 Corinthians 5: Church Discipline, Part 1

2008-03-31T09:34:00.003-04:00

I normally preach around 40-50 minutes each Sunday. And I am one who types out much of my notes. Basically for each message I have 7-8 pages of notes. For my 1 Corinthians 5 message I had thirteen. So I obviously decided to have two messages. So wanting to stir the church up this past Sunday, I told them about how my notes are usually 7 pages and this morning's sermon was 13. You should have seen their heads almost fly off. I said every body take a deep breath. I made the one sermon into two shorter sermons.

So here is the first message from 1 Corinthians 5 on church discipline. The focus of the first message is primary aimed at the man in the sin and why it is important for the church to discipline such a man. Next week's sermon will focus on the importance of discipline from the church's perspective and I will give some practical suggestions for what LRBC should do to be a more faithful Church.

Church Discipline: What is it? And why is it needed?

Introduction

Two weeks ago we left off 1 Corinthians with Paul asking the church at Corinth:

Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (1 Cor. 4:18-21)

After spending four chapters addressing issues of leadership and division in the Corinthian Church, Paul basically gives them an ultimatum. The church could humble itself and make the necessary corrections and repent of their sins. Or they could remain arrogant and face his discipline when he was able to visit them again.

But what we find out beginning in chapter 5 is that not only did the Corinthians have issues regarding its leadership, but the problems only began there. And this should not surprise us. When there is a failure at the top among the leadership in a church, it surely filters down and infests the rest of the body.

Not only was there a failure to be humble among many in Corinth, but there was also a serious deficiency in knowledge of Christian holiness and sanctification. Ironically, while the Corinthians prided themselves in knowledge, they were terribly ignorant.

Notice all the questions Paul asks the Corinthians. And based on the Corinthians’ conduct, they did not know the correct answer.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 5:6 Do you not know that a Little leaven leavens the whole lump?

1 Corinthians 5:12 Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

1 Corinthians 6:2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God?

1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

The Corinthians demonstrated in their many immoralities that they had little knowledge of holiness and sanctification and it was tearing the church apart and ruining its reputation as God’s people.

Incest

The first among many issues Paul addresses is sexual immorality. And this sexual immorality Paul says in verse 1 is “of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.” A man, who was a member of the church at Corinth, was involved in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. The scandal of such an incident is noted by Paul when he says this kind of thing is not even practiced among the pagans who are guilty of practicing all kinds of sexual immoralities.

But notice that Paul’s rebuke is not aimed first at the man in the sin, his rebuke is aimed first at the church. The question is: Why is Paul so disheartened by the church over this man’s sin? The reason is that the Corinthian Church had done absolutely nothing about the situation. While this sin is particularly odious, Paul is more angered by the lack of a disciplinary response from the church.

As I have said a few times before, Christians often are surprised to hear that the Bible instructs churches to practice church discipline. The fact that it comes as a surprise to so many Christians reveals at least two things. First, it reveals our present lack of what the Scripture teaches. So we have a failure in discipleship, in the passing along to others the whole counsel of God from generation to generation. Second, it reveals just how long the words church and discipline have been separated in church life. Up until about the 1930’s, church discipline was routine in the life of most Baptist Churches, but today it is the talk of Baptist churches when we even hear of one Baptist church practicing corrective discipline.

There are two types of discipline: Formative and Corrective. Formative discipline takes place in preaching, teaching, and modeling of God’s word to others. Corrective discipline happens when a serious and unsually public sin has taken place and the member is unrepentant when confronted about the sin. And in 1 Corinthians 5, we have an example where corrective discipline is needed so Paul argues for the need of this kind of discipline concerning the man who is in an incestuous relationship.

So we ask the question: What should the church do when such a sin has taken place, a public sin which stains and damages the reputation of God’s church and God’s name?

Paul first responds in verse 2 by saying the Corinthians ought to be mourning such a sin from among their own. Too often this is lacking in our churches today. We do not mourn over our personal sins. We do not grieve when others are in sin. We tolerate sin. We look the other way.

We can only speculate why the Corinthians are not mourning over this particular sin. Three possible reasons given for their lack of an appropriate response are:

1. Perhaps many of them were holding to some kind of antinomian theology which reasoned since we are forgiven in Christ of all our sins, we could sin all the more.

2. Possibly the man in the sin held a high standing position of honor in the city of Corinth. Although God is impartial, many times his people are not. Preference is often given to those of wealth and honor.

3. Or perhaps, since the Corinthians knew that they too were sinners, they believed it inappropriate to judge someone else’s sin.

Regardless of the reason, their lack of a response was unacceptable.

Second, Paul says the second course of action for this member is: he must be removed from the church. He must be excommunicated from membership.

So in the absence of any positive leadership from Corinth on this issue, Paul gives them the proper instruction and reasoning on how to handle this matter in vv 3-5.

First, Paul encourages the Corinthians in verse 3 by telling them that he is with them in spirit as they discipline this individual. But notice this is something the Corinthians must do themselves. Discipline is not something that can be exercised by one person. It must be done as a church. Encouragement to do the right thing is always helpful when the action needed is difficult.

Notice as well that the woman is not disciplined in this case. The only reason this must be is because she is not a member of the church. Paul will address this in vv 12 and 13.

Second, the discipline must be processed when the church assembles. In verse 4, Paul says, “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, you are to deliver this man to Satan.” One of the pictures presented here is the unity of the church. The church needs to be unified in discipline. Corrective discipline is never an easy thing and can be abused and done incorrectly. So the church needs to be unified and assemble together to complete the task.

Third, in verse 5, Paul says this man is to be handed over to Satan. This seems very harsh at first glance. What does Paul mean when he says to hand him over to Satan? Well the Bible teaches us that when we repent and believe in Jesus Christ we are transferred in the Kingdom of Christ. Colossians 1:13-14 says, “For he rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

So when Paul says that the church should deliver him over to Satan, he is saying that the church is making the judgment that this one really is not a member of the Kingdom of the Son, but of the God of this world, the Devil.

Now many of us might be asking, how can someone make a judgment of someone else’s heart to know whether they are indeed saved or not? Is not God the only one who can do this? The answer is: God is the only one who can accurately and omnisciently peer into a man’s soul. But Scripture teaches us in verse 12 that we are to judge those inside the church. God wants us to make evaluations of those who would enter into the fellowship of the church.

These evaluations occur primary on three occasions. The first one comes when someone presents themselves for baptism. The leadership should evaluate through questions whether the candidate truly understands the gospel before he or she is baptized. The second is similar to the first, the only difference is this candidate is for membership and has already been baptized. We ask the same questions. The third evaluation does not happen with every member, but should an event like the one in 1 Corinthians 5 arise in our church then an additional evaluation needs to be made of the individual’s soul.

And one of the clear evidences that one guilty of such a sin is truly of Christ is his willingness to repent of sin, bear remorse for his actions, and clean his life up from that point. It appears that the man in Corinth had not repented of his sin. And an unwillingness to repent of sins when they are confronted is a sign that one is not truly converted.

But we should not conclude because discipline takes place that we do not love the one who is disciplined. Instead the exact opposite is true. A church disciplines precisely because it loves the individual. Parents, why do discipline your children? Answer: Because you love your children. This is indedd what Scripture teaches.

Prov 13:24 (NASU) He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

The Lord disciplines those whom he loves too.

Hebr 12:6 (NASU) For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives."

The church also loves those whom it disciplines.

When discipline is absent, people get hurt. One of my daughters shoved her sister yesterday and she fell and hit her head. If as parents we fail to discipline, then my children will continue to behave badly and will surely get hurt again.

Furthermore, when discipline is lacking there is no respect for authority. If children are not disciplined they will begin to disrespect their own parents. They will disrespect their teachers, their employers, and ultimately they will not see God as a legitimate authority in their life.

Why does Scripture command us to hand over the one being disciplined to Satan? Verse 5 says, “so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.”

There a couple of viable interpretations of this verse but I only have time this morning to give you the interpretation I hold. When a local church dismisses one from their membership you are sending the strongest possible statement to the individual that this church does not believe you are saved, and the hope of the church is twofold. Either the one disciplined is finally awakened to his sin through this drastic action and repents, or because we no longer reckon him to be converted we start sharing the gospel with him and in our evangelism he finally is genuinely saved at some later date. He is no longer to be admonished as a believer but evangelized as an unbeliever.

If the church permits him to stay on the membership rolls, then we are in even greater sin because we allow such a one to have continued confidence that he is saved when his life screams the very opposite.

