Magi, the Happy Heretics!

God Was There/God Is Here:
To Introduce Jesus to the World

The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation J.I. Packer

TODAY MATTHEW 2:1-12


Central Idea: PWPNT
As the Magi were able to see Jesus for Who He is,
while the wise men of Judea did not,
so we long to see Jesus as He is.
I. The Magi were shown the importance Jesus.
They responded to the light by leaving home, making a great journey over a significant period of time, to a distant place.
The Magi saw a star, or a star-like object in the sky (“in the East” means they saw it seemed to be over Israel, to their west, while they were at home).
Magi:
• a priestly caste of Medes with dream-interpreting wisdom
• perhaps one of Babylon’s magi, a group Daniel joined;
• Babylon or Persia or Arabia, though the time involved suggests the distance of Babylon
• If from Babylon, they may have learned about these prophecies from Jews in exile.

• No names given; though by the 6th Century, they were given names;
• unspecified number, though three different gifts were mentioned.

• 17th century: Johannes Kepler noted there would have been a planetary alignment in that era, though not that year; he then suggested this was more likely a supernova, a faint star that suddenly explodes into brilliance, then fades.
• DA Carson, EBC: Matthew presents the “star” as strictly supernatural. This too is possible and obviously impossible to falsify, but 2:9 is not as determinative as is often suggested (cf. on 2:9). The evidence is inconclusive.
• PWPNT Carson: Matthew uses language almost certainly alluding to Numbers 24:17: “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” This oracle, spoken by Balaam, who came “from the eastern mountains” (Num 23:7),
• Granting Matthew’s informed devotion to the OT, he surely knew that the OT mocks astrologers (Isa 47:13-15; Dan 1:20; 2:27; 4:7; 5:7) and forbids astrology (Jer 10:1-2). Nevertheless it was widely practiced in the first century, even among Jews (cf. Albright and Mann). Matthew neither condemns nor sanctions it;

• instead, he contrasts the eagerness of the Magi to worship Jesus, despite their limited knowledge, with the apathy of the Jewish leaders and the hostility of Herod’s court—all of whom had the Scriptures to inform them.
• Formal knowledge of the Scriptures, Matthew implies, does not in itself lead to knowing who Jesus is; just as God sovereignly worked through Caesar’s decree that a census be taken (Luke 2:1) to ensure Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy, so God sovereignly used the Magi’s calculations to bring about the situation this pericope describes.
• 2:11 This verse plainly alludes to Psalm 72:10-11 and Isaiah 60:6, passages that reinforce the emphasis on the Gentiles (cf. on v.6).
PWRPT Psalm 72:10–11
“Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents;
The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
And let all kings bow down before him,
All nations serve him.”
PWRPT Isaiah 60:6
““A multitude of camels will cover you,
The young camels of Midian and Ephah;
All those from Sheba will come;
They will bring gold and frankincense,
And will bear good news of the praises of the Lord.”

They responded to the light by leaving home, making a great journey over a significant period of time, to a distant place.

II. The reason we see how great God is, is because God has shown us light, and drawn us to worship.
A. The God who said “Let there be light” has caused light to shine in our hearts.
i. As He drew Gentiles to Jesus at the first Advent…
B. That light leads us to His greater promises…
a. PWPNT ““Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezk 36:26

C. The God who draws us to Jesus CONTINUOUSLY draws us to Jesus.
D. How do we SEE Jesus ONCE AGAIN at Advent?

=Lane talked about seeing Jesus with new eyes - the Holy Spirit has been active throughout history revealing Jesus to the world.......and he is active today, continuing to reveal Jesus in us and through us.....

The Spirit's work in us gives us a New Sort of Life

God Was There/God Is Here

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became man. C.S. Lewis

REVIEW:
• Who is the Holy Spirit? Why is HS important to us? What did HS do in the OT?
• As the HS Incarnated Jesus/the HS Births Jesus in us.
• Just as the HS worked in John the Baptist to point to Jesus, so He does in us.

PWPT: CENTRAL IDEA: Jesus was fully God; God is here, remaking His people.

1. The HS conceived Jesus in Mary’s womb; at the Incarnation.
Luke 1:35 NASB And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.
a. The Holy Spirit hovered over Mary and in some mysterious way, she conceived Jesus, the divine/human person.
b. Jesus remains fully human and fully divine.

2. The HS is also intimately involved in our new birth; Jesus said this must happen in us. John 3
a. DEFINE BORN AGAIN. PWPT:
i. Quite ridiculed:
1. “I'm a born-again atheist” Gore Vidal.
2. Herb Caen: The trouble with born again Christians is that they are an even bigger pain the second time around.
3. P.J. O’Rourke: Making fun of born-again Christians is like hunting dairy cows with a high-powered rifle and scope.
4. Mariah Carey: I’ve been born again.
ii. John 3: A new birth: PWPT:

John 3:6–8 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

3. The HS is said to indwell Jesus’ followers.
a. A new sort of promise: the first fruits of salvation.
i. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
ii. God has long said that He is going to “dwell” with His people.
iii. His first gift to us highlights His intention to complete what He has begun in us.

EF Harrison, EBC,
PWPT: Romans 8:23 NASB
“And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

The concept of firstfruits (v.23) is prominent in the OT, where, according to the law, Israelites were expected to bring the first-ripe elements of grain, fruit, etc., to the Lord as an offering (Exod 23:19; Neh 10:35).

PWPT: (Exodus 23:19 NASB)
““You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.

Nehemiah 10:35
…that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the Lord annually…

By this observance of worship the offerer acknowledged that all produce was the provision of God and was really his. Implicit also in the ritual was the assurance from the divine side that the general harvest to be enjoyed by the offerer would providentially follow. As applied to our passage, the concept may appear to be somewhat out of place, for if the Spirit is truly a person, how can any more of him be given in the future than has been given at conversion?
…the gift of the Spirit to the believer at the inception of Christian life is God’s pledge of the completion of the process of salvation, which is here stated as
“adoption as sons,
the redemption of our bodies.”
Recall that previously Paul has described the finished product as the spiritual body (1Cor 15:44). The future bodily resurrection of believers will be the full harvest of redemption. Our bodies will be like that of the glorified Lord (Philippians 3:20, 21).

PWPT: Philippians 3:20–21
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

b. A new kind of assurance: the seal of the Spirit.
PWPT: Eph 1:13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

The “seal” (sphragis ) had various uses (MM, pp. 617, 618), all of which are instructive as applied to the Holy Spirit.
It was affixed to a document to guarantee its genuineness.
It was attached to goods in transit to indicate ownership and ensure protection.
It also represented a designation of office in the state service.

When you believed you were sealed—at the moment; not something to be sought, it comes with the package.

c. A new life sort of life in the Spirit: regeneration.
i. A new person
PWPT: 2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB
“Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

ii. A remaking, a renewing
PWPT: Titus 3:5-7 NASB
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Ed Blum, EBC
“Washing” speaks of our cleansing from the defilement of sin in regeneration. The noun (loutron ) may mean the receptacle for washing, the “laver,” or the act of washing itself.
We accept the washing as a divine inner act, although the experience is symbolically pictured in Christian baptism.

This cleansing is ongoing…
iii. A transforming PROCESS
PWPT: Romans 12:2
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

d. A new sort of experience.
PWPT: Galatians 5:22–23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

The Spirits work in John the Baptist pointed to Jesus

John the Baptist: The Spirit Points to Jesus
Matt 3:1-11
Lighting the Candles—explain this!

He became what we are that He might make us what He is.
Athanasius

Central Idea: THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKS IN US TO FOCUS ATTENTION ON JESUS.
Event: John’s kicking in Elizabeth’s womb—that was just the first indication that the HS was active in a new way in JB; then, HS stimulated, guided, empowered, etc.
“the greatest prophet?”
How would Elizabeth know that the baby in her womb was responding to Jesus in Mary’s womb?
Timing? Repetition? Violence of the kicking?
Did the two mothers-to-be do a little dance to test this kicking in the womb—the closer they came, the more John kicked??

1. The Holy Spirit engaged with John the Baptist while in the womb of Elizabeth.
a. Others before John were anticipated, prayed for, dedicated.
i. Abraham: Isaac
ii. Manoah & wife: Samson
iii. Hannah: Samuel
b. Others before John were dedicated to God.
i. Samson—no wine, no razor
ii. Samuel—dropped off to serve at Tabernacle after weaning
c. No greater person than John, says Jesus!
d. Luke 1:41—
i. Mary greeted Elizabeth
ii. John jumped in Elizabeth’s womb
iii. Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit
iv. Elizabeth prophesied.
2. The HS evidently led JohnB in his ministry.
a. A baptism of repentance.
b. A message of the arrival of Messiah.
c. Behold the Lamb of God!
3. Jesus called John B the greatest person.
Grace: John questioned Jesus’ identity when He did nothing while JB was in prison.
Matthew 11:11 ““Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKED IN JOHN THE BAPTIST,
a. Through the announcement of his birth
i. Luke 1:5-25

b. Through his conception
i. It was late in life.
ii. After conception…
Luke 1:39–45 NASB)
“Now at this time Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.””

