Take up His Cross - Luke 9:23

I'm memorizing the following verse and I decided to look it up in a commentary. The Christian life is impossibly simple: Christ wants every bit of you to follow Him every single moment of every day.

Luke 9:23 If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Leon Morris
The follower of Jesus must deny himself (not just his sins, himself; he cannot be self-centred). There is nothing self-indulgent about being a Christian. The disciples had probably seen a man take up his cross and they knew what it meant. When a man from on of their villages took up a cross and went off with a little band of Roman soldiers, he was on a one-way journey. He would not be back. Taking up the cross meant the utmost in self-denial. This is Luke's first use of the word cross and it comes with striking effect. Christ's follower had died to a whole way of life (cf. 14:27). Luke tells us that this is not something that can be finished and got out of the way: it must be done daily (cf. 1 Cor. 15:31). So, says Jesus, will he follow me. (p. 188-189), Luke (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (IVP Numbered))

Haiti, Zwingli and the Word of God

Think carefully about the following propositions.

1. Grace Community Church has bought 80 Bibles for the Haitian Pastors and their leadership teams.
2. Most of these men never had a bible before.
3. This fall trip we are planning to help train these men.

Are you excited yet? If not, think about if the Bible was not a commodity in your community. Consider trying to be a Christian without easy access to the scriptures, online sermons, bible study tools, house churches, and email access to the elders. Meditate on how precious the gospel truths are. Now pray about how God could bless these Haitian churches through their relationship with Grace Community Church. God could do amazing things on this trip.

In preparation for our trip down there, Dave Kirk encouraged the Haitian pastors to lead their men through 1st and 2nd Timothy. Here are some of the things I pray the Haitian pastors are thinking about in training their men.

In the last chapter of 1st Timothy and the first chapter of 2nd Timothy, Paul encouraged to Timothy to follow Paul's teaching and guard the Gospel from those who wish to destroy or distort it.

1 Timothy 6:20
O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”

2 Timothy 1:13-14
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

John R. W. Stott
Timothy is to 'guard' it. Paul has addressed precisely the same appeal to him at the end of his first letter (6:20), except that now he calls it the 'good', literally the 'beautiful', deposit. The verb (phylássō) means to guard something 'so that it is not lost or damaged' (AG). It is used of guarding a palace against marauders and possessions against thieves (Lk. 11:21; Acts 22:20). There were heretics abroad, bent on corrupting the gospel and so robbing the church of the priceless treasure which had been entrusted to it. Timothy must be on the watch. (p. 44, The Message of 1 Timothy & Titus (The Bible Speaks Today)).

In chapter 2 of 2nd Timothy, Paul wanted Timothy to protect the Gospel by passing it onto faithful men.

2 Timothy 2:2
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

John R. W. Stott
Here, then, are the four stages in the handling on of the truth, which Paul envisages: from Christ to Paul, from Paul to Timothy, from Timothy to 'faithful men', and from 'faithful men' to 'others also'. This is the true 'apostolic succession'. Certainly, it would involve men, a line of 'faithful men' at that, but the succession from the apostles is to be more in the message itself than in the men who teach it. It is to be a succession of apostolic tradition rather than of apostolic ministry, authority or order, a transmission of the apostles' doctrine handed down unchanged from the apostles to subsequent generations, and passed from hand to hand like the Olympic torch. This apostolic tradition, 'the good deposit', is now to be found in the New Testament. Speaking ideally, "Scripture' and 'tradition' should be interchangeable terms, for what the church hands down from generation to generation should be the biblical faith, no more and no less. And the biblical faith is the apostolic faith. (pp. 52-53, Guard the Gospel: The message of 2 Timothy (The Bible speaks today) )

A little later in chapter 2 of 2nd Timothy, Paul pressed Timothy to be a diligent workman of the scriptures.

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.

In chapter 3 of 2nd Timothy, Paul pointed out to Timothy that the Bible was inspired. It could be used for both maturing in Christ and correcting doctrinal error. The Bible was key to what a pastor needed not only for himself to grow in Christ, but to equip his congregation for good works and to mature the members of the body in Christ.

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

John R. W. Stott
Paul now goes on to show the profit of Scripture relates to both creed and conduct (16b, 17). The false teachers divorced them; we must marry them. The NEB expresses the matter clearly. As for our creed, Scripture is profitable 'for teaching the truth and refuting error'. As for our conduct, it is profitable 'for reformation of manners and discipline in right living'. In each part the negative and positive counterparts are combined. Do we hope, either in our own lives or in our teaching ministry, to overcome error and grow in truth, to overcome evil and grow in holiness? Then it is to Scripture that we must primarily turn, for Scripture is 'profitable' for these things. (p. 103, Guard the Gospel;: The message of 2 Timothy (The Bible speaks today))

Paul was telling Timothy to pass the truths of scriptures down to the next generation. Paul was writing please do not add man-made traditions and please do not take away anything from scripture: Pass the Gospel truths to your men.

This pattern of finding faithful men to pass on the truths of God's Word to future generations can be found not only in Jesus's and Paul's ministries, but is repeated throughout church history. For example, Augustine trained his followers. Martin Luther kept his professorship of theology throughout his life and even trained his students and colleagues at the dinner table, on walks, and just daily conversations (see The Table Talk of Martin Luther ). The following quotes show how two other reformers fulfilled 2 Timothy 2:2 in their ministries.

Timothy George on How Zwingli Trained His Men
Finally, there was the furtherance of Bible study in the institution of the "Prophecy." Beginning in July 1525, at seven o'clock in the morning in summer (eight o'clock in winter), on every day except Friday and Sundays, all of the ministers and theological students in Zurich gathered into the choir of the Great Minster cathedral to engage in an hour of intense exegesis and interpretation of Scripture. Zwingli opened the meeting with prayer:

Almighty, eternal and merciful God, whose Word is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path, open and illuminate our minds, that we may purely and perfectly understand they Word and that our lives may be conformed to what we have rightly understood, that in nothing we may be displeasing unto thy majesty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The text of the day was then read in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, followed by appropriate textual or exegetical comments. Zwingli or another of the ministers delivered a sermon on the passage in German. The sermon was was heard by many of the laity who stopped by the cathedral on their way to work.