We could make an analogy here to the human body. We all know that we should exercise certain measures of self-control when it comes to taking care of our bodies in order to be healthy. This is formative discipline But on occasion, an emergency might arise and surgery is needed to save our lives. What shall we do? Emergency surgery will certainly be painful. But on the other hand, if we do not have it then we shall die. The prudent one will choose surgery and live even though it will be painful and will often take much time to recuperate. So it is with church discipline. We must do the surgery when necessary to save souls, otherwise we let souls drift ever closer to condemnation and hell.

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The Qualifications of a Pastor...according to many Pastors

2008-03-26T15:04:00.003-04:00

From what I often hear other popular Christian Pastors say, here is how 1 Timothy 3:1-7 should have been written:

1 Timothy 3:1-7
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer (pastor), he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be relevant. In order to get a sizable audience, the pastor must prostitute the gospel. He must also have an exceptional portion of humor. Furthermore, if he can base his Sunday Preaching on a modern stand-up Comedic routine he deserves a double wage. He must be the attractional type. Why else would anyone come to hear him preach the word of God? The overseer must be self-controlled except when it comes to his tongue. The more flamboyant, the better. Oh, did I mention he must be relevant? The most polished Pastors are the ones who have learned how to preach as little Bible as possible while mixing in as many stories and jokes as possible. The pastor should not worry about how outsiders or other Christians for that matter think about him because he is God's Annointed and they are only jealous of his church size. The pastor must be cool and hip. So depending on your place of service that might mean wearing Brooks Brother suits or designer jeans and shirts. And did I mention, the pastor must be relevant?

Thank God for the real 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and passages like 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5; 1 Corinthians 4, 1 Timothy 5:17, 2 Timothy 4, and Titus 1. They are truly why so many pastors endure when hardship comes from every side.

Obama's Speech

2008-03-18T15:30:00.003-04:00

There is no doubt that if speeches alone decide who is elected President of the United States, Barack Obama would win easily over his competition. I have listened to many of his speeches and when he discusses his vision of unity in America, he truly inspires. Much of what I have heard that comes from Obama on unity is truly commendable.

His speech today was another example of the high quality in which he speaks to issues in America. But I confess that what truly puzzles me is this: In a speech that centers around his Christian faith, his Christian preacher, and how his Christian faith impacts his life and guides him philosophically, you might think the object and person of his faith might be mentioned. I have read through the speech and I cannot find even one mention of Jesus Christ.

I suppose that the mere mention of Jesus Christ must be too divisive for politics. Chalk this up as another unfortunate example of one who talks about their Christian faith without even mentioning the very center of that faith.

I could not help but think of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2.1-5:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

BF&M 2000 Article XV. The Christian and the Social Order

2008-03-11T14:47:00.003-04:00

Here are my notes from a series on the Baptist Faith Message 2000.

Article XV. The Christian and the Social Order

All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.

Exodus 20:3-17; Leviticus 6:2-5; Deuteronomy 10:12; 27:17; Psalm 101:5; Micah 6:8; Zechariah 8:16; Matthew 5:13-16,43-48; 22:36-40; 25:35; Mark 1:29-34; 2:3ff.; 10:21; Luke 4:18-21; 10:27-37; 20:25; John 15:12; 17:15; Romans 12-14; 1 Corinthians 5:9-10; 6:1-7; 7:20-24; 10:23-11:1; Galatians 3:26-28; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:12-17; 1 Thessalonians 3:12; Philemon; James 1:27; 2:8.

Introduction

Should Christians retreat from the public square in order that the church not succumb to worldly temptations?

Should Christians seek to change the laws of one’s government in order to bring about a new theocracy where only Christians can participate and rule?

Should Christians negotiate an agreement with the Government where each party will refrain from activity with one another?

Should Christians fully participate and embrace every liberty given to them by their ruling government?

Should Christians try to transform culture working towards the goals of peace, harmony, and justice? Or should we abandon the culture and create our separate ghettos?

What does the relationship between the disciple of Jesus Christ and his or her society look like?

These are some of the questions article 15 of the BF&M 2000 seeks to address.

A Christological Focus

Jesus came to build a Kingdom. Jesus serves as the King of that Kingdom. Therefore it follows that the objectives of his rule and reign in the Kingdom he is building should also be the objectives we too are working to consummate. As ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 5:20), our marching orders come from the King. Thus the first statement in the article says, “All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society.”

However the Scripture eliminates coercion and obedience from the tip of a sword or gun as means by which the will of Christ is made supreme among the nations. To our surprise, Jesus uses sacrifice and service as two primary means of building his kingdom. Jesus is a King who serves all people free from partiality. He loves his creation so much that he gives up his own life as a ransom and substitute. And in this sacrifice he offers a comprehensive forgiveness to sinners when they repent and believe and confess with their mouths Jesus is Lord.

The Holy Spirit is sent from Jesus who sits at the right hand of God the Father and is working to bring about a renewal both in mankind and the earth. The BF&M is correct when its states, “Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ,” for Christ is truly the focus of God’s work to redeem his creation. So to the degree that we turn away from Jesus, we will fail in our pursuit to fulfill God’s will, and on the other hand to the degree we magnify and spread the good news of Jesus Christ, we will be faithful.

Clear Instructions

Our King, Jesus Christ, provides clear instruction for his disciples and also provides an excellent model of how to interact with one’s culture and society.

First, Christians need to reject the idea that we can faithfully follow Jesus by separating from our surrounding culture and communities. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-14 that we “are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” Someone did say that you do not light a lamp to hide it under a basket. The only way to see the will of Jesus accomplished is to take his message into the darkness and reject the consistent temptations which the darkness sends lays before us.

The type of Fundamentalism which encouraged Christians to retreat into ghettos clearly was and still is a gross perversion of the way of Jesus. A simple examination into the life of Jesus’ own life contradicts this philosophy of life. Additionally, a simple examination of God’s apostle to the Gentiles also repudiates this philosophy.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays to the Father, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10).” How then is the Father’s will accomplished on earth as it is in heaven? Surely we would affirm that it is accomplished through both the work of the Christ and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, does not the Holy Spirit work through the children of God to bring about the presence of the Kingdom of God in Christ? This is in fact what the book of Acts reveals, namely the Spirit working through the disciples of Christ to bring about God’s will.

Specific Cultural and Societal Issues

Southern Baptists do name several issues which should be of concern given the clear teaching of Scripture. The article says:

In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.

A. Racism

Racism has been and still is a problem in our society. Although regrettably Southern Baptists have been on the wrong side of this issue in the past, we have as a convention apologized and have now moved to eradicate this sin.

The Bible in numerous ways repudiates racism. First, because we all have common ancestors (Adam and Eve), we are all brothers and sisters in one sense. Second, the Bible tells us that Jesus came to redeem men and women from every tribe, nation, and tongue thus demonstrating his love for all peoples. Therefore we need to express our love for all peoples. Third, Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

B. Greed and Selfishness

Greed and selfishness are the roots of many of our societal problems. Americans have an insatiable desire to accumulate more money and more power. And then we turn around and spend if not all, most of our money and power on ourselves. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Jesus Christ’s life is the par excellence example of what it means to model a life of selflessness. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).” As his disciples we also are called to live a life of service not selfishness. Jesus reminded his disciples, “But the greatest among you shall be your servant (Matt. 23:11).”

C. Sexual Immorality: Adultery, Homosexuality, & Pornography

Sexual sins run rampant today, not only in our own society, but in societies around the world. Sexual ethics seem to be broken with the greatest frequency in our day. C.S. Lewis rightly puts his finger on the difficulty of this domain. He writes, “Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence (Mere Christianity, 89).”

However we break God’s rule here by engaging in sex before marriage, by engaging in sex with someone other then our spouse, by engaging in sex with the wrong gender. And the issue of the pornography is only increasingly enslaving more and more people.

Lewis argues that above all our sexual instinct has exponentially been perverted in the fall. He compares our indulgence to overeat to man’s indulgence to sexual immorality. If we do not have self control in our eating, we may end up eating enough for two men, but if we do not exercise self control in sex, we will have numerous sexual relationships with different women.

He goes on to say that when an attractive woman gets up on a stage and begins to undress, men will gather in large numbers to see and even pay to see, but we would think it odd if people flocked to see someone eat some steak from a stage even though we love to eat.

Genesis 2:18-24, 1 Corinthians 6:12-7:16, and 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 address this subject well.

D. The Least of These: Orphans, Sick, Elderly, Abused, Alien, & Widow

These are just some of the groups of people named in the article or named in Scripture that often need special support and protection in order that none of them are taken advantaged by predators.

In Deuteronomy 10:17-19, God addresses his love and concern for the disadvantaged:

For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

Presently, the church has neglected its responsibility to fight for and look after the needy. We have relied too heavily on the government to do what God calls us to do. And we need to retake this priority in the church today.

