On my last trip to Haiti, during clinic in Lizon on Thursday, a young man came into the clinic. He had a medical problem and said he was a Jehovah Witness. The medical problem was minor and after he saw the doctor, the young man and I spent several hours in conversation. He taught me much about the Jehovah Witnesses and I hoped he learned a little about why evangelical Christians believe what they believe. This blog is my notes from that conversation so that I will be more prepared for future conversations.
There is one point from our conversation that I want to focus on: Jehovah Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity. They have two reasons for this disbelief. First, they believe that Christ is not God, but the archangel Michael. Second, they believe the Holy Spirit is a force and not a person. In this blog, I will focus on Jesus's divinity and I will write about the personhood of the Holy Spirit in a future blog post.
The main scripture Jehovah Witnesses use to argue against the divinity of Christ is in John 14.
John 14:28 ESV
You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
I replied with with the main teaching passages on the divinity of Christ: John 1, Ephesians 1, and Hebrews 1. I also explained that Christ was on earth as a man. He humbled himself to carry out God the Father's purposes to save mankind (John 3:16). Christ said the Father was greater than he was because he was voluntarily serving the Father on the Father's mission. Christ was equal to God in personhood, but subordinated himself to God in this mission to redeem mankind.
I was not completely happy with my response so after I came back, I looked up the passage in a commentary.
Royce Gordon Gruenler
Jesus the obedient and deferential Son acclaims the Father as greater than he in language that is typical of the divine disposability, where none of the persons exults over the other, but each defers to the other with loving hospitality and availability. The subordination theme also refers to Jesus' incarnate existence as servant. If the disciples really loved Jesus the Son (as they will come to love him and know him through the Holy Spirit), they would understand that his imminent departure to the Father means that his future glorification is greater than his present and humble incarnate life in the flesh; hence, "the Father is greater than I" reflects the deference of the incarnate Son to Father. Yet in light of other paradoxical utterances, it would seem that here again the Son is making a statement that tells us something of his attitude toward the Father within the divine Triunity itself: the Son subordinates himself to the Father not because he is less than the Father but because it is the nature of all three persons of the Triune Family to subordinate themselves to one another in ultimate deferential love and hospitality. Jesus also expects deferential love and hospitality from his disciples. It is simply and profoundly the way Jesus the Son thinks and speaks that he says to them:
If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I."
Similarly at the close of the discourse, as Jesus predicts the coming of the ruler of this world who will curtail his speaking in the final suffering of the cross (although he has no ultimate power over the Son), Jesus places himself again at the disposal of the Father in obedient love, that the world may know of his love for the Father. (pp. 105-106, The Trinity in the Gospel of John: A Thematic Commentary of the Fourth Gospel)
The example that comes to mind is the Secret Service protecting the president. If you asked most of the presidents, "Whether a president's life is worth more than the men and women who are protecting them?" I hope they would answer, "No, of course not." However, using the biblical terminology, if you ask Secret Service agents why they would give up their lives to protect the president, they would answer in something like the following manner, "In order to serve and protect my country in this assignment, I have to believe that the president's life is greater than my own. I would need to sacrifice my life to protect the president for the greater good of protecting my country." In terms of the worth of the individual human being, all men are created equal. However, in terms of service to one's country, someone may have to value their own lives as subordinate to another person's life for the greater good.
I am reading about the trinity in a fairly scholarly book. The author throws these terms around so I thought I would post the definitions for future reference. I'm not a scholar so these are just notes from a casual reader of theology getting his arms around the terminology.
Psychological Trinity -- It is a form of analogies that describe the trinity. It likens the unity and diversity of the Godhead to the unity and diversity of the human self. Augustine's analogy is the most famous example: the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is like the unity of the mind (thoughts), heart (emotions), and volition (will) of a person.
Social Trinity -- In reaction to the "Psychological" analogies, some theologians argue the Bible describes the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three distinct Persons. They argue that the Trinity is three distinct aspects of one Person. Thus, we should think of the unity of the Trinity as more like the unity of the mind, heart, and will of three people"
Economic Trinity -- This is not a analogy per se, but a description of the Trinity refering to God’s activity in creation and redemption. It uses terms like Creator/Redeemer/Sustainer or Provider/Savior/Comforter.
Ontological or Immanent Trinity -- Refers to God’s eternal existence and the internal relationships between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It refers to the attributes of God and how the persons of the Godhead interact with each other for all eternity. A good example of this would be Jonathan Edwards's definition, "The Son is the perfect 'understanding' and 'idea' of the of the Father, and the Spirit is the 'will' and the 'love' shared between the Father and the Son;"
I am still processing this. One observation, theologians spend a lot of time mapping how the "Immanent Trinity" maps to the "Economic Trinity." This is fairly esoteric, but how someone views the Trinity impacts how one models God's interaction with Man and with the Church in particular. This could affect how we minister with one another and the world.
I attended the Biblical Counseling Conference in October 2015. At the end of the last session on Saturday, the instructors showed a video portraying a counseling session. The counselor emphasized to the counselees the need to do homework. One of the main homework assignments for the counselees was scripture memory. Let us ponder this. Counseling is discipleship. We prescribe scripture memory to help people to change their wrong patterns of thinking into biblical patterns of thinking. This prescription would imply that all Christians should practice this spiritual discipline. However, in my experience most Christians do not memorize scripture.
Christians agree that scripture memory is important or at least that it is useful for some believers. However, people find memorizing scripture difficult. At my age, I find it very difficult. However, how can I counsel people to meditate or to memorize a passage of scripture, if I am not memorizing scripture myself? Furthermore, the bible teaches it is an important spiritual discipline to help all of us grow into Christ-likeness.
I started memorizing scripture after my first trip to Haiti. During my first trip, I had problems finding verses quickly in my bible. It made it difficult to hold conversations. Since then I have found it useful when I give soul care to patients in Haiti to have bible passages readily available. Since internet access is very limited in Haiti, having the verses and their references committed to memory, has been very helpful. The more verses I have memorized, the more tools I have to help people.
It also has been very helpful for my own spiritual walk. Even though I do scripture memory poorly, I find the very act of memorizing is a form of meditation. The more I focus on God's Word; the more I focus on The Word, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Here are some useful verses that encouraged me to meditate and memorize scripture.
Deuteronomy 11:18
“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Joshua 1:8
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Psalm 1:1-2
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 119:9-11
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Psalm 119:97
Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Matthew 4:4
But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Twice Christ mentions the phrase, "in remembrance of me" in this passage. We are to eat the bread in remembrance of Jesus and drink the wine in remembrance of Jesus. In our culture, the phrase "in remembrance" is used in conjunction with memorials for loved ones who have passed away. People have gravestones of their loved ones engraved with the epitaph that begins, "In Remembrance of". Sometimes the phrase is used in obituaries. Typically, these gravestones and obituaries convey very little about the deceased. A gravestone may have the epitaph "a loving wife" or "a faithful husband." An obituary in the newspaper would have the bare facts of a person's life: their surviving relatives, their hobbies or charities, and their vocational accomplishments. The phrase is a way to honor the dead by stating that the deceased is still loved and remembered by the living. In a way it focuses just as much on the living as the deceased.
However, in 1st Corinthians, the Greek word translated "remembrance" does not mean "in memory of" but rather, as my Greek dictionary defines it, "an affectionate calling the Person Himself to mind." My linguistic key puts it another way, "The word indicates to call back again into memory a vivid experience." I was trying to think of an example of this and it came to me that a funeral service we had at Grace in North Liberty several years ago for Darryl Lindley exemplified this idea.
Darryl was one of our Church's most cherished members. He was a big Cub fan and wore a Cub t-shirt and a Cub baseball hat to almost every church service. He loved to talk baseball to anyone who would listen. When Darryl passed away, the funeral service celebrated Darryl's life through stories told by family, friends, and pastors. People laughed and cried. We remembered together his love of fishing and baseball. We recalled his hospitality. People told stories about what a great butcher he was. His family quoted Darrylisms: he had an unique proverb for different situations. We recalled how much Darryl loved Jesus. In other words, we remembered the person himself and not just a slogan or epitaph. We celebrated Darryl's life through remembrance.