The name Prophecy was taken from 1 Corinthians 14, in which Paul referred to the gift of prophesying or the telling forth of the Word of God for the edification of the church. The influence of the Zurich Prophecy was enormous. It was a kind of theological seminary where ministers, missionaries, preachers, and teachers received a thorough grounding the Scriptures. This in turn became a model for Reformed academies and seminaries throughout Europe and was not without influence in the founding of Harvard College in New England in 1636. In addition, numerous biblical commentaries, including several by Zwingli himself as well as the famous Zurich Bible, emerged from the sessions of the Prophecy. (p. 133, Theology of the Reformers )

Philip Hughes on How Calvin Trained His Men
Calvin’s Geneva was something very much more than a haven and a school. It was not a theological ivory tower that lived to itself and for itself, oblivious to its responsibility in the gospel to the needs of others. Human vessels were equipped and refitted in this haven…that they might launch out into the surrounding ocean of the world’s need, bravely facing every storm and peril that awaited them in order to bring the light of Christ’s gospel to those who were in the ignorance and darkness from which they themselves had originally come. They were taught in this school in order that they in turn might teach others the truth that had set them free. (http://www.calvin500.com/calvin-the-educator/)

I have spent some time talking to younger generations of Christian leaders in the Iowa City area. I have spent a limited time with a few of the Haitian pastors. The wealth of theological resources we have in the United States overwhelm me. We have online sermons, online tools and online seminaries. We have solid books on theology, devotion, and counseling being published almost daily. Our elders are college educated, well-read, and have access to other pastors through a variety of media.

The Haitian pastors are not educated, have hardly any resources, and feel isolated. The differences between the local churches in Iowa City and the local churches in Luly and Williamson, Haiti are staggering; however, one of the needs of both churches is the same: we both need generations of young men who fear God and study the Word of God for themselves. We need godly men who can be trained, entrusted with the Gospel and then defend it against false teachers. This not a criticism of either our leaders or the Haitian pastors, but a continual need that the Church at large has. Passing on the deposit of truth is a biblical mandate for all Elder/Pastors.

1. Pray for wisdom on how we can train the Haitian pastors to train the next generation.
2. Pray for spiritual discernment. We just don't know the doctrinal stance or the spiritual standing these pastors have.
3. Pray this Haiti mission team will be a blessing in all our endeavors to the Haitian people.
4. Pray for the mission team's physical and spiritual protection on the trip.

Does God exist for Haiti?

Pastor Dan and I are returning to Haiti this fall. We are leading some training sessions. One of the questions the Haitians want us to address is "Does God Exist for Haiti?" What the questioner wants to know is why Haiti so poor? Why does its people suffer so much as compared to other countries? In preparation for that talk, I decided to do an overview of what the Bible teaches about poverty.

The topic of poverty is large and it permeates all of Scripture. I decided to list the verses on poverty and to classify them. The first section of this blog is my observations. The second section I listed the verses I used. I did not include Isaiah 53, because it is too long. To make things easier, I identified Israel and the Church together in my summary. This approach is crude, this is only a few of the verses, and it only scratches the surface of a very complex topic, even so I hope you find it useful.

Applications

My suggestion is to read all the verses and mediate on them. My observations are not profound, but God's Word is. Reading all these verses together made me want to do something to honor God. Here are two links where you can help the Haitian poor.

• Run Luly Event
• Sponsor a Haitian Student

Please pray for Dan and me as we prepare for Haiti.

My Observations

1. God Loves the Poor and Intends for the Church to Care for Them.
1. Deut. 10:18, Deut. 15:11; Proverbs 14:31; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49; Matthew 6:3-4; 25:31-40; Luke 12:32-34; Luke 16:19-31; 1 John 3:17
2. God Loves the Poor and Gives Them Hope.
1. 1 Sam. 2:7-8, Job 5:15-16; Psalm 9:18; Psalm 12:5; Psalm 72:12-14; Psalm 113:7-8; Isaiah 41:17-20; Luke 4:8
3. The Poor Will Always Be With Us.
1. Deut. 15:11; Matthew 26:11
4. Jesus Was Homeless and Suffered Hardships.
1. Isaiah 53; Luke 9:57-58
5. Some Christians in the Past have Suffered, Some Christians are now Suffering, and Some Christians in the Future will Suffer from Poverty and Homelessness.
1. 1 Cor. 4:11-13
2. 2 Timothy 3:10-12
3. Hebrews 11:36-40
4. Matthew 16:24-26
6. The Gospel Message Is Intended for All, But Is Especially Targeted to the Poor.
1. Matt. 19:23-30; Luke 4:18; Luke 16:19-31; James 2:5-7
7. God Will Be Glorified Through His Treatment of the Poor.
1. Job 5:15-16; Proverbs 14:1;  Isaiah 41:17-20; Jeremiah 22:16; 

Scripture References

Deuteronomy 10:18

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

Deut. 15:11

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’

1 Samuel 2:7-8

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.

Job 5:15-16

But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth
and from the hand of the mighty.
So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts her mouth.

Psalm 9:18

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.

Psalm 12:5

“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the LORD;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”

Psalm 72:12-14 ESV

For he delivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight.

Psalm 113:7-8

He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.

Proverbs 14:31

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

Isaiah 41:17-20

When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Jeremiah 22:16

He [King Josiah] judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Is not this to know me? declares the LORD.

Ezekiel 16:49

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Matthew 6:3-4

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 16:24-26

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Matthew 19:23-30

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Matthew 25:31-40

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’"

Matthew 26:11

For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Luke 9:57-58

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Luke 12:32-34

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 16:19-31

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Romans 15:26

For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.

1 Corinthians 4:11-13

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

2 Timothy 3:12

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,

Hebrews 11:36-40

Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

James 2:5-7

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

1 John 3:17

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?

Luther's Advice to Aspiring Preachers

I'm reading Theology of the Reformers by Timothy George. He does biographical and theological sketches of several of the reformers. He writes about Luther first. I like the following paragraph about preachers and the Word.

