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Rejoice With Joy (1 Peter 1:8-9)

23 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, Preaching

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1 Peter 1:8–9, Augustine, Class, First. Peter, joy, Peter, Sermons

The Apostle tells us where to obtain life and joy — despite the sorrows and trials of this world:

1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Here’s the sermon: Rejoice with Joy

Martyn Lloyd-Jones “What is the Church?”

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Ecclesiology, Joy, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Ministry, Preaching

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Acts 2, definition of the church, Ecclesiology, Gladness, joy, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Peter, Preaching

In his sermon, what is the church, Martyn Lloyd JonesBegins his definition with the rather obvious point,

The first thing we must say is That it is a gathering of people. Why do I make such an obvious point? I make it because as I read some of the journals and some of the books and booklets that deal with this question, I’ll most get the impression that some people seem to think of the church not in terms of people at all. You seem to think of the church is something that is written on paper, as a confession on paper. I’m not criticizing confessions. I believe in confessions. The church, after all, is not a confession of faith. (51)

But if these people gather and do not believe the confession, is it still a church?

The gathering of people is not something which begins with the people: it is something that begins with God. Lloyd-Jones looks back at the start of the church, Peter preaching:

 Here in Acts the people have become aware of the fact this message is speaking to them directly. These are not people who decided to join the church. They did not decide to take up religion. These are people of been called of God. (53)

What is the first thing they realize? They have been convicted of sin. “They are aware that God the Holy Spirit is dealing with them, and they have been brought face-to-face with themselves.” (53) This makes all the difference. Consider those first Christians:

 Now it is obvious That these people have undergone a profound change.They’re not the people they were when they left their homes and their lodgings that’s morning to go and listen to the strange man to whom this amazing thing happened. They have become different men and women. (54)

What did this change do? How did it show itself among these people?

How do these believers manifest this new life that they have received? And the answer is they do so by gathering together.

What does this mean? How should we understand this fact of gathering?

 Why did the first believers gather together like this? Why did they come together day by day? Why could you not keep them as it were apart from another? I do apologize and a sense for bringing in these negatives, but I’m beginning to think that they’re tremendously important.Let me point out that these first Christians should not come together to be entertained. Nothing to me is so pathetic about the state of the church today as the entertainment that has increasingly come into our services. There are churches that keep going by means of clubs and societies. I know Churches – so-called churches – they keep themselves going by game nights and dances and dramas and various other human activities. That is not church; that is a travesty of a church. That is the world. The world does such things, and it does them very well. But that is not what brought these people in the early church together. (55)

What is it that drove them together? The text tells us: Fellowship was driven by doctrine, by preaching & teaching:

The really significant point about the list in Acts 2:42 is the order in which the subjects are put before us. You notice at the first thing that is mentioned his doctrine, teaching– not fellowship. And I emphasize this because the whole ecumenical movement is based upon the basic argument that fellowship comes first. (55)

Now fellowship will follow, it must follow of necessity, “Because we are sharers of the same life. We belong together. We belong to the same family.” (61)

This sharing of common life shows itself in the Lord’s Table & prayers, in sharing, in joy and gladness. Unfortunately, too many Christians do not see this life as joy & gladness (that is elsewhere). Church as a duty, as an obligation – can that gathering actually be called church?

Lloyd-Jones states the real reason our message cannot be heard is that the professing Christian does not profess joy and gladness in Christ. We do not need an evangelistic campaign; we need the true operation of Spirit which will manifest in the joy and gladness among us:

 This has always been the characteristic of the true church. And when she becomes like this, she AskAs a magnet to those who are outside. When men and women CS with the spirit of joy and rejoicing, this spirit that is invincible, the spirit that knows God and is afraid of nothing, they will rush to listen to us. Joy and rejoicing! How much enjoys there to be seen among us? How formal we are! How organized we are! House set we are! Of the world’s not interested. But when it sees this joy of the Lord and us, it will come and listen to us and ask us for the secret of this amazing experience that we are enjoying. 65

And of course this Life of fellowship and prayer and joy will show itself in praising God.

He does not ask this in the sermon, that is something we must ask ourselves. If these things are not evident among us, we must ask what is the fault? First, the fault must lie in the lack of the Word of God. The fault must lie in our preaching and teaching if there is no fellowship and hope and joy and gladness. For it is the Word and the Spirit which makes the church. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to create the people of God. Thus, where the Word of God is lacking can we expect the Spirit to be present, also?

Because Christ Suffered for You

26 Saturday Oct 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter, affliction, Atonement, Christology, Faith, Glory, Hope, John Piper, Joy, Praise, Preaching

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1 Corinthians 15:56–58, 1 Peter 1:18–20, 1 Peter 1:23, 1 Peter 1:3–7, 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 2:9, 1Peter 2:21, Acts 2:23, Affliction, And Can it Be, Atonement, Brothers We are not Professionals, Charles Wesley, Colossians 2:14, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 9:3, Galatians 3:13, Galatians 4:4–7, glory, Glory of God, Gospel, Hebrews 2:14, joy, Luke 22:61–62, Luke 24, Mark 15:16–20, Mark 15:33–34, Peter, Psalm 115:1, Romans 3:20, Solomon, Suffering

(draft notes for a sermon 1 Peter 2:21)

Because Christ Suffered for You. 1 Peter 2:21

Suffering hurts in two ways. First, there is the actual pain of suffering. Illness hurts; poverty hurts; broken relationships hurt. But the actual pain is perhaps not the worst part. I remember hearing an interview with a woman who was being tortured by the secret police in her country. She was tied to a table and the men where torturing her. She said she could take it as long as thought of them as monsters. But during the torture, one man took a phone call and spoke with his wife. He talked about finishing up at work and coming home. That real human beings were torturing her tore her soul.

The worst part of suffering is the shame, the pointlessness, the loneliness.  When we come to die, there is regret. It doesn’t how much we acquire or how much we have done. Solomon coming to the end of his life, having done all that any man could do:

“And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure … “Ecclesiastes 2:10.  And yet, that could not keep him from regret, “Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:11).

If drinking in all the money and power and sex and pleasure and wine which the world can give will leave one with regret, what of a normal life? When we suffer, we can think, What’s the point? What’s the point of my disease? When we can’t pay our bills, or a marriage fails; or our life just seems a waste, a getting up and paying bills for what?

We think, What’s the point of my suffering. Then, some well-meaning Christian tells us, “It’s to strengthen your faith!” Or, much worse, “God’s teaching you something.”  It sounds as if the point of suffering is some sort quiz; as if there were some test and we need to get a 90% or higher to pass. Those answers are correct – but only in part. It’s like saying that Hamlet is important because it’s about ghosts, or the World Series is about hot dog sales.

Suffering does grow our faith – but faith is only the means to the end. In suffering we feel pain – and we are tempted to feel that our pain is pointless. We feel shame in our suffering and think that it serves no good. When we hear “It will strengthen our faith” – we think, I would settle for just not hurting today.

But what if suffering were an inlet for glory and joy – and not just joy in the future, but joy today? Look at 1 Peter 2:21. Peter writes:

For to this you have been called

Because Christ suffered for you

Leaving an example that you might follow in his steps.

 

1 Peter 2:21.  Consider carefully those words and follow the logic: You have been called – that means that God has called you to patiently enduring suffering, even unjust, undeserved suffering. Peter then gives the reason: Because Christ suffered for you. Then, that you may not miss the point, Peter restates our duty and status in other words, that we might follow in Christ’s steps of suffering.

This does not sound hopeful. But, as you consider the matter, it becomes worse. We are not merely called to suffer, but we are called suffer as Christ suffered. 

How does the logic work? You must suffer unjustly. If your boss abuses you, if your husband does not love you, if your wife will not respect you, you must so suffer. If someone pays you evil, you give them good. When someone curses you, you must bless them. Why? Because Christ has suffered for you.

Even more, such suffering will be measured by Christ’s suffering: His suffering is the pattern which you must follow; his suffering is like so many steps in the snow and you must follow behind, for it is the only way to cross.