When Christ tells us to remember him through celebrating communion, he seems to be emphasizing his death. We are to remember that just as he broke the bread, his body was broken in suffering for us. We are to remember the cup of wine he passed around to the disciples represented the blood of the New Covenant. As it says the Gospel According to Matthew, his blood was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins.
In 1 Corinthians 11:26, it reads "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Through this remembering we proclaim how Christ's death and resurrection redeemed us to be a people unto God. Through the proclaiming we help each other to remember how much Jesus loved us and he is with us still. We proclaim the gospel not only to ourselves, but to the world around. This remembrance is not a memorial service for a dead person, but a celebration and proclamation of a living God who loved us and gave himself for us that we might dine with Him at the Lord's Table forever.
Here's another passage from Tim Keller in his book Every Good Endeavor. He tells a story about Dr. Martyn Lloyd, a famous London preacher in the early 1900's, who had disagreements on how to treat patients: holistically versus physically.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones makes the same point in one of his lectures to medical professionals. LLoyd-Jones was on staff at Saint Bart's in London under the famous chief of staff Lord Horder in the late 1920s. At one point the junior physician was asked by Lord Horder to rearrange and reclassify his case history records. He created a new filing system, arranging the cases not by name but by diagnosis and treatment. As Lloyd-Jones did this task he was astonished that Horder's diagnostic notes in well over half the cases included comments such as "works far too hard," "drinks too much," "unhappy in home and marriage." At one point he spent the weekend with Lord Horder and took the opportunity to ask him about what he had seen in the case files. Horder responded that he reckoned only about a third of the problems that are brought to a physician are strictly medical--the rest are due to or aggravated by anxiety and stress, poor life choices, and unrealistic goals and beliefs about themselves. Severe cases, of course, could be sent to the psychiatrist, but most of the time that wasn't appropriate. So, Horder concluded, a doctor should basically mind his or her own business. Lloyd-Jones said that after he heard that response:
...we argued for the whole of the weekend! My contention was that we should be treating [the whole of the person's life]. "Ah," said Horder, "that is where you are wrong! If these people like to pay us our fees for more or less doing nothing, then let them do so. We can then concentrate on the 35 percent or so of real medicine." But my contention was that to treat these other people [taking into account their whole life] was "real medicine" also. All of them were really sick. They certainly were not well! They have gone to the doctor--perhaps more than one--in quest of help.
Lloyd-Jones was not proposing that physicians were by themselves competent to do this, but rather that together with other counselors and helping professions they needed to address the whole person. People have a spiritual nature, a moral nature, and a social nature, and if any of these are violated by unwise or wrong beliefs, behaviors, and choices, there can be interlocking physical and emotional breakdown. And even patients whose original illness was caused by strictly physical factors eventually need much more than mere medicine to recuperate and heal. (pp. 177-178, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work)
Doctor Matt Anderson's views and goals on the practice of medicine has a historical and theological foundation :)
Timothy Keller, in his book Every Good Endeavor, quotes a journal article about one doctor's frustration in his practice. This doctor's experience mirrors Dr. Matt Anderson's experiences. Matt is the instigator of our Haiti Mission Trips.
One woman I corresponded with pointed me to an article in The New England Journal of Medicine titled "God at the Bedside." The author was a doctor who often found that patients' spiritual beliefs and practices were very much a factor in their health issues, but "in the modern era, religion and science are understood as sharply divided, the two occupying very different domains." He wrote that he often found that patients' guilt and fears were factors in their illness and also that their faith in God was part of how they healed, but he felt completely unprepared by his training to address any of these realities. "Doctors," he wrote, "understandably are leery of moving outside the strictly clinical and venturing into the spiritual realm."(pp. 176-177)
Matt Anderson talks about these issues on every trip to Haiti. He wants to develop a model of care that addresses both the body and the soul. May God bless his work!
Jonah's Prayer
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away
from your sight;
yet I shall again look
upon your holy temple.’
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!” Jonah 2:1-9
My first experience I remember of being in a swimming pool was at the YMCA when I was 6 or 7 years-old. The swimming class consisted of only a handful of small children. The instructors, contrary to my expectations, led us from the shallow end of the swimming pool to the deep end. They lined the students up on the side the pool. One of the instructors peeled off his t-shirt and dived into the pool, while a different instructor picked up a safety hook hanging on the wall. The third instructor told the first child to jump in and grab for the hook. She assured the pupil that they would help him. He obeyed and jumped in. The student was led to the hook by the instructor in the pool, The pupil grabbed the hook and was promptly pulled out of the water. The process continued with the next student. It was then my turn. I stepped up to the side of the pool with a little trepidation, I took a deep breath and jumped. It seemed like I sank to the bottom of the pool, but it must have been only a foot or two. I was never underwater before for so long. I felt the instructor gently pushed me a certain direction, I opened my eyes, saw the hook, and eagerly grabbed it. The swimming coaches whisked me out of the pool. I hoped to do it again, but when all the students had their turn, the instructors sat us down and explained that the exercise was to teach us to trust them. They were trained and had the right equipment to protect us. We needed not to be afraid of the water. The instructors said they would start the next lesson in the shallow end, but if we worked hard we would be swimming and diving into the deep end by end of the summer.
This experience came back to me as I read the great Puritan writer, Stephen Charnock. In his chapter on the wisdom of God, he asserted that God teaches the same lesson to his children. God may allow us to drown in our sin or to overwhelm us at times with suffering so that we may turn and trust him. Charnock used as an illustration this principle of human nature that a person drowning in open waters will grab anything that will provide salvation.
Stephen Charnock
The falls of believers God orders to their further stability: he that is fallen for want of using his staff, will lean more upon it to preserve himself from the like disaster. God, by permitting the lapses of men, often makes them despair of their own strength to subdue their enemies, and rely upon the strength of Christ, wherein God hath laid up power for us, and so becomes, stronger in that strength which he hath ordained for them. We are very apt to trust in ourselves, and have confidence in our own worth and strength; and God lets loose corruptions to abate this swelling humour. This was the reason of the apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh, 2 Cor. 12. 9, whether it were a temptation, or corruption, or sickness, that he might be sensible of his own inability, and where the sufficiency of grace for him was placed. He that is in danger of drowning, and hath the waves come over his head, will with all the might he hath, lay hold upon any thing near him, which is likely to save him. God lets his people sometimes sink into such a condition, that they may lay the faster hold on him who is near to all that call upon him.(pp. 296-297, The Existence and Attributes of God, Volume 7 of 50 Greatest Christian Classics, 2 Volumes in 1
)
There are multiple examples of God allowing his saints to endure overwhelming testing. I quoted Jonah's song of deliverance above. Another example is Job who endured suffering beyond measure, but God, in his timing, revealed himself to Job. Job's faith was revived and deepened. A great example is King David. 1 Samuel 30 records one of the deepest valleys in David's life. Most men would have given up, retreated into mountains, and taken up shepherding. God disciplined David by removing everyone to whom David could turn: his wives and children were kidnapped; his mentor Samuel was dead; Saul who was David's king was seeking to kill him; and his men wanted to stone him. David, in these circumstances, had nowhere to turn but God, As we see in 1 Samuel 30:6c, David found His escape, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord."
In our times of "drowning" or being overwhelmed by sin or suffering, we must remember 1 Corinthians 10:13.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Like the lifeguards who protected me, God will provide the means for our rescue. We must submit to God's gentle prods toward our escape from sin and suffering and like my first experience in the swimming pool, we must open our eyes to look for the means of escape beyond ourselves to overcome temptation. At times, it is a matter of trust in the promise of 1st Corinthians 10:13. We need to rely on God's character and his benevolence towards us to look diligently for the means of escape.
The "Fellowship of the Bean," the Wednesday Morning Mens Group, will be studying 1 Corinthians 11 in a couple of weeks. The last half of the chapter is on the Lord's Supper. I have written about communion in an earlier post, but once again the passage and the commentaries have convicted me and I thought I would share.