Luther's writings are full of advice for aspiring preachers, for example, "The three marks of a good preacher are these: He stands up, speaks up, and knows when to shut up!" Let him speak forth vigorously and clearly, not as though he had a leaf in front of his mouth. The church is a mouth house, not a mealymouth house! More important, the preacher should have something worth saying. Let the preacher be a bonus textualis--a good one with the text--well versed in the Scriptures. Luther excoriated those "lazy, no good preachers" who get all their material from others, from homiletical helps and sermon books, without praying, reading and searching the Scriptures for themselves. The sermon should not be couched in theological jargon, but in the clear, crisp language of the people. "I do not preach Drs. Pomeranus, Jonas, and Philipp," said Luther, "but to my little Hans and Elizabeth." Above all, preaching must be true to its proper content, which is Christ. Only in this way can it fulfill its role as the main part of all divine service. (pp. 92-93)

The preachers at Grace do pretty well by these criteria.

Our Anger, God's Wrath and Propitiation

In his sermon on the sin of anger, Brooks encouraged people who struggle with anger issues to meditate on God's wrath and how God appeases it. This blog post has some of my meditations.

God's Wrath

Romans 2:5

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

Ephesians 5:6

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Revelation 19:15-16

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

One of the points that Brooks made about God's wrath is that He does not become angry like we do. God does not explode in anger or wrath. His anger is righteous. His wrath and displeasure against sin are constant and eternal. Here are two quotes on God's wrath by Stephen Charnock, a puritan writer from the 17th century. Both quotes stress that humankind should not expect God to change His character toward sin. His argument is that if God changes His attitude toward sin, He ceases to be God.

Stephen Charnock

There is not an atheist, an hypocrite, a profane person, that ever was upon the earth, but God’s soul abhorred him as such, and the like he will abhor forever; while any therefore continue so, they may sooner expect the heavens should roll as they please, the sun stand still at their order, the stars change their course at their beck, than that God should change his nature, which is opposite to profaneness and vanity; “Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?” (Job ix.4.). The Existence and Attributes of God

“God be immutable, it is sad news to those that are resolved in wickedness, or careless of returning to that duty he requires. Sinners must not expect that God will alter his will, make a breach upon his nature, and violate his own word to gratify their lusts. No, it is not reasonable God should dishonor himself to secure them, and cease to be God, that they may continue to be wicked, by changing his own nature, that they may be unchanged in their vanity. God is the same; goodness is as amiable in his sight, and sin as abominable in his eyes now, as it was at the beginning of the world. Being the same God, he is the same enemy to the wicked as the same friend to the righteous. He is the same in knowledge, and cannot forget sinful acts. He is the same in will, and cannot approve of unrighteous practices.”(Ibid)

D. A. Carson, a seminary professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, stated the following a recent interview.

Not that He [God] has lost His temper, but His wrath is a determined, holy response to human sin. God will never change His stance toward sin and the sinners. The only thing that can change is the sinner and God sent His only Son to accomplish that change. (https://rodiagnusdei.wordpress.com/category/theologians/d-a-carson/)

Propitiation

As Carson alluded in the quote above, there is good news. God sent His Son to bear the punishment for our sin for us. This process where Christ is our sacrifice is called propitiation. Brooks, in his sermon on anger, spent some time explaining propitiation. There are four verses in the New Testament that teach us about propitiation. The first verse is

Romans 3:25-26

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Wayne Grudem uses Romans 3:25 to define "Propitiation" as:

Romans 3:25 tells us that God put forward Christ as a “propitiation” (NASB) a word that means “a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath toward us into favor.

The greek word used in Romans 3:25 is ἱλασμός. I heard a long time ago that in translating this word ἱλασμός, the translators had to choose between the terms "expiation" and "propitiation." If Christ's sacrifice is an expiation, it simply means that God wiped away the sins. However, if Christ's sacrifice is a propitiation, it means that not only did Christ's death wipe away our sins; it restores our relationship with Him. God now smiles upon those He saved. I haven't seen a good reference for this, but the following quote is close.

ESV Study Bible Notes on Romans 3:25

Jesus’ blood “propitiated” or satisfied God’s wrath (1:18), so that his holiness was not compromised in forgiving sinners. Some scholars have argued that the word propitiation should be translated expiation (the wiping away of sin), but the word cannot be restricted to the wiping away of sins as it also refers to the satisfaction or appeasement of God’s wrath, turning it to favor (cf. note on John 18:11). God’s righteous anger needed to be appeased before sin could be forgiven, and God in his love sent his Son (who offered himself willingly) to satisfy God’s holy anger against sin. In this way God demonstrated his righteousness, which here refers particularly to his holiness and justice. God’s justice was called into question because in his patience he had overlooked former sins. In other words, how could God as the utterly Holy One tolerate human sin without inflicting full punishment on human beings immediately? Paul’s answer is that God looked forward to the cross of Christ where the full payment for the guilt of sin would be made, where Christ would die in the place of sinners. In the OT, propitiation (or the complete satisfaction of the wrath of God) is symbolically foreshadowed in several incidents: e.g., Ex. 32:11–14; Num. 25:8, 11; Josh. 7:25–26.

Here are the other 3 verses that use the term propitiation.
Hebrews 2:17 ESV

Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

1 John 2:2 ESV

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10 ESV

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

This last verse explains how propitiation changes us.
Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Brooks mentioned two books that helped him to mortify the sin of anger. The Calvary Road and Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem

Just a Job: Ephesians 6:5-8

Our Faith Family is studying Ephesians 6. The second section of the chapter is as follows:

Ephesians 6:5-8

Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (ESV)

This passage is challenging me. Friends and relatives of mine, who are only slightly older than me, are retiring early. I am happy for them. I enjoy my job, but I am tending to look forward to retirement where I can escape the mundane tasks and office politics. However, I need to focus on the here and now. Right now, I can honor God in my work. Each day I can render service to my employer, which will be rendered as worship to Christ. As I was looking for a specific quote on this passage, I came across this story.

Dennis J. De Haan (Our Daily Bread)

Three men were hard at work on a large building project. Someone asked them, "What are you doing?" "I'm mixing mortar," one said. The second man said, "I'm helping put up this great stone wall." But the third man replied, "I'm building a cathedral to the glory of God."

Those three men could just as well have been working on a car, in a factory, behind a counter, or on any legitimate product or service a man or woman might provide.

Most people work to earn a living, attain success, or amass wealth. Such reasons, however, must not be the Christian's primary motive for working. Like the third man in our story, we need to see that what gives work eternal value is not the product or service of our labor but the process of laboring itself--doing the job faithfully to the glory of the Lord.