Peter writes of Jesus being reviled and threatened.  Those words do not merely mean a couple of crass shouts by an enemy:

16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. Mark 15:16–20 (ESV)

There he stood alone, beaten, shamed, blood running down his face as they struck him and danced about in their madness, mocking the Lord of glory who had come to rescue the children of Adam from sin and death.

Peter saw some, but not all of these things. You know the story of how Peter, frightened by a girl, denied the Lord. Luke records how that scene ended:

61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:61–62 (ESV)

Peter’s own cowardice makes the command to suffer with Christ laughable – who is Peter to command me to follow the Lord, when Peter himself ran away and wept? How can this coward think to command our courage when he could not even stand still?  How can Peter tell us to follow in the steps of Christ:

And they led him out to be crucified.

Peter’s words that we should follow in the steps of Christ, that we should follow Christ in suffering do not make sense. First, it does not make sense that we should suffer patiently through a bad marriage just because Jesus bore sin. Second, it makes no sense that Peter, of all people, should be the one who could draw such a conclusion. Peter looked at Jesus suffer. He saw that Jesus was going to the cross and Peter responded by lying to a little girl. If seeing Jesus suffer did not give Peter courage, how does Peter think reading about Jesus suffering will help me?

Let us consider the matter more carefully. What was the event?  The Lord of glory, God incarnate, was murdered, “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” Acts 2:23.  Peter contends that murder must affect our life here and now.

For to this you were called

Because Christ suffered for you

Leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps.

 

To suffer because we have done wrong is no great trouble. Only the most morally twisted could conclude that wrong does not deserve a response: “For what credit is it if when you sin and are beaten for it you endure?” 1 Peter 2:20a.

But God does something strange. He commands a thing seemingly makes no sense:

“But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this a gracious thing in the sight of God” 1 Peter 2:20b.

Somehow a line runs between Christ’s suffering for our sins and our suffering even when we have not sinned.

Let’s consider the death of Jesus. If you were to stand on the street in Jerusalem on that Friday morning, you would have seen just another criminal, beaten, filthy, bloody, brutalized; a rough wooden beam upon his shoulders.  You would have seen the tatters of meat which had been his back. You have seen him stumble and fall before the soldiers.  Perhaps if you had known more, you have seen just another failed messiah; another dreamer and liar who had run into the teeth of Rome. You would have seen betrayal and shame and sorrow.

Even the dearest disciples and friends of Jesus had lost hope as he pushed along the streets to be murdered outside the gate. The women who found the empty tomb, had come to honor a corpse. Cleopas and the unnamed disciple were hopeless and saddened when they spoke to the Lord, not realizing he had risen from the dead:

Our chief priests and rulers had delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Luke 24:20-21a.

No one knew the “hidden wisdom of God” in all this. “For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” 1 Corinthians 2:7-8.

Now there was no secret in the death of Jesus – Rome killed in as a public a manner as they could find. What then was not seen:

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24 (ESV)

Thus, something must have happened in this death for our sin which transform everything we think we know about the world.

That is the great connection between Christ’s death and our suffering in this world. When Christ died for sins, the world changed.

We are born in a slaughterhouse. In a slaughterhouse, the cattle stand in long lines, head to tail, waiting their turn to walk through the door and die.  The only hope for the cow is the hope of a feedlot and then the line outside the door of the slaughterhouse. This world is little more than a feedlot, than a prison. You are locked in by death. Death stands at the doors of this world and no one escapes.

Sin spreads through the camp and has infected us all, like a plague which eats the mind and poisons the soul:

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. Ecclesiastes 9:3 (ESV)

Look carefully into this world. The Law has come to town. In every street, the law sends out his soldiers to drag us each and every-one before his court.  The young comes with the old; the baby is dragged from the mother; the rich stands with the poor. The tribunal stands in the middle of street; nothing is private.  The bailiff reads out your crimes; nothing is hidden. Your boldest wrong and the darkest intention of your heart, so dim you scarcely knew it if was true all are read aloud. The Law knows all.

You fall condemned. No mercy; no defense; no hope. And thus you find yourself in this prison, this slaughterhouse, this feedlot for death.  You are food for worms, and nothing more.

Sin and death reign supreme in this prison. All the insanity which spreads around flows from the utter terror of death at the door.  As the Holy Spirit explains in Hebrews 2:14, the devil holds the world in life long slavery through fear of death.

Some people deny that death stands at the door. Others think they can bribe the guard when it comes the day to account. Others claim to have brought paradise to the prison and seek a torrent of pleasure to dull their eyes until they die.

No one within this prison deserves the least reprieve.  The Law’s judgment was just and true.  Nothing less than death awaits. And after death, vast fields of hopelessness and sorrow, despair and death without end.  The bars of death cannot be beat. Like a blackhole whose gravity can swallow even light and time, death will not be beat. Justice will not lose one dram of vindication.

Yet, into this world the Son of God came. He takes up the charge laid against you. The Law reads out crimes, one by one, each more vicious and foul to have stained the air with their sound. The charge in full being stated, the Son of God, the King himself says to the Law, I will bear it all. Let death and hell come, I will bear it all.

And so the king, reviled, mocked, beaten, murdered upon a tree, bore the weight of sin and shame. Even more dreadful, the King received the wrath of God which caused the earth to shake and the sun to hide for shame:

33 And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33–34 (ESV)

Somehow, upon that cross,

For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Somehow

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

A mystery lies here, that Christ could bear our sin in his body on the tree. And yet, it is true:

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:4–7 (ESV)

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

 

That is why Peter writes that God has brought us to hope:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:3–7 (ESV)

Look into this hope – as deep as the sorrow of sin once laid upon us, so much greater is the joy and glory of hope now brought by resurrection of Jesus Christ.  See further that all this hope is of God, and God alone.

It was God who sent the Law to condemn us each and everyone:

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20 (ESV)

It was God himself who wrote the “record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands” (Colossians 2:14). It was God who kept close track of our sin, of our deeds and intentions. And it was God who sent the Son into the world. Do you not know

that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you …. 1 Peter 1:18–20 (ESV)

And in that ransom, death itself was aside forever. In his death and resurrection, “you were born again, not of perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).  The one who lives without Christ cannot be said rightly to live at all. Before him lies only death; his life a life of a feedlot for worms. And after death? Death for eternity, endless fields of sorrow and despair.

But it is not so for you who know him. You have been called to joy which words cannot contain, because you have come to hope in the revelation of Jesus Christ:

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8–9 (ESV)

But this still may not answer the question we asked at the beginning: How does Christ dying me lead to me suffering in this world? Wouldn’t it be the case that I should come into immediate and full possession of all this joy?

That is where we stumble. You see, we falsely think that there is a joy to be had which is other than the joy of the visible presence of the King. When we joke about mansions in heaven, we laugh at the idolatry of our hearts that even when we think of the King we somehow think of a joy which should centered upon us.

But all so hope is false.  We were created for something far greater than ourselves – we were created for God. Nothing less than our king will do for such a heart. No mere trifle, even the most glorious throne to ever arise over the face of the world will be enough. The greatest room in a prison is still a cell.

To dream that we should be happy with something here and now is dastardly – it is lie. The only happiness and contentment we have now is a draught of the Creator being bestowed through the creature. Imagine being thirsty and coming to a faucet. You turn the handle and water comes out. It is not the faucet which drowns your thirst but the water. When you have contentment which flows through the creature it is only gift of the Creator seen in the creature. We must not love anything or anyone for themselves, but rather for the sake of Christ. Even our dearest relations must be loved for Christ’s sake.

Only our foolishness ever permits us to seek contentment in the creature.

When Christ died for us, our entire world changed. Rather than being desperate to find some happiness in this world – which is like trying to find water in the Sarah – we were granted true hope.   I can remember the day that one of my daughters first ate chocolate. After that taste, nothing else would be the same. How much more is such a thing true when we come to Christ!

We now know a thirst that can only be slaked by living water.

Our hope is God. Our good is God. Our joy is God. Our inheritance is God.

Thus, our greatest joy and hope is that our King be glorified.

You see, when Christ died and carried away our sin we were brought to a greater a hope and joy: the all sufficient most glorious God. We have come to see that our God possesses such power and beauty that it would be a crime for God to not glory in himself. When the Father looks upon the work of his Son, destroying the reign of sin and death, the Father delights in the Son. And it is the joy of the Father to glorify his Son. It is the joy of the Son to bring glory to his Father. It is the joy of the Spirit to convict us sin that we may come to see the glory of the Father in the Son.