Earlier in the passage, Paul wrote about how the richer members of the Corinthians congregation were showing up for the Lord's Supper with food and wine just for themselves. The poorer Corinthians due to circumstances were unable to bring anything for themselves. The end result was that the rich were getting drunk and feasting while the poor of the congregation stood around and went hungry. Paul called the whole congregation into account for not remembering the purpose of the Lord's Supper.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.
The following two commentaries made different observations on 1st Corinthians 11:29. In this first quote, Gordon Fee pointed out that the Corinthians were not discerning the body: they forgot that the one loaf and one common cup indicated the unity of the body of Christ. Christ saved all of them through His death on the cross. Furthermore, they were gifted by the Holy Spirit to serve one another. Because they were members of a common body, they were members of one another.
Gordon D. Fee
The Lord’s Supper is not just any meal; it is the meal, in which at a common table with one loaf and a common cup they proclaimed that through the death of Christ they were one body, the body of Christ; and therefore they are not just any group of sociologically diverse people who could keep those differences intact at this table. Here they most “discern/recognize as distinct” the one body of Christ, of which they all are parts and in which they all are gifts to one another. To fail to discern the body in this way, by abusing those of lesser sociological status, is to incur God’s judgment. (Fee, p. 564)
Charles Hodge in the following quote indicated the Corinthians were not taking seriously the elements of the Lord's Supper. This neglect was a problem. Paul claimed that the illnesses and deaths in their congregation could be attributed to God's judgment in this area. Hodge reflected that although, we need to be serious, we need not be fearful. True joy in celebrating communion does not abide in levity or comedy in the service, but in celebrating the Lord of the Universe who has already shown His love to us through His death and resurrection.
Charles Hodge
In either case the offence is the same. The ground of the condemnation incurred is, regarding and treating the elements in the Lord’s Supper as though there was nothing to distinguish them from ordinary bread and wine. Here, as before, it is the careless and profane who are warned. There is, therefore, nothing in these passages which should surround the Lord’s Table with gloom. We are not called unto the mount covered with clouds and darkness, from which issue the signs of wrath, but unto Mount Zion, to the abode of mercy and grace, where all is love—the dying of him who never breaks the bruised reed. (p. 233,
1 & 2 Corinthians (Geneva Series of Commentaries)
).
How do we prepare our hearts for communion so that we might properly discern the body of Christ? I am reminded of an incident at church several years ago. After I served communion, I was taking the trays of grape juice and bread back to the kitchen. A woman ran up to me and said that she did not know about communion and she was late to church. She wanted to know if it was permissible for her to take the bread and the grape juice immediately while I stood in the hallway. I let her to do it. She chewed and swallowed a wafer, slammed down a mini-shot glass of grape juice, thanked me, and hurried off.
I am not criticizing my sister-in-Christ. I understood her desire. She wanted to obey Christ through celebrating His sacrifice through communion; however, she was pressured by circumstance to celebrate the Lord's Supper in a less than ideal situation. In my opinion, she did not celebrate communion in an unworthy manner, but she would probably agree that if she had time to prepare for communion, she would have partaken in the Lord's Supper in a more worthy manner. We all need to ask ourselves how we can make our celebration of communion more worthy and more worshipful.
J. I. Packer in his book on the Puritans encouraged us to learn from our spiritual forbears how to worship more efficaciously. The Puritans prepared for Sunday morning worship like a football team prepares for the next game: they prepared strategically with much effort.
J. I. Packer
Here, perhaps, is our own chief weakness. The Puritans inculcated specific preparation for worship--not merely for the Lord's Supper, but for all services--as a regular part of the Christian's inner discipline of prayer and communion with God. Says the Westminster Directory: 'When the congregation is to meet for public worship, the people (having before prepare their hearts thereunto) ought all to come....' But we neglect to prepare our hearts; for, as the Puritans would have been the first to tell us, thirty seconds of private prayer upon taking our seat in the church building is not time enough in which to do it. It is here that we need to take ourselves in hand. What we need at the present time to deepen our worship is not new liturgical forms or formulae, nor new hymns or tunes, but more preparatory 'heart-work' before we use the old ones. There is nothing wrong with new hymns, tunes, and worship styles--there may be very good reasons for them--but without 'heart-work' they will not make our worship more fruitful and God-honouring; they will only strengthen the syndrome that C. S. Lewis called 'the liturgical fidgets'. 'Heart-work' must have priority or spiritually our worship will get nowhere. So I close with an admonition from George Swinnock on preparation for the service fo the Lord's Day, which for all its seeming quaintness is, I think, a word in season for very many of us:
Prepare to meet thy God, O Christian! Betake thyself to thy chamber on the Saturday night, confess and bewail thine unfaithfulness under the ordinances of God; ashamed and condemn thyself for thy sins, entreat God to prepare they heart for, and assist it in, thy religious performances; spend some time in consideration of the infinite majesty, holiness, jealously, and goodness, of that God, with whom thouart to have to do in sacred duties; ponder the weight and importance of his holy ordinances...; meditate on the shortness of the time thou hast to enjoy Sabbaths in; and continue musing...till the fire burneth; thou canst not think the good thou mayest gain by such forethoughts, how pleasant and profitable a Lord's day would be to thee after such a preparation. The oven of thine heart thus baked in, as it were overnight, would be easily heated the next morning; the fire so well raked up when thou wentest to bed, would be the sooner kindled when thou shouldst rise. If thou wouldst thus leave thy heart with God on the Saturday night, thou shouldst find it with him in the Lord's Day morning. (pp. 256-257, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life
)
In conclusion, I realize most of us do not have large amounts of time to follow the Puritan example. However, this is an encouragement to spend more time and effort preparing ourselves to take communion in a more worthy manner, or at least make the Sunday morning service more worshipful. How do we do this? We follow Paul's admonition: we discern Christ's body. This means both Christ's physical body and the Church, which is the body of Christ. Here are some suggestions.
Discern the body by spending a few minutes in prayer thanking God for sending Christ to die for you. Confess sins. Spend time in time in the Psalms worshiping the Creator.
If you don't have time, maybe you can discern the body by helping your spouse to have time before church to spend time in prayer. Put your spouse's needs first.
Discern the body by preparing your children for Church by leading them in prayer.
Discern the body by serving other during the Church service. Volunteer to usher or serve coffee or help out with the children ministries. Putting other people's needs first is exactly what Paul is writing about in 1st Corinthians.
Discern the body by welcoming someone you do not know at the service. You can call your friends at home later, spend the time at Church practicing hospitality with strangers.
Tom Nelson is the Teaching Pastor of Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas. He preached on 1 Corinthians 11 a few years ago. He asserted that Charles Hodge's commentary on 1 Corinthians 11 is the best explanation on the passage about head coverings that he has ever found. I just read that paragraph in the commentary so I thought I would provide it.
Here's the passage in question.
1 Corinthians 11:2-16 ESV
Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
Charles Hodge
Having corrected the more private abuses which prevailed among the Corinthians, the apostle begins in this chapter to consider those which relate to the mode of conducting public worship. The first of these is the habit of women appearing in public without a veil. Dress is in great degree conventional. A costume which is proper in one country would be indecorous in another. The principle insisted upon in this paragraph is, that women should conform in matters of dress to all those usages which public sentiment of the community in which they live demands. The veil in all eastern countries was, and to great extent still is, the symbol of modesty and subjection. For a woman, therefore, in Corinth to discard the veil was to renounce her claim to modesty, and to refuse to recognize her subordination to her husband. It is on the assumption of this significancy in the use of the veil, that the apostle’s whole argument in this paragraph is founded. (p. 205, 1 & 2 Corinthians (Geneva Series of Commentaries))
Greg Gilbaugh in his sermon on May 24th, 2015 exhorted his audience to "not rest on their blessed assurance." He pointed out that we are on a mission and that the Christian life was not a life of passivity, but a life of staying actively engaged to complete the mission. Paul wrote about this theme repeatedly in his letters to the churches he was shepherding. The most striking example was in Philippians.