God commands us to work because it is good. But work also gives believers the opportunity to represent Jesus Christ to unbelievers. By performing our God-given tasks to the best of our abilities, we bring honor and glory to His name. And we demonstrate to fellow employees the difference Christ can make in a life. Is our work just a job? Or are we doing it to the glory of God?

The following commentary explains why slaves have to obey their masters. Bondservants in the Roman empire and the modern wage-earners do not have a lot in common, but the reasons slaves have for honoring their masters and the wage-earners have for honoring their bosses seems to me to be the same.

Peter O'Brien

Ephesians 6:5 urges slaves to obey their masters; that obedience should be rendered with reverence and awe in the presence of God and Christ (note the following phrase, [lit.] ‘as to Christ’, and Col. 3:22), a godly fear in view of the final day (as the two earlier references indicate).

In the contemporary world masters controlled their slaves through fear, since it was believed that fear produced greater loyalty. The perspective of Christian slaves, however, has changed. They have been delivered from the bondage of human intimidation, and now are ‘enslaved’ to the Lord Jesus Christ. Their service to their masters, then, is to be rendered out of reverence and awe for him. It will also be characterized by integrity and singleness of purpose—what is here called sincerity of heart. As the inner centre which determines attitudes and actions, the heart is marked by sincerity and purity of motive. The Christian slave will not be guided by false, ulterior motives but will serve his or her master conscientiously and with sincerity. This kind of inner commitment can occur only as slaves recognize that in serving their master s they are rendering obedience to their heavenly Lord, Christ. The performance of their earthly tasks is related to his rule over their lives. Ultimately, then, the distinction between the sacred and the secular breaks down. Any and every task, however menial, falls within the sphere of his lordship and is done in order to please him. Their work is done ‘as to Christ’, their obedience is rendered ‘as slaves of Christ’ (v. 6), their wholehearted service is performed ‘as to the Lord’ (v. 7), because they know that they will be rewarded ‘by the Lord’ (v. 8) for every good is done. These instructions provide a specific application of the apostle’s comprehensive exhortation of Colossians 3:17, ‘Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.’
(p. 450, The Letter to the Ephesians (Pillar New Testament Commentary))

Christ, Our Passover Lamb

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8 ESV)

In First Corinthians chapter 5, Paul has just told the Corinthians that he, by apostolic authority was excommunicating the adulterer in their midst. Furthermore, Paul explained that they as a congregation should have acted already. He gave two reasons in verses 5:7-8, which I quoted above, for why they needed to excommunicate the specified member. Let us break down the passage piece by piece.

Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, (1 Corinthians 5:7a)

The first reason for the excommunication is the Christian community has to be free from the impurities of sin and contention. The saying is the same as "One bad apple spoils the bunch." This one believer was corrupting the congregation and spoiling their testimony in the community. Fee made the following observations on the first reason.

What is in view is not “yeast” (as in the NIV), which was not plentiful in antiquity, and which in any case is fresh and wholesome. “Leaven” was not so. It consisted of keeping back a “little” portion of last week’s dough, allowing it to ferment, then adding it to this week’s dough, which in turn was thoroughly fermented to give it lightness (=sourdough bread). Although the OT does not expressly so specify, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, as well as being a religious celebration, was probably a health provision. Because of the fermentation process, which week after week increased the dangers of infection, the Israelites were commanded once a year to purge their homes of all leaven (Exod. 12:14-20). During the Feast they would bake only unleavened bread, from which dough they would then start up the process again after the Feast. Thus in the NT leaven became a symbol of the process by which an evil spreads insidiously in a community until the whole has been infected by it (cf. Mark 8:15). (Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (New International Commentary on the New Testament) , p. 216)

However, as you see in the next part of the passage, Paul reminds the Corinthians that due to Christ's death and sacrifice, they are already pure both individually and corporately in God's eyes. They need to live as God sees them already in Christ.

as you really are unleavened. (1 Corinthians 5:7b)

Fee explains further.

In so applying the imagery, however, Paul expresses himself in a way that is foreign to his own theology; so he immediately qualifies it with “even as you really are.” “As always in Paul, the imperative, even though it must be obeyed, cannot be turned into a piece of legal material, obedience to which gives favor with God. Right at the point where the imperative sounds as if it comes, first (“Get rid of the old so that you may be new”), he reminds them that what they must become is what they already are by the grace of God. (Fee, p. 218-219)

The second reason for why the Corinthians congregation should have acted sooner in punishment is in the third part of the passage.

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:7-8 ESV)

Charles Hodge, in his commentary on Corinthians, makes the dramatic connection between the quaint saying "A little leaven leavens the whole lump" to an explanation of Christ's death on the cross as illustrated in the Jewish Passover.

This is a second reason why they should be pure; for Christ our passover is slain for us. Is slain; rather, is sacrificed as θυω means to kill and offer in sacrifice or to slay as a victim. When the paschal lamb was slain the Hebrews were required to purge out all leaven from their houses Ex 12, 15. The death of Christ imposes a similar obligation on us to purge out the leaven of sin. Christ is our passover not because he was slain on the day on which the paschal lamb was offered, but because he does for us what the paschal lamb did for the Hebrews. As the blood of that lamb sprinkled on the door posts secured exemption from the stroke of the destroying angel, so the blood of Christ secures exemption from the stroke of divine justice. Christ was slain for us in the same sense that the passover was slain for the Hebrews. It was a vicarious death. As Christ died to redeem us from all iniquity, it is not only contrary to the design of his death but a proof that we are not interested in its benefits, if we live in sin. Our Passover, viz., Christ. (Hodge,1 & 2 Corinthians (Geneva Series of Commentaries) ,p. 87)

If the Church, the body of Christ, treats sin lightly or disregards the leaven in its midst, it cheapens what Christ has done for it. We must purify ourselves of the leaven of sin and contention among us so we can celebrate Christ's death in purity and sincerity.

Drawing Near to God and God's Immutability

I have been slowly reading through Charnock's chapter on the Immutability of God. This is a interesting meditation on James 4:8, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." I like the illustration of a waterman pulling a rope.