When we were rescued from sin, we were rescued into this kingdom of joy.  “Not to us, O LORD, not us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness!” Psalm 115:1.

That is where our suffering comes in.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

You were saved so that you too could join in the eternal delight of God by proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You and I are not the point of the universe.  You can understand nothing of true importance in this life, if you do not understand this.  You will never understand, faith, obedience, suffering; you will never know blessedness, nor know joy, worship or hope until you grasp this point: “God loves His glory more than He loves us and that this is the foundation of His love for us” (Piper, Brothers, We are not Professionals, 7).

The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And that is the chief end of God. You exist to share in the eternal delight of glorifying God. Look down at 1 Peter 2:12:

12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)

You proclaim the excellencies of God by keeping your conduct honorable among the Gentiles. And how do you do that? By patiently enduring suffering – even unjust suffering. To endure unjust suffering because you have hope of God’s rescue testifies of God’s goodness and glory.  Now, perhaps, the others may think you a fool and may think your suffering shame – but the day will come when you will be revealed to be a child of God and a joint heir with Christ. The time will come that Christ will come and then they will see your good deeds where done in the hope of God. Therefore, you may rejoice today knowing that you are bringing glory to God. Indeed, bringing glory to God is the only true means of joy in all of creation. Where you to search all heaven, all earth; where you to travel to edge of the universe, you could find no other true joy, no greater joy than the joy of glorifying God.

When the Lord had been arrested, Peter did not understand what was happening. It was only later that he finally realized the glory of God. Too often, we live like Peter before the resurrection. We deny Jesus, because the shame and pain of this world become too great.  We know it to be wrong, and so we run out and weep. Peter is writing to you and me to spare us the sorrow of hearing the cock crow.

Thus, now that Christ has risen and death has been defeated, we can look upon our sorrows and pangs, sad marriages or painful work, as moments to glorify God – and what could be a greater joy? Christ’s death did not merely transform death for us, it also transformed life:

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:56–58 (ESV)

Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly

31 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Biblical Counseling, Colossians, Discipleship, Meditation, Memorization, Preaching, Study

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Acts 2, admonish, Biblical Counseling, Colossians, Colossians 3:16, Discipleship, Meditation, Memorization, Paul, Peter, Preaching, Spiritual Disciplines, Study, Teaching, Training, Word of God, Word of God in Acts

(Notes for a sermon to be preached on September 1, 2013):

          In the first chapter of Acts we read that Christ commanded the Apostles and disciples to stay in Jerusalem. The apostles kept the command of Christ: they stayed in Jerusalem and waited for the Holy Spirit. They waited. They prayed. In time, the Spirit came upon them … and they spoke. They could not deny it. They spoke “As the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:4). The crowd came drawn by the words.  Peter filled with the Spirit stood in their midst and preached.

At the end of the sermon we read

So those who received his word were baptized. Acts. 2:41

In Acts 3 we read of a man healed at the Gate Beautiful, entering in the Temple. A crowd again comes and so Peter preaches. The priests and Sadducees became  

2 greatly annoyed because [Peter was] teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Acts 4:2 (ESV)

So they arrested Peter and the others, leaving in jail them for the evening. Now, you might think this would end the trouble. But what the leaders did not realize is that the word was the trouble – not the apostles. The apostles merely proclaimed the Word. The Word kept working even when the Apostles could not:

4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. Acts 4:4 (ESV)

The Apostles were soon reason. When the church gathered, they prayed:

29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, Acts 4:29 (ESV)

In verse 31, we read that

They were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:31 (ESV).

Do you see the pattern? The Spirit comes. Their hearts are filled with words and they speak. Those Spirit wrought words are heard and men and women are transformed.

The enemies of the gospel did not understand the working of the Spirit and Word. Acts 5 records yet another incident of prison. This time, an angel comes and rescues them with this command:

20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” Acts 5:20 (ESV)

Not raise an army; organize a movement; change the government. No: God, through the angel, commands the apostles: go speak.

Do you see that God works by means of Word and Spirit? The Word of God did the work. When you see this, you find it everywhere in the story. For example, in chapter 8, we read that Philip began to preach the Samaritans –just as Christ had commanded in Acts 1:8. In verse 14 of Acts we read

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:14-15

There it is again: The Word and Spirit transforming the human heart. It is the Word of God proclaimed and the word of God received that changes human beings. In Acts 12, Herod began a vicious persecution of the apostle. Yet this persecution did not stop God. God struck Herod dead. Then we read in verse 24:

24 But the word of God increased and multiplied. Acts 12:24 (ESV)

Those who sought to stop the spread of the church foolishly thought the power was in the men. They thought that by beating and imprisoning and killing men and women that they could stop the church. The enemies did not understand that the power was not in the people but in the word.

Acts 13 records the first missionary journey of Paul. In this chapter, we read a sermon by Paul. The next Sabbath, a crowd gathered, Jews and Gentiles. But they did not come to hear Paul. Acts 13:44 reads,

44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. Acts 13:44 (ESV)

Never go to a sermon to hear a man. Go to hear the word of the Lord preached. If you do hear the word of the Lord, then you have wasted your time. And look at the wondrous outcome of the word preached:

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Acts 13:52 (ESV).

That power in the Word of the Lord is why we are here this morning. The word of Christ in the power of the Spirit has been set loose in the world, changing generation after generation of men and women. It has changed us – and it will change others.  It has changed us – and, this morning, we will learn that it can change us far more. If you know Christ

You have put off the old man with its practice and have put on the new man who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his creator. Col. 3:9-10

The Word and Spirit make a human being new; but that only opens the door to change. The Word and Spirit do not stop by making a woman or man new. They continue to work and work, renewing us in knowledge after the image of our creator. We’re going to see that from Paul’s letter, the Spirit’s words, sent to the church in Colossae.

The church in Colossae came into being not by Paul making a missionary journey, but rather by someone who heard Paul. A man named Epaphras from Colossae heard the word of God – perhaps while Paul taught in Ephesus. The Word of God traveled up the Lycus Valley with Epaphrus, where the seed sprouted and churches began in Colossae, and Hierapolis and Laodicea. If the story ended there, we would probably not know much of anything about these Christians.

At some point and for some reason, Epaphrus ended upon in prison with Paul (Philemon 23). And while there, Epaphrus unfolded a strange story to Paul. It seems the people in Colossae were being kidnapped and made captives. It was as if pirates invaded the valley and were capturing Christians and dragging them off to slavery.

But I don’t want you to think too much about ships and parrots, because Colossae is hundreds of miles from the ocean. Rather, I want you to think about talkers.

The Devil is much smarter than the human beings enslaved to do his will. While a Herod might think killing an apostle will do the trick, the Devil had a more ambitious plan. The Devil knew – and knows – that the power was in the Word, not in the people. The Devil knew that he could never ultimately succeed merely with prisons and murders. He needed something more dangerous and more subtle.

And so he sent pirates full of words up the valley to capture Christians. We know this, because Paul warns the Christians against them:

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8 (ESV)

Look at those words for a moment. There are some words, some kind of idea which can actually capture human beings. Back in verse 4 of chapter 2, Paul had warned:

4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. Colossians 2:4 (ESV)

These were tricky words: they sounded good, they made perfectly fine sense; and yet the words were false. In verse 8, Paul traces these words back up to their source. First, he calls them a deceit and philosophy. Then he shows they come from “human tradition”. But look more carefully, he calls the ultimate source, “elemental spirits of the world” – If you have an NASB it says, “elementary principles”. Paul is using some strange language. What he means exactly is hard to tell. But we do know it was something wicked and dangerous; something demonic.

Paul is warning them off from these dangerous words. He tells them, Do not let the pirates take you captive. He warns them the words will sound good and the idea will make sense. But behind it all is something very evil and dangerous.

But he also tells them that these powers are nothing before Christ. You see, when Christ came to the cross he delivered us from our sins. But that is not all: Christ also defeated these demonic powers:

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Colossians 2:13–15 (ESV)

That part about “rulers and authorities” – that is a reference to some sort of spiritual powers in rebellion against God.