One of the most talked about issues among Christians today is immigrantion, legal and illegal. And we seem to have such disdain for those especially of Hispanic dissent. Yet God clearly in the OT shows special concern for the alien, the one who lives in a foreign land. Could it be that our concerns for America are higher than our concern to please God himself?

Southern Baptists stand to learn more about what it means to care for the least of these without being overly judgmental.

E. The Unborn

Southern Baptists have done well in this regard trying to bring protections to the unborn. The Born Alive Protection Act is one example. We also need to not grow weary in the great work of overturning laws which permit individuals to continue to murder the unborn in our land.

However, regardless of whether Roe vs. Wade is still the law in the land we need to live in such a way, to love people in such a way that our influence might help prevent women from choosing abortion when it is legal. We need to stand in the gap and adopt unwanted children, support single women who make mistakes and get pregnant and have no means to raise a child.

And we need not forget those who are born. We need to equally support those who are already born and those still in the womb.

Transforming Culture

The article states, “Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love.”

Our influence should reach into all domains of our society. We should exert a holy and Christlike influence on our government and the industries in the land.

While we should not try to make the OT laws the laws of the land, we should strive to see that the laws of our land do not encourage evil. The public square should not be naked. That is, we do want to influence the laws of the land. We want the basis of our laws to be influenced by the law of Christ.

We should expect businesses to bear certain responsibilities just as we as individuals must bear a degree of responsibility. One expectation we should hold companies accountable on is the stewardship of the creation. We cannot continue to pollute our environment and not expect great and awful consequences to follow.

Conclusion

The last stanza says, “In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.”

In the effort to transform culture and society toward the goal of Christlikeness, to see the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, we need to be convictional. We need to stand firm on the teaching and work of Jesus Christ. We should not compromise clear truths taught in Scripture.

But we should be willing to work with others when the cause is good, when the cause helps to make rights of wrongs, to bring justice where injustice prevails. We need to work with Roman Catholics on issues of abortion and the sanctity of life of the unborn. We need to work with people of all walks of life to comfort, rebuild, and repair when a tornado, hurricane, or flood has devastated a city.

Let us pray with Jesus, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but let us also work in the power of the Holy Spirit to see it come.

9 Marks March/April eJournal

2008-02-29T16:30:00.003-05:00

The new 9Marks eJournal is out.

Here are some of the subjects tackled & articles written:

On Christian Cooperation:

Together for What?
By Mark Dever

A Senior Saint on Unity
By Iain Murray

On Christian Separation:

When, Why, & Where to Draw Boundaries
By Wayne Grudem

Potential and Pitfalls of Together for the Gospel
By David Doran

Greg Gilbert offers a 3-part review of Rob Bell's Nooma Series

Check out the other articles and reviews at 9Marks.

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

2008-02-26T14:10:00.003-05:00

I Corinthians 2:1-5 (ESV)

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

I thought the following comments from Gordon Fee to be a helpful reminder as a pastor prepares to preach:

This paragraph has had an interesting history of application in the church, depending on where the emphasis has been placed. Some emphasize what Paul did not do, that is, preach with excellence of word and wisdom, and glory in a more rough-hewn presentation (which, interestingly enough, is often accompanied by a kind of bombast that seems intent on persuasion of a rhetorical kind, despite its protests to the contrary). Others wish to emphasize the "positive," the "proofs" of the Spirit's power, which they see as in contrast to mere preaching. On the other hand, the polished oratory sometimes heard in American pulpits, where the sermon itself seems to be the goal of what is said, makes one wonder whether the text has been heard at all. Paul's own point needs a fresh hearing. What he is rejecting is not preaching, not even persuasive preaching; rather, it is the real danger in all preaching--self-reliance. The danger always lies in letting the form and content get in the way of what should be the single concern: the gospel proclaimed through human weakness but accompanied by the powerful work of the Spirit so that lives are changed through a divine-human encounter. That is hard to teach in a course in homiletics, but it still stands as the true need in genuinely Christian preaching (Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1987), 96-97).

Baptist Faith & Message Article XIV. Cooperation

2008-02-25T15:59:00.003-05:00

Here are my notes on my ongoing series addressing Southern Baptist Beliefs by examining the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

Article XIV. Cooperation

Christ's people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner. Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ's Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ's people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.

Exodus 17:12; 18:17ff.; Judges 7:21; Ezra 1:3-4; 2:68-69; 5:14-15; Nehemiah 4; 8:1-5; Matthew 10:5-15; 20:1-16; 22:1-10; 28:19-20; Mark 2:3; Luke 10:1ff.; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1ff.; 4:31-37; 13:2-3; 15:1-35; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:5-15; 12; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Galatians 1:6-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Philippians 1:15-18.

Authority

Without being overly technical the assumption of Baptists when it concerns the chain of authority looks something like this:

God-->Christ-->Spirit & Bible-->Local Church

Therefore on any occasion where Baptists cooperate, whether it is with other Southern Baptists or Christians from other denominations, it is understood that no real authority exists where one church can speak authoritatively over another local church. The cooperation is voluntary and may be dissolved at any time. Thus we find the following statement in article xiv, “Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches.”

Churches may have to submit to certain principles and practices in order to participate in an association or convention, but the submission comes not from an organizational dictate, but because the local church willingly entered into an agreement or contract with the organization and can dissolve the relationship at any time.

How We Cooperate

Southern Baptists have concluded that there are many reasons why we should band together in networks and associations. The heartbeat of the why the Southern Baptist Convention exists is due to our common desire to see the Great Commission fulfilled. Southern Baptists desire to see a people from every tribe, nation, and tongue worship God through the Spirit confessing Jesus is Lord.

Southern Baptists have rightly concluded that the Great Commission can be fulfilled more effectively if we come together as local churches and pool our resources for this great effort. The Cooperative Program, our chief funding mechanism in Southern Baptist life, reflects our common desire to reach the nations as the majority of money sent to the Convention is earmarked for International and National mission efforts.

Southern Baptists traditionally have cooperated on three levels: local, state, and national.

On the national level the focus of cooperation is focused on Missions and Pastor Education (six seminaries). Around 94% of Cooperative Program monies sent to the SBC goes into these two ministries. The remaining money is used by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Archives and Guidestone Financial Resources.

On the State level, Cooperative money is put into Nursing homes, Orphan Ministries, state colleges, Baptist Papers, and a plethora of other ministries such as conferences, scholarships, and state missions.

The local association focuses on projects and ministries in the community, and other ministries deemed important by the local churches. Often, the local association is a resource center for the local churches that have needs that go unfulfilled.

Dissatisfaction & New Networks

While it seems that Baptists have traditionally worked primarily with other Baptists, it appears that a new wave of Baptists have arisen that are more willing to work with Christians of various denominational stripes. New networks are being created where 2nd and 3rd tier issues of theology are no longer barriers to fruitful cooperation. So we have networks being created where the participating churches agree on gospel level issues, and the real driving force behind the cooperation are the common goals and methodologies used for reaching our communities.

Baptists are asking questions like the following:

Do I want my offering money to fund a Baptist Paper where the readership is dwindling or do I want it to go to support a church planter?

Do I want my money to fund an evangelism conference where my theology will be degraded and many stories will be told or would I rather use that same money to participate in conferences which I believe will help my local church better fulfill our Scriptural mandate?

Do I want to give money that will be channeled through two to three agencies in order for it to be put to use for the glory of God, where also overhead costs will depreciate the gift or do I want to be as directly involved as possible so that not only those who receive the gift are blessed, but we are also because of our direct participation?

Associational Effectiveness

The third sentence in the article on cooperation states, “They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner.” The most important aspect of this statement is the last stanza which emphasizes the importance on using networks and associations which are most effective in fulfilling Biblical mandates.

Year after year, we hear reports of our declining influence as Baptists to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of our churches are filled with aging members and there is a glaring absence of younger generations who will be necessary if many of these local churches are going to be in existence in the next 20 years.

As each local church is directly under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and as such accountable to him, we need to use the sum of our talents and resources to maximize our effectiveness for his Kingdom. And if current networks are not effective, or if we find ourselves going in different directions, then we might need to reconsider our allegiance with them.

Missions, Education, & Benevolence

We believe as the statement says, “Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ's Kingdom.”

Southern Baptists join together to send out Christians to serve around the world through the International Mission Board and we send Christians out nationally through the North American Mission Board. In addition to our mission efforts Southern Baptists fund many educational institutions such as our six seminaries and other colleges such as Anderson University, North Greenville College and Charleston Southern here in South Carolina.

Furthermore, Southern Baptists routinely contribute to benevolent ministries. World Hunger and Disaster Relief assistance are two ways we yearly help in these areas.