Philippians 3:8-16
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
This passage is one of many passages where theologians derive the doctrine of "Perseverance of the Saints." Some people equate this doctrine with the incorrect teaching of "Once Saved Always Saved." However, perseverance is far more than this simplistic slogan. As we read passages like the one above in Philippians, we see that Paul claims "that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." Paul, at the very least , seems to be trying to attain his salvation. On the other hand in Romans 8, Paul expresses his unabashed confidence that our eternal life is secure in God's hands.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When theologians define "Perseverance," they try to express this dynamic. Wayne's Grudem's two-part definition reflects this tension between the believer's confidence that his salvation is secured by God's love on the one hand and on the other hand, the need for the Christian has to press onward to attain the resurrection of the dead.
Wayne Grudem The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God's power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again. (p.788, Systematic Theology)
Grudem explains his two-part definition in the next paragraph.
This definition has two parts to it. It indicates first that there is assurance to be given to those who are truly born again, for it reminds them that God's power will keep them as Christians until they die, and they will surely live with Christ in heaven forever. On the other hand, the second half of the definition makes it clear that continuing in the Christian life is one of the evidences that a person is truly born again. (p. 788, ibid)
As the author of Hebrews points out in chapter 12, our faith is founded by and perfected by Jesus. We can run the race of faith with endurance and be confident that we will finish. Christ is our great example and since he endured the cross, we know, with his help, we can finish our race.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Berkhoff in refuting those who object to the doctrine of perseverance, clarifies the doctrine for me.
Louis Berkhoff
It is confidently asserted that the doctrine of perseverance leads to
indolence, license, and even immorality. A false security is said to
result from it. This is a mistaken notion, however, for, although the
Bible tells us that we are kept by the grace of God, it does not
encourage the idea that God keeps us without constant watchfulness,
diligence, and prayer on our part. It is hard to see how a doctrine
which assures the believer of a perseverance in holiness can be an
incentive for sin. It would seem that the certainty of success in the
active striving for sanctification would be the best possible stimulus
to ever greater exertion.”(p.526, Systematic Theology)
Granted, the doctrine of perseverance sounds bland. It does not sound like a joy-filled life, but notice the author of Hebrews writes about joy in our pursuit of Christ. Futhermore, Paul finds that deepening his relationship with Christ is worth all the suffering and hardship. Jesus promises in John 15 that if we abide in Him and obey his commands that our joy will be full in Him. One of the reasons the Christian will persevere is God will reward our pursuit of Him with Himself. We will get to know the Lord and Creator of the universe personally. This reward is a treasure beyond our imagination: we get to abide with Christ now and in eternity.
The book of Hebrews commented about Abraham's pursuit of heaven. He lived in tents during his time on earth, but he was promised by God to be the father of nations. Ultimately, he looked toward inhabiting the eternal city. We can persevere joyfully when we realize this world is not our home. As Lewis points out, we often stumble in our Christian walk because we don't understand the reward being offered us.
C. S. Lewis
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (p. 2. The Weight of Glory)
I am going to conclude this post by quoting a sermon from Jonathan Edwards. He was preaching on 1st Corinthians 13 and was encouraging his congregation to focus on heaven when they were having difficulties here on earth.
Jonathan Edwards
Be content to pass through all difficulties in the way to heaven. Though the path is before you, and you may walk in it if you desire, yet it is a way that is ascending, and filled with many difficulties and obstacles. That glorious city of light and love is, as it were, on the top of a high hill or mountain, and there is not way to it but by upward and arduous steps. But though the ascent be difficult, and the way full of trials, still it is worth while to meet them all for the sake of coming and dwelling in such a glorious city at last. Be willing, then, to undergo the labor, and meet the toil, and overcome the difficulty. What is it all in comparison with sweet rest that is at your journey's end? Be willing to cross the natural inclination of flesh and blood, which is downward, and press onward and upward to the prize. And every step it will be easier and easier to ascend; and the higher your ascent, the more will you be cheered by the glorious prospect before you, and by a nearer view of that heavenly city where in a little while you shall forever be at rest. (Point 3, Charity and its Fruits)
John Piper loves the writings of Jonathan Edwards. Through Piper's books that love has been passed onto me. In a previous post, I write about how the president of the STEP seminary in Haiti, disciples his students. Since that time I have come across in my readings about how Jonathan Edwards excelled in discipling and mentoring young men for ministry. This first quote is about two preachers, who are very influential during the time of the American revolution, are mentored to be pastors by Edwards in his home.
Stephen Nichols
While invitations to ordination services flooded his [Jonathan Edwards] Northampton home, candidates for the ministry lined up outside his door. Ministerial preparation in those days consisted of both a college education and an apprenticeship. During the 1730s and 1740s Jonathan and Sarah's home was full not only of children, but also of ministerial candidates drawn by Edwards's preaching and writing. Among them were Joseph Bellamy, Samuel Buell, and Samuel Hopkins, all of whom became influential figures in New England. (p. 59, Jonathan Edwards: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought)
I found the following quotes interesting. The article, except for the strange ending, was very good.
More concretely, mentoring can be
defined as that intentional activity between two people which seeks to empower for spiritual development, often with the result of enhancing skills and attitudes for leadership.
Tennent combined divinity and piety as twin goals of learning, but did so in the context of family life, farming, common worship, practical ministry exposure, and generous personal investment in the next generation of leadership, enabling a mentoring dynamic of significant pedagogical value.
Rural men, without significant financial means, would appreciate not just cheap tuition, but would be able to contribute their own skills and labour to the life of the training community. Edwards received many such ministry aspirants, two of the most notable being Dr Joseph Bellamy and Dr Samuel Hopkins who each later established a school of the prophets to great effect.
Edwards’s home was a magnet for those looking to be trained. Hopkins had originally intended to move away from New England and his home in Waterbury in western Connecticut to study under Tennent in Pennsylvania, but decided in the end to complete his training in Northampton, after hearing Edwards preach on the validity of the revival at the Yale commencement of 1741. Hopkins used Edwards’s library, filled the pulpit in his absence, and fortuitously benefited greatly from the stimulating spiritual conversation of Sarah Edwards. Joseph Bellamy resided in Edwards’s home too, where he enjoyed the stability of family life, which he himself had missed growing up.
Edwards’s mentoring was not born out of a therapeutic modernism, which sought to promote self-expression or self-realisation, nor did he want others to ape him. Independence of mind does not necessarily require narcissistic individualism. He was part of a more substantial Christian narrative of faith transmission and ministerial formation, mediated to him through the urgency and intimacy of Puritan preaching schools, and sustained in the social and theological structures of the New Divinity. The mentor-protégé relationship was not unique to Edwards, but nevertheless proved to be a significant and pastorally effective feature of his ministry.
Edwards was an accomplished preacher, but his enjoyment of dialogue and commitment to Socratic method were no less significant features of his ministry. He wrote to the Trustees of Princeton describing his commitment to dialogical learning if he were to be appointed as President, and when he arrived there he encouraged his students to prepare an answer for class which could be discussed when they came together. Frequently he would debate with ministry aspirants while walking or riding. Evidently, the reason why he gave to Hopkins or Bellamy copies of his own recently composed discourses was to give them opportunity to learn while giving feedback.
Edwards’s openness to new methods of engagement in teaching is in particular evidence when he takes over responsibility for the mission schools in Stockbridge. In a letter to Sir William Pepperrell, advocate for the mission and a hero of the Louisbourg campaign of 1745, he draws attention to the value of a teacher who ‘should enter into conversation with the child,’ and desires that “the child should be encouraged, and drawn on, to speak freely, and in his turn also to ask questions, for the resolution of his own doubts.” Such reciprocity helps pupils not just to understand words but to comprehend ideas. Music could also be
a pedagogical strategy, to join hearts and minds in “a relish for objects of a superior character.” On another occasion, Edwards gave advice about how to resist Satan, which evidenced a nuanced case-by-case pastoral strategy. His attention to detail in interactions with those for whom he was responsible is important to note.