Someone here is thinking, That’s interesting and all. But I really don’t want to waste time talking about demons and demon stuff. If you don’t like what they’re saying, just don’t listen!  But there is where you miss the danger.

The danger comes in the form of words – words which sound good, which make sense. They are words which sound right to you. The Devil is far too smart to come up to a Christian and say, Hi! I’m the Devil! Would you like some demonic deception?

The Devil will first use someone you’ll listen to – maybe even someone who doesn’t know that he’s doing something dangerous. Then the Devil will use language which makes sense, which sounds good. And here is the really dangerous part: All the Devil needs to do is to get you think that the Word of Christ is not enough.

The Sadducees and Herod and the Romans thought they could chain Christ by chaining Peter and Paul. They were wrong. The Devil then came upon another plan: Rather than chaining the men, he tried to chain the words. If he can keep Christians busy with anything else, he will prevail

The pirates in Colossae did not attack Jesus directly. There is no evidence that anyone said anything overtly against Jesus. Instead, they just wanted to add to Jesus.

Jesus is good and all, but … there is something which you may want to consider.

When the adulteress approaches, she doesn’t begin with “Divorce your wife!” She says,

Proverbs 7:16–18 (ESV)

16  I have spread my couch with coverings,

            colored linens from Egyptian linen;

17  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,

            aloes, and cinnamon.

18  Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;

            let us delight ourselves with love.

 

It will be just a night. And so when the pirates came, they merely sought to add a bit here and there. But, just as my wife will not be pleased with a little adultery, so Christ will not be pleased with a little spiritual adultery.

You see, if the power is in the Word of Christ, the Devil merely needs to add to that word, and detract from that word and replace that Word. If Peter simply preached something other than Christ; if Paul simply preached something other than Christ, then the Devil has succeeded.

And so the Colossian pirates merely added to Christ.

In fact, these pirates actually said they would help the Christians become more holy and spiritual. They were talking about visions and angels putting off sin. Who here would not wish to become more spiritual, more godly, more holy? Who would not want a life which transcends our present place and brings up to worship with the angels?  Who would not wish to never sin again? That is what these pirates offered.

Paul admitted these things looked good, but they would never work:

23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Colossians 2:23 (ESV)

You see, what the pirates offered was good: a better life; holiness; spirituality. Perhaps if they were here, they would offer you a happier marriage; less stress at work; a better way to take care of your money; maybe teach you how to find a husband or wife; perhaps a better way to parent.  Who doesn’t want such things?  Which of you does not want to finally once and for all put your sin to death? I would love for you to have all those things.

But Christ has sought something better for you: Himself.

Paul, in the third chapter of this, commands the Colossians to be holy and loving and gracious. He commands them to live lives of complete transformation. But the key is how he commands this change.  Look down at Colossians 3:16:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

That will be our text for the next few moments. It contains a single command:

Let the word of Christ dwell in your richly.

It contains two results of obeying that command: first it will change how you live with others. Second, it will change how you live before God. After that, we’ll consider some implications.

The Command: Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.

The command has two parts: The subject, “the word of Christ”; and the action “dwelling”.

You should have no difficulty with the “word of Christ”. It is means the same thing as the word of God or the Word of the Lord, or just the “Word” –as we saw in Acts. The great power of God in this world is the Word and the Spirit. The Spirit uses the Word of God to transform human beings.

This most certainly includes the Gospel:

Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15.

Now, all human beings from the moment of conception are corrupted by sin. As David said,

            5       Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

      and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5 (ESV)

 

If you think that sounds unfair and untrue, it is because you don’t really understand sin. Sin is a bad act, lying, cheating, murder, and so on. But sin is also an infection, a condition – it is something we caught from our parents and give to our children. Sin is a vile action. But sin is also the corrupting force that brought in death and disease. Everything which troubles you in this life comes from sin: your own sin; the sin of others against; and the effect of sin in the world.  We have all been poisoned; we are all infected.

Now think about it: You can’t trick someone without tricking them. A magician makes you think you are seeing one thing, when really you see something else. That’s sleight of hand. That is how sin works – it is deception; it is the very act of lying. It is a disease which tickles the heart and soothes the conscience until it is too late to escape.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

The entire universe has become corrupted with the sludge of sin and death.  The stuff of creation which God once called “very good” has been subjected to frailty and futility and death. As Ecclesiastes reads, Vanity of vanities … all is vanity – a mist, a breath, a moment and then gone. Thus, nothing in Creation could save us from sin and death.

It was into that world that Jesus came. The Son of God

7 … emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:7–8 (ESV)

And in that act of dying, Christ took hold of my sin – he took the charges against me and nailed them to the Christ:

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

 

You see, when Christ was laid in the tomb, it was not over. For sin had no claim upon him; death had no power over him. And Christ arose, having

… disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Colossians 2:15 (ESV)

The Son obedient to death has now been exalted by his Father:

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9–11 (ESV)

That is the good news. For everyone who receives that good news, for everyone who believes that Gospel and trusts to Christ for their salvation, there is salvation. For those who seek Christ as savior and Lord, he comes and makes all things new.

How does this happen? The Holy Spirit joins with the words of the Gospel, and I see my sin for the bitter rebellion against my God. I see Christ as beautiful

The rose of Sharon

The lily of the valley. Song 2:1

 

I throw myself upon his mercy. The Spirit of bondage becomes the Spirit of adoption and I cry out Abba, Father! It is to see the beauty of God in the face of Christ – that is the only right response to the Gospel.

The rest of Scripture gives depth and hope and application of the Gospel. It draws out the details and gives instruction on how to live worthy of the Gospel. You must know these words.

And that bring us to the second half of the command:

            Let the words of Christ dwell richly

That must sink down into your heart. That Word of Christ must dwell richly in your heart.

And not just the gospel – you must know it all. You see, this book, from front to back is letter disclosing to me the wonder and love of God. He reveals my sin, and shows me a Savior. It is a

            … lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

In this book we find

            …the words of eternal life. John 6:68.

Let those words dwell richly. Look again at your Bible at Colossians 3:16:

            Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly

The verb here, to dwell, is a cozy word. It means not merely to live somewhere, but to be home somewhere. Paul uses it to describe the Holy Spirit dwelling within a believer (Romans 8:11 & 2 Timothy1:14), of God dwelling among his people (2 Cor. 6:16); of faith dwelling in Timothy’s grandmother (1 Timothy 1:5) and of the word of Christ dwelling in his people –in our text.

Now Paul says that the Word must not merely dwell with us, but it must dwell richly. It is as if he said you must furnish your finest room for a guest. You must make all accommodation and place for this guest.

It does no good to take the word of God in our mouth if it does not settle down into our hearts.  This is the great failure of many Christians – they do not exclude the Word of Christ — for then they would not be Christians at all. Sadly they give the Word room – a small room in the back; they let the word of God dwell with them – but not richly.

The Word of God is a guest; but he is not at home. The best room in the house has been given over to something, to someone else. The good furniture and the comfortable clothes have been given to the stranger. But the Word of God who should possess the richest room is told to make-do with the couch.

Beloved, this must not be. The Word of God must dwell in you richly. Have you not read of the blessed man, who

Delights in the law of the Lord

And in his law he meditates day and night.

 

Psalm 1:2.

But I hear the complaint, I would delight in the word – but it is so often dry. The blessed man delights, but I don’t. I tried, I really did. But can make no progress. I read and it’s words and sounds.

Perhaps you see nothing or little when you first look in the word. That comes from being too quick. No one becomes a dear friend in a moment. The depth of love in a marriage takes a life.

Let the word dwell richly.

I spoke with a man about watching birds. He said, sit quietly and wait. That is how we must come to Scripture. At first you will see no birds; but as you wait patiently and look about and listen carefully, you hear the birds move and then see a wing. Soon you will hear them sing. The expert hears beauty in the symphony that the novice does not know. The lover knows the slightest shadow that moves across his beloved’s face.

But we make such a racket when we come to the garden of Scripture. We stomp and grumble and pick up a phone to check some nonsense or other. Don’t sit down for the Bible with your smartphone in one hand. Don’t rush your time alone with the Lord.