Here again though, we need to make the commitment to yearly think through the different causes we fund and measure their effectiveness. We may find that instead of supporting World Hunger we may want to divert some of our benevolent funds to Blood, Water, Missions to see clean water wells provided for communities without clean water.

As a part of our mission endeavors we may want to contribute to the renewed movement of church planting because we have learned that newly planted churches are often more effective in reaching younger people than older established traditional ones are, and while we may not change certain aspects of our local church, we still want to see the younger generation reached with the gospel.

Beyond Denominations

The last statement made on cooperation involves Baptist cooperation with other denominations. It reads, “Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.”

This statement can be said for cooperative efforts with other Southern Baptists churches as well. There is no Biblical mandate that says we must cooperate with every church that identifies itself as Southern Baptist. In fact, there are many Southern Baptists churches that I probably would not want to be associated with because of particular attitudes and perspectives on what it means to be a Christian.

There can no doubt that the more local churches can cooperate the better the image we can put forth to the world on what it means in part to follow Jesus Christ. Unnecessary division and divisiveness between Christians takes away from God’s glory in the church.

On the other hand, we should not pretend that there are no real differences between Christians. Local churches should not compromise themselves on gospel level issues just to bring about a sense of togetherness. In the end, if we do not have unanimity on the gospel then we do not have true fellowship anyway.

Outlook

I see both a decline and incline in participation in cooperating networks.

I see a decline especially in Baptist circles of churches choosing to participate in the traditional avenues. Already there are many Southern Baptist churches unsatisfied with the take of State Conventions Cooperative Program dollars, and are choosing to bypass the State Conventions and send their funds directly to the Executive Committee of which Highview BC is a prominent example.

Active participation in many local associations is abysmal. I know on many occasions, I am the only one present at meetings who does not have gray hair. This cannot be a good sign for traditional local associations.

New affinity groups are springing up where denominational affiliation is not so much as important as the goals and methodologies of the local churches.

Many are rejecting the traditional means of cooperation because of the feeling that too much money is being wasted, or not directed to the most needed areas of ministry. For example many are tired that so much money is being spent on ourselves here in America when we have so much already.

I see an incline in participation between churches across denominational lines.

I see an incline in membership to new networks due mainly to the great church planting movement that has begun here. Many younger pastors get burned out spending years trying to reform dying or stagnant churches that are unwilling to change anything and are unwilling to do anything about the stagnant condition of the church. So they move on and take the hard road of raising funds and working part time jobs to make ends meet in order to start healthy churches where discipline and order can be properly maintained.

This is already happening in Southern Baptist life where fewer and fewer Southern Baptists attend any Convention or Associational meetings but can be seen gathering at non-Baptist conferences and fellowshipping and meeting with diverse Christians in order to be more fruitful.

Baptist Faith & Message Article XIII: Stewardship

2008-02-19T11:34:00.003-05:00

Here are my notes from a lesson on the stewardship article.

XIII. Stewardship

God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.

Introduction

As our language changes over the past decades and centuries, new words are introduced into our society and older words fallout of common use. Stewardship is a word that I have personally rarely heard used outside of the church atmosphere. I cannot think outside a conversation about God when I have heard someone use it.

The word “stewardship” comes from the word steward. And a steward is someone who is put into a position of oversight to direct the affairs of a master or an organization. A more common word that overlaps with steward and for the most part has put the word “steward” out of use is the word manager.

Take for example a manager of a local McDonalds. It is the responsibility of this manager to produce foods and an atmosphere that represents the dream of the owner of this company. The responsibility of leading all the employees of the local McDonalds also falls upon this manger/steward as he or she leads and directs the staff to create the McDonalds experience.

To the degree this manger/steward successfully creates the experience of McDonalds, happy meals, McRibbs, Big Macs, and apple pies, and McFlurries, he or she will please the owner and customer, and will be rewarded.

Genesis

Now travel back with me to Genesis 1-3. You have the Creator/Designer who creates the heavens and the earth. He populates the heavens with stars, planets, moons, comets, and galaxies. He populates the earth with vegetation, animals, and mankind.

And we learn specifically that human beings are uniquely made in the image of God. Being made in the image of God, as I have repeatedly reminded us, does not mean so much that if we saw God with our eyes, he would have an appearance similar to man. Instead, it means that mankind has been endowed with similar capabilities as God. Like God, we can create. Like God, we can love. Like God, we have a will. We have an awareness of the reality of God and that we are his creation.

Genesis tells us that one of the privileges of being made uniquely in his image is the responsibility of stewardship over the creation as a whole. God says concerning mankind, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth (Gen 1:26). Then in vv 27-28, God makes man and woman and commands them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over every living thing on the earth.

So in essence, God makes us stewards of the creation. He commands us to fill the earth, to subdue the earth, and have dominion over the earth.

Subdue & Have Dominion Over the Earth?

But what does it mean to subdue and have dominion over the earth? Well we cannot spend too much time here tonight, but we can submit a couple of answers to this question.

1. Having dominion over the earth does not mean we have the right to treat it with carelessness. God did leave instructions to Adam and Eve concerning the creation. For example, Adam and Eve and their descendants were not permitted to kill and eat animals until after the flood. Therefore, having dominion over the animals must include caring for and ensuring their prosperity. Proverbs 12:10 says, “A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, But [even] the compassion of the wicked is cruel.” The recent videos that have surfaced of the barbaric treatment of cattle is sickening. This is precisely what God did not want when he said have dominion over the earth and everything in it. Although we are permitted to eat meat, we should not dishonor animals in this way.

2. Subduing the earth entails a respect for the land as a part of God’s good and beautiful creation. As evidence of this, God commanded the children of Israel to refrain from sowing crops every seventh year so that the land may receive a rest (Exo 23; Lev 25). Amazingly, God even leaves instruction to the Israelites concerning what kinds of trees could be used for seigeworks in war (Deut. 20).

As our world becomes more industrialized and becomes more technologically advanced, we must be prepared to think long and hard how we can be obedient to this creational ordinance.

A Stewardship of All Things

What Genesis reveals to us is: our entire lives should be given entirely in stewardship to God. No matter what we create, we have used the materials and substances he has created. No matter where we travel, the land, water, and air is his. So stewardship is not just a matter pertaining to money. Stewardship is much larger than money. Stewardship unto our Creator encompasses all of our faculties, senses, talents, monies, thoughts, and actions. This is what the BF&M affirms in the first sentence of the article on stewardship, “God is the source of all blessings, temporal and spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him.”

A proper understanding of our relationship to God includes the knowledge that all we do should be done to give glory unto God as the article states, “They are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time, talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping others.”

Bringing glory to God in simple terms means that we fulfill the goals we were created to fulfill. When Adam named the creatures of the earth, he was glorifying God because God instructed him to have dominion over the animals, and naming them partially fulfilled this command.

In a broader sense, the way we all can fulfill the command to steward ourselves in order to bring glory to God is by expressing in our own lives the characteristics God displays such as justice, mercy, grace, and love. As Micah the prophet reminds us, “He has told you, o man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)?”

Stewardship in View of the Cross

Since the creation and the fall, the focus of stewardship has shifted somewhat. Stewardship in the Garden consisted of maintaining harmony between God, man, animal, and the earth. Stewardship after man’s rebellion against God consists of man joining God’s work to restore the creation through an invitation by God’s Spirit.

The focal point of our stewardship now is centered on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who alone has made it possible for the creation to be restored, who has made it possible for man to be forgiven by our Holy Creator, who has made it possible that harmony will be restored between God and every part of his creation. We are reminded of this truth in the BF&M article says, “Christians have a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in the gospel.”

The priority of our stewardship today always has an eye towards the cross and the one who died as our substitute on it to absorb the wrath of God. As Paul stated, so we also state, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Rom 1:16).”

So at the heart of our stewardship is the message of Christ crucified. Fundamental to the Christian is his or her concern that this good news concerning Jesus of Nazareth is proclaimed. Jesus has come that we all may have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This good news concerning the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ grants us to live in hope, joy, and peace because we know what lies beyond the first death.

Our Disposition in Stewardship

Equally important to our obedience living under the Lordship of Christ is the state of our heart when we serve. King Jesus does not delight when his servants serve begrudgingly. King Jesus does not delight when we do the right things with a sour heart and attitude. 2 Corinthians 9:7 states, “ Each one [must do] just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” The condition of the heart counts maybe even more than the action because partial obedience is disobedience.

Jesus reminds us in Matthew 6:21, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The conclusion we should draw from this teaching is this: If our obedience is heartless and we receive little or no joy in living for Jesus, then it reveals that Jesus is probably not the treasure of our lives. And let me tell you from my heart, there is nothing more discouraging than living in a community of people who confess that Jesus is their Lord, but have no joy in singing to him and have no passion to see his work accomplished.

