Preached Sermons

Important teaching for older men and others

2011-07-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 2:2 Time 21/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the letter of Paul to Titus and we have just begun to look at the second chapter. Chapter 2 begins with a call to Titus to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Paul spells out what the various groups in the church need to be taught in particular.

We looked last time at verse 1 and also touched on some of the verses that follow. We made some general remarks on teaching in the church. Our main point was that we need to recognise the need of appropriate, sound teaching by the pastor and others to all members.

We said six things about this altogether. We spoke of the need to recognise 1. The need for teaching 2. The need for sound teaching 3. The need for appropriate teaching.

Then we spoke of the need to recognise that 4. Teaching is not the sole province of the pastor 5. All of us need teaching. And finally, 6. The impact that sound teaching can have.

After this opening verse, Titus is told what he needs to teach to four different groups - the older men ... the older women ... the younger women ... the young men.

It might be worthwhile, before we go any further, to remind ourselves of who we are talking about here. Some years ago I made a study of this matter and you will find that when the Bible speaks about young men or young women, it is talking about people under the age of forty and when it talks about older men and women it is talking about people over the age of sixty. Many of us are in that middle age bracket 40-60, if you are under 50 you are nearer the young people, if you are over 50 (as I am) nearer the older ones.

Paul wants four things in particular to be taught to the older men in the congregation. Obviously as with elders in Chapter 1 we are not saying that these are things that should only be found in older men. Rather, these are matters that in particular should be stressed to the older men. So we say

1. Older men and others remember the importance of being temperate

The first word used is the word temperate. You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate. The word used means to be sober-minded or watchful, circumspect. One might be tempted to think that as one grows older one can be less watchful, less vigilant. As you get older you think of easing down, retiring, taking things easier. In fact, says Paul to Titus, you really need to remind the older men to be temperate. Otherwise they will be a poor example to the younger men and will spoil their testimony in other ways too. There can be no slacking.

What sort of older men are we encouraging in this church? Bad tempered old men, who easily get cross and who say thinks that upset people, men who don't really care how they treat others.

Or are we encouraging them to be sober-minded, watchful, circumspect, men who are full of sweetness and light.

So what about us? Are we temperate? Are we circumspect? Are we increasingly careful in the way we live? That is how it should be in Christ.

2. Older men and others remember the importance of being worthy of respect

Paul goes on to say that these older men need to be taught to be worthy of respect. Grave is the word used in the AV. The ESV has dignified. Seriousness, sobermindedness again – these are the ideas. Sadly, in our day and age when the cult of youth is so strong older men are often not interested in being dignified, grave, worthy of respect. They too often want to relive their youth or prove to us that they are not fuddy duddies. Rather, increasingly we should be more and more grave, more and more dignified.

What sort of older men are we encouraging in this church? Men who command no respect from the young people, who are lacking in dignity, men who are always jokey and flippant and have nothing helpful to say.

Or are we encouraging them to be grave, dignified saints in Israel, men we can look up to and follow. That is how it should be.

Is there an increasing dignity about us? Are we growing more worthy of respect? That is what we should be aiming at.

3. Older men and others remember the importance of being self-controlled

Then we have another similar word – self-controlled. We are talking about a person who is moderate, prudent, who has himself – his passions and appetites – well under control. As we have said, when we get older we think of easing down, retiring, relaxing. Nevertheless, says Paul to Titus, you really need to remind the older men to be self-controlled.

What sort of older men are we encouraging in this church? Old men who take the conversation in unhelpful directions, who and say and do things that embarrass people.

Or are we encouraging them to be moderate, self-controlled, prudent.

What about all of us in general? Are we moderate? Are we prudent? Are we increasingly self-controlled? That is again how it should be in Christ.

4. Older men and others remember the importance of being sound in faith, love and endurance

The final thing he mentions is really in three parts. Titus must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. He must Teach the older men to be ... sound in faith, in love and in endurance.