Which of you would reveal your dearest secrets to a so-called friend who kept looking over your shoulder at the movie playing in the room?

We want immediate answers, when the Lord seeks an eternal marriage with his Bride. But we have no true hurry. Our impatience is a lie. We will live forever with the Lord. Come sit by the water and watch sunlight glint upon the text.

The 119th Psalm gives us a picture of the God’s Word dwelling richly in one’s heart. I am going to just run through the verbs used to describe how the Psalmist lives with the word of God:

1. He walks in it. v. 1

2. Seeks it with his whole heart.

3. Keeps it diligently.

4. Fixes his eyes upon it.

5. Learn.

6. Living according to it.

7. Stored up.

8. Declare

9. Delights in it.

10. Meditates upon

11. Beholds wonderful things

12. Consumed with longing

13. Takes counsel from

14. Is strengthened by.

15. Chooses

16. Clings to

17. Run in the way of

18.  Understands

19. Inclines his heart

20. Longs for.

21. Trusts

22 Hopes in

23. Loves

24. Does not turn away from

And so on. Here is the procedure: First, he takes it in: the word of God comes into his thoughts. There he meditates upon it; he studies it; he memorizes it; he ponders it and discusses it. The word of God becomes the object of his desire. He trusts it – for it comes from God.  He does not turn away from it.

Wait a second, someone will say. Aren’t you making an idol out of the Bible? No! I will do no such thing. I do not want the book per se, but rather the God of the book.

You see, the Scripture is a love letter on which I smell the perfume of glory and catch a sight of my beloved. When a soldier treasures a letter from his wife, he does not love the paper and ink. No he loves the heart disclosed in the words. When the soldier holds the letter up to read, the paper becomes a window and he gazes upon his wife from afar. She becomes near as reads.

How much more so with the word of God!

12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)

The word of God is not mere words – it is the disclosure of God: God is in it. The Word of God is authoritative – it causes things:

5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5–6 (ESV)

When God said, Let there be light – there was light. When the Gospel is proclaimed, Christ is in it.

Don’t fall into the trap of the religious leaders who thought they could chain God by chaining the messenger. It was not Peter, but Peter’s sermon which did the work. The physical world is real, but it is not ultimate. When you dig down through reality, you will not find some stuff there. At the very basis of the entire Creation is not matter in motion; no, at the very first you will find God, who rules and works by Word and Spirit.

God spoke and the universe became. God’s Spirit hovered over the waters. The universe came from God, from Word and Spirit. The Word of God is more than anything. The Bible is not God – no, but it contains the words of God and the Words which disclose God. I love the words because I love the Word:

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. John 1:1.

Oh friend, take these words down deep into your heart that the Word of Christ may dwell richly in you.

And look to see what happens:

The First Result of the Dwelling Word:

First, the words will come flowing back out to those around you:

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

When the word of Christ dwells richly in your heart, it will gush back out onto those around you, transforming us all. You see, the Word of God does not merely bring us to salvation at the first – it works in our hearts throughout our lives and brings us to change upon change.

You have heard and read that Christians must teach and admonish one another. That is true – absolutely so. But let us think about this, for a moment. Are we called upon to teach and admonish in just any way? No.

First, look at the text. Paul specifies a content for this teaching and admonition: Paul does not mention personal experience, popular ideas, or your own “wisdom”. The wisdom is the wisdom of Christ, the wisdom of the Word. The teaching and admonishing come as the result of the word dwelling in the heart.

Our Lord made plain that we are to teach – but only what he has commanded: In Matthew 28:20, Jesus tells the church to make disciples by

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

It is not teaching, but teaching what Jesus has commanded. And we looked at the teaching of Acts – they taught Christ. At the end of Acts 2, we see the church filled with fellowship, joy, worship, communion, praise – and all of this came from the fact that they

Devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching … Acts 2:42.

In Romans 15:14, Paul writes:

14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. Romans 15:14 (ESV)

But with what do they instruct one another? This comes at the end of the letter – they at least have heard the content of Paul’s letter. But Paul also has told them that their hope comes from their knowledge of the Scriptures (Romans 15:4).  And in verse 13, immediately Paul’s confidence that they can teach one-another he writes,

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13 (ESV)

That hope came from the Scriptures. And being filled with such hop and joy and the Holy Spirit they are fit to counsel one-another.

When you look through Paul’s other letters, you will see that time and again, the Christians need correcting because they have been busy instructing, admonishing, counseling, exhorting one-another in the wrong way. In Colossae, Paul writes specifically because they have been taking instruction which was not the word of Christ.

When you look through Timothy and Titus you will see that the primary job of the pastor in the church is to protect the doctrine. The pastor’s job is teaching – both what you must know, and what you must avoid. The very first instruction Paul writes to Timothy is;

3 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 1 Timothy 1:3 (ESV)

I could go on, but I think the point is clear. We must exhort and teach and admonish and encourage one another daily.

At this point I want to first praise you all. This congregation does do that. I have seen it. I have been encouraged and rebuked. The youngest Christians in this congregation have poured on me the sweetest encouragement when my soul was must burdened. Many of you do not even know how deeply you have blessed me. And, if you have been so to me, I can only think that you must have been such a blessing to one-another.

I must praise you and encourage you to do far more.

But, I must also rebuke you. You and I have been guilty of declaring not Christ, but ourselves. We have taken the words of Christ and have hidden them from one-another. How so?

A dear sister comes to you in confidence. She has a great sorrow in her family – some trouble with her children or her husband. She unburdens herself. You pray for her and remind her that God is good.  And this you have done well. But she continues and asks, What should I do?

And here, you begin to make disciples after yourselves. You tell her what you have done.  You give her your experience and your advice.

Dear sister, you have closed to her the gates of God. You have shut her out of the Scriptures. It is the word of God which is living and active – not your insights.

So much Christianish malarkey gets published and said. Who cares about my experience and wisdom?

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (ESV)

It is Scripture that has such authority – not you.

Oh the damage which has been done by this mistake. I oversee the counseling ministry here at CBC, and I must tell you that the hardest cases have often been situations where a well-meaning believer has given poor counsel to another. The counsel has been based upon expediency or experience or guess work, but not careful consideration of Scripture.

Now I don’t pretend to believe that I know all when it comes to this work. I am constantly studying and thinking and considering the Scripture and how it applies. I do not have confidence in my perfect abilities. However, I do have confidence in the power of the Scripture. Perhaps I do not know, but that does not excuse me from discovering an answer.

Now, I want you to consider, how often have you failed in this? How often have you given personal advice when what your brother needed was the Word of God?

A related but no less serious trouble comes when one misapplies the Scripture.

This comes first from a lack of confidence in the Scripture. You may think – the Bible is good, but there some places where some experience could help.

It more often comes from simple lack of training in the Scriptures and how they must be applied. I want you to go back to our discussion of the word of God dwelling richly. Do you remember the Psalmist who studied, memorized, meditated upon the Scripture?

You cannot apply the Scripture well without training. You must learn how to use the Scripture.

Think of it like this, Would you like just anyone to preach on Sunday morning? Giving counsel is no less a matter of understanding and applying the Scripture than is preaching or teaching. The greatest difference between the two is the number of people in the room. Counseling is private; preaching is public. Both require understanding and explaining the Scripture.

That is why we are seeking to help you better understand the Scripture and its application. Every week when you hear a sermon in this pulpit, the goal is not merely that you leave with information, but that you know better how the Scripture functions, how the Christian life is lived, how to better love God and your neighbor –and that you will be able to bring this truth to one-another.

We are also trying to provide you with additional training. On Sunday evenings, we will be providing specific training about how to do this thing of “teaching and admonishing” one-another. We want you all to be better equipped to intentionally disciple and counsel one-another.

Some of you will have greater ability and inclination and will learn enough to help with counseling in a more intentional manner. There are some difficult and serious problems which arise in the church which will take greater wisdom and knowledge to provide a biblical response. We want you to know how to respond in a godly manner when your friend shares of a crushing depression or having been abused as a child or learning that a wife or husband has committed adultery. These are grave matters and they deserve a careful response. To answer carelessly or mistakenly can cause great hurt.