Where are the disciples of Christ who are desperate to seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness first? There is a generation of young people who have experienced God’s love and grace, and who are not going to waste much of their time on tired, apathetic, and lazy Christianity and the local churches which are filled with these kinds of people.

I hope you count yourselves among this movement regardless of your age. I hope you count yourselves among those who desire to become disciples who like the statement says, “…contribute of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically, proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the Redeemer’s cause on earth.”

Conclusion

May we continually be the kinds of people who pray that God would continually break our hearts for his creation and all the hurting people who live in it.

May we continually ask God to work within us to prevent each of us from becoming numb to the needs of our community and world.

May we continually ask God to do the work necessary that we pursue our joy from fulfilling his designs in our lives.

May we continually ask God’s Spirit to well up within us that we would abandon and forsake the empty and dry religion that we have been practicing for so long, and awaken our hearts and drive toward the gospel ministry and making much of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Genesis 49:29-50:26

2008-02-13T16:52:00.003-05:00

Here my notes from my sermon on Genesis 49:29-50:26

Introduction/Review

Joseph, through God’s providence, rose to second in command in all of Egypt. He was able to secure Egypt’s future. He was able to increase Pharaoh’s control over the residents of Egypt. More importantly, Joseph was able to secure salvation for his family in the face of a great and severe famine.

Joseph’s family also came together. The brothers who had desired to get rid of their brother now have been reconciled to Joseph, as he has no desire to avenge their crime. His tears over his brothers express from his heart his desire to be one with them again.

Last week we saw, with the family reunited, Jacob pronounced his departing words to his sons.

Not surprisingly, Jacob gave the fullest blessings to Joseph and Judah. And to the sons who caused him the most grief, namely Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, Jacob gave less than desirous words. But these final words had more meaning than just to the sons themselves. Jacob’s words had prophetic significance for the descendants and tribes which would come forth from the sons.

As a preview of where we are going tonight, first we will read the remaining contents of Genesis. Then I will point out important observations from this section. Finally we will consider Genesis as a whole, hitting the highlights, and I will close by pointing out some observations to consider as one moves into the book of Exodus.

Read Genesis 49:29-50:26

Earlier Jacob made his son, Joseph, swear that he would take his body back to Canaan to be buried. And just after he gives his blessings to his sons, he implores them to take him back to Canaan for burial.

Jacob wanted to be gathered to his family. Quite literally, in those days when one was buried in the same tomb, eventually when the flesh completely deteriorated, ones bones would be put with the remaining bones of past family members.

Leah, the forgotten wife of Jacob

In this section of Genesis 49:28-33 what catches my attention is the wife whom Jacob was buried with in the family tomb. Throughout the Genesis narrative Jacob’s love is Rachel. This is the woman whom Jacob worked 14 years to marry. His marriage to Leah was consummated through treachery as Jacob did not realize he had married Leah until after his sexual consummation had already taken place. And although Zilpah and Bilhah were technically not on the same level in Jacob’s eyes as Leah and Rachel, it could be argued that they too were his wives in reality.

Jacob is buried with Leah. The irony here should not escape us. When we recall the struggle Leah and Rachel endured being married to the same man, two things jump out at us. Rachel had Jacob’s love, but she had a great struggle having children. Leah was particularly fertile, as she bore six children to Jacob, but she never had Jacob’s love.

Perhaps in death Leah received some of the honor she should have received in life. Earlier in Genesis, God made the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. He made Eve from Adam’s rib and declared, “therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen 3:24).”

Leah never really experienced the holding fast part of the command. Although Jacob never divorced her, he only held to her loosely. Leah was a victim of the wills of two men. She was abused by her father, Laban, as he orchestrated and commanded Leah to deceive Jacob. Jacob, after becoming the husband of Leah still chose to marry her sister.

God’s design in marriage is for one man and one woman coming together in covenant of marriage for a lifetime. Although Jacob did not love Leah at all and although he did not want her as a wife, Leah was his true wife.

In life, Leah was far from the side of Jacob, but God saw that they were united forever in death in a way they had not been in life. Additionally in a way not known before her death, God chose the line of Judah, her son, as the line through which Jesus Christ was born.

God’s Promises Continue to be Fulfilled

As we have stated many times through this studies that a dominant theme running through the book is promises. Many of these promises find fulfillment in Genesis, others find fulfillment in both the OT and NT. The issue of promises and fulfillment is God’s credibility. God promises many things to this family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What we find throughout Genesis and the rest of Scripture is God’s fulfilling of those promises.

In Genesis 49:33 we are told of the death of Jacob after he blesses his children and instructs them about his wish for burial in Canaan. When he dies, Joseph is there by his side and he begins to weep over his father. This event is another example of God’s faithfulness concerning his words.

When Jacob learned that Joseph was alive and the family began its journey to Egypt, God came to him in visions at night and promised to Jacob that his beloved son Joseph would close his eyes (Gen 46:4). This specifically addresses Jacob’s death and Joseph’s presence there. This fulfillment and the host of other kept promises of God give us confidence and assurity in God’s words and his ability to keep them.

This is why I believe that Jesus will come back again like he promised. This is why I believe in promises like Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).” This is why I believe in the promise found in Lamentations 3:22-23 which says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.”

The Regal Burial of Jacob

From the beginning, God promised to bless Jacob. Throughout the narrative of Jacob, God has been faithful to the patriarch in his life. Now in death, God continues to bless him. Jacob in essence gets a burial reserved only for Kings and Pharaohs.

Not only does Pharaoh permit Joseph to return to Canaan to bury his father, but servants of Pharaoh went with Joseph, and elders of the land of Egypt journeyed to Canaan for the funeral. Pharaoh provided chariots and horsemen for the journey. The picture is one of complete solidarity.

Although Jacob was worried that he would go down to Sheol in disappointment and pain, he was reunited with his long lost son. He even was part of the lives of his grandchildren. He endured through a great famine in the comfort of Egypt’s wealth. And when he died he was gathered to his people in the land of promise with royalty and regalia.

Final Reconciliation & the Sovereignty of God

After the death of their father, the 10 brothers responsible for selling Joseph into slavery begin to fear that Joseph would take revenge out on them now that their father is dead. I suppose the same thought would have crossed my own mind as well if I had been one of the brothers. The human race has proved since the time of Adam and Eve how inept we are at forgiveness and putting things behind us. Joseph has already proved himself to be a very calculating person with his success running Egypt and his series of tests to confirm the honesty of his brothers.

But what we see repeatedly through this narrative is the integrity and godliness of Joseph. We cannot be sure whether Jacob really wrote this letter or whether it was just from the brothers, but I lean towards the latter.

Nevertheless, Joseph continues to demonstrate what forgiveness, reconciliation, and trusting in God truly looks like. Joseph responds first by weeping. Then he reassures them that he has no desire to take vengeance because vengeance belongs to God. He continues to pledge his love and support for his brothers and their entire families. And finally, Joseph continues to look at the good God did through their sin. “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they were today (Gen 50:20).”

The book ends with the death of Joseph, but the focus turns back to the promise of Jacob’s sons inheriting the land of Canaan. In other words, the book ends with Joseph urging his people to remember God’s promise of the land precisely because God is faithful.

The Israelites, as they will be known as in the future, will have a land of their own. They will not live in Egypt forever. And naturally, Joseph also requests that his body be buried in Canaan when his family returns to the land of promise.

Questions & Comments

Now that we have spent nearly a year of sermons going verse by verse through the book of Genesis,

1. What have you learned about Genesis?
2. What have you learned about God?
3. How does Genesis speak directly to your life?
4. What questions remain unanswered for you concerning Genesis?
5. How does Genesis detail the beginning of God’s redemption?
6. How is Genesis important for our understanding of sin, marriage, our purpose in life?

Do any of you want to share some comments about anything related to this series?

Looking forward

We look forward by recalling the promises God gave to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and what will become Israel.

Gene 15:13 (NASU) [God] said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.

Their sojourn in Egypt leads to the fulfillment of their enslavement in a land that is not their own.

To Abraham

Gene 22:18 (NASU) "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

To Isaac

Gene 26:4 (NASU) "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

To Jacob

Gene 28:14 (NASU) "Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

These promises will span the entire scope of the entire Old and New Testaments. These promises find fulfillment in Jesus’ life death and resurrection by which men from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people can become a descendant of Abraham and participate in God’s blessing and redemption of the earth.

Genesis/Exodus Typology

a. Joseph’s dreams caused his to go down to Egypt.
b. In Egypt, Jacob’s descendants will have to struggle with a King (Pharaoh).
c. An infant is born from Jacob’s descendants, whom the King tried to kill.
d. This infant (Moses) is used by God to deliver his people.

