Now Is God Glorified

John 13:27-32: Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. 31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once."

John 12:24-28: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 27 "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

The pivotal moment in redemptive history is also the pivotal moment in human history, as these are inseparable.

The centerpiece of all history is when God most glorified Himself, and here we have it, in our Lord and Savior's own words. He looked forward to the cross, yet counted it as done at the moment of His betrayal, and our Father's voice confirmed it.

This was the moment of glory, when, in accordance to that which was written several hundred years beforehand, "it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities." (Isaiah 53:10-11)

This was the moment in history that the Almighty God deigned to not only be "found in the likeness of human flesh," but the very moment He declared that the Father was most glorified among His creation. The moment of the realization of His crucifixion was the moment the Father declared that He was most glorified.

Think upon this a moment: The great miracles that led Israel out of Egypt, the great miracle of our Lord being with them in glory in the cloud and the pillar of fire, the great miracles done during various of the prophets lifetimes, and even the greatest miracles of all time, in the first advent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, were not counted by God as the greatest moment of His glory.

Rather, the crucifixion, looked forward to, and counted as completed, was that moment when God declared He had and would glorify Himself.

We cannot add to His glory, but in our Lord's words, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."

God does not honor us as He did His Son; however, He does shine His glory most strongly when we do as our Lord, in His humanity, did: When we die to self, and live according to the risen life of our Lord Jesus Christ imparted to us by His Spirit, God is seen most strongly, as He has decreed.

Although pale in comparison to our unique Lord's death, many men used greatly by our Great God have been used by Him in the proclamation of His gospel, and the subsequent death of those proclaiming that gospel. Death gives rise to life, in this fallen world, and therein is the folly (according to the world's standards) of the gospel message.

To cement this, consider the apostle Paul's words as given by the Spirit of Christ:

2 Corinthians 1:9: Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. And again, 2 Corinthians 4:7-12: But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you.

The plain picture is that the sacrifice was made by our Lord while He yet lived, looking ahead to that very close time of His death as a man; the conclusion is that we who are yet alive in this dead flesh are experiencing, by faith, the death of our mortal bodies in order to manifest the resurrected life of our Lord to our brethren for the sake of their growth in that risen life, to the glory of our Lord and our Heavenly Father.

This is the principle of a grain of wheat being buried and dying, that it may bring forth much fruit. This truth was realized in the propitiatory sacrifice of our Lord, and is continued (although not as propitiatory, but as contingent to the only blessed propitiation of our Lord) through the proper preaching of His truth and denial of ourselves for the sake of the body of Christ, to the glory of God.

This is losing our life to gain it; this is how our Lord, both God and sinless Man, uniquely glorified the Father; this is how we continue to show that sacrifice and risen life as we die to self, thereby finding our lives unto eternal life.

This is how our God has willed to glorify Himself until the restoration of all things, when the children that the Lord bought at such great cost to Himself are perfected in His glory.

Hence, the title: Now Is God Glorified.

Haltingly in His service in which He always magnifies Himself - Bill

Lessons in Life Affimed by the Gospel of Our Glorious God

If God has shown me anything at all in my many years of erroneous sins, despite my desire to serve Him, it is this:

Romans 8:28: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Do I fully understand this promise?

Assuredly not.

Do I fully trust this promise, as a child trusts his Father, yet grows in understanding of that which His Father desires and requires of Him?

Assuredly, yes. As hard as the lessons have been, the heaviness and the burden have been on me, for placing my flesh above that which is spiritual. There is rest and ease in His yoke and burden, and His commandments are not burdensome, ever. All that has transpired, by His gentle decree, which has contradicted these facts of reality, has been of my unredeemed flesh seeking to insert itself into the picture, and His gentle remonstrances have always drawn me back to the denying of that which is already crucified and buried, yet needs be treated in that manner that sees my Lord, and His people, no longer after the flesh.

I am so grateful to so many teachers of the Word who continuously call me to realize that which is above as preeminent over that which is below. I am more grateful to our glorious God and Savior for His gentle treatment of me in all manner of my rebellion.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Praise involves, primarily, contrition and thanksgiving. I thank the Lord that He is faithful in all things for the sake of His glory and according to His good pleasure.

- Bill

Reflections On Sandy Hook

It's been months since I last wrote anything on this blog (bad I know, but there was plenty of writing to do at school), but its even worse to come back and attempt to tackle an issue like Sandy Hook. Now, I know what's expected-- Romans 8:28 or a passage about God's sovereignty. I could do that and that passage or passages of scripture would be true regardless of our painful circumstances, but that doesn't capture how I've felt about this ordeal. Let me recap:

On that morning, as I read about a shooting in a school, I didn't majorly react to the news. I know those are harsh words, but its reality, maybe not only for me, but I bet for a lot of people, sadly. Its too common for us. Anyway, as I drove away to a friend's house, I turned on the radio. And there, for the first time, I heard the shooting was in a kindergarten through fourth grade school. As I arrived at my friends house and turned on the T.V, I heard the news that some twenty children were shot and killed. What does one say to that? Why would anyone go into a school and shoot children? As if there were a satisfying answer, but there simply isn't.

Through the course of the day, we received a lot of confusing news from the media, and sadly, a lot of unnecessary jabber from some believers. From the secular media (and we keep getting this) we get this idea that Adam Lanza was this "sick", "mentally ill", "emotionally disturbed", autistic, person. He might have had some sort or mental disability, to that I'll admit. Hey, maybe this kid was emotionally and physically abused, we don't know. But one thing I do know, is that what Adam Lanza did on that day was EVIL. Pure EVIL. It was SIN. And why is that the media shy's away from that language? Maybe its because we've gotten to the point in America where nothing is evil, where the concept of evil has vanished from minds and replaced with entertainment. Adultery, nudity, stealing, lying, that's no longer evil. Adultery is seeking fun when your marriage gets boring, what's the harm in that, dude? Our problem in America is deeper than the Adam Lanza's, its deeper than gun-control or lack thereof, our problem in America is the abandonment of the Christian worldview and the glorification of evil.

As far as believers, I believe some wanted to muster the right words to soothe hearts, but were totally off the mark. I saw plenty of promotion for homeschooling, gun control, and more guns. What is the obsession with having to say the right thing at the right moment or rather, what is the obsession with having to say something at every moment? There are times where the beauty before your eyes so captivates your soul that words fall short of adequate description, and there are others where what you feel is so painful, so wrenching, that you rather not or cannot find words. The latter was this moment. There is a time to mourn and that was it. Some will still mourn and that's okay. Your words may never comfort a mother who returns to a silent home after the death of her child. They don't need to. God in due time will take care of things like that.

-awretchsaved

The Selling Out Of The Church

It's been happening for some time. Unqualified leaders have found their way in the church and have thus decided that we live in an age that is tired of the "old" way of church and thus we need to keep we the times. Especially if we want to reach the "un-churched." There was once a time not so long ago that we called the "un-churched" unbelievers or sinners. But today that is seen as not being "nice." These men have attempted to sell out the church to "reach" such people. They understand people want less authoritative preaching, dialogue and not monologue, shorter sermons, contemporary and "upbeat" music, less convicting sermons and more messages on "overcoming the obstacles in life." In short these men know people want services centered on themselves and their needs and desires and not Christ.

These "hirelings," as the Bible refers to them (Jn 10:13), see a market. And a big market it is. This methodology of "doing" "church" is often acceptable to some that even know the Gospel and love it. Yet they see no connection to sound theology and practice in the area of church. "What's the big deal?" The big deal is that they way in which a church worships the Triune God reflects what they believe about the Triune God. The worship of God is centered on Him. A service built on the preferences of the worshipers reflects a view that worship is largely about our comforts and needs. When sinners (redeemed or unrepentant) approach the thrice holy God we do so on His terms. And these terms are given in His Word. There is no negotiating.