So Paul repeats that word sound which we have said means healthy or whole. He wants the older men to be sound particularly in faith, in love and in endurance. It is almost the same as the famous trinity – faith, love and hope but instead of hope we have endurance. The idea is similar as we shall see. So

1. Sound in faith

Older men should be marked by faith. They should be sincere, always sticking to the truth of the gospel. They should not be eager to believe the latest thing or ready to turn to false doctrines. By the time a man is older he should be able to talk about his faith with some clarity and confidence.

Are we growing increasingly sound in the faith? Are we surer and surer of what we believe?

2. Sound in love

Older men should also be marked by Christian love. “He should have overcome, at his time of life,” says one writer “all the fiery, impetuous, envious, wrathful passions of his early years, and his mind should be subdued into sweet benevolence to all mankind.” How easy it is to get bitter in old age. How easy to be sceptical and so wary of being taken in that there is no room for compassion and kindness. How hard we need to work to keep ourselves loving towards all.

It is always good to consider 1 Corinthians 13 and remind ourselves what love is like (4-8).

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. It must not fail with us.

Are we growing more loving? Is love increasing?

3. Sound in endurance

If older men do not grow bitter they can easily become disappointed men. They can begin to faint. There is a lot to put up with in old age – the body is starting to go and ill health often becomes more frequent. There is inevitably the loss by death of more and more old friends. One can feel increasingly isolated and alone. Some Christians begin to wonder if it has all been worth it. Such people must be taught then to remain sound in endurance – they need to be shown how to keep on keeping on, as we all do. They need to know that they mustn't give up – why should they when they are now closer than ever to their goal.

Are we enduring? Are we filled more and more with hope? While outwardly we are perishing, are we being inwardly renewed day by day? That's how it should be.

We have a wonderful picture here then of the Christian man in old age. He is increasingly marked by soberness; he is increasingly dignified and worthy of respect; he is more and more self-controlled; his faith is growing stronger day by day as his love for believers and for everyone else; he feels increasingly confident in God about the future.

Sadly, however, this is not always how older Christian men come over. One writer complains that often “some of the most miserable old people around are Christians. They are cantankerous and obnoxious. Their youth is no longer there to protect them. They are seen for what their souls really are, without the camouflage of youth. ... Youth is excused for bad behaviour; but youth is no longer there to cover up. Old age exposes all the faults, habits, obnoxious characteristics, and degeneracy of soul.”

What a frightening thought. We need to take care that such a description doesn't fit us. It is no good waiting until we are older. We need to start now on the right path - the path of watchfulness, dignity, self-control and soundness in faith, love and endurance. How we need to look to God to help us.

Appropriate sound teaching vital for all

2011-06-17T01:51:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 2:1 Time 07/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the letter of Paul to Titus and so far we have looked at the first chapter – the introduction, Paul's instructions about elders and his warning against false teachers. We come next to Chapter 2 and that chapter begins with a call to Titus to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Paul spells out what the various groups in the church need to be taught in particular.

We will look this week chiefly at verse 1 but touching on some of the verses that follow too. Before coming to the teaching for specific groups we want to make some general remarks on teaching in the church. Our main point is that we must

Recognise the need of appropriate, sound teaching by the pastor and others to all members.

We want to say six things about this

1. Recognise the need for teaching

Chapter 2 begins You must teach. One of the chief parts of the work of a pastor or anyone who is in a similar role is to teach. This is why one of the qualifications of an elder (1:9) is that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. This is why Paul speaks of pastors as pastors and teachers in Ephesians 4:11. Paul speaks in quite a similar way in 1 Timothy 4:11-16

Command and teach these things he says ... Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

This is why it is necessary not only for the minister to have the ability to teach but also to be trained for his task, usually by means of pre-service and in-service training. We do not expect primary or secondary school teachers to do their work without such training and so it would be rather unreasonable to suppose that ministers do not need training too.

There are various ways of teaching, of course – not only through preaching but also through more informal means but teaching is an important part of the minister's task.