NT Gospel Fulfillment

a. Joseph (husband of Mary) has a dream which causes him to go to Egypt.
b. Joseph’s immediate struggle is with a King (Herod). But his people are in a more penultimate struggle with slavery to sin.
c. The King (Herod) tries to kill the infant.
d. This infant (Jesus) is used by God to deliver his people.

The Baptist Faith & Message Article XII: Education

2008-02-13T16:34:00.005-05:00

Here are my notes from a lesson on the BF&M's article on Education.

XII. Education

Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence. In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage. The new birth opens all human faculties and creates a thirst for knowledge. Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the churches. An adequate system of Christian education is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ's people.

In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility. Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute. The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.

Deuteronomy 4:1,5,9,14; 6:1-10; 31:12-13; Nehemiah 8:1-8; Job 28:28; Psalms 19:7ff.; 119:11; Proverbs 3:13ff.; 4:1-10; 8:1-7,11; 15:14; Ecclesiastes 7:19; Matthew 5:2; 7:24ff.; 28:19-20; Luke 2:40; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 4:8; Colossians 2:3,8-9; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:14-17; Hebrews 5:12-6:3; James 1:5; 3:17.

Introduction

When it comes to the issue of education, usually education of any kind, people get somewhat divisive. There are some who despise education for one reason: they do not have much. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are those with much education who despise those people who have little or none. I despise both of the former positions.

Education, undeniably, is a pursuit that every Christian should affirm because Holy Scripture commands us. The danger is not education itself, but how we educate, what sources we use, the goals we identify and pursue, and the manner in which we pursue education.

There are extremes both on the side of liberalism and conservatism. For example, there is a type of liberal education which will teach of the need to abandon the Bible as a source of authority in our lives. It will conclude that the Bible is merely a religious book much like those of other peoples. It will conclude that the Bible is filled with mythical elements that should be rejected as historical and factual.

On the other hand, there is a type of conservative education which will encourage all teaching outside what the Bible proclaims to be unnecessary or worse unprofitable and worldly.

We should avoid both these extremes. Instead we should affirm all types of education which glorify God and bless others.

Holy Scripture

We should affirm Holy Scripture as God’s unshakable words. It should be our primary source for understanding in every topic it addresses. It alone do we recognize as being infallible, uniquely authoritative, and inerrant. We recognize that there is no substitute for the Bible.

As we are educated through divine revelation we will learn that we are created in God’s image. We have similar capabilities as our Creator, not in the sense that we can perform all that God can perform, but we have been made in such a way to function like him.

Creativity

God has given us both a mind and a conscience to be engaged to glorify him and bless others. And one of the ways we are like God in his image is our ability and desire to be creative like our Creative God. Now we acknowledge that we cannot create as God creates as he makes the physical universe “ex nihilo,” out of nothing. But we can use the physical properties God has made available to us.

Our ability to create, in a fallen world, can be used for good or evil. It can used to glorify God, but it can used to profane his name. For example if we learn how to cut wood, lay cement, install windows, lay brick, electrically wire a structure, then we can build a house. This type of education is used by institutions like Habitat for Humanity to house the economically challenged. It is used by those who have built all the houses we live in and are grateful.

Now the Bible does not educate one how to build a physical house. So if one was going to learn this trade which surely every one of us is thankful for, one would pursue it through means outside the Bible.

Again education of many types is a good thing so long as we use the education to glorify God and for blessing.

This truth is what the statement in part affirms when it says the following:

1. “Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence.”

2. “In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage.”

Furthermore, we also affirm that when the Holy Spirit illumines and indwells an individual one is encouraged to pursue all avenues of education in order to build upon God’s Kingdom, to be used for the advance of the gospel, and better the lives of families and neighbors.

Christians should not be opposed to many of the advances we have made concerning education. I rarely hear of anyone who wants to return to the days of 19th century technologies. The question for Christians is not education itself but how the education and tools of education are used.

Christians should fully embrace the advance of education in diverse fields in part because the progress can better enable us to fulfill Christ’s commands.

Two examples of how education outside the Bible has better enabled us to fulfill God’s commands are:

“Make disciples of all nations”
1. Improvements in transportation—It used to take weeks and perhaps months of time in boats and on the backs of animals for missionaries of the gospel to get to certain people groups. Now through the educational advancements in transportation we can get to most places on the earth in one or two days.

“love your neighbor” 2. Improvements in agriculture—In order for past civilizations to endure through poor weather, famine, flood, etc…one needed dreams and dream interpreters (Joseph and Egypt) and traditions besides God’s good providence. Now in addition to God’s providence through educational advancements we can predict in advance severe weather. So if an early frost comes, we can take precautions to preserve young plants. We use irrigation when the rains are infrequent. We have insecticides that protect crops from bugs that would devour our food.

So can America help impoverished peoples and nations who are not beneficiaries of all the blessings we have received? Answer: Yes we can! And we do!

This is what our statement affirms when it says, “Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the churches. "

Christian Education

To this point we have emphasized the importance of education in general. We have emphasized that we should embrace all forms of education that seeks to glorify God.

We also need to also stress the importance of a spiritual education. This education comes from two sources; it comes from the Holy Spirit and the Bible. If we are ever going to grow in Christlikeness and develop the inner desire to glorify God, then we must be educated by God through his word. We affirm that apart from Christian education one can never fully glorify God through his or her actions. All pursuits should be offered in faith for the purpose of glorifying God. So we say without qualification that if we only could have book to study, it would be the Bible.

An important part of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 is the command by Jesus, “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” The primary way we try to fulfill this command today is through systematic pulpit preaching and systematic Bible study.

The quickest way we can walk away from God is to believe that we can follow Jesus by ourselves. We decide we do not need the church. We decide we do not need spiritual leadership in our life. We decide we do not need any spiritual accountability in our life. Every believer needs to be present and active in ongoing spiritual education.

My fear when it comes to Christian education today is that many Christians in America only receive Christian education on Sunday mornings or in Sunday School. They do not get it through any other ministry in the local church because they do not attend any other ministry. Furthermore many never pick up their Bibles and read during the week.

And we wonder why we have so many problems in the church.

Meanwhile, we have so many Christians who fill their minds with hours and hours of systematic shows on TV which are not bad in and of themselves, but taken in to the great neglect of Christian education will greatly pervert their walk with God and the maturity.

Christians in times past took the lead in education

Christians in many generations took the lead in the progress of education. We saw advances in music, medicine, agriculture and many other fields down through the centuries. For example, many of the first colleges created in the US (Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth) were established by Christians. I believe if my memory is correct, Dartmouth was even instituted to help educate Native Americans.

Over the past two generations, we are having to reclaim this pursuit for the advance of education in part because Christians have abandoned many academic areas. Christians have retreated back into the walls of their church buildings espousing a backwards fundamentalism that says “we do not need anything but the Bible.”

Yes, we need the Bible because it is the special written revelation of God. It is the testimony of God’s work as he redeems the world. Yes, the Bible is indispensable. But we also need to embrace the advances that have been made in all fields of education that glorify God and embrace the creative spirit in which God designed us.

Academic Freedom and Academic Responsibility

The final paragraph states, “In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility. Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute. The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.”

The main point of this last paragraph is this: Researchers need to be given degrees of freedom in their fields of study. However the freedom needs to be tempered and guided by the word of God.

For example, let us think about the stem cell debate going on in our country. Should we embrace stem cell research? Should there be freedom given to those who conduct studies, which have led and might continue to lead to medical treatments?

The answer is yes and no.

Should we embrace adult stem cell research and technologies which do not destroy human embryos, which have already led to medical breakthroughs? Yes we should. We should be for medical treatments which alleviate sickness and death.

However, should we embrace embryonic stem cell research which destroys human life in the process? No we should not because although we desire freedom in research, we also espouse academic responsibility and the word of God is our guide. Therefore, since it teaches us to respect human life in all its phases, we should not embrace this type of research.

Some Thoughts on the KJV and What It Means to Be a Man

2008-02-12T10:51:00.001-05:00

This pastor manages to be both humorous and tragic with this four and a half minute segment of his sermon. But what is truly tragic is that he is not intentionally trying to be humorous. And what he thinks is tragic is...well you just need to watch the video.

The answer to this problem is some lessons on translation theory and proper exegesis training.

He managed to get one amen, and I agree with the statement he made to get the amen, but the text he used to describe what it means to be a man has absolutely nothing to do with what it means to be a man. Furthermore, he never talks about the text within its context. This will be a classic.

(HT: Steve McCoy)

Genesis 47:29-49:27

2008-02-05T15:37:00.002-05:00

Here are my notes from a message on Genesis 47:29-49:27

Review

Through extraordinary events God enables Joseph who is sold into slavery by his own brothers, who ends up as an imprisoned slave in Egypt, to rise to second in command over Egypt, the mightiest nation on the Earth at that time.