There really is a big market on self-centered worship. The hirelings have capitalized on it. People these days look for a church the way they shop for a car or go to restaurant. It reminds me of what the Lord God says in Jeremiah 5:30-31:

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? 

Gary Gilley has, in my opinion, rightly diagnosed and addressed the issue. Here are some rather lengthy (but well worth the time of reading) quotes:

The church growth movement is a recent example. Having watched a large segment of the church become content with short yardage and lousy scores, some decided that there had to be a better way. The church was not penetrating society; she was not pulling in the masses; she was not making a significant impact for the gospel. It was not that the church leaders didn’t care; it was, it seemed, they lacked the ‘know-how’, the tools, to effect change. The gospel was still ‘the power of God for salvation’ (Rom. 1: 16), but it was being rejected out-of-hand by too many. What was needed, apparently, were new methods to reach the lost, new techniques to promote the church, new packages for the gospel message. People, we were told, were not rejecting the gospel or Christ; they were rejecting our out-of-date, unappetizing forms, philosophies, and methods.*

...It would appear, when it comes to entertainment, Christianity has caught up with the culture at large. One social observer, Neal Gabler, who has no axe to grind in this regard, making no pretence to be a Christian, has noticed, ‘Evangelical Protestantism, which had begun as a kind of spiritual entertainment in the nineteenth century, only refined its techniques in the twentieth, especially after the advent of television. Televangelists like Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart recast the old revival meeting as a television variety show, and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club was modelled after The Tonight Show, only the guests on this talk show weren’t pitching a new movie or album; they were pitching salvation.’ Christianity on television, by necessity, has always been presented in the form of entertainment. Theology, rituals, sacred worship, prayer, and most other true components of the Christian faith, simply do not ‘play’ well on television. As might be expected, the local church began to pay close attention. If they were to draw the masses, like the televangelists did, it apparently could best be done by wrapping the faith in the package of entertainment — for the people, having now been trained to be consumers, have also been taught that the ultimate sin is to be bored. Hence the birth of the market-driven church that caters to the insatiable appetite for amusement in society in general.*

After partly diagnosing the problem he goes on to address it:

 Today things are very different. We live in a society that increasingly drifts toward the form rather than the substance, which embraces the superficial, lives to play, will pay almost any amount of money to be amused, and prizes fun as the highest pursuit of life. Conviction has been replaced by thrill and few seem to notice. One cannot help but think of Pinocchio and his buddies on Pleasure Island. In the midst of mindless fun only Pinocchio seemed to understand that they were all being turned into donkeys. One would hope that things would be different among Evangelical Christians, but such does not seem to be the case. It appears that the church is in lockstep with the world. The problem is this – Christians have been seduced and trained by the same forces that have enticed society as a whole. Too many Christians, just like their unsaved counterparts, are impressed by appearances rather than structure; are seeking thrills and excitement rather than substance; are more apt to respond to emotional manipulation than to rational discourse. How does a church compete in this rather crowded marketplace? If entertainment has become the standard way of life (as some are suggesting) then how can the churches vie unless they become a bastion of entertainment? But if it gives way to this powerful temptation has not the church been transformed into something other than the church? Postman, who does not pretend to be a Christian, nevertheless recognizes, ‘Christianity is a demanding and serious religion. When it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether… There is no doubt, in other words, that religion can be made entertaining. The question is, by doing so, do we destroy it.’ 14 This is a question all serious Christians should contemplate. The problem is that the main business of entertainment is to please the crowd, but the main purpose of authentic Christianity is to please the Lord. Both the Bible and history have repeatedly shown that it is seldom possible to do both at the same time, for very long.*

...Christianity is designed by God to be a ‘thinking’ faith. If so, something appears to be seriously wrong. Os Guinness, for example, believes we are a generation that has ‘dumbed down’ everything that is important to the level of bumper stickers and greeting cards, and we are suffering the consequences. One revealing bumper sticker, of the type Guinness has in mind, reads, ‘There is no right or wrong – only fun or boring.’ Yet, God desires his people to consider, reason, analyze and study. He has given us his Word in propositional form; a Word that must be carefully dissected if it is to be understood (2 Tim. 2: 15). To allow ourselves to be pressed into the world’s mould of entertainment without careful reflection based on the Bible is a terrible loss. God is not calling his people to a life of grumpiness, but surely if we, like the saints of biblical times, are looking for ‘the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God’ (Heb. 11: 10), it will shape the way we live and enjoy our time on this earth.*

Here, and the final quote, Gilley reveals the "bait-and- switch" tactic often employed by the church growth movement (this be applied to some in the "missional" movement as well):

How do we market a foolish, repulsive product? — By changing the wrapper, apparently. Note the subtle bait and switch in Barna’s philosophy, ‘Ministry, in essence, has the same objective as marketing — to meet people’s needs. Christian ministry, by definition, meets people’s real needs by providing them with biblical solutions to their life circumstances.’At first glance most of us would be in agreement with Barna, but look closer. By altering, ever so slightly, the biblical definition of ministry, including the gospel message, as we will see, Barna has made it attractive. If we can convince people that Christ died to meet their needs, they will line up at our doors to buy our product. But is this the gospel message? Has Barna merely repackaged, prettied up, the gospel ‘product’ or has he gutted it of its purpose and value? This is an important question upon which so much hinges — a question worthy of much consideration. As we will see the market philosophy behind the modern church necessitates a mutation of the gospel message.

Marketing the church David Wells bemoans the new-paradigm church, ‘Much of it… is replete with tricks, gadgets, gimmicks, and marketing ploys as it shamelessly adapts itself to our emptied-out, blinded, postmodern world… There is too little about it that bespeaks the holiness of God. And without the vision for any reality of this holiness, the Gospel becomes trivialized, life loses its depth, God becomes transformed into a product to be sold, faith into a recreational activity to be done, and the Church into a club for the like-minded.’ Damaging accusations; are they true? The standard rhetoric coming from new-paradigm churches is that they teach the same message, the same gospel, as the more traditional evangelical churches; they differ only in methodology and philosophy of ministry. Lee Strobel (former Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, now with Saddleback) writes, ‘Objections [to the market-driven church] generally relate to the method that’s used to communicate the gospel, not the message itself, and consequently we’re free to use our God-given creativity to present Christ’s message in new ways that our target audience will connect with.’ This is simply not the case. While some of the methods may disturb us, it is their message that is of real concern. It is important to understand at this point that it is one thing to market the church; it is another to market the gospel. In this chapter we are dealing with the unfortunate fallout of marketing the church. In a subsequent chapter the far most devastating impact of marketing the gospel message will be examined more closely. But at this point we cannot avoid mentioning that while the new-paradigm churches have dressed their gospel in the gown of conservative evangelicalism, it is in reality a masquerade, a costume that disguises a gospel message that would have been unrecognizable only a few years ago. Even as we analyze the methodologies for which the new-paradigm churches have become famous: their market-driven strategies, it would be a mistake to get sidetracked by superficial differences between these churches and more traditional ones. The real issue is how this philosophy is changing both the message and the essence of the church. In other words, it is impossible to truly separate our methodology from our message, for to a large degree they hinge on one another.*

Gilley's book is a very insightful and great read. If you have a Kindle you can find it here.


*Gilley, Gary (2012-05-16). This Little Church Went to Market (Kindle Locations 112-118). Evangelical Press. Kindle Edition.