Luke 1:41, 46 NASB
“And it came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
iii. The Holy Spirit invaded John in utero, and then Elizabeth was also filled with the HS.

c. Through his life choices (food, clothes, wilderness-dwelling)

Matthew 3:1–11
Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather belt about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.

d. Through his ministry (preaching repentance, baptizing Jews)
Matt 3:
…But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
“Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
“And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
John 1:29…Behold the Lamb of God!

e. Through his doubt
i. Luke 7:19–20
And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?”

f. Through his death at the hands of a hamstrung tetrarch.

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT WORKs IN and THROUGH us,
a. Through the intent of our birth
i. We may be confused about how life is working out for us, but God has intended the best for us, as He named us as His own, before time.
b. Through placement in just the right family as to His plans
i. We may have been greatly wounded by our biological family, and it’s easy now to think that we would have had a better life if we had been born to younger parents, as John the Baptist may have thought…
1. But the truth is that our Father has carefully placed us in the birth family that He thought best for us.
ii. We may have been greatly discouraged by a marriage that began with great fanfare and moved backward from that point.
1. But the truth is that our Father has set aside our unwise choices and continues on the course He has set for us, insisting that this painful relationship draws us to Him now, before all human connections.
c. Through our life choices (food, clothes, wilderness-dwelling)
i. Our manner of life does matter: Paul describes a content, low-expectation life in 1 Timothy 6.
ii. We need not be ascetics; we need not live in a wilderness as monastics, but any competition to have the latest and best available in the marketplace does nothing to commend our faith to our neighbours.
d. Through our work (preaching repentance, baptizing Jews)
i. There is a sense in which our work is NOT OUR WORK, in that the “good works” we do are designed, implemented, and accomplished by God Himself…

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

ii. Thus, we can Magnify our Redeemer/Creator when we do those tasks that He has designed, implemented and accomplished THROUGH US.

Matthew 5:16 ““Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

e. Through our doubt (questioning whether Jesus was truly the One, as John had previously known and proclaimed)
i. We entertain both faith and doubt simultaneously.
ii. We are double-minded, as James warns.
James 1:5–7
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
iii. The doubt expressed by John the Baptist provided Jesus an opportunity to clarify faith and the promises of God.
1. When John sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “

Luke 7:19–20
“And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” And when the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?’””

Luke 7:21–23
“At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many who were blind. And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the Blind Receive Sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the Poor Have The Gospel Preached To Them. “And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.””
2. Similarly, our doubt, our double-mindedness, is an opportunity for Jesus to intervene, to show His power.

f. Through our suffering and even death at the hands of the powerful.
i. As John suffered and died in the grip of Herod Antipas, so we can expect to suffer at the hands of the powerful.
ii. As John’s faith was vindicated in Jesus’ resurrection, so our faith in Jesus will be vindicated.
1. With faith that leads to life,
2. With faith that leads to obedience

APPLICATION
1. HS WORKS IN US
2. HS works in us to point others to Jesus
a. To Him for faith that leads to life.
b. Doubt finds its place.
b. Everyone has doubt; that doesn’t end faith

The Spirit Points to the Son: May It Be To Me…

God Was There/God Is Here

Everywhere in the OT, the HS was pointing to Christ; not everything was as it seems.
God was there—Is here/Telling the Story of Jesus
Review:
God was there—Telling the Story of Jesus, throughout the history in the Old Testament

Central Idea: Just as…God was there, giving form to the Second Person in the Trinity, so God is here, reforming us into the likeness of Jesus.

Outline:
I. The Holy Spirit participates in all creative acts.
a. Genesis 1:2—hovering, fluttering over the primordial waters
Genesis 1:2 NASB
“And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”

Gen. 1:2—“flutter”, piel is “hover”
NIDOTTE The Syr. rᵉḥep means to brood, protect.
‏רָחַף‎ appears only 3x in the OT (pi., Gen 1:2; Deut 32:11; q., Jer 23:9).
In Gen 1:2 it describes the activity/location of the Spirit of God in relationship to the primeval waters at the outset of the creative ordering of this world.
The Song of Moses in Deut 32:11 employs this same vb. to depict the hovering movement of an eagle. This eagle metaphor describes the theophanic presence of Yahweh, the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, as he led Israel through the barren wilderness.
In both instances ‏רָחַף‎ characterizes the activity of the Spirit of God, the first with regard to the creation of the cosmos and the second with regard to the creation of a people.

The Holy Spirit was somehow involved in the incarnation of Jesus.
b. Luke 1:35—overshadowing Mary
“And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.”
You shall conceive…
a. He will overshadow…
b. He will be named…
The HS enabled the incarnation, empowered Jesus, raised Jesus.

c. Matt. 3:16-17--Jesus’s baptism—hovering over the Second Person, as the Father speaks audibly from heaven.

Matthew 3:16-17 NASB
“And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

John 1:32–34 NASB
“And John bore witness saying, “I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.””

d. Acts 2—hovering “as tongues of fire,” over the early disciples, signifying their anointing, similarly
Acts 2:1–3 NASB
“And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.”

2. The Holy Spirit does a similar creative work within us.
a. We are baptized with the Spirit, at our spiritual birth.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13 NASB
“For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

b. He gives us life.
Ephesians 2:4–5 NASB)
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…”

c. He produces fruit within us and beyond us.
John 15:1–5 NASB)
““I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Galatians 5:22–23 NASB
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

d. He reproduces Christ within us.
2 Peter 1:2–4 NASB
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

e. He does NOT force all to respond in faith.
Acts—Stephen—you always reject the prophets
(Acts 7:52–53 NASB)
““Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.””

APPLICATION: God is currently at work in similar ways within all who believe in Jesus, the son of God.
1. He has a curious and unique approach to that task in each one of us, such that it looks slightly different shining through each person. He uses a potent brew of extreme circumstance, remarkable insights, and spiritually-gifted people around us, to carry out His good intentions for us.
2. He uses his own distinct ways of working out that plan through us, as the gifts he has given us are designed to aid His work in the people around us.
a. Some of us experience His work as spiritually-single persons. He knows that He can work best in us when we must turn to Him alone for the deepest sort of intimacy and support.
b. Some of us experience His work primarily through conflict and peacemaking.
c. Some of us experience His work primarily through speaking and listening.

Today—he is brooding over us.
1. He broods over us with intimacy and love.
He hovers over us in compassion and care.
He flutters about us leading and guiding through the storms of life.
2. We may be fearful about what life might become if the HS had full freedom to implant Jesus within us, with no resistance.
Mary—“may it be to me as you have said” faith conquered fear

(Luke 1:38 NASB)
“And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

TRINITY

Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.
We joyfully proclaim our faith in the mystery of your Godhead. You have revealed your glory as the glory also of your Son and of the Holy Spirit: three Persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored in your everlasting glory. And so, with all the choirs of angels in heaven, we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise: Holy, Holy, Holy.



5 Dec Advent: John’s kicking in Elizabeth’s womb—HS stimulated JB
God was there, God is here: pointing to Jesus—not to Himself!

Persecution & the Idol of Approval

Owning Our Idols: Approval

What suffering is NOT persecution & how do we avoid that?
What IS persecution?
Why do we experience persecution?
How do we RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?
What IDOL prevents us from responding well to persecution?
We are not normally happy to be excluded, to be persecuted.
Big Idea: In Jesus’ culture and in ours, the risk of persecution forces Jesus’ followers to choose who is their real god.

What suffering is NOT persecution & how do we avoid that?
NOT all suffering qualifies as persecution…
I. Suffering for our own sin is not persecution.
Haddon Robinson He didn’t say, ‘blessed are you if you are persecuted.’

A. We can suffer because we are ODD.
Robinson:They may think that they bear the offense of the Cross, but they are just plain offensive.

B. We can suffer because we are self-righteous, quick to point out the foibles of others.
C. We can suffer because of our HYPOCRISY.
Jesus spoke about people being persecuted because of righteousness, not self-righteousness. If hypocritical, we may be getting what they deserve. Punishment ≠ persecution

PWPT 1 Peter 2:20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

What IS persecution?
Dictionary definition: subject (someone) to hostility and ill-treatment, esp. because of their race or political or religious beliefs
PWPT Sinclair Ferguson
Christians are persecuted for the sake of righteousness because of their loyalty to Christ. Real loyalty to Him creates friction in the hearts of those who pay Him only lip service. Loyalty arouses their consciences, and leaves them with only two alternatives: follow Christ, or silence Him. Often their only way of silencing Christ is by silencing His servants. Persecution, in subtle or less subtle forms, is the result.