In our day, ministry has been professionalised. We adopt a model of church life from the corporate sector, we create distinct spheres of work, family and leisure, and we create a cadre of leadership distant from the congregation. Our leaders are visionaries and public speakers, perhaps imitating stand-up comedians or talk-show hosts, with lives opaque to pastoral accountability. Edwards may well have maintained some of the social decorum attributed to his ministerial responsibilities in a deferential world, but alongside this he gave himself generously to those whom he was training. He wrote to Bellamy disclosing details of the settlement of his salary, speaks of Bellamy as being ‘one of the most intimate friends that I have in the world,’ and frequently invites him to come and stay at their home. In observing Edwards’s life, his mentorees learnt not only the art of theological discourse, but self-sacrifice and self-denial as well, in contrast to the “complacency and worldliness” of many other clergy of their day. In making reference to 1 Thessalonians 2, Edwards describes the church as “our mother.” He comments that “[t]his is also a lively image of the care that the church, especially the ministers of the gospel, should have of the interest of Christ committed to their care.” Edwards broadens our expectation of pastoral leadership, and encourages us to share our lives with those we train.
Edwards draws attention to the nature of Christ’s mentoring as an intentional programme of training individuals for the ministry, which Edwards as clergy from time to time fulfils, and the importance of discipling, teaching believers the necessary attitudes and skills to learn from and follow Christ, which he exemplifies. He achieves both, given that Edwards’s mentorees excelled in their ability to sustain both organisationally and pastorally the movement which he began. His strategic foresight is set before us as a noble aspiration.
In March of 2015, Dave Kirk and I visited the President of the STEP seminary in Haiti. When we met him at the seminary, he told us to call him, Wawa. He then briefly told us his story. Wawa grew up in Haiti. He went to seminary at Dallas Theological Seminary. A professor at Dallas encouraged Wawa by mentoring him outside of class. His professor would invite Wawa over for dinner, invite him along on errands, and have coffee with him. This professor poured his life into Wawa during Wawa's time at Dallas.
When Wawa went back to Haiti, he applied at STEP seminary, He became a professor of Old Testament Theology. Wawa followed his old Dallas professor's example: Wawa invited his students over to dinner, he took them on visitations, and took them along while performing errands. Wawa poured his life into his students. The dean of students noticed the spiritual progress of Wawa's students and decided to step aside and let Wawa become dean of students. Wawa encouraged other professors to follow his model of discipleship. The seminary noticed the difference. When the president of the seminary moved on, Wawa became president and continued on with this discipleship program. He changed the paradigm of the seminary to pursue students in this way.
Needless to say, Dave and I are excited by the man's vision. Making disciples has to be more than imparting doctrinal knowledge through classroom lectures and books. However, does Wawa's model of discipleship stand up under the scrutiny of scripture? To answer that question, let us look at the main teaching passage our church uses to cast the vision of the church, "The Great Commission."
Matthew 28:19-20
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The passage has been taught and studied in great detail by evangelicals; however, I want to focus on just one word. The greek word for "make disciples" is the verb μαθητεύσατε. In this verse, Jesus did not command us to "be disciples" or to "become disciples." Christ commanded us to "make disciples." This call to "make disciples" has to involve three tasks: "calling disciples," "training disciples," and "sending disciples." My focus for this blog will be how did Christ train His disciples to make disciples?
Matthew 4:18-22
While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Notice Christ called men out of their daily occupation to be with him. A teacher having disciples was not new in the ancient world. However, what was unique to Jesus was his definition of "disciple." Jesus did not call the disciples into a school of thought so they could learn teachings about the Torah and He did not summon the disciples like the greek philosophers to learn a moral code or way of life. The disciples were called to know Christ and to make His life and sacrifice known. My theological dictionary has this observation about how Jesus viewed discipleship.
But one can go a step further and say that Jesus represents something new as compared not merely with the Rabbinate but also with the Greek master after the manner of Socrates. If allegiance to the rabbi has its ultimate source in the תּוֹרָה (torah) which he expounds, the basis of the allegiance to Socrates is to be found in the idea which he personally represents. In contrast to both, Jesus binds exclusively to Himself. The rabbi and the Greek philosopher are at one in representing a specific cause. Jesus offers himself. (p. 445, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament)
Obviously, getting to know Jesus Christ as a person takes time. Christ called them out of their occupations and their homes to spend time with Him. This is further clarified in Mark, where Jesus appoints the twelve apostles.
Mark 3:13-15
And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.
One of the reasons for the appointment of the twelve is that these men would spend time with Him. Christ wanted spend extra time with these men in order to pour His life into them. These disciples had more access to Jesus than anybody else. In the Gospels we see several examples of Jesus teaching the disciples to be disciples. Here are two examples.
First, in Matthew 13 we see Christ explaining the parables to his disciples.
Matthew 13:36-37
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man."
Second, in Luke 11, we see Christ teaching the disciples how to pray.
Luke 11:1-4
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them,
“When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
We can see how Jesus imparted His life and teachings to His disciples: he spent time with them and answered their questions. He listened to their conversations and asked them questions, which in turn, caused the disciples to ask Him questions. All this training took place during their daily lives and their daily ministry to other people.
We need to take one more step. Beyond the ministry of Jesus, does the New Testament give any insights on how disciples impart Christ's life and teachings to other disciples? The answer is a resounding yes. The New Testament gives insights through the Pauline epistles on how Paul made disciples. Paul encouraged believers to "be imitators" of him (1 Corinthians 4:16, 11:1, and Philippians 3:17). This command seem directed to the Church at large. Paul spent time with Philippians so they could see Christ working within the Apostle's life. Paul not only taught the Gospel, but he lived the Gospel before the members of the churches he was ministering to. He challenged the Philippians to look at his life and teaching and learned from them (Phil. 4:19) However, Paul took this training a step further. If we look deeper, we find Paul had select men who traveled and ministered with him and into whom he poured his life: Titus and Timothy.
Timothy travelled and lived with Paul for years on Paul's missionary journeys. Timothy not only knew what doctrine Paul taught, but Timothy closely watched Paul's life. He saw how Christ was being made manifest in Paul's life (2 Corinthians 4:7-12). In the following verse in 2nd Timothy, Paul reminded Timothy that by implementing the lessons he learned by observing Paul's life and teaching, he knew how to be a pastor.
2 Timothy 3:10
You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,
John R. W. Stott
Paul is reminding Timothy not simply that he has 'fully known' (AV) or 'observe' (RSV) his doctrine and conduct, as if he were merely an impartial student or a detached observer, but that he has become a dedicated disciple of the apostle's. No doubt he had begun by taking pains to grasp the meaning of Paul's instruction. But then he went further. He made it his own, believed it, absorbed it, lived by it. Similarly, he doubtless began by watching the apostle's manner of life, but then he went on to imitate it. Because Paul knew himself as an apostle to be following Christ, he did not hesitate to invite others to follow himself: 'Be imitators of me,' he wrote, 'as I am of Christ' (1 Cor. 11:1; cf. 1 Thess. 1:6). He even made himself the standard by which truth could be disinguished from falsehood: 'Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us' (Phil 3:17). This, in both belief and practice, in 'teaching' and 'conduct' (10), Timothy became and remained Paul's faithful follower. He had 'followed step by step' (NEB).
(pp. 93-94, Guard the Gospel;: The message of 2 Timothy (The Bible speaks today))
As we can see from the ministry of Jesus and Paul that discipleship is a time consuming endeavor. It is involves everybody in the church: leaders should be discipling young men, older women should be training younger women, and parents should be discipling their children. This model of discipleship for children is outlined by Moses in Deuteronomy and is applicable to our model of discipling.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
In conclusion, I want to quote an article on how Jonathan Edwards mentored young men. Notice how this article in describing Jonathan Edwards's method of mentoring, summarizes exactly the mentoring approach used by President Wawa, This approach, as I showed above, is modeled in the scriptures.
Jonathan Edwards on Mentoring
First, in contrast to the professionalization of ministry and the corporate model of the church, Edwards’ mentoring approach calls us to share our own selves. For example, Edwards invited Bellamy “not just into this spiritual world, but into his pecuniary and marital world too” (246). Bellamy learned by watching Edwards in his home and by hearing him share his life experiences through letters in which Edwards relied on Bellamy to help him conduct business. The two were closely linked because Edwards shared himself with Bellamy, something pastors should consider prioritizing today. (David Barshinger, http://exploringchurchhistory.com/jonathan-edwards-mentor)
This model of discipleship takes time and time is a precious resource. We idolize our time. We tend to want to use our time selflishly. We want to have time to spend in privacy with our families and we want to have time just to be be alone. However, Christ has called us to give up our lives and thus, also our time, to serve Him. We are to give up some of our private family time in order to share our lives with young men with whom we are mentoring. We are to give up some of our private time and share them with other believers. We are to model Christ to others and this takes time. We, who are leaders, must follow the discipleship model that the New Testament has laid out for us. Countless leaders in Church history have modeled this mentoring approach for us, let us follow their example. Finally, mentoring and discipleship should be done in some form by everybody. We, who are parents, must not only train our own children, but mentor other parents as well. Young Christians can mentor younger Christians and seek mentoring from older Christians. In this way, we who are members of His body must build up one another.