*Ibid, Kindle Locations 297-308

*Ibid, Kindle Locations 325-339

*Ibid, Kindle Locations 351-358

*Ibid, Kindle Locations 405-431

A Reason I Am Encouraged

I have reason to be encouraged by all the faithful men and women of Christ that have faithfully walked in the grace of Christ being the fragrance of the Lord among the world. They have loved Him and defended Him against those that have assaulted His name. When all have bowed to the negative influence of the culture they have stood for the Triune God. When all have stood up for the world they have bowed the knee to the King. Sure they sin and fail at times, but they always remember the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ and their faith in Him reminds them that are not only forgiven but clothed in the righteousness of Christ thereby declared righteous by our sovereign Judge and thus by the grace of God they strive for and persevere in holiness. I am sincerely thankful for such men and women. It is they that the Lord uses to encourage me to grow in Christ and to faithfully herald His Word.

As thankful as I am for such people they are not my focus right here. My focus of encouragement is the young men I believe that the Lord is training and raising up (even the ones that may be unaware) for the ministry. The young men who will be under-shepherds of Christ's sheep. The people He loves dearly and laid down His life for. These men not only submit to the Word of Christ but they love it. They cherish it and adore it. They are not afraid to share the Gospel with family members, friends and even strangers at the risk of ending or hindering any personal relationship that exists. They love to learn from the godly men of old that have gone on before us setting an example for us to follow in both doctrine and godly living. They love to stand on the shoulders of such men. These are uncompromising men who refuse to give in to the "spirit of the age" They understand or will come to understand that many of the people they minster to, or seek to minster to, will despise them and some even come to hate them. They theologically know that their Master taught them that they should expect to be hated since Christ was hated. But they will soon come to experience it in their labor for Christ. They understand or will soon come to the understanding that their joy is in Christ not in their own reputation.

Sure, they will sin and be tempted towards pride. They will early on eagerly and proudly enter secondary doctrinal arguments with the aim of simply winning the argument to demonstrate their own great and theological mind. They will be humbled when they come across a person more theologically astute and articulate than they are. They will soon learn that it is okay and commendable to change their theological positions for the better. Their is no shame in admitting they were once doctrinally and theologically wrong and repenting of it. This in turn will remind them to be more loving and gracious with those that are not as biblically mature as they are and how to be more patient and careful with those that disagree with them on secondary matters.

Just as thankful and encouraged as am for Luther, Calvin, Owen, Spurgeon, Machen, Lloyd-Jones upon whose shoulders I stand upon (among the great many others to many to mention) these young men will stand upon the Word of God and the godly men of old who have paved the way for us. After all it is one thing the have the shoulders to stand upon but just as equally important to have others to continue to stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

These  young men are needed. They will be used of the Lord to lead the charge for the next generation in spiritual warfare. As many are trying to lead and take the church in new paths, these young men will be faithful in guiding her in the "old paths" (Jer. 6:16). I am extremely encouraged by such men. They will be on the front lines of battle leading the flock of God and protecting them from the wolves and even sometimes protecting the sheep from themselves. They will be used to herald the Gospel to bring the other sheep not yet in the fold. But they will face strong opposition from both outside of the church and from within her. They are the watchmen of Ezekiel 33 and warned not be the shepherds of Ezekiel 34.

I'm excited and encouraged for such godly young men. I know some of them and know of some of them. They are out there. The Lord is training and preparing them for His use. My advice to them is to stay the course. It will get rough at times. You will feel discouragement, grief, suffering, anger frustration, impatience among other things. Some of it will be your own fault while other times the fault of others. Remain faithful. As difficult as it may be remember that your labor in Christ is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). Love Christ, love sinners (believers and unbelievers), be humble and pursue holiness. Remember these divinely inspired words of the Apostle Paul:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself (2 Ti 2:1–13).

May our sovereign Lord sustain you by His power and grace to use you for His glory!

Did Jesus Preach Expositionally?

Mike Abendroth and the others he cites argue the case that Jesus did (I agree):

LUKE 4

And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

  “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

  Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

  He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

  And recovery of sight to the blind,

  To set free those who are oppressed,

  To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:14–22).

Many historical events have been so significant that I wish I could have been there to experience them in time and space. The account in Luke 4 is one of those events. The word that best describes the scenario is “stunning.” As Luke is prone to do, he mentions the particular ministry of the Holy Spirit and how He, after driving Jesus into the wilderness for satanic temptations (Luke 4:1 ff.), now impels Jesus to Galilee for public ministry.

This Spirit-driven day was going to prove exceptional. Jesus arrives for worship and most likely is recognized by the leaders. His fame is preceding Him. They ask Him to be one of the Scripture readers for the day. A servant opens the box containing the scrolls, chooses the appropriate one, unwraps it, and delivers it to Jesus. Jesus stands in traditional reverence for God’s Word. Custom dictated standing while reading God’s Word, except when Esther was read during the feast of Purim. Jesus, in the town of His upbringing, is handed the scroll opened at Isaiah. Writing about the scrolls, physician Luke vividly employs the Greek word translated “unrolled” or “opened,” a medical word used to describe the “opening up” of a patient’s body ready for surgery.7 Jesus was about to open up more than a scroll; He was going to open up the sluice gates of the Messianic ministry! The LXX uses the same word, “spread it out,” when Hezekiah received a letter and read it, then took it and exposed it to the LORD (2 Kings 19:14). Just as a feast is “spread out” on the table, so now Jesus was about to give His listeners a spiritual feast that they would not soon forget.

Whether Jesus chose Isaiah 61:1–2 purposely or whether it was an assigned reading for the day, the effect was apocalyptic. There would be no reason for Jesus to deviate from custom and pick a different selection, so it was likely the next passage to be read in the synagogue. Divine orchestration is seen as Jesus reads a passage in Isaiah about the Messianic hope, which is really about Himself. In Luke 4:18, Jesus says, “He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives …” He purposefully changes the tense of the verb “has sent” in LXX to a perfect active indicative, signifying that He Himself is the One God has sent. Jesus effectively says, “This Messiah is in your midst—I am He!” Jesus Himself will grant liberty to captives and He will release prisoners. He will heal and help the oppressed. He is the object of Isaiah’s prophecy. Now is the time for the prophecy to be fulfilled. The Messianic era starts today. Jesus Himself will glorify the Father by preaching the good news to sinners.

With a dramatic close, Jesus quietly rolls up the scroll, gives it back to the attendant, and sits down. Why did He sit down? The Jews knew that He sat down to teach them. That is why they were all looking at Him. The Jewish rabbis would sit to teach their disciples (Matthew 5:1ff.), so the people had their eyes riveted upon Jesus for His Messianic message. They were intently observing Him because it was now time for the teaching of the Word. Marvin R. Vincent reports that the prophetic readings in the synagogues were followed by a discourse. They were waiting for Him to begin the expositional message based upon Isaiah 61.

They were literally staring at Him. With spellbound, rapt focus they stared at Him. They were mesmerized. Paul used the word here translated “fixed” in 2 Corinthians 3:7 and 13 to describe the people gazing on Moses after he returned from Sinai with a glowing face. Jesus had dropped the atomic bomb, “Today, your Messiah, predicted by Isaiah, has come, and I am your King.” Do you think He had their attention?

It seems that Luke recorded only the first sentence of Jesus’ “sermon”: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Luke declared that this sentence was what “He began to say to them,” indicating there was more that was said. Albert Barnes supports this interpretation when he records, “It is probable that he said much ‘more’ than is here recorded, but Luke has preserved only the ‘substance’ of his discourse. This was the ‘amount’ or ‘sum’ of his sermon, or his explanation of the passage, that it was now receiving its accomplishment.” It is inconceivable that Jesus’ discourse would have been about the Sabbath, tithing, or fasting. With the Messiah sitting in front of them (or at least someone claiming to be the Messiah), the people surely heard further elucidation of the person and future work of Christ. Vincent likewise writes that Jesus “expounded” Isaiah 61:1–2.