II. True Persecution means Suffering for Christ’s sake.
Matt. 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Acts 5:41 The apostles rejoiced ‘because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
I Peter 1:6 Peter saw trials as a means of grace to prove the genuineness of faith and to increase its purity.
1. Persecution was common in the past…
PIPER For almost three hundred years Christianity grew in soil that was wet with the blood of the martyrs. Until the Emperor Trajan (about AD 98), persecution was permitted but not legal. From Trajan to Decius (about AD 250) persecution was legal but mainly local. From Decius, who hated the Christians and feared their impact on his reforms, until the first edict of toleration in 311, the persecution was not only legal but widespread and general.
So, for 300 years, to be a Christian was an act of immense risk to your life and possessions and family. It was a test of what you loved more. And at the extremity of that test was martyrdom.
2. Persecution is occurring in the present
David Barrett In 1980…there were 270,000 christians who were killed, more or less directly, because of their faith.

3. Persecution is common to ALL who walk with Christ.
PWPT 2Tim 3:12 “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Why do we experience persecution?
III. We experience persecution because…
A. We represent Christ,
1. God’s purposes are instinctively resisted.
2. Christ promised we’d be persecuted BECAUSE of Him.
““A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. “It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!”
Matthew 10:24–25
B. We experience Persecution purposefully.
1. Jesus knew this was coming upon us.
PWPT Matt. 24:9 "Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. NRSV
2. Jesus intends that some endure persecution to the point of death.
PWPT Rev. 6:11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

John PIPER In other words, there is a number of martyrs appointed by the Lord. That number must be fulfilled before the consummation comes. “Rest, says the Lord, until the number is completed who are to die as you have died.”
Martyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ. It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And it will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith….
…you can be sure that , somewhere in the world, …Christians are suffering for their faith. We do well to prepare to join them.
…being a Christian may cost more in the years to come. And finishing the Great Commission will probably cost some of us our lives—as it already has, and which it always will.

3. We are assured that we can suffer persecution WITH FAITH.
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right

How do we RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?
IV. We choose to respond to persecution…
A. We may suffer redemptively.
1. Our suffering deepens our dependence on Christ.
2. Our suffering deepens our character.
3. Our suffering opens the gates for faith in others.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Tertullian C. 197 A.D.

B. We may suffer begrudgingly.
1. We may resent persecution: in which case, our character does NOT deepen. If God had his way fully in my life, I might lose my friends, I might not fit in with them.

2. We may AVOID persecution altogether by hiding our faith.
Issue—if I’m not being rejected, I’m not identifying clearly enough with Christ.

C. We may suffer persecution, looking to our reward.
C.S. Lewis
A man who marries a woman for her money is ‘rewarded’ by her money, but he is rightly judged mercenary because the reward is not naturally linked with love. On the other hand, marriage is the proper reward of an honest and true lover; and he is not mercenary for desiring it because love and marriage are naturally linked. ‘The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation ‘.
Matt 5:12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Big Idea: the risk of persecution forces Jesus’ followers to choose who is their real god.
CONCLUSION
1. God knows that we will face persecution: no persecution means we either
a. Have NOT identified clearly with Christ in life and word.
b. Have NOT participated publicly in His kingdom program.
c. Have no unbelieving colleagues or friends.

2. Our FEAR of persecution obscures the Idol of Approval.
We long to have the agreement and approval of our valued friends, rather than their disdain and certainly their persecution.
When God’s approval becomes more precious to us than the approval of others– by the gospel – the idol is dethroned.

We gain the approval of God via the Cross.
We live in the approval of God…
By enjoying Christ’s approval in the moment.
By celebrating Christ’s approval in the moment.

Luke 6:22–28 NASB
““Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.
“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”



APPLICATION: take out the slip of paper in your program.
A. Rejoice!
Matt. 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for ain the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

B. Be salt & light Matt 5:13-14
PWPT “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

If you can’t remember ANYONE who has ridiculed you for your faith, REPENT…
1. For not identifying more clearly with Christ.
2. For not having closer contact with unbelievers!

C. Identify the ONE KEY person whose rejection you most fear; someone who has already persecuted you because of Christ.

Who is it? who am I so afraid of?
Skeptical Spouse? Someone in the room now? Supervisor? Co-worker?

D. Pray for that person; continuously.

Why Does God Allow Evil?

Hard Questions: “Why do you allow evil and suffering if you don’t have to?”

Review: “Isn’t it intolerant to say you’re the only true God?”
"All views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another."
Keller: Christianity is the most exclusive-sounding but the most inclusive-acting of all religions.
Antioch: called them Christians because the faith crossed all ethnic lines.
The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
--G.K. Chesterton

1. Does the presence of evil mean that there is no God?
2. Who is evil?
3. What is God doing about evil?

1. Does the presence of evil mean that there is no God?
a. Some argue that a GOOD God, if He existed, would necessarily eradicate all evil. If evil continues to exist, therefore, then either the God who exists is NOT GOOD, or there is no god at all.
This is not necessarily true.
b. Assertion is not proof: Alvin Plantinga: God, Freedom and Evil
A good thing/person always eliminates evil as far as it can.
“There are no limits to what an omnipotent being can do.”
BUT, an omnipotent person cannot create a square circle, etc.
There are no non-logical limits to what an omnipotent god can do.
God cannot make false claims true.

Therefore, there ARE LIMITS to what an omnipotent god is able to do.
There are circumstances where an omnipotent God cannot eliminate an evil without also eliminating a more important good.
Social workers struggle with this: should we remove an endangered child from a family that has the potential to provide more good for the child than any foster or adoptive family?

Bottom line: it is NOT logically necessary that a good God eliminate all immediately.
What if…
God is omniscient, omnipotent, and wholly good… and
God creates a world containing evil and has a good reason for doing so?
Augustine:
As a runaway horse is better than a stone which does not run away because it lacks self-movement and sense perception, so the creature is more excellent which sins by free will than that which does not sin only because it has no free will.
BUT, we need NOT KNOW WHY God might choose to create a world in which evil exists in order to believe that an ALL-POWERFUL GOD could do such a thing without being self-contradictory.

c. The more intriguing question is not why is there evil? But why is there good? Why do I recognize beauty? Why is truth attractive? Why is purpose satisfying? In a random, godless universe why should any of us care whether truth, beauty, order or purpose exist?

2. Who is evil?
a. Romans 3:10–18 [Isa. 53]
“as it is written,
“There Is None Righteous, Not Even One; There Is None Who Understands,
There Is None Who Seeks For God; All Have Turned Aside, Together They Have Become Useless;
There Is None Who Does Good, There Is Not Even One.”
“Their Throat Is An Open Grave, With Their Tongues They Keep Deceiving,”
“The Poison Of Asps Is Under Their Lips”; “Whose Mouth Is Full Of Cursing And Bitterness”;
“Their Feet Are Swift To Shed Blood, Destruction And Misery Are In Their Paths, And The Path Of Peace Have They Not Known.” “There Is No Fear Of God Before Their Eyes.””

b. GK Chesterton:
…after seeing a series of articles on "What's Wrong with the World?" Chesterton sent a letter to the editor. "Dear Sir: Regarding your article 'What's Wrong with the World?'
I am. Yours truly, G. K. Chesterton."

c. Lee Strobel—I won’t ask God what He’s going to do about evil, for fear that He might ask me the same question.

3. What is God doing about evil?
1. The Psalmists ask God how long evil will reign.
Psa 13:1—“How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou forget me forever?
How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?”