Joseph's meteoric rise in power in Egypt was not however God’s reward to Joseph for his integrity and faithfulness. His rise in power was important for several reasons:

1. Joseph’s ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams ensured the salvation of Egypt through 7 years of great famine.

2. It placed Joseph in a position where he could ensure that his family would be delivered through the famine.

3. It led to the reconciliation of his family.

4. It led to the family of Jacob migrating to the best lands in Egypt where the family would begin to multiply, thus fulfilling God’s promise that from Abraham would become a nation.

5. It further leads to the fulfillment of God’s promise that Abraham’s descendants would live in servitude in a foreign land for 400 years.

6. It leads to God’s mighty display of power over the gods of Egypt as he brings mighty Egypt to its knees.

7. Ultimately it is a small part of the overall plan to use one family to bless all the nations though Jesus Christ.

The family has been reunited, as Pharaoh invited the family of Jacob to dwell in Egypt during the famine.

We left off last week with Joseph accumulating for Pharaoh almost the entire wealth of all of Egypt, money, herds, lands, and a 1/5 of every harvest.

As we pick back up the narrative this evening, the focal point will be back on Jacob as he is about die. The important custom of a father blessing his offspring will be the focus.

Read Genesis 47:29-48:22

Joseph’s Oath & the Blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh

Before Jacob begins to bless his children, he first enlists Joseph to take an oath to return his body to Canaan to be buried with his father and grandfather.

This must have been a soft reminder to Joseph that as significant as he had become within Egypt, Egypt was only a small episode in the plan of God for the descendants of Abraham. They ultimately belonged in Canaan. Victor Hamilton remarks, “Egypt is to Jacob and his family what the ark was to Noah—a temporary shelter from disaster on the outside.”

At a later time, when it was apparent that Jacob’s final days were upon him, Joseph came to him bringing his two sons with him. Jacob begins his blessing by speaking about the blessing God has been to him:

1. Fruitful —Genesis 47:27

2. Multiplication

3. Company of Peoples

4. Possession of Canaan

This was another reminder that their destiny although the first three were taking place was not in Egypt.

Next, Jacob does something completely unexpected. He makes Joseph’s two sons Manasseh and Ephraim his own. Although the reasons for Jacob’s actions here are not explained, perhaps his mention of Rachel gives us a clue. Rachel was by all accounts the one wife Jacob loved but she only was able to give Jacob two sons because she died at childbirth with Benjamin. Perhaps this is Jacob’s way of bringing in more descendants of Rachel into the family.

Additionally, V. Hamilton says, “by making Joseph’s sons Jacob’s, Jacob is elevating Joseph to the level of himself. That is, both men are now ancestral fathers of the tribes of Israel that will come from them.”

But the surprises do not end here. After Jacob is made aware of the two visitors at Joseph’s side, he sets out to bless them, but not in the traditional way. Joseph brings his children to Jacob and places them according to age. He places Manasseh the firstborn under his left hand facing Jacob’s right hand. He places Ephraim the younger under his own right hand opposite from Jacob’s left hand.

However in a surprise move, Jacob crosses his hands and puts the favored right hand upon Ephraim the younger. By his God and the angel that has watched over him, Jacob blesses the boys in two ways:

1. Their names were carried on in the same way as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s.

2. Their descendants would be numerous in the earth.

Joseph objects to Jacob’s reversal, but it stands just as his own stood even though he had deceived his father, Isaac.

Manasseh will become a people, but Ephraim will become a multitude of nations.

The Bible does not theologize why the second born so often took preeminence over the firstborn. From Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Reuben, and Zerah, now to Manasseh we have multiple examples of God passing over the firstborn and instead using younger sons.

Perhaps, this is a reminder to us that God’s ways are remarkably different than our own (Isa 55:8-9). God will not be confined to human standards and traditions. It foreshadows the foolishness of the gospel (1 Cor 1:23-25). Perhaps from Jacob’s perspective it could have been as simple that since he was the second born, he placed favor on the younger as he once was.

Read Genesis 49:1-27

The Blessing of the Twelve

Reuben (3-4)

Being the firstborn of Jacob, Reuben was destined for preeminence, however his sexual affair with Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant and his father’s concubine derailed Reuben destiny. So his blessing is not one at all.

Simeon & Levi (5-7)

Simeon and Levi are addressed together because their fates are linked when both men slaughtered the people of Shechem because one Shechemite raped their sister, Dinah. Because of their uncontrollable anger, Jacob distances himself from these sons and he does not give them a blessing.

Judah (8-12)

Along with Joseph, and not surprisingly, Judah receives a prominent blessing:

v11—binds his foal/donkey to a vine (who does that?) This shows how prosperous is. He washes his clothes in wine—wine is plentiful

v9—Judah is compared to a lion, a fierce animal—Judah will be strong

v8—Judah will rule over other peoples and even over his brothers

Zebulun (13)

Issachar (14-15)

Dan (16-17)

Plea for deliverance (18)

Gad(19)
Because of its location, this tribe would be at the forefront of war.

Asher (20)
Because of Asher’s location, it prospered in the area of food.

Naphtali (21)

Joseph (22-26)
Fruitful—v22
He has survived many attacks—v23-24
Upheld by God—v24
Abundantly blessed by God—vv25-26

Benjamin (27)
The tribe of Benjamin was known for its great military prowess.

Prophetic Blessings

These blessing have a prophetic element to them. That is, what Jacob predicts in the blessings or lack of blessings proves true for the future descendants of these brothers.

For example in 7b Jacob says of Simeon and Levi, “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” Simeon future is subsumed in Judah and Levi gains no land as they become the tribe of priests.

Furthermore, Reuben who should have received the lion’s share of the blessing, ends up in obscurity, and Judah, who takes the lead to provide for the family takes the lion’s share and rules over the tribes in later years through King David who is from Judah.

Far in advance of knowing where each tribe would be located, Jacob makes predictions about Gad and Zebulun that prove true in the future

Any foreshadowing of Jesus in the Text?

Although many major commentaries do not note, the blessing of Judah surely contains imagery of Messianic truths.

Judah is referred to as a lion—In the book of Revelation, in chapter 5 a great angel asks who is worthy to open the scroll so that in essence God’s will can be accomplished. John thinks there is no one in all heaven or earth able to open it and begins to weep. However, he is encouraged and that the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David is worthy to open the book.

Jacob prophetically asks of the Judean Lion, “Who dares rouse him?” As powerful as Judah was in her heyday of David and Solomon’s reigns, this question ultimately fits Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords and King of kings. This fits with Philippians 2:10-11, “so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Genesis 49:10 says of Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet.” This reference points first to David’s rise as King over Israel and later to his descendants who reigned on the thrown over God’s people. God’s promise to David and his descendants was given in 2 Samuel 7:11-13 where God says:

2Sam 7:11 (NASU) even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.

12 "When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

13 "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

However, the ultimate fulfillment of Jacob’s words in Genesis 49 to Judah point to the Messiah. The reason why the scepter will never depart from Judah is because the Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ is Lord forevermore.

Lastly, Jacob says of Judah, “and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Generically speaking, Judah was powerful and peoples listened to her as a tribe like Judah’s brothers listened to him. The tribes even submitted to David, but not perfectly. In Jesus, this proclamation reaches its climax as his rule will include “the peoples.”

Conclusion

Genesis, a book in many respects about blessing, comes near to its close with the “family of God’s unique blessing” and its Patriarch announcing his blessings to his 12 (14 if you count Manasseh & Ephraim) children. Not only do these blessings contain prophetic details about the future tribes of Israel, but they also point to climactic figure in Scripture, Jesus Christ. They point us to the primary purpose of the patriarchal blessings, namely to bring redemption for his creation.

Are We Any Better?

2008-02-04T10:22:00.001-05:00

John Piper on the Desiring God Blog draws together the similar atrocities of Al Qaida's recent bombings using unsuspecting women who had down syndrome with the epidemic rates of aborted babies who are diagnosed with down syndrome before birth in the US and England.

Franchising the Local Church

2008-02-04T09:37:00.001-05:00

Over on Christianitytoday's Out of Ur blog a recent post has been added highlighting the trend to franchise local churches by using satellite campuses. One of two things usually occurs during this methodology.

First, the new plant or existing church seeking to become a part of a franchised network signs contracts obligating themselves to feed in the preaching from the lead pastor of whatever network they are joining. They do not use any local pastor for preaching. However the local church does have its own pastors who provide for various pastoral care ministries. They can have their own music, but when it comes to the preaching, they listen to a pastor from another location.