How did they respond? Their twofold response consisted of praise and wonder. How could such words of grace come from a local carpenter’s son? Without question, the reputation and “fame” of Jesus were on the upswing.

Was this an exposition? Was it expository preaching? The answer is “yes.” Jesus exposed the Jews to the proper meaning of the biblical text, and He surely did it so they would believe Him. Robert Mounce explains, “They needed to be taught the implications of the announcement.” The real Messiah would additionally express clarifying comments so the people could fully understand the ramifications of the Scripture reading and the local man Jesus. F.B. Meyer believes this was exposition, saying,

We cannot found an argument upon this single act, but it is at least significant that the Lord gave His sanction to the systematic reading and consideration of the inspired Word in His earliest sermon. Our Lord was also careful to consider the text in relation to the context and the whole tenor and teaching of Scripture. The habit of taking a little snippet of a verse from any part of the Bible and making it the subject of discourse, exposes the preacher to the danger of an unbalanced statement of truth, which is very prejudicial. Nothing is more perilous than the partial knowledge of God’s truth, which is based on sentences torn from their rock-bed and viewed in isolation from their setting.*

You can get your copy here and (if you have Logos) here.


*Abendroth, M. (2008). Jesus Christ: The Prince of Preachers: Learning from the Teaching Ministry of Jesus (146–149). Leominster: Day One.

More Quotes On Preaching

 Mike Abendroth:

The church has exchanged her preaching birthright for a watered-down stew of PowerPoint presentations, drama, methods, slide shows, movie clips, felt needs, psychology, techniques, and programs that are designed to fill the pews. This “stew” will not fill the person in the pew with hygienic, sound, meaty doctrine, which is critical for healthy Christian living. We need men at our sacred desks today who will not apologize for cutting the Word of truth straightly, in context, with boldness, directed at the heart, and carefully exegeted. The world may deem these men of God “dinosaurs,” “obscurantists,” “sheltered,” “cave dwellers,” or “troglodytes,” but the Judge of the living and of the dead will call them “blessed” and “obedient servants.”

Preaching is the issue, not just any kind of preaching, but preaching that will rescue the lethargic church. It is the premise of this book that, if pastors would preach as Jesus did, their churches would flourish spiritually and God would be honored. If laypeople and congregations would rise up and demand Christ-like preaching from their pulpits, the church would immediately begin to shake off her lethargy and start on the path of full recovery. She would then begin to reach out with evangelism, because healthy sheep reproduce.*

 Walter C. Kaiser Jr.:

It is no secret that Christ’s Church is not at all in good health in many places of the world. She has been languishing because she has been fed … “junk food” … The Biblical text is often no more than a slogan or refrain in the message … Biblical exposition has become a lost art in contemporary preaching … American parishioners … are often rewarded with more or less of the same treatment: repetitious arrangements of the most elementary truths of the faith … Where is that sense of authority and mission previously associated with the Biblical Word?*

James White:

What you win them with is what you win them to. Preaching is God’s way of proclaiming the foolishness of the gospel to the weak and despised, all to His own glory. The world will always despise preaching, but when the church likewise questions God’s wisdom and starts using alternatives, a major problem exists.*

John Stott:

The main objective of preaching is to expound Scripture so faithfully and relevantly that Jesus Christ is perceived in all his adequacy to meet human need. The true preacher is a witness; he is incessantly testifying to Christ.*

 Robert Reymond:

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote: ‘The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others’ (2:2; emphasis supplied). He further urged the church not to be hasty in ordaining men to the gospel ministry before they had undergone ministerial trial (1 Tim. 5:22), insisting in Titus 1:4–2:1 that along with the other requirements essential to the teaching eldership (see 1 Tim. 3:1–7; Tit. 1:5–9) he who would be a pastor/teacher must be ‘able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict’ his teaching (Tit. 1:9; emphasis supplied). Clearly, the great apostle mandates a theologically articulate ministry for the church.

The responsibility to prepare himself theologically through rigorous study is as great for both the man already in and the man aspiring to the ministry today as it was in Paul’s day—perhaps even greater; for while it is true that today he can ‘stand on the shoulders’, so to speak, of twenty previous centuries of Spirit-wrought insight into the Holy Scriptures, not only is he faced today with the ever-increasing avalanche of secular humanism in a world whose unbelieving population is even more numerous now than there were even people in the world when our Lord first issued his Great Commission two thousand years ago, but also he must combat within the church, in addition to the many ancient heresies which still abound on every hand, the myriad new forms of overt and covert opposition to the true teaching of Scripture.

It is absolutely essential that the church of our generation train a vast contingent of qualified men who will be able to draw from the Scriptures, through the best canons of exegesis and hermeneutics, what the Bible teaches and to proclaim and to apply that teaching powerfully and winsomely to the present condition.*

B.B. Warfield:

A mutilated gospel produces mutilated lives, and mutilated lives are positive evils. Whatever the preacher may do, [his] hearers will not do without a system of belief; and in their attempt to frame one for the government of their lives out of the fragments of truth which [the indifferent] preacher will grant them, is it any wonder if they should go fatally astray?… it is not given to one who stands in the pulpit to decide whether or no he shall teach, whether or no he shall communicate to others a system of belief which will form lives and determine destinies. It is in his power only to determine what he shall teach, what system of doctrine he shall press upon the acceptance of men; by what body of tenets he will seek to mold their lives and to inform their devotions.… And this is but another way of saying that the systematic study of divine truth … is the most indispensable preparation for the pulpit. Only as the several truths to be presented are known in their relations can they be proclaimed in their right proportions and so taught as to produce their right effects on the soul’s life and growth.*

*Abendroth, M. (2008). Jesus Christ: The Prince of Preachers: Learning from the Teaching Ministry of Jesus (14–15). Leominster: Day One.

*Cited in: Abendroth, M. (2008). Jesus Christ: The Prince of Preachers: Learning from the Teaching Ministry of Jesus (14). Leominster: Day One.

*Abendroth, M. (2008). Jesus Christ: The Prince of Preachers: Learning from the Teaching Ministry of Jesus (4). Leominster: Day One.
*Stott, John R. W. (1994-01-01). Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today (p. 325). Eerdmans Publishing Co - A. Kindle Edition.

*Reymond, R. L. (2003). The God-Centered Preacher: Developing a Pulpit Ministry Approved by God (99–100). Fearn, UK: Christian Focus Publications

*Cited in: Reymond, R. L. (2003). The God-Centered Preacher: Developing a Pulpit Ministry Approved by God (101). Fearn, UK: Christian Focus Publications.

Some Good Commentary On 1 Timothy 2:8-15

8 I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; 9 likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, 10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.



The commentary comes from John Kitchen's The Pastoral Epistles for Pastors. This first past comes right after his exegesis of verse 12:

These verses raise many questions concerning their appropriate application in the church today. One lesson we learn is that standing before God’s people with God’s Word and speaking on His behalf is a far more serious matter than perhaps many Christians understand. Something unique from all other human communication is taking place in those instances. When we reduce the significance of God’s Word being taught to God’s people, we open the door to sentiments such as “What’s the big deal?” concerning any divine restrictions upon that act. Not only must we answer the individual questions that arise from the Apostle’s words here, but we must reexamine our understanding and attitude toward the proclamation of God’s Word when His people gather for worship. What are we expecting to take place in those moments?