2. The narratives tell the story of what God has done and is doing to address the problem and the presence of evil.
3. At least three expressions of evil and divine response:
a. Idolatry
b. What wicked people do.
c. What the Satan does.
Evil and the Justice of God, NT Wright
The OT isn’t written in order simply to “tell us about God” in the abstract. It isn’t designed primarily to provide information, to satisfy the inquiring mind. It’s written to tell the story of what God has done, is doing and will do about evil.
4. The Occurrence and Visibility of Sin and Evil.
a. Fall in the Garden, the Tower of Babel, etc.
5. God’s reaction:
i. The Call of Abraham: a promise of restoration.
a. Abraham is flawed.
b. Israel is clearly part of the Problem of Evil.
c. Individuals within Israel and all nations are personally sinful, idolatrous, etc.

ii. David and his dynasty are to be seen as God’s answer to the problem of evil. They will bring judgment and justice to the world. And yet the writers are all too aware of the puzzle and ambiguity of saying such a thing. The greatest royal psalm, Psalm 89, juxtaposes 37 verses of celebration of the wonderful things God will do through the Davidic king with 14 verses asking plaintively why it’s all gone wrong. The psalm then ends with a single verse blessing YHWH forever. That is the classic OT picture. Here are the promises; here is the problem; God remains sovereign over the paradox.

iii. A SERVANT will stand for justice and salvation…Isaiah 40-55.
YHWH’s Servant, the one through whom YHWH’s purpose of justice and salvation will be carried out.

iv. A Son of Man, corresponding to the Servant, comes to bring saving justice. Dan. 7:13

v. Book of Job… whereas Israel was…emphatically guilty, the whole point of the book of Job is that Job was innocent. The normal analysis of the exile was that Israel thoroughly deserved it; the whole point of Job is that Job didn’t.
…it is a contest between Satan and Job. Satan is trying to get Job in his power, to demonstrate that humans are not worth God’s trouble, while Job for his part continues to insist both that God ought ot be just and that he himself is in the right.
vi. God’s justice:
Isaiah 10:5-19---he used pagan Assyria to punish Israel
He punished pagan Assyria.
Psalms 76:10 “For the wrath of man shall praise Thee;

NTW: And yet ever since the garden, ever since God’s grief over Noah, ever since Babel and Abraham, the story has been about the messy way in which God has had to work to bring the world out of the mess.

CONCLUSION
Imagine there’s no evil……NTW: it’s not so “easy if you try”; precisely because of our muddled thinking about evil itself, we find it hard to imagine a world from which evil had been removed.
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us 4Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

TAKEWAYS Forgiveness and Reconciliation
pp. 132-33: Miroslav Volf,Exclusion and Embrace
…faced with the question of how he, as a Croatian Baptist, could love his Serbian Orthodox neighbor after all the terrible things the Serbs had done to his country.
Volf’s basic argument is this: Whether we are dealing with international relations or one-on-one
personal relations, evil must be named and confronted.
…Only when that has been done, when both evil and the evildoer have been identified as what and who they are—this is what Volf means by “exclusion”—can there be the second move toward “embrace”: the embrace of the one who has deeply hurt and wounded us or me.

Isn’t it intolerant to say you’re the only true God?

Hard Questions: “Isn’t it intolerant to say you’re the only true God?”
Deut 6:1-16

Joanna Sears and Brian Lima are engaged to be married! The date for the wedding is Dec 11.

1. Establish “exclusive” claims of the Bible and of Jesus.
a. Exodus 20:2-3—“no other gods before me…”
““I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.”

b. The nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the one, true God…
i. Psa. 22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD [YHWH], And all the families of the nations will worship before You.
ii. Is. 2:2 Now it will come about that
In the last days
The mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised above the hills;
And all the nations will stream to it.
iii. Rev. 15:4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU,
FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

c. Jesus, John 14:6“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

2. Explain the tension between divine sovereignty and human autonomy.
a. God is sovereign.
b. Humanity wants to be sovereign.
c. This can only be resolved by a human choice—acknowledge that YOU ARE GOD AND I AM NOT.
3. God is tolerant, God is intolerant.
a. God is tolerant:
i. patient, so that we have full opportunity to seek Him, repent, and choose Him.
b. God is intolerant:
i. patience does not cover the worship of other gods.
ii. He claims to have created what we might call “other gods,” fallen angels the Scripture calls “demons,” and intends to put an end to them after time.
c. Foundation of our tolerance: Matt. 22:37-39

“‘You Shall Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart, And With All Your Soul, And With All Your Mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.’”

4. Our tolerant/intolerant rocker can reflect God’s.
a. We are tolerant of people with whom we disagree.
i. We must not hate people.
b. We are intolerant of ideas that contradict the truths that God has given us about Himself and His good intentions.
2 Corinthians 10:5–6 NASB
“We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…

i. We aggressively demolish “speculations” and “every arrogant obstacle” as we take “every thought captive.”
ii. Paul is arguing that all philosophies that degrade Christ’s death on the Cross reflect pridefulness: humanity declaring that we are fully autonomous, fully competent; we have no need for God.
iii. We do this NOT with physical violence (2Cor 5:3—we do not war according to the flesh), but by contesting ideas!

THIS HAS PROFOUND PRACTICALITY

"All views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another."
“Jesus is the Messiah and Judaism is wrong for rejecting that.”
…why should it bother me that someone thinks I’m wrong?”

Google: or the name Gregory Koukl

When Tolerance Is Intolerant Gregory Koukl

“Is this a view, the idea that all views have equal merit and none should be considered better than another?” They agreed.
Then I pointed to the second statement—the “intolerant” one—and asked the same question: “Is this a view?” They studied the sentence for a moment. Slowly my point began to dawn on them.
If all views have equal merit, then the view that Christians have a better view on Jesus than Jews is just as true as the idea that Jews have a better view on Jesus than Christians. But this is hopelessly contradictory. If the first statement is what tolerance amounts to, then no one can be tolerant because “tolerance” turns out to be gibberish.
“Be egalitarian regarding persons.” = “civility”, “respect”
“Be elitist regarding ideas”
Tolerance applies to how we treat people we disagree with, not how we treat ideas we think false.
The irony is that according to the classical notion of tolerance, you can’t tolerate someone unless you disagree with him. We don’t “tolerate” people who share our views. They’re on our side. There’s nothing to “put up” with. Tolerance is reserved for those who we think are wrong, yet we still choose to treat them decently and with respect.
Nowadays if you think someone is wrong, you’re called intolerant no matter how you treat them.

Most of what passes for tolerance today is intellectual cowardice, a fear of intelligent engagement. Those who brandish the word “intolerant” are unwilling to be challenged by other views, to grapple with contrary opinions, or even to consider them. It’s easier to hurl an insult—“you intolerant bigot”—than to confront the idea and either refute it or be changed by it. In the modern era, “tolerance” has become intolerance.


TAKEAWAYS
1. It’s okay to disagree!
2. Our faith is based on the exclusive claims of Jesus Himself.
3. Our love for those who disagree is foundational to their faith.
4. Our tolerance is a tolerance of PEOPLE;
PEOPLE ARE WORTH LOVING; IDEAS ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR.
5. If there is no reason to fear other views, then I can be single-minded in my devotion to Christ.

How Can We Trust The Bible?

Hard Questions: “How can we trust the Bible – Don’t you know what’s in there?!”
Psa. 19:7-14

Three needs to be addressed:
1. For the believer who has been deeply shaken by someone else’s questions.
2. For the believer who wants to answer questions genuinely blocking faith in a friend.
3. For the skeptic who hears that there are such problems in the Bible and wants answers before proceeding.

Importance of Scripture:
1. Our means of knowing the Story.
2. The medium of knowing about Jesus and his life, suffering, death, and resurrection.
3. The source of all our hope.

Authority & Reliability of Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Hebrews 4:12 NASB
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Credibility of Scripture
1. Questions about the history narrated in the Bible.
2. Questions about the miracles described in the Bible.
3. Questions about the apparent contradictions in the Bible.
4. Questions about the ethics of…
a. Hoping for the deaths of babies among the Babylonians
b. God’s desire both for the repentance and for the destruction of the wicked.

Objections to the reliability and therefore the potential authority of the Bible fall into three categories:

1. Premodern objections:
a. Muslims and Hindus will object to the Bible based on their commitment to their own sacred writings.
b. A typical objection by Muslims…Jews and Christians changed the story.
Solution: In 1948, scrolls and scroll fragments were discovered near the Dead Sea in Palestine; those scrolls confirmed the content of the Old Testament Hebrew texts and are dated some 1,000 years before the earliest documents previously known. They preceded the time of Jesus, so there were no Christians around to change the stories in the Old Testament. The earliest New Testament documents were close enough in date to the first century original documents that “changing the story” would have been impossible: there were too many eye-witnesses still living to get away with invention.