The second option is a little bit different. In this model, the new plant or existing church seeking to join the network contractually obligates itself under the rule of the pastors of the mother church. So it virtually becomes one church, several locations.

I find the trend troubling for several reasons.

1. It seems to say that only a few gifted individuals are qualified to preach.
2. It does not encourage younger men who are called to preach to have much of an opportunity if the pulpit can only be used by the lead pastor of the mother church.
3. Every church should have access to the ones who instructionally lead the local church, and this process negates this possibility.
4. The second form of this model seems Episcopal rather than congregational.
5. It discourages the development process whereby elders who can preach are trained and nurtured.

HT: Karisblog

Dr. Mohler Interview

2008-02-04T09:22:00.001-05:00

Pastor Les Puryear has posted a recent interview he conducted with Dr. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Here are the 7 questions he asked to Mohler:

1. The past two presidents of the SBC have had certain emphases that distinguished their presidencies. Dr. Welch emphasized evangelism and Dr. Page has been emphasizing unity and praying for revival. What will be the main emphasis of your presidency?

2. In recent years there has been a resurgence of Reformed Theology in the SBC, mainly among young pastors. As a Reformed theologian, what do you think your election as the president of the SBC, if you are elected, will say about the impact of Reformed theology in the SBC?

3. In the SBC, 83% of our churches have an average attendance of less than 200 in Sunday morning worship, therefore the SBC is overwhelmingly a convention of small churches. What is your view of the role of the small church in the SBC?

4. Although we're a convention of small churches, it seems that the majority of SBC board and agency nominations seem to go to representatives of much larger churches. What do you propose to do to get more small church representation on our boards and agencies?

5. You were a member of the BFM2K committee that fashioned our confession of faith. Recently some have called for the BFM2K to be amended to address the issues of "tongues" and "alien immersion." What's your position on amending the confession of faith to address these or any other issues of theology?

6. What is your position on SBC boards and agencies developing doctrinal policy which goes beyond the agreed upon confession of faith?

7. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you would like to say to the people of the SBC and to small church leaders as well?

Genesis Series

2008-01-30T16:51:00.001-05:00

I have completed my 42nd sermon from the book of Genesis. It will nearly take a year to finish this series. It has truly been informative and edifying as I have learned much from my study and sermon preparation. Here are my notes from Genesis 45:16-47:26.

Review

The broken family of Jacob torn apart by favoritism, rivalry, and polygamy has found partial redemption through the most unlikely of circumstances.

God gives the favored son of Joseph dreams when interpreted predict a day when his entire family will bow down to him. Joseph’s sharing of this dream with his family coupled with the tension that already existed led his angry and jealous brothers to sell him into slavery.

Joseph ends up in the nation of Egypt in the care of Potiphar, the captain of the guard for Pharaoh. Despite the desperate plot that Joseph found himself in, separated from his family, in servitude, in a foreign country, God was still with him.

God blessed Joseph to the extent that Potiphar made him head of his household. Additionally, when Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison, God blessed him there too, and he was made overseer of the prisoners.

Threw providential circumstances, Joseph was bale to correctly interpret the dreams of two men who were extremely close to Pharaoh. Years later when Pharaoh himself had two dreams that could not be interpreted by the wise men of Egypt, Joseph was remembered and was brought before Pharaoh where he satisfactorily interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams.

Joseph says that Egypt will face 7 years of plenty and 7 years of great famine. He suggests that Egypt prepare in the first seven years to sustain the country in the second seven years. At his suggestion, Pharaoh appoints Joseph to second in command with the goal of preserving the nation.

The famine reaches Canaan where Joseph’s family resides. And his brothers come to purchase food for the family. Through a series of tests by Joseph, the brothers confess their sin towards Joseph, they demonstrate the health of Joseph’s blood brother Benjamin, and Judah demonstrates his own personal redemption when he offers to trade his life for Benjamin.

Last week, as we surveyed, the first half of chapter 45, we witnessed the partial reunification of the family of promise. We witnessed the reconciliation of a family were bitterly divided and full of jealousy. Now we have 12 brothers who are once again one; they are a family again.

The Invitation of Pharaoh (Genesis 45:16-28)

The healing process is only partially complete for Joseph has been reunited with his brothers including Benjamin, but he has yet to be reunited with his father, Jacob.

Pharaoh, who has been a hidden figure in this developing situation enters into the narrative again and commands Joseph’s family to return to Canaan taking abundant provisions for their entire family to make a pilgrimage back to Egypt and live in the healthiest part of the kingdom.

The Pharaoh’s generosity to the family of Jacob is further evidence of God’s fulfillment of his promises. God’s covenant to Abraham included the promise to bless those who bless him. This promise extends to each generation of the sons of promise. Pharaoh’s kindness to Joseph was rewarded by God’s salvation of Egypt through the severe famine. This generosity continues from Pharaoh to Joseph’s family as he invites them to live in his land.

The family returns to Canaan, and after some prompting, Jacob believes in the report that his long dead son is alive. The family makes preparations to move to Egypt.

God’s Promise & Jacob’s Family

The importance of God’s encounter with Jacob in a dream is significant for this reason. The land of Canaan is the land of promise. Canaan is the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His departure from the land of promise might be interpreted as a sign of faithlessness.

However, since God specifically told him to not be afraid to go into Egypt, this sojourn is deemed appropriate.

The author then proceeds to tell us about the vast number of family members who made the journey. The author emphasizes the number 70. Seventy was a Hebrew number which symbolized completeness.

Lamech (seventy times seven) Genesis 4

Days of mourning for Jacob (seventy) Genesis 50

70 nations descended from Noah Genesis 10

Technically speaking there were more than seventy people who were brought into Egypt. For example verse 7 says that all of his son’s daughters came, but none are listed. Additionally in verse 5 it says that his sons’ wives came, but they are not listed. His servants are not listed either. It seems the only ones counted as descendants are sons, grandsons, one daughter, and one granddaughter. A further evidence that the number seventy is more symbolic than technical is that Joseph’s two sons are counted as part of the seventy, but they never came from Canaan. They were born and raised entirely in Egypt.

The main idea expressed here is his entire family was spared and saved in Egypt. Furthermore, the number seventy expresses the idea that the family of promise was rapidly growing as God had said it would. God’s promises do not always come to pass in the timing we think it should, nevertheless they do not fail and always come to pass.

Joseph and Jacob reunite (Genesis 46:28-30)

The family is one again

Joseph’s instructions (Genesis 46:31-47:12)

Joseph gives a crash course to his family on proper conduct before Pharaoh so that all may go well with them. The family passes test.

Joseph secures all Egypt’s Gold and Land for Pharaoh (Genesis 47:13-26)

The famine was so severe the people of Egypt sold everything to Pharaoh so that they might survive.

Important Phrases, Observations, & Applications:

1. Genesis 45:26, “And they told him, “Joseph is alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them.”

There are so many happenings in this large narrative that remind us of the story of Jesus.

Turn with me to Luke 24:1-12

A son was dead, but now he is alive. Indeed it was hard to believe in both situations. Joseph is Lord of Egypt. Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings.

Joseph was “dead”, but was raised by God to bring deliverance and salvation to Egypt and the family of promise. Joseph was used by God to bring about family reconciliation even through sins and trials.

Likewise Jesus was literally dead, but was raised by God from the dead. In his resurrection, Jesus was declared the Son of God in power (Roman 1:4). Jesus was used by God to bring deliverance and salvation to the entire world. His work set in motion and laid the foundation (Matt 21:42; Acts 4:11) for the redemption of the cursed earth, and forgiveness of sins to all who will believe in his name.

Through Jesus, God brings reconciliation between the families of the earth and God and between the peoples of the earth.

2. Genesis 46:3-4, “The he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt…”

God’s presence brought greater confidence for Jacob as he sojourned in a foreign land that God would continue to work to fulfill all his covenant promises.

The same is true for all God’s covenant partners, especially to those who are covenanted with him through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave us similar words in Matthew 28:20, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” So with the Hebrews author we can say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me (Heb. 13:6)?”

We can with certainty cling to hope in Jesus Christ no matter what context of life we may find ourselves in. God’s words never fail. Jesus said, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Matt 24:35).” “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.”

3. Genesis 46:34, “you shall say, your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

The power that Pharaoh accumulates and the utter distaste the Egyptians normally hold to the Hebrews who are pastoral shepherds foreshadows the future hostility the family of Jacob will face in Egypt.

When the current Pharaoh dies and the famine is history, a new Pharaoh will turn on the Israelites. God’s abundant blessings to turn a family of seventy into a nation of thousands leads to their freedom being turned into slavery, which in turn would to the great display of the mighty hand of God in power over the Egyptians in the Exodus.