I was reading an article in my Kittels and I went on a side trip on the centrality of preaching (κήρυγμα) in the building of God's kingdom. Here are some key verses on preaching.
Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Romans 10:14
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
Romans 16:25-27
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
1st Corinthians 2:4 KJV
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1 Corinthians 9:16-18
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
1 Timothy 2:7
For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
2 Timothy 4:2-4
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths
Titus 1:1-3
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
2 Timothy 4:17
But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth.
A comment from a theological dictionary on 2 Timothy 4:17
God has strengthened him so that even in hours of affliction and isolation he has fully discharged his office as a preacher. Before judges and listeners, before the whole court, he did not stand a a defendant but as a herald. Thus all nations heard the message through him. Representatives of peoples who knew nothing of Christ had the opportunity to hear his preaching. In this way he faithfully fulfilled his office. (p.717, kerygma, TDNT Vol. III)
On our Haiti trips, men are routinely assigned to teach during an evening devotion time. After my last trip, I decided that I will use my devotion time on this trip to serve communion. The explanation for why I decided to serve communion on this next trip is a little later in this blog.
To prepare to serve communion, I am studying one of the key teaching passages on communion, 1 Corinthians 10.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
In particular, I want to focus on one teaching in this text. Gordon D. Fee in his commentary notes the following:
Similarly, he speaks of the "the bread that we break." This also picks up the language of the Jewish meal, and was used by the earliest Christians to designate their fellowship meal (cf. Acts 2:46; 20:7, 11). What is unique here is that Paul will go on to interpret the bread in terms of of the church as his "body." Nowhere else in the NT is the bread interpreted at all. Paul does so here probably because in this context the emphasis lies here. Thus he does not mean that by eating the bread believers have some kind of mystical "participation in" the "broken body" of Christ, but, as he clearly interprets in v. 17, they are herewith affirming that through Christ's death they are "partners" in the redeemed community, the new eschatological people of God (pp. 468-469)
The broken bread not only symbolizes Christ's broken body that he gave up for us, but also points to our unity as believers being part of one body. Christians are one holy people (1 Peter 2:9) and one body of believers (Romans 12:5).
In the next chapter of Corinthians, Paul continued to address the problems the Corinthians were having in their worship services. Some of the richer Corinthians were bringing food and wine to enjoy a feast. The poorer Corinthians, who did not have food or drink, sat around and were hungry. The richer believers were not concerned with the poorer believers, so Paul commanded the following.
1 Corinthians 11:27-29
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person
examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Grudem comments on what the phrase "discerning the body" means.
Wayne A. Grudem
“So the phrase “not discerning the body” means “not understanding the unity and interdependence of people in the church, which is the body of Christ.” It means not taking thought for our brothers and sisters when we come to the Lord’s Supper,” (p.997, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine )
Taking these passages together, this unity expressed through communion not only refers to the local church, but the universal church as well. We experience this unity our the Haiti trips. On Sunday of the Haiti trips, the Haiti team usually visits a local church in Haiti. This church has Haitians and it is also popular with visiting missionaries. The sermons are in Creole, but they give instructions in English and sing some of the refrains of the worship songs in English. The worship leaders then invite everyone to celebrate communion together. During this time we celebrate communion not only with Haitians, but also with missionaries from around the world. This is a time a profound worship for the team. We feel the truth of the 1 Corinthians passage in a unique way.
This is unity goes even further. When we were returning from Haiti last spring, I was reading The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God on the plane. The book was about how the early Christians thought about God and the Church. I was in the chapter where the the author was talking about communion or "the Eucharist."
Early in the church's history Christians gathered at the tombs of martyrs to pray and celebrate the Eucharist. The faithful of one generation were united to the faithful of former times, not by a set of ideas or teachings (though this was assumed), but by the community that remembered their names. This bridge to earlier generations and through them to the apostles gave Christian thinkers the confidence to speak boldy and act courageously. They trailed their thought after the lives of others. ... The communion of saints was a living presence in every celebration of the Eucharist. (Robert Louis Wilker, p. 46)
After I read this paragraph, I sat in the dark on the plane and meditated on how in essence I broke bread with historical figures such as Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, Dwight L. Moody, Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Athanasias, the apostles Paul and Peter, and Christ Himself. For almost two thousand years, millions of Christians had celebrated communion in their churches. This passage taught me that we who celebrated communion in the 21st century by drinking grape juice from little plastic cups in air conditioned buildings and those in the first century who drank wine from a wooden cup while hiding from their persecutors in the Catacombs are spiritually in the same body of Christ. In the future, all Christians from all places and all ages will be in the New Jerusalem and will be celebrating the beauty and glory of Christ's salvation of the church by dining with the Author and Perfecter our faith.
At that point, I decided that celebrating communion as a team in Haiti could encourage us in our unity with each other, with our Haitian friends, and our churches at home. I am hoping through providing some context during this devotional time, I can provide this same sense of reverence and unity to the team during this week when we are ministering together that I had when reading that paragraph on the plane.
So next time when you celebrate communion, spend a moment "discerning the body." Consider other believers' needs and pray for them. Pursue unity through love with all believers.
Furthermore, we should live in unity with Christian martyrs in the past by being bold for the gospel in the love of Christ.
I am still preparing for my Wednesday morning bible study. I am looking at 1 Corinthians 9:15-18 where Paul is talking about his rights.
1 Corinthians 9:15-18
But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
Earlier in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul argued both that he was an apostle and that he had the right to make a living from his preaching. Paul then explained why he did not want remuneration from them for his ministry. Charles Hodge pointed out in his commentary on 1st Corinthians that Paul had his reward and it had nothing to do with money.
Charles Hodge
In other words, Paul’s reward was to sacrifice himself for others. He speaks of his being permitted to serves other gratuitously as a reward. And so it was, not only because it was an honour and happiness to be allowed to serve Christ in thus serving his people; but also because it secured him the confidence of those among whom he labored by proving his disinterestedness. (Hodge, p. 163)
From this same passage, Fee challenges the ministers of the gospel to re-evaluate their concepts of rights.
Gordon Fee
Those who are quick to see vv. 4-14 as applicable to today’s ministry would probably do well to spend some time with this paragraph as well, and ask in terms of their own ministries how their “use” of their rights might at the same time become a “misuse”—of such a kind that the gospel itself is not so clearly heard in our day. It would not seem to require a lot of imagination to think of several such misuses, even in the most innocent of circumstances. Then the question really does become one of “rights” over against the gospel. The question is not whether on has the rights, but whether that is important. Those who see their calling as “necessity laid upon them” should also be glad to readjust their lives for the sake of the gospel. (p. 422, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, Revised Edition (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)).
I had a job where I ran a project that required me to work 70 hours a week for months on end. I completed the project successfully. My boss and co-workers praised me. A couple of months down the road, there was a remodel of the office and a restructure of the department. It turns out that two of the eight DBAs on the team were not "senior" dbas and I was one of the two. When I talked to my boss, I pointed to this project. None of the other DBAs worked as hard during the last year and so successfully. My boss pointed out that I was just doing my job. Another DBA, my mentor, agreed.
My next big project was a software upgrade. I did not have to work much overtime and only worked a couple of months on the project. We even hired a consultant to help with the technical details. My role was to run the project, do some of the technical work, and coordinate the teams across the company who were affected by the upgrade. The project was done on time. I was promoted shortly thereafter. My boss said he was impressed by how I worked with other teams.