2. Modern objections:
a. Historical contradictions: Luke’s record of Jesus’ birth declares that Quirinius was the Governor: prote = “prior”, or an early role of Quirinius there, now lost to us.
b. Scientific impossibilities:
Joshua stopped the sun in the sky to extend the time required to win a battle? 10:12-14
3. Postmodern objections:
a. Who can know what the Bible says, since everything is a matter of interpretation?
i. Either—everyone seems to have a different take on the same statements.
ii. Or—words have no meaning in themselves, only the reader gives meaning.
1. Rooted in Nietzsche and Wittgenstein—since there is no God who can declare reality and therefore give meaning to words, there can be no meaning intrinsically a part of words.
2. BUT—if there is no meaning other than the meaning that I give a text, how could you object to any meaning that I give to the text????
b. Who can teach me, since teaching implies knowing and implies authority and all authority is an EXPRESSION of POWER and is therefore wrong.
i. All the problems of the world stem from this desire to exert power over other human beings.
ii. BUT—how can YOU, then, TEACH me that NO ONE teach anyone else; do YOU have a special authority over us, to TEACH US that WE CAN’T TEACH or exert influence over others?
iii. If there were a BENEVOLENT GOD, wouldn’t it be right and moral if He were to teach us, to influence us to care for the earth, to care for one another, to love Him back?
c. Can’t we all just get along? What about unethical commands in Scripture/what about vengeance verbalized?
i. The perceived difficulties are many…
Psa. 137:8 O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,
How blessed will be the one who repays you
With the recompense with which you have repaid us.
Psa. 137:9 How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones
Against the rock.
ii. BUT—careful attention, reading the NT for insight, considering the wisdom of others who have given their lives to similarly careful study of Scripture…
1. Hard Sayings of the Bible, by Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Peter H. Davids, F. F. Bruce and Manfred T. Brauch.
2. Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason Archer
3. Big Book of Bible Difficulties, The: Clear and Concise Answers from Genesis to Revelation, Thomas Howe & Norman L. Geisler
4. Is The Bible Intolerant? Amy Orr-Ewing

4. Practical objections:
a. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
b. Love your neighbour as yourself: encourage, nurture, care for, weep with, rejoice with…
c. Take up your cross and follow me.
d. Give ten percent of your income (22.3), give generously.
GK. Chesterton: not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found hard and not tried.
Consequently, many reject the Bible’s authority because of its moral demands, only using supposed historical, scientific issues as smokescreen.
1. Make sure you understand the question
2. Make sure you understand the questions behind the question.
3. Make sure you are reading the Bible…in order to love the Bible…
Jeremiah 15:16 NASB
“Thy words were found and I ate them,
And Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart;
For I have been called by Thy name,
O Lord God of hosts.”

Deacons: How does this work?

Deconstructing Church: Form for the Function

* Membership
1. In faith, a part of the Body of Christ
2. In place, a part of a local assembly of believers.
3. In practice…
a. Confirm our faith “in front” of other faithful ones
b. Affirm our accountability to others of the same faith
c. No membership: missing both confirmation and accountability
d. Fill out the form today!

* Leadership
1. No leader is indispensable; leadership is.
2. Leaders are made, not born.
a. We are renewing our commitment to apprenticeship; each serving role must have an apprentice learning and sharing the work.
b. We must make sure to limit the number of slots taken up by long-termers, so that everyone gets a chance to serve; HIGH percentage of volunteers here.
c. We are developing leaders quietly: 14 in the first group, 15 in the second group;
i. Servant Leadership & what it means to be and do church
ii. Biblical studies
iii. Biblical theology—putting Scripture together
d. Mike will be deepening the commitment to training SG leaders;
e. Joe is developing leaders among teens and young adults.
f. Sara is training and mentoring worship leaders and musicians.

* Deacons
1. Qualifications: 1 Tim. 3:8ff.
2. Identification: Qualified men and women are recognized by the congregation, affirmed by the Elders (Acts 6:6), then released to do their work (no mention either in Acts 6 or 1 Timothy 3 of design or form, only the function and qualifications).
3. We formerly recognized deacons; they formed a board and joined with the Elders to form a General Board. That ended in 1994, with adoption of a new constitution. We have no wish to restore a Deacon Board and a General Board. It’s good to have a simple, rather than a hierarchical organization.
4. We do need to more personally connect to those who cannot be a part of a small group.
a. What if? We identified men and women to look after those not in small groups?
b. What if? We identified those who serve us already in diaconate roles?
c. What if? We did all this following the pattern of Acts 6?
i. The need is identified by the congregation.
ii. The elders/apostles respond with a clear set of qualifications.
iii. The congregation identifies those people who are qualified.
iv. The new serving leaders do their work.
1. No mention of any structure; no committees.
2. We can rightly conclude that those who are serving may choose to establish forms, but are not required to do so.
d. What roles are needed?
i. Ceiling—need a Facility Team.
ii. Tech Team—rotation for worship services and special events.
e. How are the deacons to work together?
i. IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT Work under leadership of Elders
ii. Work with Staff
iii. Focus on functions, describe a form that is effective.

Elders
1. Qualifications in Titus 1:5-9; 1 Tim. 3:1-7; Acts 6:4 (apostles)
a.

Acts 6:4 “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

2. Identification: Qualified candidates are appointed by the current Elders.
a. Qualifications, recognition by serving leaders.
b. Nominating committee consists of two elected members, three board members and the senior pastor; names are considered, interviewed, and presented to the congregation.
c. Congregation affirms the list at our Annual General Meeting.
i. Accountability: who can challenge the decisions or behaviour of elders?
ii. Decisions: Acts 15:22
σὺν ὅλῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ = “with the whole church”

iii. Character and Behaviour:
1Tim. 5:19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.
(addressed to Timothy, as a leader among the elders; this may mean that the team of elders should consider charges against a fellow elder to be false unless they are confirmed by two or three witnesses—nevertheless, the principle is established that a charge against an elder can be leveled and, if confirmed by several witnesses, would be considered by the group of elders).

3. Structure
a. Shepherd the flock/Oversee the function and form of the congregation.
i. Prayer for the saints
ii. Teaching of the Word
b. Fiduciary responsibilities as required by the government.

(1 Corinthians 12:14–27 NASB)

Questions??

Deconstructing Elders

Deconstructing Elders
1 Tim. 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9
Markers: for them; how to recognize them, respond to them, serve with them;
for us; how am I doing on this quest to incarnate Jesus/become like Jesus/serve like Jesus?

1. We are to follow those whom God has placed in charge of our souls.
Hebrews 13:17 NASB “Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
EBC, Leon Morris
“They keep watch over you” is more literally “they keep watch for your souls,”
They are concerned, because they must render account. Leaders are responsible, and God will call them to account one day. The writer pleads that the readers will so act that keeping watch will be a thing of joy for the leaders
The alternative is for them to do it with “groaning” (stenazontes ; NIV, “a burden”), which, he says, would be “of no advantage” for the readers.

NIBC, DONALD A. HAGNER
But obedience to the leaders is not merely for the sake of making their work easier. The failure to submit to them cannot benefit the readers. Indeed, the implication of this understatement is that disobedience and insubordination will put the readers in peril.

APPLICATION:
• Pray for the Elders—have them come to the front and lay hands on them.
• Confession and affirmation-- Confess any spirit of rebellion, etc.
a. Past difficulty with oppressive leaders,
b. or soft leaders

We are to follow those whom God has placed in charge of our souls.

2. We are to carefully recognize those who should lead us.
Titus 1:5-9 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you might set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man be above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.”

1 Timothy 3:1–7 “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, uncontentious, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?); and not a new convert, lest he become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he may not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”
a. They are placed in leadership because of their character.
b. They lead or influence us by their modeling.
Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, David Lim
Though the main task of the elders …was to build up the Christian community so that all members discovered and used their spiritual gifts; they also served as exemplars in doing evangelism (2 Tim 4:5; cf. 1 Pet 5:3), just as Paul set this evangelistic concern as a model for the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:18–28). One of their qualifications for church “office” was a good reputation before unbelievers (1 Tim 3:1–7).

We are to follow those whom God has placed in charge of our souls.
We are to carefully recognize those who should lead us.

3. We are to aspire to the same spiritual marks of maturity.
a. “It’s a fine work” you aspire to…
b. It’s an impossible standard…grace functions to rework every niche.
i. Above reproach
ii. Husband of one wife
iii. Temperate--
iv. Prudent
v. Respectable
vi. Hospitable
vii. Able to teach—only gifting on the list?
1. Apt to teach
2. Titus 1: holding fast the faithful word…
a. able both to exhort in sound doctrine and
b. to refute those who contradict
viii. not addicted to wine
ix. not pugnacious
x. gentle
xi. uncontentious,
xii. free from the love of money
xiii. Household managed well
xiv. Keeping children under control with all dignity
xv. Not a new convert (not listed in the requirements on Crete, where all were new converts)
xvi. Good reputation with those outside the church, avoiding reproach & the snare of the devil.
We are to follow those whom God has placed in charge of our souls.
We are to carefully recognize those who should lead us.
We are to aspire to the same spiritual marks of maturity.