This next portion comes from verse 15:

One might ask why Paul would spend so much time on the women’s role (vv. 9–15) and comparatively little upon that of the men (v. 8). The answer probably lies in that the false teachers were misguiding the women concerning their role—teaching them that marriage was to be spurned (1 Tim. 4:3; cf. Paul’s counsel in 5:11, 14) and likely also that motherhood lacked the dignity and priority of other forms of leadership. This does not limit the application of the Apostle’s words as culturally irrelevant to our society, for he did not instruct the women regarding what was merely prudent in their present context, but what God has established from creation (v. 13). Rather it underscores that the answer is to return to God’s original design for humanity whenever challenges confront the church. God has not denigrated the woman’s value or diminished the woman’s role. Rather He has elevated it and dignified it. The influence of a woman is broader and fuller than what simply takes place in a local congregation. It begins from a child’s earliest days, continues throughout all those days and in all the places through which she goes with that child. She is the molder of hearts and minds and lives as a constant, unceasing presence and teacher of her children. She is not limited to the hours that a congregation may gather together for worship; she is released to exert her influence twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for as long as her children are at her side. Then she deploys them strategically into the world in hopes that her influence will compound and spread far beyond where her single voice might have been heard had she taken up a position in the church which God has not afforded her. As Hendriksen well says, “It is his will that the woman should influence mankind ‘from the bottom up’ (that is, by way of the child), not ‘from the top down’ (that is, not by way of the man).” In the end we may discover that the influence of the mother will have far outdistanced that of the father or church leader.

*Kitchen, J. A. (2009). The Pastoral Epistles for Pastors (112). The Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications.

Ibid, 119-120

Audiology?

We do need a study of how to listen to the preached Word of God. One of the things that greatly saddens me in the church is that not a few Christians have been trained or raised with hearing everything but an exposition of the Word of God. Short emotional stories, funny jokes, personal testimonies of transformed lives and how to sermons (how to get out of debt, how to have a better marriage and so on) have all become the norm for many. That is not to say those things do not have a proper place in sermons but they are not the point. In fact any effective proclamation of Christ in His Word can do without those things. 

We need to learn how to un-train ourselves from seeking entertainment and sentimentally driven messages and train ourselves to listen that have the glory of Christ and the proclamation of His name as the aim. Any message that mentions the name of Jesus and sprinkles one or two Bible verses does not make it an expositional sermon. We need to train ourselves that when we listen to preachers we are not there to hear about ourselves but Christ. We are to hear the Triune God proclaimed in all His greatness. We need to stop walking out of the church determining if we got anything out of the sermon by how "good" we feel. We need to train ourselves to sit and listen to see if our attention is being drawn to the point of the passage. Are our minds being drawn Christ and the things of the Lord? Or are we listening to "find our place in God's story" where we are the point of a sermon? For the record, everyone is in "God's story." Those who are in Christ through repentance from sin and faith in Christ receive His everlasting love and promises. Those who reject Him find themselves His enemies and the objects of His hatred to suffer His righteous eternal punishment. I've digressed here so I turn to Ken Ramey:

And at end of your life you will stand before God and give an account for every sermon you heard. On that day, God will essentially ask you, “How has your life changed as a result of the thousands of times you have heard My Word preached?” So we see that it is vital that you are ever welcoming the Word of God and diligently seeking to put what you hear into practice, thus proving “yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:22).

A PLEA FOR LISTENERS

Those who take to heart God’s call to listen will transcend the discouraging trends in the church today. All around us, clear, convicting, authoritative preaching straight from God’s Word is being devalued by both those standing in the pulpit and those sitting in the pew.

The church growth movement that boomed during the eighties and nineties concluded that preaching is an outdated form of communication in our technologically advanced, media-savvy society. Surveys found that most listeners were interested only in hearing amusing and inspiring messages that addressed the practical problems they face in life (relating to your spouse, raising kids, surviving the rat race, battling addictions, etc.).

In the last few years, the Emergent Church Movement has undermined biblical preaching even further by declaring that people no longer recognize the authority of propositional truth or the authority of the preacher. Consequently, preachers must be less authoritative, add more dialogue—swap out biblical confrontation for mere conversation. In fact, some in the movement have gone so far as to hold that the traditional form of preaching characterized by bold declaration is detrimental to the church. Apparently, even the use of a PA system has become unhelpful because it “creates the situation where the recipients are powerless to speak back. What makes this situation even more insidious is when the person with the power of the microphone is also the person who is presuming to speak for God.”3 But isn’t that precisely the situation the church was designed to create—a dynamic duo of faithful herald and fervent listeners?

The Thessalonians understood this supernatural dynamic and it caused them to have a great appreciation and affection for the preached Word. They loved to listen to Paul preach. They could be truly described as preaching enthusiasts, preaching fanatics even. Augustine urged his congregation to attend preaching with “burning thirst and fervent hearts.” Likewise, the Puritans, as we will see throughout this book, understood this dynamic of biblical exposition—that when a man is faithfully preaching the Word of God it is actually the voice of God being heard—which should cause you to pay earnest attention to every sermon you hear. From the very first Sunday I began preaching expository sermons to the congregation God has called me to shepherd, I have sought to develop in congregants a robust appetite and a real appreciation for preaching that comes straight from the Bible, along with an uncompromising commitment to do whatever the Bible says. By and large, they know that “congregations never honor God more than by reverently listening to His Word with a full purpose of praising and obeying Him once they see what He has done and is doing, and what they are called to do.” My desire within these pages is to create congregations that share this passion to honor God by being discerning hearers of His Word, diligent doers of His Word, and devoted lovers of His Word, preaching fanatics, even, who come to church like a thirsty man craving something to drink and whose hearts fervently long to hear the Word preached because they know that in it God speaks to them.

One

BIBLICAL AUDIOLOGY: A THEOLOGY OF LISTENING

"Hearing is the provision made for the soul’s eternal well-being, its everlasting welfare depends on it; if you fail here, your souls perish without remedy. For salvation comes by faith and faith comes by hearing. It is an act of eternal consequence. According to our hearing, so shall the state of our souls be to eternity." David Clarkson

 For “whoever will call on the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

ROMANS 10:13–17

Hearing is a precious thing. The apostle Paul says hearing is required for us even to have faith. Faith comes from hearing. Hearing is not enough though. There’s also heeding—and not all of those who hear heed. That is to say, even if the trillions of tiny pulsations of air pressure reach the unimaginably intricate machinery in your inner ear, where they are inexplicably translated into words that form ideas in your brain, you might not actually listen. You might choose to do nothing with the information. In fact, there may be any number of problems with your hearing. It could be that you simply lack the discernment to know whether or not you are listening to biblical preaching. Perhaps you are listening to preaching you would do best to ignore. Perhaps you have sought out preaching that only makes you feel better about yourself. Or perhaps the preaching is good, but you are the problem. You are burned out on listening. It seems like all you do is listen, while experiencing little growth and change in your life. Week after week, good sermons go in one ear and out the other without ever penetrating your mind or piercing your heart and transforming your life. Perhaps you have the discernment and the desire to obey, but you’re listening to and watching so much during the week that’s not important or entirely accurate that you’ve trained yourself to only half listen, a habit you can’t seem to “turn off” on Sunday mornings. All these hearing problems are the result of never being trained to properly appreciate and practically appropriate God’s Word.