Therefore observe, that when God. is said to draw near to us when we draw near to him (James iv. 8), it is not by local motion or change of place, but by special and spiritual influences, by etching and supporting grace. As we ordinarily say, the sun is come into the house when yet it remains in its place and order in the heavens, because the beams pierce through the windows and enlighten the room, so when God is said to come down or descend (Gen. xi. 5; Exod. xxxiv. 5), it is not by a change of place, but a change of outward acts, when he puts forth himself in ways of fresh mercy or new judgments, in the effluxes of his love or the flames of his wrath. When good men feel the warm beams of his grace refreshing them, or wicked men feel the hot coals of his anger scorching them. God's drawing near to us is not so much his coming to us, but his drawing us to him ; as when watermen pull a rope that is in one end fastened to the shore, and the other end to the vessel; the shore is immovable, yet it seems to the eye to come to them, but they really move to the shore. God is an immovable rock; we are floating and uncertain creatures; while he seems to approach to us, he doth really make us to approach to him; he comes not to us by any change of place himself, but draws us to him by a change of mind, will, and affections in us. (p. 117, Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, Volume 7 of 50 Greatest Christian Classics, 2 Volumes in 1

John 6:43-44

Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Visiting the Sins of the Father on the Sons (Exodus 34:7)

I have always had a curiosity about the phrase, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation." that is used in four places in the Old Testament (Ex. 20:5; 34:7; Nu. 14:18 and Deut. 5:9). The passages seem to contradict other passages such as Deut. 24:16 and 2 Kings 14:6, where scripture teaches that each person is responsible for their own sin. I did some digging in some good commentaries on the passages and here are my results. I uploaded my more complete notes in the following document on www.mediafire.com:
Iniquity of the Father's Study

Exodus 20:5-6

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Commentary on Exodus 20:5b-6

This explanatory section of the second commandment, with its assertion that God is “jealous … punishing the children for the sins of the fathers,” has been widely misunderstood. It does not represent an assertion that God actually punishes an innocent generation for sins of a predecessor generation, contrary to Deut. 24:16 (Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin”; cf. 2 Kgs 14:6). Rather this oft-repeated theme speaks of God’s determination to punish successive generations for committing the same sins they learned from their parents. In other words, God will not say, “I won’t punish this generation for what they are doing to break my covenant because, after all, they merely learned it from their parents who did it too.” Instead, God will indeed punish generation after generation (“to the third and fourth generation”) if they keep doing the same sort of sins that prior generations did. If the children continue to do the sins their parents did, they will receive the same punishments as their parents. But to this is contrasted his real wish: to “covenant loyalty” [NIV “love”] to “a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” By the greatest numerical contrast in the Bible (three/four to thousands), God identified eloquently his real desire: to have his people remain loyal forever so that he might in turn show them the rich blessings of his resulting loyalty to them. In vv. 5b-6 the terminology “love” and “hate” refers idiomatically to loyalty, not to emotional attitudes, feelings, or sentiment. (Douglas K. Stuart, The New American Commentary - Volume 2 - Exodus , p. 454)

Exodus 34:6-7

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Commentary on Exodus 34:7

In the list “wickedness, rebellion and sin,” the final term, “sin,” is the most inclusive. These are not three distinct kinds of behaviors but three vocabulary words used together to indicate what any of them might convey; and since they are used together, they combine to indicate what Jesus meant when he said, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven” (Matt 12:31). (Douglas K. Stuart, The New American Commentary - Volume 2 - Exodus , p. 454)

In connection with the wording “he punishes the children and their children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation,” see comments on 20:5-6. As already suggested there, this wording means something quite different from what it might seem to mean to the casual reader. It does not mean that God would punish children and grandchildren for something their ancestors but that they themselves did not do. Rather, it describes God’s just punishment of a given type of sin in each new generation as that sin continues to be repeated down through the generations. In other words, God here reminded his people that they could not rightly think something like “we can probably get away with doing this in our generation because God punished an earlier generation for doing it, so the punishment for it has already been given, and we don’t have to worry about it.” (Stuart, p. 455)

Deuteronomy 5:9-10

You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Commentary by John Calvin on Deut. 5:9-10

But when God declares that He will cast back the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of the children, He does not mean that He will take vengeance on poor wretches who have never deserved anything of the sort; but that He is at liberty to punish the crimes of the fathers upon their children and descendants, with the proviso that they too may be justly punished, as being the imitators of their fathers.

The key teaching I get from these passages is that God limits His punishment of sin and iniquity to the 3rd or 4th generations, but extends His lovingkindness to the thousands. John Piper has a good article on this at
John Piper's Article

GCLI and Eschatology 2: Our Hope

We had a discussion in GCLI about prophesy and the "End Times." We came away confused, but we fully agreed that the study of these events was profitable. Furthermore, we noticed that evangelical theologians have consensus on the key events. Michael Horton wrote in his systematic theology.

Christians confess that Jesus Christ "will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end" (Nicene Creed). This hope includes "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting" (Apostles' Creed). Given our propensity for disagreement over end-times scenarios, this represents a remarkable Christian like consensus. We cling to the angel's promise at Christ's ascension: "This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Ac 1:11). He came first in humility and grace, but will return in glory and power. (p.919, Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way)

Wayne Grudem, in his systematic theology, agreed on the main events.

No matter what their differences on the details, all Christians who take the Bible as their final authority agree that the final and ultimate result of Christ’s return will be the judgment of unbelievers and the final reward of believers, and that believers will live with Christ in a new heaven and a new earth for all eternity. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will reign and will be worshiped in a never-ending kingdom with no more sin or sorrow or suffering. (p. 1094, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

Grudem also encouraged his readers to extend a measure of grace about these issues.

Before examining the arguments for these three (or four) positions, it is important to realize that the interpretation of the details of prophetic passages regarding future events is often a complex and difficult task involving many variable factors. Therefore the degree of certainty that attaches to our conclusions in this area will be less than with many other doctrines. Even though I will argue for one position (classical premillennialism), I also think it important for evangelicals to recognize that this area of study is complex and to extend a large measure of grace to others who hold different views regarding the millennium and the tribulation period.(p. 1114, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine)

Why should we even study such a controversial and confusing subject? The gospel is not just about Christ's death on the Cross, but it also includes our hope of being with Him in eternity.

This hope should motivate us in several ways.

• It should drive us to do good deeds and and increase our love for all the saints as it reads in Colossians.