4. Dealing with me: my own spiritual state.
Recognize their servant’s hearts and service to our own good.
HOPE: CR Story—


APPLICATIONS
a. Look to Jesus, who said he came to serve.
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His 1life a ransom for many.”
i. The One whom we will serve for all eternity said that he came here to serve first.
ii. He served until the end.
iii. As we look to Christ, the Spirit of Christ promises to reconstruct us into the character of Jesus.
1. The Spirit will make us Servants.
2. When the Spirit makes a servant, that servant serves to the end.
b. Look to Jesus, whom the Holy Spirit will reproduce in each life.
c. Identify your own gifts for serving.
i. Look to the Word for definitions: Eph. 4; Romans 12
ii. Practice those gifts till the end.
d. Engage yourself and your gifts with being and doing church.

Deconstructing Deacons: Deacons R Us!

Deconstructing Deacons:
Deacons R Us? Acts 6:1-6; 1 Tim. 3:8-13

It’s time for us to DECONSTRUCT CHURCH, to reexamine the point of church in Jesus’ own words, from Paul’s direct statements as to the meaning of church.
What is the church?
A field to be cultivated; a Building to be Inhabited; a Household to be protected; a family to be nurtured; a people who proclaim; a flock to be fed; a Body to express the will of Christ; members & parts of a whole; WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST!

What makes us a part of the church? A common faith, a common life; a common confession

What does “membership” mean? Or, Should we “join” a church?
The NT assumes that all believers are “members” of the congregation where they worship.
We are NOT customers or consumers, but members…
How do we experience “life together”? a common transparency; common commitments
o Use the spiritual gifts God has given to build up the body (1 Cor. 12:7).
o Live out the Mission of God
o Submit to the church’s leadership and teaching (Heb 13:17).
o Promote unity in the body (Eph. 4:3).
o Financially support the church’s work (Gal. 6:6).

“Engaging membership” means at least these five things:
• Be in transparent relationships with other church members in which they care for, encourage, rebuke, teach, and learn from each other (Eph. 4:15-16).
• Submit to the church’s leadership and teaching (Heb. 13:17).
• Promote unity in the body (Eph. 4:3).
“being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
• Financially support the common service efforts (Gal. 6:6).
• Use the spiritual gifts God has given them to build up the body however they can (1 Cor. 12:7).
“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Last week, Mike: your church leaders in the past might have been autocratic, or bunglers, or too-sweet to be effectively protect the church, or ministry divas who are self-absorbed. Lots of examples of poor leadership.
We must avoid the extremes of severe criticism or disengagement.
The problem is NOT leadership, but BAD church leadership.
No Leader is indispensable, but leadership is.

Every pastor is a shepherd; but NOT every shepherd is a pastor.
Shepherds exist so that the church will be full of mature disciples of Jesus.

Today, we are DECONSTRUCTING CHURCH with a word about MINISTRY; another word for ministry is SERVice…Both of these words translate the Greek word-root, diakonos; we transliterate DEACON, one who serves. I want to answer three questions:
WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT DEACONS?
WHAT IS A DEACON?
WHAT DO I DO, THEN?

1. Why should I care about deacons?
a. These ministry qualifications for deacons are also maturity distinctives.
b. God is concerned about function; we are concerned about form.
c. We are all called to serve!
i. I Peter 4:10-11
“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

ii. Two sorts of gifts: speaking and serving.
iii. Luke quotes the apostles, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” or, the SERVICE OF THE WORD.
2. What is a deacon?
Acts 6--“Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. And the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. “But select from among you, brethren, seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task. “But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.”
And the statement found approval with the whole congregation; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch. And these they brought before the apostles; and after praying, they laid their hands on them.”

a. Acts 6:1-6—
i. the term “deacon” does not occur here.

EBC, Ralph Earle--Although the term deacon is not used in this connection, it would seem that these men were the forerunners of the deacons in the church.

ii. The word “the serving” does in verse 1: διακονίᾳ

EBC, Ralph Earle--The simple meaning of this word is “servant,” and it is used that way many times in the Gospels. Specifically, it was used by Josephus and other writers of that period for those who wait on tables.

Robert Banks, IVP Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
Emphasis upon Function rather than Position. Alongside the verb serve (diakoneō), or its nominal form servant (diakonos), verbs rather than nouns tend to be used more frequently of those making a fundamental contribution to the church. This means that it is the functions people perform rather than the positions they occupy which is crucial.

iii. In verse 2: infinitive or verbal form does: διακονεῖν
Walter G. Hansen, IVP Dictionary of the Later New Testament
3.5. Emphasis upon Function rather than Position. Alongside the verb serve (diakoneō), or its nominal form servant (diakonos), verbs rather than nouns tend to be used more frequently of those making a fundamental contribution to the church. This means that it is the functions people perform rather than the positions they occupy which is crucial.
iv. So that we (elders & apostles) may devote ourselves to the ministry (διακονίᾳ) of the Word

1 Tim 3:8ff: “Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double-tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain, but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach. Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households. For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

b. 1 Timothy 3:8-13
i. A man or a woman
ii. A position or a function
NIBC, GORDON D. FEE The word diakonos, in fact, is a favorite of Paul’s to describe his own and his fellow workers’ ministries (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:6; Rom. 16:1; Col. 1:23; 4:7) and is so used of Timothy in 4:6. However, as with “prophet” and “teacher,” the word seems to fluctuate between an emphasis on a function and a description of a position; by the time of Philippians it describes an “office” (Phil. 1:1), whereas in the relatively contemporary Ephesians and Colossians diakonos still describes a function. Here, as in Philippians 1:1, it refers to a position of some kind.

iii. To be tested, then recognized
Renn, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words
δοκιμάζω dokimazō is a verb found nearly thirty times, with the principal meanings “prove,” “approve,” “discern.” In several places, however, the meaning “examine” is evident. (APPROVE)
The action of “examining” one’s newly-acquired oxen is noted in Luke 14:19. The exhortation to let a person “examine” himself or herself prior to taking the Lord’s Supper is recorded in 1 Cor. 11:28. Another exhortation to “test” or “examine” oneself to see if one is holding to the faith is noted in 2 Cor. 13:5. See also Gal. 6:4; 1 Thess. 5:21. The “testing” or “examining” of potential deacons to determine their suitability for office is indicated in 1 Tim. 3:10. The charge to “test” or “examine” the spirits to see whether they are of God is found in 1 John 4:1.


Psa. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
Psa. 19:8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

iv. A person of character, “above reproach”
Above Reproach: Renn, Expository Dictionary of Bible Words
ἀνέγκλητος anenklētos is an adjective found in five places meaning “blameless,” or unable to be accused. Such is the moral destiny of the people of God, made possible by the work and person of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 1:8; Col. 1:22). It is also the quality required of spiritual leaders in the local congregation of believers (cf. 1 Tim. 3:10; Titus 1:6, 7).

1. Dignity
2. Not double-tongued—not “two-worded” says the same thing in every circumstance—integrity is our word
3. Not addicted to much wine—lots to avoid, no means to escape
4. Not fond of sordid gain—money hungry; cf. 1 Tim 6; greedy; contrast with 3:3 for elders—not envious
5. Holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience
EBC, Ralph Earle ‘mystery’ In the NT it signifies the secret of salvation through Jesus Christ, which is revealed by the Holy Spirit to all who will believe. Today the word mystery implies knowledge withheld; in the Bible it indicates truth revealed.

Gordon Fee-- as 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 makes plain, it refers to the essential truth of the gospel, especially the saving character of Christ’s death, which was once hidden (in God) but now revealed by the Spirit…

6. Husband of only one wife
7. Good managers of their children and households—APPROPRIATE HOME LIFE; not without conflict, but skilled at conflict management.
8. Women: add not malicious gossips, temperate, faithful

Why should I care?
What is a deacon? ONE WHO SERVES The Body of Christ
3. What should I then do?
a. Look to Jesus, who said he came to serve.
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His 1life a ransom for many.”
i. The One whom we will serve for all eternity said that he came here to serve first.
ii. He served until the end.
iii. As we look to Christ, the Spirit of Christ promises to reconstruct us into the character of Jesus.
1. The Spirit will make us Servants.
2. When the Spirit makes a servant, that servant serves to the end.
b. Identify your own gifts for serving.
i. Look to the Word for definitions: Eph. 4; Romans 12
ii. Practice those gifts till the end.
c. Engage!
i. If you find yourself walking away from a worship service with a list of all the things that didn’t work that day, then you can be fairly certain that you are NOT PRACTICING YOUR GIFTS, you have disengaged from ministry, YOU HAVE BECOME A CONSUMER of church, a customer only.
ii. If you ask yourself the question: WHY DON’T THEY…? You are probably DISENGAGED.
iii. If you ask yourself a different question: HOW MIGHT I…? you are on the road to ENGAGMENT, and the Spirit of Christ is guiding you, energizing you, and will empower you to…
iv. Identify your part, as Jesus took up his role…
v. Step up to do your part, as Jesus laid aside his former role…
vi. Serve until you can’t, as Jesus served until his ascension.