I am oversimplifying how I earned the promotion, but the point is in my first project, my boss and my team expected hard work and technical expertise from me. Hard work and expertise were in the job description of being a database administrator (DBA). In the second project, my boss saw my ability to coordinate work with other teams. This coordination was a skill that was not in the DBA job description; it was a skill that is in a senior staff position description. My boss understood that difference and promoted me.
Paul's point in the passage was similar to my experience. Philosophers and itinerant teachers set up shop in Corinth all the time. These teachers found patrons who supported them while they taught in the city square. Paul, by giving up his right for remuneration, set himself apart from these teachers. Paul was called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but if he preached the Gospel just like those who taught false philosophies, how would that glorify Christ? In other situations, Paul had exercised his right to receive payment for his ministry; however, in the case of the Corinthian church, Paul was demonstrating the free gift of the Gospel through preaching to them for free. He argued further in the next paragraph in the chapter that this fiscal freedom allowed him freedom to adapt his ministry to audience. To the Jews, he could preach as a Jew. To the gentiles, he could preach as a gentile. He did not have to worry about adapting his lifestyle to placate a patron.
How to apply this principle to day? For a person who is supported full time in their ministry the parallels are obvious. If you are called to ministry, but only putting your 40 hours a week into the ministry to receive your paycheck, how are you displaying the sacrificial love of Christ? If a pastor treats his ministry like a job, how is that vocation different than a secular counselor or motivational speaker? I am not saying having full time ministry involves working 100 hours a week, but one has to look on how the ministry displays Christ's sacrificial love to the world. One has to look prayerfully at one's rights and see if they are inhibiting the progress of the gospel.
For the Christian who is not supported in their ministries, there are still parallels. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the Church. (Ephesians 5:25). Christ-like marriages shine forth Gods' love to the world around.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ encouraged his followers to display a God-like love to our enemies.
Matthew 5:43-48
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
As we live out our faith, to show Christ's love to our spouses, neighbors, and the outside world, we must love like Christ did: sacrificially. To display this kind of love, we have to follow the path of the Cross.
Luke 9:23-24 ESV
And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
1 Peter 2:21-23
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
I am preparing a study for the Wednesday Mens Group, "Fellowship of the Bean." The following commentary on 1st Corinthians 9:9-10 by Charles Hodge illuminates how Hodge approaches his study of scripture.
1 Corinthians 9:9-10
Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?
Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.
Charles Hodge
Some of the ancient, and not a few of the most distinguished modern commentators assume that Paul gives an allegorical interpretation to the passage in Deuteronomy. They understand him to say that the passage is not to be understood of oxen, but of us, ministers. ‘This command was given on account of us ministers, that we ploughers might plough in hope, and we threshers might thresh in hope.’ But this entirely foreign from the manner of New Testament writers. They never argue except from the true historical sense of Scripture. Gal. 4, 21-31, is no exception to this remark; for that passage is an illustration and not an argument. (, p. 158)
I have a few concluding thoughts on how to prepare for a mission trip. When we minister in Haiti, we experience many negative emotions such as anger, grief, and sadness in response to the suffering and poverty we see. As Christians, who spend their whole lives in relative ease and prosperity, dealing with these emotions is difficult. Furthermore, Christians are encouraged to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit such as love, joy, and peace in their lives. We may think anger and grief are at odds with these spiritual fruits. Some preachers even preach that negative emotions may be sinful or at least, show a lack of trust in God. This tension between what we experience in Haiti and our unrealistic expectations may lead to confusion or even guilt. This blog post will examine how Jesus and Paul handled the negative emotions in their ministry, so we can learn to handle our emotions in a more biblical manner.
Christ's Emotions in Ministry
One of my favorite books on the Christian life is G. K. Chesterton's, "Orthodoxy." At the end of the book, Chesterton writes meditatively about Christ's life on earth. Chesterton points that Jesus exhibited the full range of human emotions, except for one.
G.K Chesterton
“And as I close this chaotic volume I open again the strange small book from which all Christianity came; and I am again haunted by a kind of confirmation. The tremendous figure which fills the Gospels towers in this respect, as in every other, above all the thinkers who ever thought themselves tall. His pathos was natural, almost casual. The Stoics, ancient and modern, were proud of concealing their tears. He never concealed His tears; He showed them plainly on His open face at any daily sight, such as the far sight of His native city. Yet He concealed something. Solemn supermen and imperial diplomatists are proud of restraining their anger. He never restrained His anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the Temple, and asked men how they expected to escape the damnation of Hell. Yet He restrained something. I say it with reverence; there was in that shattering personality a thread that must be called shyness. There was something that He hid from all men when He went up a mountain to pray. There was something that He covered constantly by abrupt silence or impetuous isolation. There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.”
I do not know if I agree with Chesterton's conclusions about mirth, but when Chesterton read the gospels he encountered in Christ a person who experienced the full range of negative human emotions: anger, grief, and sadness. As we read the bible we find that even hundreds of years before Christ's birth, Isaiah predicts two of the identifying characteristics of the coming Messiah will be sorrow and grief. I quote the key prophecy from Isaiah below. Following each verse, I quote Motyer's commentary on the verse to provide a wider context for the passage.
Isaiah 53:3
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
J. Alec Motyer on Verse 3
The reappearance of sorrows in verse 4 indicates that Isaiah is not using a man of sorrows as the stereotyped language of lament (cf. Westermann) but is being realistic and descriptive. If verse 3 stood alone we would be left to think that the Servant was burdened with a morose temperament and a sickly body, but verses 4 and 10 fill out the picture. The Servant was not an incessant sorrower and sufferer but he was notably so, not by reason of his constitution but because he took our sorrows and weaknesses as his own. Familiar with means either 'to know' and hence 'with personal experience of'', or is a homonym meaning 'submissive to/humbled by', and either meaning suits. Both the experience and the willing acceptance of suffering/'sickness' ( more in the sense of weakness than of illness) matches Isaiah's portrait of the servant. (p. 429, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary)
Isaiah 53:4
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken
smitten by God, and afflicted.
J.Alec Motyer on Verse 4 Took up means 'to lift up' (off someone, in this case) and carried ('to shoulder') is take as one's own burden. Infirmities translated suffering in verse 3b, is the 'weakness' of sickness, which coupled with sorrows encapsulates all that mars our lives. We wish for more than we are able to achieve, so that the good life is always eluding us; we long for a truly happy life but are constantly baulked by sorrow in whatever from it may come -- disappointment, bereavement, tragedy, whatever. But he made our burdens his (Mt. 8:17; Rev. 21:4). (p. 430, ibid)
The prophesy of Isaiah teaches that the Messiah would be acquainted with sorrow. When we read about Jesus in the Gospels, we see the prophesy fulfilled: a man who is well acquainted with grief and sorrow. We see that He understands the pain that death causes the relatives and friends of the deceased. This is most clearly illustrated in the Gospel of John, where Jesus arrives shortly after Lazarus's funeral.
John 11:32-37
Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?
Leon Morris commentary below provides insight into the biblical description of Jesus's emotions.
Leon Morris
Jesus was deeply moved at the sight. John makes use of a very unusual verb to describe his feelings. It clearly denotes a deep emotion and on occasion means "to be angry," a meaning some people find here. If it is understood in this way, the anger will be directed at death, though some think Jesus was angry with the crowd who so misunderstood both what death is and what the power of Jesus is. But it seems more likely that John wants us to see that Jesus was deeply moved at the attitude of the mourners than that he was angry. The crowd did misunderstand Jesus and his power over death, but it is surely deep sorrow rather than anger that Jesus felt towards them. That this is the right understanding seems clear from the addition that he "troubled himself," another expression for deep perturbation of the spirit (p. 415, The Gospel of John (New International Commentary on the New Testament))
In the Gospel of Luke, there is another passage where Jesus is moved to tears. He weeps or even wails when He approaches Jerusalem in his final days. Crowds are excited because they think the prophesied King is arriving in Jerusalem. However, Jesus knows that they will soon reject Him and thus, incur the wrath of God in just a few decades later. At the time of Jesus, Israel wants a militant ruler to free them from the hated Romans, but Christ is offering peace.