If you are lying by the side of the road and you have a gushing chest wound, you should hope that a trained paramedic shows up on the scene. If you must settle for me, you’ll probably die – because I have not been trained to help. You don’t want someone who has no training to fix your car – much less operate on your body. Why do you think that care for your soul takes less skill and training than care for your garbage disposal?

So we are offering training on Sunday evenings. We also want you to know of training which is being offered by our church in combination with several other churches in Southern California and with the Masters College biblical counseling professors. Over the next three months, on one Friday evening and one Saturday day there will be training in biblical counseling. I will be one of the instructions as will other pastors from our area. We have information about this training conference in foyer. The organization is called the BCDA of Southern California. 

For those who would like even more training so as to be part of the counseling ministry here at CBC, contact Shelbi Cullen – and if you can’t find her, contact the office and Ruth can hand your name on to us. There are already many men and women who have been training and working with counseling.

We need more people who have been trained to counsel. We routinely receive requests for counseling from people outside of our congregation – but as it is, we cannot always care for everyone who is already in attendance here.

We can also use counseling as a means of evangelism. If you think back over your own life and the lives of others, you know that God often uses crisis to get our attention. The world is a wreck and sin has done great damage. The Scripture has much to say in the face of loss and pain and trial. We need people who have trained and ready to help those people here the good news of Christ.

Second Result of the Scripture Dwelling Richly: Thankfulness

This point needs no great elaboration. The Scriptures reveal God to us and thus give us hope. As you exhort me, and I encourage you, we grow – ever so slowly, but truly – we grow in godliness. It seems glacial sometimes, but we grow toward Christlikeness; we grow in hope. We remind one another that our Lord has conquered death – and our recollection that sin and death have been overcome draws us evermore toward Christ.

We bring the Scripture to one, and in this book we read of our loss and God’s salvation. We read of the precious promises of life now and life to come. In this book we read of

Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col. 1:27.

When we read and know and meditate and hope we can have no other response but to praise, to give thanks, to rejoice. We want to burst out in songs of thankfulness and hope. Look at the words in our text. The Word of Christ does not merely result in teaching and admonishing, it results in a burst of Psalm and hymns and spiritual songs filled with thankfulness in your hearts toward God.  What joy is here! Do you not see that you have been made new by the word of Christ? O, think of this!

Oh let me beseech you, for the Lord’s sake, for your soul’s sake, to value the gospel. Alas! What are we without it, but condemned malefactors, every moment liable to be called forth and hung up, as monuments of God’s fury, in hell! If ever a poor creature, in fear every moment of being fetched out of the prison and carried to the gallows, did esteem a pardon, sure I am ye have cause to prize the gospel. O sirs, how had all of us at this day been shut up under the law’s curse, in the dungeon of endless wrath and misery, had not the gospel opened the prison doors, knocked off our shackles and set our souls at liberty!
“The Pastor’s Farewell” George Swinock (vol. 4, 93)

Let the promise of eternal life settle down in your hearts and see what rose will bloom.

Redeemed how I love to proclaim it

Redeemed by the blood of the lamb

Redeemed by his infinite mercy

 

His child now forever I am!

Church and a Hostile State 1 Peter 2:13-17.1

11 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Peter

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1 Peter, 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2:13-17, Church and State, Peter, politics

1 Peter 2:13–17 (ESV)

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

 

This text has some serious bite, because the government of which he writes killed him (and many other Christians).

 

Here are some notes:

 

Context:

Household Commands: 1 Peter 2:13-3:7,

Good deeds: 2:1- 4:11

Suffering: Expected: 1:6, 4:12 (5:7)

Pilgrim: 1:1, 2:11

 

Command: Be subject ….to every human institution

Detail: whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him

Qualification: Live as people who are free,

                        not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil,

                        but living as servants of God.

Repeated with detail:

Honor everyone.

Love the brotherhood.

 Fear God.

Honor the emperor.

 

Rationale:

A. Directly as relevant to God:

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution

For this is the will of God,

that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

B. Civil Good: governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

Notes on God’s Glory:

Notes on Civil Good:

Therefore the Christian must be loyal to the government under which God’s providence has placed him. One form of government may be better than another; but any regular government is latter than anarchy. St. Paul bids us pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.” Government is from God; the form of it is determined, under God’s overruling providence, by man.

H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 1 Peter, The Pulpit Commentary (London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 82.

Objection:

It may, however, be objected here and said, that kings and magistrates often abuse their power, and exercise tyrannical cruelty rather than justice. Such were almost all the magistrates, when this Epistle was written. To this I answer, that tyrants and those like them, do not produce such effects by their abuse, but that the ordinance of God ever remains in force, as the institution of marriage is not subverted though the wife and the husband were to act in a way not becoming them. However, therefore, men may go astray, yet the end fixed by God cannot be changed.

John Calvin, 1 Peter: Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), 1 Pe 2:14.

Notes on Command of Subjection

1) What Does “be subject” mean?

1 Peter stays with ὑποτάσσειν consistently (2:18; 3:1, 5; cf. 5:5), except for one passing reference to Sarah within a biblical illustration (3:6). Otherwise “obedience” (ὑπακοή) is reserved for a person’s relationship to Christ by virtue of accepting the Christian message (1:2, 14, 22). Because “obedience” (ὑπακοή) is a primary and radical commitment while ὑποτάσσειν represents a secondary and more limited one, “respect” or “defer to” is a more appropriate translation for the latter than “submit to” or “be subject.”

J. Ramsey Michaels, 1 Peter, vol. 49, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 124.

Some scholars define “submit” to refer to “deference” or “respect” rather than obedience.37 It is lexically difficult, however, to wash the concept of obedience out of “submit.”38 Indeed, in 1 Pet 3:5–6 Peter glided from the verb “submit” in v. 5 to “obey” in v. 6 without any hint of discomfort. The idea of willing obedience (or failure to submit) is evident in a number of texts: Jesus’ submission to his parents (Luke 2:51), refusal to submit to God’s law (Rom 8:7), refusal to submit to God’s righteousness, the church’s submission to Christ (Eph 5:24), the need to be subject to God (Jas 4:7), and the submission of younger ones to elders (1 Pet 5:5). Other examples could be adduced, but the main point is clear. Michaels and Achtemeier criticize the translation “submit” by implying that it involves “total submission”39 and “unquestioning obedience to whatever anyone, including governing authorities, may command.”40 Their interpretations confuse context with lexicography. Whether or not submission involves “unquestioning obedience” cannot be determined by the term but by context. Translations like “defer” or “be considerate of” are simply too weak to convey the meaning of the word. The injunction to submit does not rule out exceptions, for God is the ultimate authority.41 They illegitimately use this point, however, to diminish the force of the command. Peter gave a command that represents a general truth, that is, he specified what Christians should do in most situations when confronting governing authorities. Believers should be inclined to obey and submit to rulers. We will see, however, that the authority of rulers is not absolute. They do not infringe upon God’s lordship, and hence they should be disobeyed if they command Christians to contravene God’s will.

 

Thomas R. Schreiner, 1, 2 Peter, Jude, vol. 37, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003), 127.

 

It is enough for us; our duty is to say, “Thy will be done,” and for his sake, in the consciousness that, in obeying those who are set over us, we are obeying the King of kings, to submit ourselves to every human ordinance. But that obedience is for his sake; therefore it cannot extend to unlawful commands. St. Peter himself had once said to the high priest, “We ought to obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29; comp. also Acts 4:19; and the time was coming when brave Christian men and women would have to choose between renouncing Christ and the death of martyrdom. The disobedience would be “for the Lord’s sake.” The higher duty would overrule the lower. To “fear God and to keep his commandments is the whole duty of man;” this highest rule will guide the Christian under ordinary circumstances to obey human law and government, sometimes under exceptional circumstances to obey God rather than man. As a rule, Christians must be subject to the higher powers. Indeed, they are free; Christ hath made them free from the yoke of bondage. But they are the servants of God; his will should be the law of their lives; and his will is that Christian liberty should be orderly and sober. The soul is free from the bondage of sin; the outward life should be regulated by obedience to authority and law; and that for the glory of God, that the well-ordered lives of Christian people may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

 

H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 1 Peter, The Pulpit Commentary (London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 82–83.