  We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, (Colossians 1:3-5 ESV)

  For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.(Hebrews 10:34-35 ESV)

  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.(Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)

• This hope should motivate us to purity since we will be like Christ.

  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:1-6 ESV)

  Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:2-3 ESV)

  Ephesians points out that corporate purity should be our goal since Christ is preparing His church to be His Bride in eternity.

  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV)

• This hope should give us perseverance as we run toward eternity.

  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. (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

• This hope should keep us focused on the task at hand and to not fritter away our time and resources on earthly pursuits.

  Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.(1 Peter 1:13 ESV)

  I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
  
  “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
  “O death, where is your victory?
  O death, where is your sting?”
  
  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:50-58 ESV)

  For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6 ESV)

• Finally, this hope should encourage us to think about prophecy. All scripture is God-Breathed and God uses the Book of Revelation to bless us.

  Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3 ESV)

Maranatha!

GCLI and Eschatology

To prepare for the GCLI study this week, I'm reading a book by Jonathan Menn called Biblical Eschatology. He takes the amillennialism position, but he does a good job of defining the terminology in the subject. Here are a few quotes.

The Key Issues

“The major positions regarding eschatology differ over two main issues: (1) The nature of the “thousand years” (Rev 20:2–7): Is the “thousand years” a discrete period of time distinct from the rest of history, or not? and What does it look like? (i.e., Is it a “golden age” on earth that can be experienced in the flesh, or can it be apprehended only by faith?); and (2) The timing of the “thousand years”: Is the “thousand years” a past, present, or future period of time? and Does it occur before or after Christ comes again?”

Hermeneutical Issues

“The different answers to the main eschatological issues tend to be based on different answers to three hermeneutical issues: (1) The role of the NT in interpreting the OT; (2) How to interpret the Bible’s symbolic language; and (3) The relationship between Israel and the church.”

“Ladd observes that dispensationalism’s fundamentally different hermeneutical presuppositions distinguish it from all other forms of Christianity: “Here is a basic watershed between a dispensational and a nondispensational theology. Dispensationalism forms its eschatology by a literal interpretation of the Old Testament and then fits the New Testament into it. A nondispensational eschatology forms its theology from the explicit teaching of the New Testament.”

Definition of the different Positions

Premillennialism
Premillennialism is any belief that Christ will come before the “thousand years.” Premillennialists believe that at his coming Christ will institute a thousand-year reign (“golden age”) on the earth, after which he will institute the eternal state. In older writings, “premillennialism” is often called “chiliasm” from the Greek “chilioi” which means “thousand.” Premillennialists are divided into two main camps: historic premillennialists and dispensational premillennialists.”

Historic Premillennialism
Historic premillennialists believe that any doctrine of the millennium must be based on the NT and be consistent with Christ’s present reign. They believe that there will be two bodily resurrections separated by the “thousand years”: the resurrection of the righteous when Christ comes again and then the resurrection of the unrighteous after the thousand years. After that, the eternal state will be instituted.

Dispensational Premillennialism
Dispensational premillennialists hold that there is a radical distinction between Israel and the church and that all prophecies must be interpreted “literally”: prophetic promises to OT Israel must literally be fulfilled in the physical nation of Israel, not in the church. They view the millennium as the climax of God’s dealings with Israel. They hold that Christ will actually have two “second comings”: the first one, which they call the “pretribulational rapture,” is only “for” his church (i.e., the church will leave the earth and meet Christ in the air and then go back with him to heaven). Later, after the “great tribulation,” Christ will physically come with his church to the earth and set up a thousand-year kingdom in which Israel is dominant.11 They also believe that there will be three resurrections: the first for the righteous dead at the rapture; the second at the end of the tribulation for those saints who have died during the tribulation; and the third at the end of the millennium for the unbelievers.12 After that there will be a great rebellion which Christ will overcome. He will then institute the eternal state.

Postmillennialism
Technically, any belief that Christ will come after the “thousand years” is postmillennial. As popularly used, however, postmillennialism is the belief that the “millennium” is a future, discrete period of unprecedented Christian influence in the world (a “golden age”), based on the work of the church and the Holy Spirit in the world, that gradually emerges before Christ’s return. Christ will then come again, receive the kingdom, and initiate the eternal state.”

Pretribulationism, Midtribulationism, and Posttribulationism
“Pretribulationism” is a distinctively dispensationalist idea. Pretribulationists believe that before the “tribulation” Christ will come part-way from heaven to earth to “rapture” (“take away” to heaven) the church. A variant of this is “midtribulationism” which believes that Christ will rapture the church in the middle of a seven-year tribulation (i.e., just before the “great tribulation”). Both pre- and mid-tribulationists believe that after the tribulation Christ will come again, this time all the way to earth, to set up a thousand-year kingdom. After that he will establish the eternal state. On the other hand, “posttribulationism” holds that Christ will return only once, after the church goes through tribulation. Posttribulationists believe that the rapture of living believers will take place along with the resurrection of the dead when Christ returns.”

Preterism
The term comes from the Latin “praeter” which means “past” or “beyond.” Preterism is divided into two main camps: “full preterism” and “partial preterism.” Full preterism holds that all significant events of prophecy, including the “millennium” and Christ’s second coming (which preterists see as a spiritual coming), took place in AD 70 when the Jewish temple was destroyed by the Romans. Partial preterism holds that most of the major eschatological events were fulfilled by AD 70, but that Christ will physically come again in the future and set up the eternal state.”

Full Preterists
Full preterists are a relatively small minority. “The true preterist view is that the second coming of Christ was to finally judge and remove the last vestiges of the Old Covenant system and fully establish the kingdom and the New Covenant system by 70 A.D.” They also view the resurrection as spiritual not bodily, and that the resurrection, the day of the Lord, and the judgment all occurred in AD 70. Most Christians hold that full preterism is heretical because it denies the bodily resurrection of believers and the future second coming of Christ.

Partial Preterism
Partial preterism, particularly in its mild variety, has a well-established history. Mild partial preterism “holds that the Tribulation was fulfilled within the first three hundred years of Christianity as God judged two enemies: the Jews in A.D. 70 and Rome by A.D. 313.”