Psa. 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

Psa. 17:15 As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness;

Deconstructing Church: What IS Church?

Deconstructing Church:
Membership: What’s The Point?

Introduction: why should we bother with church?
Church SUBTITLES: A Church for those Not Comfortable With Church
A Church for those Not Into Church
A Church for those Tired of Their Church
IF some THE LARGEST CHURCHES ON THE CONTINENT CHOOSE THESE STATEMENTS FOR SUBTITLES, then perhaps it’s time for us to DECONSTRUCT CHURCH, reexamine the point of church Jesus’ own words, from Paul’s direct statements as to the meaning of church.
CHURCH: Why should we bother?
What makes us a church?
How do I become part of a church?
Here, we have another reason to ask and answer these questions, because we just completed 40 DAYS OF COMMUNITY.
Community only happens in a context, with other people; CHURCH IS GOD’S IDEA, DESIGNED TO MEET MANY NEEDS AND FULFILL MANY OF HIS INTENTIONS.
We know that because so many different METAPHORS ARE USED TO DESCRIBE THE CHURCH…
What is the church?
What makes us a part of the church?
What does “membership” mean? Or, Should we “join” a church?
How do we experience “life together”?

1. What is the church?
• Multiple metaphors:
o Field
1Cor. 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field… TO BE CULTIVATED

o Building TO BE INHABITED

1Cor. 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Eph. 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

o Household TO BE PROTECTED
Matt. 10:25 “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

o Family TO BE NURTURED
• Matthew 12:48-49
Matt. 12:48-49 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!
o Nation/People TO PROCLAIM
1Pet. 2:9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

o Flock/Sheep TO BE FED

John 10:16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
Acts 20:28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
1Pet. 5:2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

o Body TO EXPRESS HIS WILL

Ephesians 4:11–12 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”

o Members PARTS OF A WHOLE
Matt. 10:25 “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

1Cor. 12:12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
1Cor. 12:22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
1Cor. 12:23 and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,
Eph. 5:30 because we are members of His body.

Col. 3:5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

• Body of Jesus: WE ARE CHRIST’S BODY!

1Cor. 12:27 ¶ Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

2. What makes us a part of the church?
• Common faith (Eph 4), which connects us to the…
o Universal church
Eph. 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
1Cor. 12:12-13 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

• Common life (Acts 2:42ff.), which connects us to a…
o Local assembly = most common NT usage
Acts 2:44-45 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

* Common confession (Rom. 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; Rom. 10:10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

3. What does “membership” mean? Should we “join” a church?
• At the gym? At Costco?
• Is secular membership the same as biblical membership?
• Why do contemporary congregations ask for membership, when the NT says nothing about such a thing?
1. The NT assumes that all believers are “members” of the congregation where they worship.
a. Membership means “of faith in Christ.”
b. Today: if you have placed faith in Christ…
i. You are a member of the congregation where you worship and serve
ii. You are subject to the elders of the congregation: Hebrews 13:17
Hebrews 13:17 NASB)
“Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
iii. In a small house group, we speak of Christ either as people with faith or without faith.
iv. In a larger congregation, the elders must know you are of faith if they are to…
1. Pray for your growth (Acts 6:2,4)
2. Teach you the word (Acts 6:2,4)
3. Encourage you to follow Christ/Keep watch over your soul (Hebrews 13:17)
2. Assumes, maybe; but does it TEACH that we are to be members?
i. Acts 5:12-13: “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.” There seems to have been a qualifying choice made in Jerusalem: some chose to be a part of the church, some not.
ii. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” …This passage makes no sense if the Corinthian church didn’t have some public, formal means by which people identified themselves with the church.
iii. I Corinthians 5:1-2: the fellow who was sleeping with his father’s wife was to be expelled from the congregation, not from the Body of Christ (no human can do that).
1Cor. 5:1 ¶ It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.
1Cor. 5:2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

iv. The fellow apparently repented and was restored to the congregation (not to the Body of Christ). 2 Corinthians 2:6: Paul writes again about the fellow, “For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.” This man’s exclusion from the church was a punishment by the majority. You can’t have a majority unless you have a definite set of people from which a majority is constituted.

If one can be removed from the congregation and restored to the congregation, without gaining or losing position “in Christ”, then we have the essence of “membership” in a local assembly.
v. Matthew 18:15-17: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault…if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you…If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” The ability to exclude someone from “the church” presupposes that it’s known who belongs to “the church” as a member in the first place.

vi. Scripture repeatedly commands Christians to submit to their leaders (Heb. 13:17; 1 Thess. 5:12-13). The only way to do that is by publicly committing to be members of their flock, and saying in effect, “I commit to listening to your teaching, following your direction, and to submitting to your leadership.” There’s no way to obey the scriptural commands to submit to your leaders if you never actually submit to them by joining a local church.

Therefore, I am a member of this congregation, for the health of my soul.
1. I am subject to the elders.
2. I am subject to you.

4. How do we live well in/with the Body? How do we experience “life together”?
• Common transparency: care for, encourage, rebuke, teach, and learn from each other (Eph. 4:15-16).
Hebrews 13:17 NASB
“Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

• Common commitments: I am no longer making all my life decisions alone
o Use the spiritual gifts God has given to build up the body (1 Cor. 12:7).
o Walk in sync with the Mission of God
o Submit to the church’s leadership and teaching (Heb 13:17).
o Promote unity in the body (Eph. 4:3).
o Financially support the church’s work (Gal. 6:6).

“Engaging membership” means at least these five things:
• Be in transparent relationships with other church members in which they care for, encourage, rebuke, teach, and learn from each other (Eph. 4:15-16).
o Eph 4:15-16
we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”

• Submit to the church’s leadership and teaching (Heb. 13:17).
• Promote unity in the body (Eph. 4:3).
“being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

• Financially support the common service efforts (Gal. 6:6).
“And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches.”

• Use the spiritual gifts God has given them to build up the body however they can (1 Cor. 12:7).
“But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”


Romans 12:1–13 NASB
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Let love be without hypocrisy.
Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love;
give preference to one another in honor;
not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;
rejoicing in hope,
persevering in tribulation,
devoted to prayer,
contributing to the needs of the saints,
practicing hospitality.”

The Older Brother

Keller's outline, my sermon.

The Elder Brother
Luke 15:25-32

Introduction: THE STORY DOESN’T END WITH THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL! Almost half of the story is about the older son. The story is about two sons, who are both alienated from the father, who are both assaulting the unity of the family. Jesus wants us to compare and contrast them.
The younger son is “lost”—that is easy to see. We see him
shaming his father,
ruining his family,
sleeping with prostitutes, and we say, “yep, there’s someone who is spiritually lost.”
But Jesus’ point is that the older son is lost too. Let’s learn from the text:
1) a stunning new understanding of lostness,
2) what the signs of it are (so we can recognize it in ourselves), and
3) what we can do about this condition.

The younger son has assaulted the integrity of the family.
The older son is assaulting the integrity of the family.
By despising the younger son.
By refusing to rejoice with the father in his delight over the brother’s return.
By preferring the father’s wealth to the father’s joy.

Central Issue: the nature of the Father’s heart
1. Younger brother—the father is not even-handed, I will never inherit leadership in this family.
2. Older brother—the father is not fair or just.

1. A stunning new understanding of lostness—verse 28.
““Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ “But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him.”

a. The elder brother would have known that the day of the prodigal’s return was the greatest day in his father’s life.
i. The father has “killed the fattened calf”, an enormously expensive extravagance in a culture where even having meat at meals was considered a delicacy.
ii. The older son realized his father was ecstatic with joy.
b. Yet he refused to go into the biggest feast his father has ever put on.
i. This was a remarkable, deliberate act of disrespect.
ii. …his way of saying, “I won’t be part of this family nor respect your headship of it.”
c. And the father had to “go out” to plead with him.
i. Just as he went out to bring his alienated younger son into the family, now
ii. he had to do the same for the older brother.
d. Do you realize what Jesus is saying? The older son is lost.
i. The father represents God himself, and
ii. the meal is the feast of salvation. In the end, then,
iii. the younger son, the immoral man, comes in and is saved, but
iv. the older son, the good son, refuses to go in and is lost.
e. The Pharisees who were listening to this parable knew what that meant.
i. It was a complete reversal of everything they believed. You can almost hear them gasp as the story ends.
ii. And what is it that is keeping the elder brother out? It’s because: “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed...” (v.29).
iii. The good son is not lost in spite of his good behavior, but because of his good behavior. So it is not his sin keeping him out, but his righteousness.
iv. The gospel is neither religion nor is it irreligion; it is not morality nor is it immorality. This was completely astonishing and confusing to Jesus’ hearers at the time—and it may even be astonishing and confusing to you.
v. Why is the older son lost?
1. The younger brother wanted the father’s wealth, but not the father. So how did he get what he wanted? He left home. He broke the moral rules.
2. But it becomes evident by the end that the elder brother also wanted selfish control of the father’s wealth. He was very unhappy with the father’s use of the possessions—the robe, the ring, the calf.
3. But while the younger brother got control by taking his stuff and running away, we see that the elder brother got control by staying home and being very good. He felt that now he has the right to tell the father what to do with his possessions because he had obeyed him perfectly.
4. So there are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord.
a. One is by breaking all the laws and being bad.
b. One is by keeping all the laws and being good.
If I can be so good that God has to answer my prayer, give me a good life, and take me to heaven, then in all I do I may be looking to Jesus to be my helper and my rewarder—but he isn’t my Savior. I am then my own Savior.
The difference between a religious person and a true Christian is that the religious person obeys God to get control over God, and things from God, but the Christian obeys just to get God, just to love and please and draw closer to him.