We are in desperate need of both theological and practical instruction in the area of listening effectively to the preaching of the Word. Becoming a better listener begins by establishing a basic theology of listening, a biblical audiology. This should be simple enough to formulate, as listening is a dominant theme in Scripture. Almost every book of the Bible contains some reference to hearing and obeying God’s Word. From Genesis to Revelation—through the poets and prophets in the Old Testament and through Christ and the apostles in the New Testament—God beckons us to hear and heed Him. The God of the Bible commands us to listen to what He has said, and He threatens punishment if we don’t, while promising blessing if we do. The pattern is pretty difficult to miss: It goes: command, threat, promise. And in between, there are examples, narratives describing those who endeavored to obey God—Enoch, Abraham, Stephen—and those who chose not to—Adam, Pharaoh, Judas.

We might systematize everything the Bible teaches on the subject of listening by arranging the verses under four summary statements, or theological truths, as follows:

     1.      God has spoken and commands us to listen to and obey what He has said.

    2.      We all fail to listen to and obey God and deserve to be punished by Him.

    3.      God grants us the ability to listen to and obey Him by His Holy Spirit, whom we receive through faith in Jesus Christ.

    4.      God promises to bless us both now and for all eternity if we listen to and obey Him.

Notice how each of these statements is related to several other key theological themes in Scripture. The first statement relates to the nature of God and His Word. The second statement relates to the nature of man and sin. The third statement relates to the nature of salvation, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ. And the fourth statement relates to sanctification and future things. So the theology of listening overlaps and intermingles with virtually every aspect of systematic theology. It’s almost as if the theology of listening comprises an entire catechism or statement of faith!

*Ramey, K. (2010). Expository Listening (5–11). The Woodlands, TX: Kress Biblical Resources.

The Preacher

He is more than just a speaker. He is a divinely sent messenger of the Most High. He comes proclaiming the Word's of the Triune God. His message is not his own. He is not authorized to edit any portion of the Word of God that he dislikes. He reads it, studies it, receives it, believes it, prays it, delights in it, loves it, obeys it, bows the knee to it (for it is the revelation of Christ the Lord) and preaches it. "Toning" it down or "spicing" it up are not options for the preacher.

He is a man called and gifted by the Spirit of God and if he is called, gifted and bears the message of God then it follows he must carry some authority. Although it is a limited authority it is still a divinely commissioned authority. After all what it the point of sending messengers with messages that can be discarded at will without any consequences?  To reject the preachers of Christ is to reject the King Himself. That statement sounds strange in this age of "contemporary Christianity" but it is confirmed by Christ in the parable (among many other numerous places in Scripture) of the Rich Man and Lazarus, "29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”(Lk 16:29–31; see the following quote from Christopher Ash for further elaboration on the Word of God without the preacher). Think I'm overstating my case?

 23 But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants the prophets to them, day after day. 26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. 

27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips (Je 7:22–28). 

"But pastors smell like sheep too!" They do and they better. They are prone to error, sin and wandering therefore they need to be shepherded, too. Because they are sheep and smell like it doesn't negate their authority. There was no one more sheep-ish than the Apostle Paul but yet could still write "For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything (2 Co 2:9). 

There are a million objections to what I'm stating here and before I turn it over to Christopher Ash allow my to address one more. "Who keeps the pastor/preacher in check?" The Word of God and his fellow elders. This is a reason why God gives qualifications for those who will shepherd His flock in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1:5-9. The pastor or preacher cannot just over rule his elders on matters. He is subject to them.

Finally, here is Christopher Ash:

 (b)      The Authority of God is exercised not by the written word but by the written word preached

This is very significant. It means that the authority of God was mediated in Israel not by the written word, but by the written word preached. The word of the covenant was written on tablets of stone. But those written words must be preached. We see both written word and preached word in Deuteronomy. The ‘Ten Words’ of the covenant were ‘inscribed by the finger of God’ (Deut. 9:10), but they were preached by Moses. Moses’ preaching was written on large stones (Deut. 27:1–8); the law was written by Moses (Deut. 31:9). But it was to be read and preached in every generation by the prophets.

And so began that great prophetic succession by whose mouths the LORD preached the covenant to his people. As O. Palmer Robertson puts it, ‘This small single voice replaces all the fearsome signs that accompanied the theophany of Sinai. The smoking, shaking mountain … now finds its equivalent in the gentle voice of the brother speaking among brothers’. These were ‘the eyes of the people’, as Isaiah puts it (Isa. 29:10–14), and they were the watchmen (Jer. 6:17).

This is why the test of obedience to God was whether or not they listened to the prophet. To be stiff-necked is not to give ear to the prophets (Neh. 9:29). When Jesus sums up rebellion against God he calls it ‘persecuting the prophets’ (Matt. 5:12), being ‘the sons of those who murdered the prophets’ (Matt. 23:31) or being ‘the city that kills the prophets’ (Luke 13:34).

The written covenant was the anchor that tied the true prophet into the succession of true prophets. True prophets were preachers of the written covenant. Both were needed. Sometimes the word was written but not preached. But without the preacher the word gathers dust in a forgotten corner of the temple, to be discovered by the builders (as in Josiah’s reign, 2 Kings 22). At other times some kind of ‘word’ may be preached, but this preached ‘word’ is divorced from the written word. And yet without the written word, the prophet becomes simply a ‘dreamer of dreams’ (e.g. Deut. 13:1ff). Neither the written word alone, nor the prophet alone, is sufficient, but rather the written word preached.

God did not just give them the book. He gave them preachers of the book so that face to face they could be taught, challenged, rebuked and exhorted to repentance and faith. And therefore one of the worst things God could do was to stop speaking to his people by the prophets, as he had almost done before the time of Samuel, when things were very dark and everyone did what was right in his own eyes (e.g. Judg. 17:6; 21:25) and the word of the LORD was rare (1 Sam. 3:1). The word was there, written on the tablets in the Ark; but nobody preached it. In the time of Amos God threatens ‘a famine of hearing the words of the LORD’ (Amos 8:11f.); this famine is not so much the absence of prophets to tell them the future; it is more the absence of prophets to preach to them the covenant. Later, at the time of Psalm 74:9 (‘there is no longer any prophet’), they didn’t say, ‘Oh, well, it doesn’t matter because we’ve got the book.’ They said, ‘There is no longer any prophet … How long, O LORD …?’ because the loving authority of God is exercised by the written word preached. The preaching of the prophets was gradually collected so that the written word grew. But at every stage God governed his people by those who preached the written word, not just by the written testimony in the ark or on scrolls.*

*Ash, C. (2009). The Priority of Preaching (26–27). Geanies House, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications.

John Stott on Preaching

There is an urgent need for courageous preachers in the pulpits of the world today, like the apostles in the early Church who ‘were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness’. (Acts 4: 31, cf. v. 13) Neither men-pleasers nor time-servers ever make good preachers. We are called to the sacred task of biblical exposition, and commissioned to proclaim what God has said, not what human beings want to hear. Many modern churchmen suffer from a malady called ‘itching ears’, which induces them to ‘accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings’. (2 Tim. 4: 3) But we have no liberty to scratch their itch or pander to their likings. Rather are we to resemble Paul in Ephesus who resisted this very temptation and twice insisted that he ‘did not shrink from declaring’ to them what had to be declared, namely ‘anything that was profitable’ for them and indeed ‘the whole counsel of God’. (Acts 20: 20, 27) We have to beware of selecting our texts and topics - even unconsciously - according to personal prejudice or popular fashion. The medicine of the gospel has been prescribed by the Good Physician; we may neither dilute it nor add ingredients to make it more palatable; we must serve it neat. Nor need we fear that people will not take it. To be sure, some may leave, but most will respond. ‘People are driven from the Church,’ commented George Buttrick, ‘not so much by stern truth that makes them uneasy as by weak nothings that make them contemptuous.’