Moderate Partial Preterism
such as that advanced by R. C. Sproul, “sees the Tribulation and the bulk of Bible prophecy as fulfilled in the events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70; but they still hold to a future second coming, a physical resurrection of the dead, an end to temporal history, and the establishment of the consummate new heaven and new earth.” Moderate partial preterists believe that “in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 there was a parousia or coming of Christ [but] it was not the parousia.

Amillennialists
Amillennialists thus hold that the “thousand years” is a symbolic reference to the entire period (which we are now in) between Christ’s resurrection until shortly before his return. This age will be characterized by the spread of the gospel but also by the spread of sin, i.e., there will be no “golden age” before Christ returns. Satan is now bound in the sense that he can no longer absolutely prevent the spread of the gospel to the nations or unite the world to destroy the church. Shortly before the second coming, he will be loosed and persecution will increase. That will be ended by Christ’s return in victory. The biblical millennium, therefore, is not the glorious age to come, but this present era for giving the message of salvation to the nations.

Updated Haiti Information

I last updated my information page for the Fall 2014 Haiti Trip on July 4th, 2014. Here's the link:
Haiti 2014 Fall Trip Information and Prayer Requests

C. S. Lewis -- Jesus is Lord God, Bad Man, or Mad Man Argument

C. S. Lewis used the classic "Good Man/Bad Man" Argument in several essays. He "borrowed" from the Church Fathers and updated the argument. Here's his version in Mere Christianity:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

The classic argument can be diagramed as I have laid out here in this PDF.

Good Man / Bad Man Argument

Church Discipline

The "Fellowship of the Bean" is studying First Corinthians. I am preparing to lead the discussion on 1st Corinthians 5. Here's the first few verses of the chapter:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.(1 Corinthians 5:1-2 ESV)

The situation involves a man who is blatantly sleeping with his stepmother. This sin is prohibited explicitly in Leviticus. Both the Greek and Roman cultures abhor this relationship. The Corinthians are so prideful that they are challenging Paul's authority and apostleship instead of taking care of business. The congregation should not have been arrogant against Paul, they should have been in mourning as a congregation for the grievous sin among them.

Charles Hodge, the astute president of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878, makes the following observations in his commentary.

Chrysostom says the idea is, that they should have acted as they would have done had a pestilence appeared among them which called for mourning and supplication in order that it might be removed. It is a right inherent in every society, and necessary for its existence, to judge of the qualification of its own members; to receive those whom it judges worthy, and to exclude the unworthy. The right is here clearly recognized as belonging to the church. It is also clear from this passage that this right belongs to each particular church congregation. The power was vested in the church of Corinth and not is some officer presiding over that church. The bishop or pastor was not reproved for neglect of discipline; but the church itself, in its organized capacity. (Hodge, p. 82-83)

First Corinthians is a letter written to the entire congregation at Corinth. Paul is exhorting the whole congregation, not the elders alone, but the entire membership of the Corinthian church is to be held accountable for the sin among them.

Holiness is a corporate responsibility. I'm not sure what this looks like. It is easier to see love as a corporate responsibility: carrying one another's burdens, showing hospitality, and doing all the one anothers. But how do we stand up for God's holiness as a congregation? How do we show love to one another and yet encourage each other to purity? I'm not sure, but Paul is chiding everyone in the congregation for not taking action. We are together to grieve for the sin among us and hold each other accountable.

I'm reminded of the incident in Numbers 25. A man was blatantly sinning against God in front of the whole nation of Israel and the nation did nothing. How do we take action like Phinehas did in Leviticus 25? Phinehas alone took action to uphold God's holiness in the congregation and was rewarded with a covenant of peace.

God's Immutability and the Church

One of my favorite C. S. Lewis quotes is from the end of his most famous sermon, The Weight of Glory

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden. (The Weight of Glory)

Lewis points out correctly that we need to see people as God sees them: He sees them as eternal beings. The obnoxious people you fellowship with at church are the most holy beings except for God that you will ever encounter. I agree with Lewis, but I think we need to go one step further. I am reading Stephen Charnock on the immutability of God. His premise is since scripture teaches that God does not change, then His promises never fail. God is eternal, omnipotent, and He does not change; therefore, He keeps His promises and does not change them. Charnock proves his point through scripture by exegeting the following strophe from Psalm 102:

Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
but you are the same, and your years have no end.
The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.
(Psalm 102:25-28 ESV)

Charnock makes the following conclusion from God's immutability as taught in this passage.

“The design of the penman is to confirm the church in the truth of the divine promises; that though the foundations of the world should be ripped up, and the heavens clatter together, and the whole fabric of them be unpinned and fall to pieces, the firmest parts of it dissolved; yet the church should continue in its stability, because it stands not upon the changeableness of creatures, but is built upon the immutable rock of the truth of God, which is as little subject to change, as his essence.” ("The Existence and Attributes of God

God effects His promises to believing individuals through the Church. Scripture repeatedly uses the illustrations of a building or a body to explain the function of the Church. Using the illustration of a building, God is using the building blocks--the members of the church--to knock the rough edges off the other blocks (Proverbs 27:17) so we can fit together snugly. In other words, God is using the Church as a whole to prepare us for heaven. God does not only want personal holiness, but corporate holiness as well. Look at the following promises about the church.

• And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:18-19 ESV)
• For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2 ESV)
• So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22 ESV)
• Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.(Ephesians 5:25-33 ESV)
• As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
  
  “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
  a cornerstone chosen and precious,
  and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
  (1 Peter 2:4-6 ESV)

God saves us both individually and corporately. God wants to unite us with Himself both individually and corporately. God is making us into one holy people to love Him and enjoy Him forever.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 ESV)

God promises that the Church will be Christ's Bride in heaven for ever. Let us praise our immutable, faithful, and holy God.

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV)

Sloth and the Sluggard in Scripture

Jason Blackley asked me a week ago what I knew about Sloth. He stumped me. I posted some quotes from Dorothy L. Sayers and C. S. Lewis earlier in the year, but I didn't really know what the Bible had to say.   Since I couldn't sleep, I threw a bunch of verses together. Jason probably has modern resources, I decided to go old school with my Vine's and my concordance. I did use Google. Vine gave the definition of Slothful in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.