 

2) “human institution”:

makes it appropriate to define its object as “every human creature” (i.e., every person). “Defer to every human creature” simply anticipates the command with which v 17 begins: “show respect for everyone.”

J. Ramsey Michaels, 1 Peter, vol. 49, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 124.

κτίζειν is used ordinarily in many senses, e.g., of peopling a country, of founding a city, of setting up games, feasts, altar, etc. In Biblical Greek and its descendants it is appropriated to creation. Here κτίσις is apparently selected as the most comprehensive word available; and the acquired connotation—creation by God—is ruled out by the adjective ἀνθρωπίνῃ. It thus refers to all human institutions which man set up with the object of maintaining the world which God created.

J.H.A. Hart, The First Epistle General of Peter, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, Volume V: Commentary (New York: George H. Doran Company, n.d.), 59.

The word for “ordinance” is κτίσις, which in classical Greek means “foundation,” as of a city; but in the New Testament is used elsewhere only of the works of God, in the sense of “creation,” or “a creature” (see Mark 16:15; Col. 1:23, etc.). Hence some, as De Wette, translate the words, “to every human creature,” supporting their view by ch. 5:5. But on the whole this seems unlikely; ἀνθρωπίνη κτίσις is a strange and awkward periphrasis for ἄνθρωπος. It is better to understand it as meaning a human creation or foundation.

 

H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 1 Peter, The Pulpit Commentary (London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 73.

The first sub-division is concerned with the Christian in the state. But it opens with a general charge: Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human creature. The Greek represented by the last three words (pasēi anthrōpinēi ktisei) is usually rendered either as ‘every human institution’ (RSV; NEB) or as ‘every institution ordained for men’ (RSVm, following Hort), but neither version is possible. So far from meaning ‘institution’, ‘ordinance’ (AV), or ‘authority’, the noun ktisis always in the Bible signifies ‘creation’ or, concretely, ‘creature’; and there is always the thought of God as Creator behind it. Further, it is inconceivable that the writer should have regarded the state or civil authorities as ‘ordinances of men’. These considerations rule out the former of the two customary interpretations. The latter, as well as missing the true import of ktisis, puts an intolerable strain on the adjective ‘human’.

 

J. N. D. Kelly, The Epistles of Peter and of Jude, Black’s New Testament Commentary (London: Continuum, 1969), 108.

 

Objection: This cannot possibly be true? And if it is, what are the limits of the demands the govt can place upon one?

Objection: When is it no longer a legitimate govt? Can one every protest the govt?

 

A Pilgrim Mindset:

1:1, 2:1

Hebrews 11:13

 

Live in the world without being contaminated by it: 2 Cor. 6:17, Eph. 5:6-11, but even more so 1 Cor. 7:29-31

An Opportune Time

25 Saturday May 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Luke, Prayer

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1 Peter 5:8, Betrayal, Devil, Jesus, Judas, Luke, Luke 13:16, Luke 22:3-6, Luke 4:13, Mark 14:38, Peter, Prayer, Satan, temptation, Watch and Pray

Luke records the Devil’s temptation of Jesus in chapter 4, verses 1 – 13. He ends the story with the words, “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.” The word translated as “opportune time” is chairos.

The Devil does not make a personal appearance again in Luke until chapter 22. He is mentioned in other places in the Gospel (e.g., “And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” Luke 13:16); but he is not a direct, present actor until he enters Judas:

3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.
4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.
5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.
6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

Luke 22:3-6. The word translated “opportunity” is the Greek word eu-chairos, a “good time”. In Luke’s construction, Satan has been busy looking for a opportune time to go after Jesus. Upon entering Judas he continued to seek for an opportune time.

When we read Peter’s description of the Devil (1 Peter 5:8), we see what the Devil was busy doing between chapters 4 & 22:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Peter’s instruction, was the precise same instruction which Jesus had given to Peter, when the Devil in Judas (see also, John 13:27) was coming for Jesus:

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 14: 38

Where our happiness lieth

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Ecclesiastes, Uncategorized

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Abraham, Ecclesiastes 7:20, John Cotton, Luke, mercy, Peter, Sin

John Cotton answers the question: Why would God ever let his people fall? For certainly God could stir the heart of a man to never lose its fervor. Yet the love of men grows cold; men walk carelessly; even the soundest believer will fall (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Genesis 12:13; Luke 22:61). What reason could have God to permit even his best servants to fail? Certainly God would receive more glory by the moral perfection of his people. Yet, yet, he lets them fall.

The capstone of Paul’s gospel presentation in Romans ends with the declaration that God transforms sin by means of mercy:

What use is there in such knowledge:

Use 3. To shew us where our happiness lieth, to wit, not in our own innocency, but in the covering of our sins, Ps. 32:1, 2; and therefore we seek for all our righteousness in Christ, Phil. 3:7–9; Rom. 3:23, 24.

John Cotton, Ecclesiastes

How we should understand true Christian ministry

28 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in George Muller, Ministry, Submission, Uncategorized

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Arthur Pierson, Biography, Christian, dependence, Faith, faith, George Muller, Ministry, Paul, Peter, Submission, The Lords Dealings With George Muller, Uncategorized

Pierson notes that Muller’s journal is titled, “The Lord’s Dealings with George Muller”. He explains that Christianity ministry – even of the most eminent apostles – was always a question of the The Lord did the man for other men and women — not a matter of what Peter or Paul did alone. True Christianity ministry must be a matter of God working in us, through us, upon us — but never a matter of us working independently of The Lord. Indeed a life of faith must be a life of dependence; the minister is only an instrument of the Lord’s work:

The meaning of such repeated phraseology cannot be mistaken. God is here presented as the one agent or actor, and even the most conspicuous apostles, like Paul and Peter, as only His instruments. No twenty verses in the word of God contain more emphatic and repeated lessons on man’s insufficiency and nothingness, and God’s all-sufficiency and almightiness. It was God that wrought upon man through man. It was He who chose Peter to be His mouthpiece, He whose key unlocked shut doors, He who visited the nations, who turned sinners into saints, who was even then taking out a people for His name, purifying hearts and bearing them witness; it was He and He alone who did all these wondrous things, and according to His knowledge and plan of what He would do, from the beginning. We are not reading so much the Acts of the Apostles as the acts of God through the apostles. Was it not this very passage in this inspired book that suggested, perhaps, the name of this journal: “The Lord’s dealings with George Miiller”?

Excerpt From: Arthur Tappan Pierson. “George Müller of Bristol.”

All of our work must be a work of faith — and faith is a matter of dependence.

The Word in Acts.4 (Good Works)

26 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Good Works, Prayer, Preaching

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1 John 3:16–18, 1 Tim. 5:9-16, Acts, Acts 6:1–7, Africa, Amos 2:6–8, Charity, Ephesians 2:8-10, Faith, Galatians 2:10, Good Works, James, James 2:14–17, John, John 6:63, Justification, love, Matthew Parris, Paul, Peter, Prayer, Preaching, Self-denial, Word, Word in Acts, Word of God

1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Acts 6:1–7 (ESV)

To rightly understand the bite of these words, we must first read them against the rest of the Bible. In 1 Timothy Paul writes to Timothy to direct him on the working of the church. Paul writes:

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8 (ESV)

Thus, caring for the poor – particularly in one’s own family – is of extraordinary importance. One who will not care for his family is “worse than an unbeliever”!

What of widows who have no family? These are to be either cared for by the church or encouraged to become part of a new family by marriage (1 Tim. 5:9-16; this command obviously presents interesting challenges in the current societal structure where marriage is less than universally sought or obtained – particularly for widows).   

When Paul met with James, Peter and John, the pillars gave him “the right hand of fellowship” and left Paul with a single charge:

Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Galatians 2:10 (ESV)

Both James and John specifically condemn those who claim faith and yet will not care for the physical needs of the poor (James 2:14-17; 1 John 3:16-18).  Both make plain that who does not actually care for the poor does not possess saving faith and does not bear the love of God!