‘Courage,’ said Phillips Brooks in his 1877 Yale Lectures, ... is the indispensable requisite of any true ministry ... If you are afraid of men and a slave to their opinion, go and do something else. Go and make shoes to fit them. Go even and paint pictures which you know are bad but which suit their bad taste. But do not keep on all your life preaching sermons which shall say not what God sent you to declare, but what they hire you to say. Be courageous. Be independent.'

Truly, ‘the fear of man lays a snare’ (Prov. 29: 25), and many preachers get caught in it. But once ensnared, we are no longer free; we have become the obsequious servants of public opinion.*

*Stott, John R. W. (1994-01-01). Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today (pp. 299-300). Eerdmans Publishing Co - A. Kindle Edition.

People Who Meet Together On Sundays

People who meet together on Sundays (inclusive of Sunday School studies, as well as other corporate worship during the weekdays) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as confessing members of a local fellowship (assembly, church, union) representative as a part of the body of Christ universal, commit to a type of relational state which, first, professes that union with our Lord and God, entirely through His work, that is spiritual: That is, they maintain that they are literally, in spirit, joined with God as the people He gave to His Son, who showed (explained, demonstrated, expounded) the Father to them, which leads to the second expression of that union:

As God’s people, they must further, by confession and corporate involvement both in their private lives as singular members of that greater organism, as well as in corporate expression with one another - both on those days set by the gospel and church agreement and those days which are not so set –  admit such fellowship was brought about solely by the monergistic regenerative work of the Spirit of God, and continues to be not only possible, but divinely, practically worked out in their lives, by the effectual working of the same Holy Spirit indwelling their reborn spirits in constant union (fellowship in the light as He is in the light).

This sounds great on paper, and indeed it is paper on which we have the foundation upon which we stand – God’s Holy Scriptures – but the corpus upon which we base our union with one another and our God is far more than informational writing; it is the physical representation of both the spiritual and temporal means of life everlasting, and the practice of that life now, along with the hope which we eagerly await.

Why, then, do we negate the Scripture by assigning more importance to our “personal” lives, as if these great and precious promises do not affect how we maintain the unity of the Spirit and the unity of the faith during those times we are not gathered together in and as these local bodies?

I submit to you that we all, to various degrees, do not surrender those parts of our lives which we consider “private;” that instead, we selfishly consider our own petty troubles and pursuits as more real than that Word of God to by which we confess and profess our allegiance to the God of the Bible who saved us while we were yet His enemies.

Consider: We go about our lives without making the effort of staying in touch with one another outside of the corporate meetings. We feel that we have obeyed the command to not forsake the assembling together by attendance at such corporate meetings of worship, yet what we really do is make a legal requirement out of that command instead of understanding it in the great body of writing contained within the Scriptures on the very exact functions of the members of that body which are shown us in Scripture, for we do not, in spirit, remember one another during the times in between these meetings, except, perhaps, by the prayers we bring to our God regarding other members of His body (if indeed we are true to that command).

Again, I submit to the reader, even with intercessory prayers on behalf of the other members of the local body with which they are in covenant relationship with God and one another, that these prayers are no more than be warmed, be fed, go in peace, if we do not follow through in the spirit of such prayers in maintaining that unity which is always to reflect the perfect, infinitely good and holy union which is our God – the triune God of Scripture.

Any true reading of what the body of Christ is, and how it is to function, cannot say the “Amen” to such neglect of that spiritual fellowship which is declared in Scripture regarding the body of Christ. When there is no concern or contact on a regular basis between members of a local body, to a greater rather than a lesser extent, we simply give the lie to our understanding of the Scriptures on these great truths.

Now, many will say that they have problems they must deal with during the weekdays where corporate worship does not take place; they have jobs, relationships in their own families and among their friends (which brings up an entirely different set of commands that are directly relevant to what we are writing about: who, then, are to be the closest of friends among a local body of Christians?) which they must make up and maintain, and we are not saying that such is not the case. What we are saying is that these are pursued with a worldly mindset, in a worldly manner, which in no way reflects that unity of one another being of the same mind, spirit and communion, and this, to the neglect of the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace and love which most greatly reflects that unity that perfectly has, and does, exist within the triune God of Scripture whom we profess and confess that we do, indeed, follow (please take note: this following is not simply a game of tag, as it deals with eternal life now).

Personal emotions and thoughts swarm in the minds of those who profess and confess Christ as their all-in-all, crowding out of all thoughts of fellowship during the weekdays during which corporate worship meetings do not take place, and so take the place of looking to things above, not below, and holding our treasure to be among that which rust, moths and thiefs corrode, eat and steal (even though such unity of worship in spirit and truth is always to be taking place, according to the Scriptures and confessions we say we follow); to this extent, we deny the spirit of that meeting together that we think we are in obedience to, for in essence, by such thoughts, emotions and the actions they engender, we are saying to the other members of the body not only that we have no need of you, but also that we do not rejoice when you rejoice; we do not care for your honor, nor do we suffer your hardships with you. Thus, the reality of the cares and riches and pleasures of life, also called the desires of the flesh, the eyes, and pride in possessions, are of greater importance to us than that maintenance of the union which is so strongly commanded us in Scripture. These things surely show where our hearts are, and so where our greatest treasure is stored, and tragically so, too often, for with very many local portions of the body of Christ, our hearts are on things below, not above, for that is where the things we treasure most remain.

When our temporal reality does not get displaced by the reality of the things of faith, we make our confessions vain, our prayers empty, and fail to show that unity of the body of Christ which is always to reflect the perfect unity of the God we hold we are in union with.

These musings are not stated to negate that we do, indeed, have troubles and cares and a necessary pursuit of those things that are needful to maintain both individual and family lives; they are to state that there are two ways of going about these things, and one necessarily excludes the other. When we make the things that are perishing more important than those things we are to look at in the reality of that eternal life and union with our God, and one another, which is so plainly and repeatedly taught us in Scripture, we do, in fact, declare that these things which are passing away are of greater significance to us than those things which are eternal, and all this is to the detriment of not only our own spiritual life, but the life of that local body within which we are members one of another. We also declare that we will not trust God for the supply of those things that pertain to the maintenance of our mundane needs, for in failing to put the body of which we are a part first, we deny He does so in our relentless pursuit of these things.

The chief concern of each member of the body who is both an heir with Christ and joined inextricably to not only our Head, but one another, is, of course, Christ as the final and full expression of our triune God; many do this to the exclusion of the fellowship of His body, as if they were Christian islands, with no concern but for themselves and Christ, and in doing so, they deny even that concern they express about their own walk with the Lord, for in disobeying His commands concerning His body, they effectively deny that of which they seek to profess and live according too.

To end this on the most simple of notes, our Lord did not only say we are to love Him as He loved us (to His apostles, and us by extension – and notice, He speaks to the church, not individuals), but that this is the manner in which the world will know that the Father sent Him and how the world will know we are His.

An even simpler note is that when we give even a glass of water (signifying the meeting of all needs as joint members of His body local and universal), we are doing so to Him.

The truth of this article should be very plain and pointed, not to mention convicting, to many who confess Christ as their Lord. Scriptures are hinted at – strongly – all through the article, but not cited, for they should be known by those reading this.

Let us see who rejoices and/or grieves when another of that local body they are in is joyous or grieving. Faith that does not result in works of grace-given faith to one another is no faith at all, and prayers that are not followed by actions are of that dead faith.

May God have mercy on us.