SLOTHFUL
1. NOTHROS, indolent, sluggish, is rendered "slothful" in Heb. 6:12 A. V. See DULL and synonymous words there and SLUGGISH.
2. OKNEROS, shrinking, irksome, is translated "slothful" in Matt. 25:26. and Romans 12:11, where "in diligence not slothful," R. V., might be rendered 'not flagging in zeal.' (Vines Expository Dictionary)

Under DULL in my Vines Expository Dictionary, he stated

There is a deeper more inborn sluggishness implied in northros, and this bound up as it were in the very life, more than in either of the other words of this group. (p. 343) 

Here are some verses.

• Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11 ESV)
• A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.(Proverbs 10:4)
• Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. (Proverbs 10:26 ESV)
• The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. (Proverbs 12:24 ESV)
• The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. (Proverbs 13:4 ESV)
• Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. (Proverbs 19:15 ESV)
• The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 ESV)
• The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back. (Proverbs 21:25-26 ESV)
• I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV)
• The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. (Proverbs 26:13-16 ESV)
• The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 ESV)
• Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Romans 12:11 ESV)
• And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:11-12 ESV)

I noticed in these verses that slothfulness is tied to pride, poverty, hunger, envy, selfishness, and stinginess.

In Matthew 25, Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of God in the "Parable of the Talents." I have heard two similar interpretations of this parable. One is that God gave us skills, resources, and talents and we should use them diligently for the Kingdom of God and not be slothful. The second interpretation is that Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God and is giving the Gospel to us. He wants us to use this information--this good news--to enter the Kingdom of God. We should not be slothful with our talents or the Gospel in either case.

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:14-30 ESV)

My favorite verses on Diligence:

• And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)
• "Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:11 ESV)
• Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (2 Peter 1:10 ESV)
• Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. (2 Peter 3:14 ESV)

Coalbiter's Book Recommendations

This is an online bookstore that I created in association with Amazon.com. It is a good way to keep track of the books and commentaries I've read and recommended. Please keep coming back to this page as I plan to add more categories and more books to each category. I doubt the bookstore will make any money, but I will direct any funds earned from the bookstore to help finance my mission trips.

Here are the links: 

Coalbiter's C. S. Lewis Books and Resources
Coalbiter's Recommended Commentaries
Coalbiter's Puritan Theology Recommendation
Coalbiter's Recommendations on Jonathan Edwards
Coalbiter's Recommended Books on Theology
Coalbiter's Recommended Eschatological Resources

In His Name,

Jeff

GCLI, Chesterton and God's Mirth

This blog post is not really about the GCLI materials, but it is a meditation on how Jesus is displayed in the Old Testament. There is an article in Book II of the GCLI materials called, Defending the Deity of Christ from the Teachings of Contemporary Cults by Pastor Kurt Jurgensmeier. On page 282, Point 5.2 raises the question, Does Proverbs 8:22-31 teach that Jesus was created by God? The author asserts that Jehovah Witnesses claim that Proverbs 8 proves that Jesus is a created being. Jurgensmeir argues the following:

Correcting the misinterpretation: The phrase, "The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works" (Proverbs 8:22, NIV) cannot be referring to the creation of Christ. Such a notion, again, contradicts all the other Scriptural truth regarding the deity of Christ. Solomon is simply personifying wisdom, just as he does in the first chapter of Proverbs, referring to wisdom as a woman who cries out in the streets.

However, in his Systematic Theology, Grudem argues convincingly that Proverbs 8:22-31 is talking about Christ and argues against the Jehovah Witness position in a different way. Grudem shows that the Hebrew word for "create" in verse 22 does not always mean create.

One of the most disputed Old Testament texts that could show distinct personality for more than one person is Proverbs 8:22–31. Although the earlier part of the chapter could be understood as merely a personification of “wisdom” for literary effect, showing wisdom calling to the simple and inviting them to learn, vv. 22–31, one could argue, say things about “wisdom” that seem to go far beyond mere personification. Speaking of the time when God created the earth, “wisdom” says, “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind” (Prov. 8:30–31 NIV). To work as a “craftsman” at God’s side in the creation suggests in itself the idea of distinct personhood, and the following phrases might seem even more convincing, for only real persons can be “filled with delight day after day” and can rejoice in the world and delight in mankind.

But if we decide that “wisdom” here really refers to the Son of God before he became man, there is a difficulty. Verses 22–25 (RSV) seem to speak of the creation of this person who is called “wisdom”:

The LORD created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth.

Does this not indicate that this “wisdom” was created?

In fact, it does not. The Hebrew word that commonly means “create” (bārā’) is not used in verse 22; rather the word is qānāh, which occurs eighty-four times in the Old Testament and almost always means “to get, acquire.” The NASB is most clear here: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way” (similarly KJV). (Note this sense of the word in Gen. 39:1; Ex. 21:2; Prov. 4:5, 7; 23:23; Eccl. 2:7; Isa. 1:3 [”owner”].) This is a legitimate sense and, if wisdom is understood as a real person, would mean only that God the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of God the Son at the time creation began: the Father summoned the Son to work with him in the activity of creation. The expression “brought forth” in verses 24 and 25 is a different term but could carry a similar meaning: the Father began to direct and make use of the powerful creative work of the Son in the creation of the universe.(Grudem, p. 228-229)

If Wisdom in Proverbs 8 is referring to Jesus Christ, it fits in well with Christ being the "Logos" in John 1. Furthermore, it makes the rest of the paragraph in Proverbs 8 even more poignant.

then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
(Proverbs 8:30-31 ESV)

The idea that God enjoys His creation and people meshes with the rest of scripture. There is a beautiful cross-reference about God rejoicing in the sons of man in Zephaniah 3:17 (KJV):

The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

In the gospels, we really do not see Jesus's mirth and joy. Isaiah's prophecy about Jesus in the Old Testament describes well Jesus who is reflected in the Gospels as a "man of sorrows, acquainted by grief" (Isaiah 53:3). G. K. Chesterton has a famous quote about Jesus's lack of joy in the Gospels:

G. K. Chesterton
"JOY, which was the small publicity of the pagan, is the gigantic secret of the Christian. 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." (Orthodoxy)

An elder at Grace has been encouraging people to read the Gospels to get to know the man Jesus, especially in light of going to Haiti to share the Gospel. I agree that reading the Gospels is a good way to prepare for Haiti and evangelism. However, the whole Bible speaks out about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament reveals Christ in ways we don't see in the Gospels. In the Old Testament we see Christ's mirth and joy in His creation and His people.