2. The Marks of this sort of Lostness—verses 29-30.
a. Some people are complete elder brothers. They go to church and obey the Bible—but out of expectation that then God owes them.
i. They have never understood the Biblical gospel at all.
ii. Grace is a stranger to them.
iii. They have developed a GOSPEL OF SIN-MANAGEMENT.

b. Keller: But many Christians, who know the gospel, are nonetheless elder-brotherish. Despite the fact that they know the gospel of salvation by grace with their heads, their hearts go back to an elder-brotherish “default mode” of self-salvation. Here’s what the elder-brotherish attitude looks like. It is:

i. A deep & abiding anger (v.28—“became angry”). Elder brothers believe that God owes them a comfortable and good life if they try hard and live up to standards—and they have! So they say: “my life ought to be going really well!” and when it doesn’t they get angry. But they are forgetting Jesus. He lived a better life than any of us—but suffered terribly.
Sources of Anger with God.
1. God didn’t answer my cry for help—innumerable stories of desperate prayers in childhood to heal a brother from leukemia or to save a sister from an abusive uncle. GOD DIDN’T ANSWER, SO I DON’T BELIEVE.

2. Younger brother conflict produces even more anger (good things happen to bad people rather than to good people like me!)

3. Jesus offers grace: will you be transformed or grace destroy you.
a. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo.
b. Jean Valjean vs. Inspector Javert
c. Valjean, the thief, finds grace and forgiveness from God. His life is gradually transformed into the pursuit of justice and grace.
d. Javert, who has arrested, tracked, and sought his punishment for years, discovers that Valjean has truly become a just man, a good man.
e. the Inspector traps Valjean, but then cannot rightly arrest him, because he is mesmerized by the thought that an irredeemably evil criminal can become a good man, one deserving of mercy.
f. Javert the police inspector can arrest Valjean, more, he must arrest him because the Law requires him to do so - Valjean was on the barricade and is therefore a traitor deserving death; but Javert the moral judge witnesses the absolute goodness in the redeemed convict at the sparing of Javert's own life and that of another, and therefore must not arrest him, or else he must question his own moral judgements.
"Javert is faced with the situation where to act lawfully would mean to him acting immorally."
g. Valjean, embodying the perfect moral dilemma for a man like Javert, shatters the rigid codes by which Javert has governed his own life - and at the breaking of those behavioral dictates, Javert finds no other course but to kill himself. His worldview cannot tolerate even the notion of redemption, and as such, it has no room for mercy, nor grace.
h. the Inspector steps backward into the Seine and drowns; he chooses to die rather than arrest the man he has obsessively pursued for decades. JAVERT CANNOT HOLD BOTH IDEAS IN HIS MIND AT THE SAME TIME: THIS MAN DESERVES JUSTICE & THIS MAN HAS BECOME JUST.
i. God’s grace has destroyed Javert.

ii. A joyless and mechanical obedience (v.29—“I’ve been slaving for you”). Elder brothers obey God as a means to an end—as a way to get the things they really love. Of course, obedience to God is sometimes extremely hard. But elder brothers find obedience virtually always a joyless, mechanical, slavish thing as a result.
1. Elder brother—I’m still angry, I’ve done what you’ve asked, get off my back.
2. Superficial obedience to get God off my back.
3. Similar to the younger brother, the elder brother just wants the father to leave him alone, to be away from him.
4. I filled out the small group signup, leave me alone, etc.
a. I will be there at the starting time, don’t ask more.
5. Elder brothers can morph into self-loathing life.
a. You don’t love yourself, but at least you know it.
b. Jesus offers you something more.

iii. A coldness to younger brother-types (v.30—“this son of yours”). The older son will not even “own” his brother. Elder brothers are too disdainful of others unlike themselves to be effective in evangelism. Elder brothers, who pride themselves on their doctrinal and moral purity, unavoidably feel superior to those who do not have these things.
From my blog…
Yes, those of us who are broken younger brothers are not mystified by the behaviour of our older brothers …but it does hurt to be around their resentment. I'm VERY grateful for the father's forgiveness but the older brother is so distant and cold.

iv. A lack of assurance of the father’s love (v.29—you never threw me a party). As long as you are trying to earn your salvation by controlling God through your goodness, you will never be sure you have been good enough. What are the signs of this?
1. Every time something goes wrong in your life you wonder if it’s a punishment.
2. Another sign is irresolvable guilt. You can’t be sure you’ve repented deeply enough, so you beat yourself up over what you did.
3. Lastly, there is a lack of any sense of intimacy with God in your prayer life. You may pray a lot of prayers asking for things, but not sense his love.
v. An unforgiving, judgmental spirit. The elder brother does not want the father to forgive the younger brother. It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel “I would never do anything that bad!” You have to be something of an elder brother to refuse to forgive.

3. What we can do about this spiritual condition.
a. Notice that the parable doesn’t end, it merely STOPS.
b. Second, we have to see the shocking nature of the gospel.
i. Jesus ends the parable with the lostness of the older brother in order to get across the point that it is a more dangerous spiritual condition.
1. The younger brother knew he was alienated from the father, but
2. The elder brother did not.
a. If you tell moral, religious people who are trying to be good, trying to obey the Bible so God will bless them—that they are alienated from God, they will just be offended.
b. If you know you are sick you may go to a doctor;
c. if you don’t know you’re sick you won’t—you’ll just die.
ii. Moralistic religion works on the principle, “I obey, therefore God accepts me.”
iii. The gospel works on the principle, “I am accepted by God through Jesus Christ, therefore I obey.” These are two radically different, even opposite, dynamics.
iv. Yet both sets of people sit in church together, both pray, both obey the Ten Commandments, but for radically different reasons. And because they do these things for radically different reasons, they produce radically different results—different kinds of character.
1. One produces anger, joyless compliance, superiority, insecurity, and a condemning spirit.
2. The other slowly but inevitably produces contentment, joy, humility, poise, and a forgiving spirit.
v. Unless a person and a congregation knows the difference between general religiosity and the true gospel, people will constantly fall into moralism and elder-brotherishness.
1. And if you call younger brothers to receive Christ and live for him without making this distinction clear, they will automatically think you are inviting them to become elder brothers.
c. Third, we have to see the naked vulnerability of Jesus.
i. Jesus is addressing his mortal enemies, the men who will soon kill him. …He’s talking to those who want to kill him and telling them that they are lost, that they fundamentally misunderstand God’s salvation and purpose in the world, and that they are trampling on the heart of God.
ii. But at the same time, he is also being so loving and tender. When the father comes out to the older brother,
1. that is Jesus pleading with his enemies. He is urging them to see their fatal error. Jesus does not scream at his enemies, or smite them, but lovingly urges them to repent and come into his love.
2. And so we have a foreshadowing of that great moment on the cross when he says, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). This love toward his enemies made him vulnerable and cost him his life.
3. On the cross, instead of blasting his enemies, he lovingly took the penalty of their sins on himself. While we were his enemies, Christ died for us (Rom 5:10).
iii. Knowing what he did for us must drain us of our self-righteousness and our insecurity.
1. We were so sinful he had to die for us.
2. But we were so loved that he was glad to die for us.
3. That takes away both the pride and the fear that makes us elder brothers.
iv. Solution:
1. “I am lost because I am so good.”
2. I have the favour of God because of who God is.
3. God finds me useful, even restoring me to himself.
4. God finds me fascinating, He loves me with an EXCESSIVE, a PRODIGIOUS LOVE!!!!
v. The END of the Story…
John MacArthur—ends the parable…the elder brother hates the father so much for being unloving, that he seizes the father and kills him.

Transition to prayer and communion…
Marriage Supper of the Lamb:
The Son is our host and our meal.