Luke 19:41-44
And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
Leon Morris
The lament took place near the city, but Luke does not say precisely where. It forms a striking contrast to the joy of the crowd. Wept might be rendered 'wailed'; Jesus burst into sobbing as he lamented lost opportunity (p. 297, Luke (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries))
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus displayed more strong emotions. The religious leaders of a synagogue confronted Jesus about healing on the Sabbath and Jesus responded.
Mark 3:5
And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
Even with all these negative emotions and struggles that Jesus experienced during his life on earth, Jesus still promises us that we might have His joy. Jesus's joy is to be in fellowship with His Father.
John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
We look to Jesus in our suffering, because Jesus is our example of pursuing joy through the suffering and shame.
Hebrews 12:2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Here again I provided some notes from key commentaries to provide some context and insights into this passage.
John Owen Scorning its shame. In his death the Lord Jesus was exposed to ignominy, contempt, shame, and scorn. This he literally "despised"; that is, he did not sink under its weight. He did not faint because of it. He kept his eyes trained on the glorious effect of his sufferings. (p. 243, Hebrews (Crossway Classic Commentaries))
F. F. Bruce
The pioneer of salvation has been made perfect through sufferings, and has therefore taken his seat "at the right hand of the throne of God." His exaltation there, with all that it means for his people's well-being and for the triumph of God's purpose in the universe, is "the joy set before him," for the sake of which he submitted to shame and death." (pp. 338-339, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament))
Christ endured suffering, scorn and shame because He knew the promises the Father had given him. His current and future joy was defined by being reunited with the Father in heaven and presenting the Church as His Bride to Himself. Jesus knew His suffering resulted in His exaltation and His Church's glorification.
Paul's Emotions in Ministry
Paul also experience the full range of negative emotions from his ministry.
that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. (Romans 9:2)
my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!(Galatians 4:19)
For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.(2 Corinthians 7:5)
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.(2 Corinthians 11:3)
For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. (1 Thessalonians 3:5)
Paul, like Christ, had much joy in his ministry. Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also encouraged us to "rejoice" and "give thanks".
Rejoice always, (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. (Philippians 3:1)
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. (Philippians 4:4)
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 5:20)
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.(Romans 8:28 ESV)
However, there is one emotion according to Paul that he never experienced during his ministry: "despair."
2 Corinthians 4:8
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
One of my favorite theologians, Charles Hodge comments on the passage.
Charles Hodge Perplexed, but not in despair,constantly doubtful what way to take, and yet always finding some way open. The word ἀπορέω (ἄπορος εἰμί) means to be at a loss what to say or do; ἐξαπορέω is intensive, to be absolutely shut up so as to have now way or means available. (p. 469, 1 Corinthians (Crossway Classic Commentaries)
Despair means to give up all hope. No matter how confused or perplexed Paul became, Paul trusted in God's sovereignty over circumstances. Paul never gave up hope so he never fell into despair.
Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God the Comforter
I have no idea of how to reconcile completely these two sets of verses from Paul. We have Paul writing about his "great sorrow and unceasing anguish", but commanding us to "Rejoice always." Furthermore, we have Jesus weeping at the funeral of Lazarus and wailing over Jerusalem, and yet Jesus wanting us to share in the joy that He and His Father share (John 15:11; John 17:13). Jesus had a life full of trials and tribulations. He even promises that those who follow Him will share in those trials. In spite of the trials and suffering, He has peace and wants to impart that peace to us (John 16:33).
How do we resolve this tension? One small part of the resolution is answered by Paul in 2nd Corinthians. I quoted 2 Corinthians 7:5 earlier about how unsettled Paul and his team were about the spiritual status of the Church in Corinth. Paul goes on to write in the next verse,
2 Corinthians 7:6
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
Emotional travails will come as we participate in ministry. However, we have God given-means to face these issues: God will comfort us. Notice that verse 7:6 is a short verse, but the verb "to comfort" is used twice in two different tenses. My linguistic key explains the meaning of the different tenses. The first time, "who comforts" is in the present tense. The tense "refers to the habitual character of the comforting God" (Rienecker and Rodgers). The second time the verb "comfort" is used, it is in a different tense and describes how God comforted Paul and his team through the news that Titus brought them.
We learn two different lessons about comfort from this verse. First, God comforts His people because it is part of His character. Second, God comforts us in many ways, and one of the main ways He comforts us in this age is through other believers.
Paul writes several times in the New Testament about this concept of comfort. It is a beautiful and complex theme in scripture. The verse that encapsulates many aspects of comfort is in 2nd Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
First, notice that all of the Trinity is involved in our being comforted. The Father and the Son are mentioned, but since the Holy Spirit is our "comforter" (John 14:26) and the Holy Spirit dwells within us (Romans 8:9), He would be a major part of the gift of eternal comfort and good hope.
Second, notice that comfort has three chronological aspects to it. Past, present and future are all being referenced in this verse. The verbs "loved" and "gave" are past tense, Therefore, we already have "Eternal comfort and and good hope". These gifts are given to us at our salvation. We can take comfort in the historical fact that Christ died for us and we are reconciled to God. He has given us the Holy Spirit as a pledge to assure us of our salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14).
In the present, Paul was praying that the Thessalonians would be comforted and established by God. The intended result of this prayer was that in the present time they might be in the Word and performing good works. I have talked to short-term mission team members after we returned and one of the best ways to conquer the Haiti Hangover was to continue being mission oriented. These members kept performing good works and kept pursuing God through His Word. We should follow Paul's example through praying for one another that we would be comforted and be established in every good work and Word.
In the future tense in the 2nd Thessalonian passage, it was an eternal comfort and good hope which had been given to us. This word comfort is used in a similar sense in Luke 2:25, where the passage states that Simeon was looking for the "Consolation of Israel."
Luke 2:25-26 ESV
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
This word translated "consolation" was the same Greek word as comfort that was used in 2nd Thessalonians. Simeon was looking for a future time of when Israel will be completely comforted. This future time without suffering was predicted by Isaiah. However Simeon realized through the Holy Spirit that this infant Jesus will somehow complete the prophesy.
My theological dictionary defines "comfort" as a tie between our future blessing in the presence God with our current state of being comforted by God. We can have comfort now because God will comfort us in the future.
Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
God finally comforts when He definitively removes all suffering by His glorious presence among men, Rev. 21:3-5. This consolation. which is given already as a good hope, is thus called an eternal consolation. 2 Th. 2:16.
The definition references Revelation 21. This passage is about how Jesus will comfort each believer in the future Jerusalem.
Revelation 21:3-4
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
There is a connection between our future state in the New Jerusalem with Jesus and how we are to comfort and receive comfort in the present day. God uses small groups to have us encourage and comfort one another. As we see in the following passage in Hebrews, God
uses the members of the body of Christ to comfort (in this passage
"encourage" is the same word as "comfort" in the Greek) one another. This comfort is to stir up each to love and good works and keeps us going until Christ returns.
Hebrews 10:24-25
And
let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging
one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Summary
Grief, sadness, and anger are appropriate responses to the suffering and sin we see in the world.
Seeking to be comforted by the body of Christ, praying to be comforted by the triune God, and hoping in future comfort from God are appropriate reactions to these emotions.
Praying that God will comfort others is encouraged in scripture.
Comfort and hope are link inextricably in scripture. Combating despair through comfort is giving people hope that eternal joy is available no matter what their circumstances.
Small groups are key to fighting despair in our ministries. Giving and receiving comfort (or encouragement) occurs within a small group context. (Hebrews 10:24,25). This encouragement is our main defense against despair.
Being engaged in ministry to others means being emotionally involved in the life of others. As we look at Jesus's and Paul's ministries, we cannot describe Paul and Jesus as emotionally detached. They laid their whole lives on the line for the Church: their bodies, their minds, their relationships, and their emotions.
Joy is the product of our union with the triune Godhead. Joy is a gift of God and will be our experience in the presence of God. Joy can abide with our suffering and our grief, because we know our loving God uses suffering to further His good purposes in our lives. We also know at a future time we will have an everlasting joy in His presence unimpeded by suffering.
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on the plane. The book was about how the early Christians thought about God and the Church. I was in the chapter where the the author was talking about communion or "the Eucharist."
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