SDG - Bill

Worship Reflects Theology

Although the cultural and demographic makeup of a church can influence its worship, the main feature that shapes worship is the church's theology. Every church has core beliefs about God, salvation and man. Even bad and poor theology is still theology, and every church's theology shapes its worship. Catholic worship center around Mass because their theology is based upon the sacraments. The theology of Charles Finney led the church to shift from word-oriented worship, to an emotional driven service. Why? Because, according to Finney, salvation was the result of an emotional appeal and persuasion. Likewise, pragmatism is the theology of the seeker sensitive church. Thus, the demands of the consumer  have caused the church to turn its worship into a form of entertainment with a therapeutic, motivating lesson. The creativity in worship, which is emphasized by the Emergent Church, is based upon an ever-changing theology that contains no absolutes. The take away here is that theology matters when it comes to worship. We learn what a church believes about God, man and salvation by the manner in which the church worships God.

 For this reason,the church needs to worship in a way that reflects a sound theology of worship. If the church desires to worship God, it is fundamental that the church knows what biblical worship is first.*

Jeffery D. Johnson, The Church: Why Bother? (Birmingham: Solid Ground, 2012), 77-78

Weekly Dose Of Lloyd-Jones (On The Local Church)

The church is not a place where people are to be entertained, or where people come to sit and listen either to singing or to the accounts of other people’s experiences, coupled with a brief, light, comfortable message...

There is no independence in the body. Each part derives its meaning, its essence, from its relationship to the rest. That is the truth about the body; and it is equally true, says the Apostle, about the Church. Each organ needs the others, and each one benefits by the functions of the others...

When did you last hear of a person being excommunicated? When did you last hear of a person being kept back from the Communion Table? Go back to the history of Protestantism and you will find that the Protestant definition of the Church is, ‘that the Church is a place in which the Word is preached, the Sacraments are administered, and discipline is exercised’...

‘What are the three essential marks of the Church?’ I wonder how many would have mentioned the exercise of discipline? There is no doubt at all but that this doctrine is grievously neglected. Indeed, if I were asked to explain why it is that things are as they are in the Church; if I were asked to explain why statistics show the dwindling numbers, the lack of power and the lack of influence upon men and women; if I were asked to explain why it is that so many churches seem to be incapable of sustaining the cause without resorting to whist drives and dances and things like that; if I were asked to explain why it is that the Church is in such a parlous condition, I should have to say that the ultimate cause is the failure to exercise discipline.*

*Sargent, T. (2007). Gems from Martyn Lloyd-Jones: An Anthology of Quotations from 'the Doctor' (55, 56, 57). Milton Keynes, England; Colorado Springs, CO; Hyderabad, AP: Paternoster.

When God Judges A Nation

When our sovereign God judges a nation it is a serious thing and it is never pretty. But when God does bring judgment upon a nation it is always perfect, good, right and just. He makes no mistakes. He is always provoked into doing so. He bears patiently and gives plenty of opportunity for repentance from sin and faith in Christ. All while the nations rage and scorn His holiness. Often mocking and blaspheming Him by perverting His righteous laws. Make no mistake my friends, there will come a time when our Triune God will respond with righteous judgment.

I say this with a heavy heart. I believe President Barrack Obama is God's judgment upon the United States of America. We have long provoked God. We have said of Christ the King, "‘We do not want this man to reign over us’" (Lk. 19:14).  In whatever way in which you believe the Lord Jesus reigns, be it through "natural law" or "theonomy," we can all agree that we have rejected His righteous rule over us (as a nation). We have received what we asked for. A president who blatantly promotes the murder of millions of unborn children while having more of a desire to protect animals and other wildlife. A president who perverts the sacred institution of marriage by promoting not only homosexuality but asking that we embrace them in the sacred institution of marriage. A president who promotes and fights with all effort to steal from one class of people to give to another; creates and breeds a people, who instead of working and contributing to the nation, are lazy, leech off it and become dependent on government (since President Obama is so eager to quote and misuse Scripture as a defense for stealing from the rich to give to who he believes are the poor, he should be aware of this verse, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." (2 Thes. 3:10).

Is not our re-election of President Obama a reflection of our desire as a nation? Is this not what we wanted as a whole? It is indeed. God is giving us what we wanted. We wanted a president that calls evil good and good evil because we as a nation continue to do so. John Owen has said "The most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men." This, my friends, is what we are seeing. God giving us over to our own desires and hardening hearts of men letting us go further and further into sin and wickedness. Romans 1:18-32 is very applicable here:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 

28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. 

The wrath of God is being poured upon our nation for the very reasons mentioned in the above passage. In fact is has been poured upon us for some time but has become very apparent in the re-election of President Obama and I believe we will see it get worse.

It is right to blame the nation as a whole and it is right to blame the church as a whole as well. Instead of being the church militant we have been the church cowardly. Instead of waging the good spiritual warfare (1 Tim. 1:18) we have sat passively back and watched not only the world turn the world upside down but the church upside down, too. Gone are the days when the church turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6) in the early church and in the Reformation. We have not taken advantage of the freedoms God has granted us in the U.S.A. Not only is the life giving Gospel of Jesus Christ preached by few, it is distorted and perverted by many in the pulpit. Many claiming to be shepherds of Christ's sheep have given in to the itching ears of those in the congregation. Instead of bringing the sheep up, they have brought the Scriptures down. The average Christian is not only doctrinally and theologically illiterate, they want the shepherds to be so as well. The freedom our gracious God has granted us to worship Him corporately on the Sabbath has been taken for granted. While our brothers and sisters not afforded this privilege in other countries will travel long hours and stand in difficult climate to worship the Triune God, many Christians in the U.S. are perfectly comfortable going week upon week without corporately worshiping our sovereign God. Instead of being out making disciples of Christ with our freedoms, we have remained ignorantly cooped up. O how we have been asking for our judgment:

17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1 peter 4:17-19).

As is always the case God has not, nor will, ever fail us, we have failed Him. Praise the Lord of the imputed righteousness of Christ and God's loving faithfulness!

Let me be very clear here this is not all doom and no hope joy and praise of God. For I surely know and praise God for this judgment since God is glorifying His name and demonstrating His righteousness in all of this. It is a matter of praising God for His just judgments while grieving for our country and the people that make up our country. If anyone knew that Christ was still on His throne during the judgment of his people, it was the prophet Jeremiah. Yet he still wept for his people. It is perfectly fine to know that Christ always reigns and Obama is but a mere vessel in His hands and at the same time grieve for the ruination that will surely follow.

I am also firmly convinced that "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Ro 8:28). Perhaps we will now draw closer to Christ and depend upon Him more? Let it be that we will abandon our over individualism and realize we are a corporate body. That we need one another. Let it also be that we learn to love and appreciate, more so than we do now (if we do,) the utter importance of gathering on the Lord's Day to worship Him and proclaim His greatness all while growing up in Him. Perhaps now we will learn to love and long for sound doctrine and healthy theology so that the average Christian will be able to answer the humanist who angrily asks, "How can a loving God send innocent people to hell!?" And maybe, just maybe, when we start seeing the effects of poverty (which shall increase) and families suffering thereby being more open and receptive to the Gospel, we will faithfully and gladly share it with them seeing that the fields are ripe for harvest (Jn. 4:32, it has always been true but now will be much more evident). After all, when God brings judgment upon nations repentance and faith usually follow. Just ask those communist nations that first assaulted Christianity in order to establish their communism and in doing so caused the Gospel to spread further and created some of the strongest followers of Christ.

I give thanks to the Lord for His just judgment and grieve for my countrymen because of the hardships that soon shall come. It is during times of great grief like this where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only truth that brings me great comfort. To God be the Glory!

2 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 

4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Ps 2:1–12). 

Christ will rule and reign as He so desires. President Obama is but a mere vessel in His hands and will serve the purposes of Christ, and glorify His name, whether the president knows it or not. Praise be to our sovereign Triune God.