So here we see that Peter, Paul, James & John all explicitly give commandment for the care of the poor – to the point that caring for the poor is a necessary coordinate of a truly redeemed believer. If we were to canvas the OT we would find repeated exhortations to care for the poor and repeated condemnation of those who refused to care for the poor.  The words of Amos, in particular, have always haunted me:

6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals— 7 those who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; 8 they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. Amos 2:6–8 (ESV)

Without question, care for the poor, for the widow is of supreme concern for the Christian Church: it lies at near the very center of our life. However, there is one element which has even greater importance: prayer and the word.

There are two aspects to this hierarchy. First, without the word of God, without love and faith, such care for the poor fails. It is not the mere transfer of money which is needed. Material poverty, as awful as it is, is not the deepest danger and harm. Even the most wealthy and privileged human being will stand before God.  On that day, wealth will not help:

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36 (ESV)

The deepest and most profound need of humanity is reconciliation with God. Our particular troubles are merely symptoms and warnings of the underlying rebellion against God. All human misery flows from the fountain of sin and death. Pain and misery and oppression are merely proof that sin is present – and only in Christ will sin be destroyed.

The grandest anti-poverty program in the world – even if it lived up to its grandest claims – would merely ease the poor into hell.

Thus, the work of the word was of more importance that care for the poor (as extraordinarily important as that is), because the word is the only means to convey life (John 6:63 – interestingly coming at the end of a confrontation where the poor wanted only food and were not interested in the words of life).

Second, even as a practical matter, immediate care for the poor without the sustaining work of true faith and love will fail. The damage to the poor is much more than mere material want.  Giving money may ease one’s conscience but it does little to bring love to another human being.

Even as the welfare state has grown in the West, brutality has grown up alongside of it.  The most old and the most young, the most vulnerable of all are killed to grant momentary comfort to those with more power and strength. 

Along this line, there was an interesting article in the British Press, by Matthew Parris. Christianity Today recounted his argument as follows:

The problems in Africa cannot be solved with aid money alone, but Africans need to know God, contends an atheist journalist and former politician.

 

Religion offers change to the hearts and minds of people – something aid cannot do, argues Matthew Parris, a former conservative MP, in a column for The Times.

 

“Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts,” writes Parris, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but now lives in England. “These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do.”

 

He went on to say, “In Africa, Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.”

 

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/atheist.africa.needs.god.not.only.aid/22223.htm

In conclusion, the word of God is more important than even the best of good work, because only the word of God transforms the heart and reconciles humanity to God. Then, as a wonderful secondary effect, the transformed life in turn flows out in good work. This is precisely the movement which Paul recognizes in Ephesians 2 where he first posits justification on the ground of God’s free grace received by faith – but such faith turns inevitably into good work:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)

 

The Word in Acts.3 (Work)

25 Thursday Oct 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Acts, Ecclesiology, Obedience, Preaching, Service

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Acts, Acts 2:22, Acts 2:37, Acts 4:29, Acts 5:17–21, courage, D.L. Moody, Fearing the Lord, Hebrews 4:12-13, Hill of Difficulty, John Bunyan, John Calvin, John Pollock, Moody, Obedience, Persecution, Peter, Philippians 2:8, Pilgrim's Progress, Preaching, Romans 8:28, Service, Spree, Word, Word in Acts, Word of God, Work

17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”[1] 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Acts 5:17–21 (ESV)

In chapter 2, God sends words through the disciples (Acts 2:4). Peter rises and preaches: Men of Israel, hear these words (Acts 2:22). Hearing the words they were cut to the heart (Acts 2:37; Hebrews 4:12-13). In Acts 3, Peter speaks and a man is healed. Peter then preaches (Acts 3:12). An arrest follows, but the word has already done its work (Acts 4:4). When the apostles were released, the church preached, not for ease but for courage to continue to speak your [God’s] word with all boldness (Acts 4:29).

Finally, when the authorities could no longer bear the sight of the effectiveness of the word of God, they arrested the apostles. God then sends an angel to free them. Consider for a moment: God could without question have sent the angel earlier. God could have protected the apostles from trial. Instead, God sent an angel after the arrest.

The angel did not come to protect the apostles from trial, but rather to send them into the lion’s mouth with the word of God:

Speak in the temple. This is the end of their deliverance, that they employ themselves stoutly in preaching the gospel, and provoke their enemies courageously, until they die valiantly. For they were put to death at length when the hand of God ceased, after that they had finished their course; but now the Lord openeth the prison for them, that they may be at liberty to fulfill their function. That is worth the marking, because we see many men, who, after they have escaped out of persecution, do afterwards keep silence, as if they had done their duty towards God, (and were no more to be troubled;) other some, also, do escape away by denying Christ; but the Lord doth deliver his children, not to the end they may cease off from the course which they have begun, but rather that they may be the more zealous afterward. The apostles might have objected, It is better to keep silence for a time, forasmuch as we cannot speak one word without danger; we are now apprehended for one only sermon, how much more shall the fury of our enemies be inflamed hereafter, if they shall see us make no end of speaking? But because they knew that they were to live and to die to the Lord, they do not refuse to do that which the Lord commanded; so we must always mark what function the Lord enjoineth us. There will many things meet us oftentimes, which may discourage us, unless being content with the commandment of God alone, we do our duty, committing the success to him.

 

John Calvin, Acts, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Ac 5:20.

The incident reminds me of Moody’s 1891 trip home Europe aboard the Spree. Moody had recently met with a heart specialist who warned Moody against working too hard:

Clark asked how often Moody preached.

“Oh, I usually preach three times a day. On Sunday four or even five.”

“How many days a week?”

“Six, but during the last winter seven.”

“You’re a fool, sir, you’re a fool! You’re killing yourself!”

 

John Pollock, Moody, 242.

On board the ship, Moody considered the matter and determined that he would slow down and work less: in particularly he would dial back his planned campaign to coincide with the World’s Fair. On the third day, the weather on the Atlantic was very bad. The engine shaft broke and the ship began to sink.

 Pollock writes:

During the long hours Moody wrestled in his soul. He felt seasickness no longer – the accident cured him permanently – and his mind ran clear.

He heard as it were the voice of his Lord:  “Were you ready to let up, to go slow? Then I will take you to Myself. Yu are no use to Me unless you and out and out.”

“No one on earth,” Moody related, “know what I pass through as I thought that my work was finished, and that I should never again have the privilege of preaching the Gospel of the Son of God. And on that dark night, the first night of the accident, I made a vow that if God would spare my life and bring back to America,” the World’s Fair campaign should be undertaken with all the power that He would give me.”

Pollock, Moody, 244. Soon thereafter, the Candian Pacific freighter Lake Huron appeared and attempted to secure the vessels together, but the storm was such that the rope broke, “‘as if he had been cotton thread’” (Pollock, 245, quoting a passenger).  The storm broke in the morning, cables were attached and Lake Huron towed the Spree to port.

It is often hard to remember, that here God does not seek our ease but rather our good and his glory. We can forget this when we read Romans 8:28. We grasp the word “good” and think that means our current ease.[2] For verse 29 defines “good” as “to be conformed to the image of his Son”. Our Lord came:

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:8 (ESV)

Here is our model. Yes, I for one, admit that my life has been one of splendid ease compared to my brothers and sisters throughout the world and throughout the ages. My trials for the Gospel have not be as severe as many (if not most). Yet I must see my present ease as an even greater motivation to work even more diligently. I (and many like me) have no excuse for failing to speak to the people all the words of this Life. May God grant us forgiveness for our past failures and strength for future work.


[1] Larkin writing of the phrase, words of this life: “This phrase captures the truths that by God’s Word the blessed life in covenant relationship is appropriated now, and that beyond death there is a life in which God’s salvation will be fully known forever” (William J. Larkin, Acts (Downer’s Grove, Intervarsity Press: 1995), 91).

[2] God often does provide his people with significant comfort and ease along their pilgrimage. However, we must not mistake the Arbo placed by God upon the Hill of Difficulty for Celestial City (“Now about the midway to the top of the hill was a pleasant Arbor, made by the Lord of the hill for the refreshment of weary travelers” Pilgrim’s Progress, The Third Stage, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/bunyan/pilgrim.iv.iii.html ).

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