2. Recognise the need for sound teaching

Paul does not simply say You must teach but You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Literally, Titus is told to teach what fits in with sound doctrine, what comports with it. It is like a ruler stood on end and he has to match up to it. We have already spent some time looking at what Paul has to say against false doctrine in 1:10-16. We noted too when we looked at 1:9 and its reference to the trustworthy message as it has been taught that when it comes to teaching, the New Testament has a very clear idea of orthodoxy.

The New Testament has a clear and coherent message that is trustworthy and reliable. We noted the various reference to this in the pastoral letters.

1 Timothy 1:10, 11 talks of whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

2:7 Paul speaks of himself as a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

4:6 Paul urges Timothy to be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.

4:11 Command and teach these things (not anything else) he says.

6:2, 3 These are the things you are to teach and urge on them ... the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ ... godly teaching.

2 Timothy 1:13, 14 What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you - guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

4:3 the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Also, Romans 6:17, 16:17 - Paul writes of wholeheartedly obeying the form of teaching to which you were committed and the teaching which you have learned

1 Corinthians 11:2 speaks of holding to the teachings (traditions) just as I passed them on to you.

In more than one place Paul talks of what he received a tradition and passing it on to them.

1 Thessalonians 3:6 speaks of the teaching you received from us.

Plus 2 John 9, 10 and Jude 3 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him ... the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

It is not enough that a church has plenty of teaching, the teaching must be sound, wholesome, healthy, orthodox, free from corruption. In order to do that there have to be two things.

1. There has to be a clear biblical framework to the teaching. That is where a confession can be so useful for a church. That is one reason why I would like us to be more familiar with the 1689 Confession than we are. Sound preachers are usually those who have a good outline of theology in their heads that guides them as they teach.

2. We cannot put our faith in confessions, of course, however good they are, and so we have to keep going back to the Bible itself in order to learn sound doctrine. A sound preacher will be one who is always drawing people back to the Word of God.

3. Recognise the need for appropriate teaching. So in verse 1 Paul calls on Titus to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. From verse 2 he goes on to say that Titus should tailor his teaching for the various people who make up the churches. He talks first about what to teach the older men, then the older women and after that the younger women and the younger men, who clearly included Titus himself. From verse 9 he begins to speak to slaves who were a special category in the churches. The same pattern can be discerned when you look at the beginning of Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy. Elsewhere, Paul does something slightly different, as in Ephesians and Colossians, where he speaks in turn to wives, husbands, children, fathers and then again slaves and masters.

This is a reminder then that the teaching ought to be appropriate to people. Yes, most often the teaching addresses everyone but at times it can get quite specific and certainly it needs to be appropriate to the age and circumstances of the people being addressed. This is why the sermon must attempt to address all sorts of different people.

The Puritan William Perkins recommended dividing the congregation into seven types and endeavouring to reach each different type. He wrote of

Ignorant and unteachable unbelievers.
Ignorant but teachable unbelievers.
Those who have some knowledge but remain unhumbled.
The humbled.
Those who believe.
Those who are fallen, either in faith or in practice.
A mixed group. The inclusion of this category shows that many more could be thought of.

This is also the argument for specific ministry to children, young people, women and men. Obviously we must avoid needless division but we are bound to have different needs and different situations and good teaching will take note of that and make the teaching appropriate.

4. Recognise that teaching is not the sole province of the pastor

We have been thinking chiefly of the role of the pastor here but it is clear that Paul does not envisage all the teaching being done by the pastor. At the end of verse 3 where he has described what the older women must be taught he says that rather than being slanderers or addicted to much wine they must teach what is good. Then he says in verse 4 they can train the younger women.

Paul does not envisage the minister spending long sessions counselling the younger women for obvious reasons. I don't think we can establish that a pastor never counsels a young woman. Paul's word to Timothy is to treat younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. Clearly the bulk of the personal teaching to young women, however, is to be done by the older women.

That very fact shows that the work of teaching is not confined to the ordained minister but is something that we should expect to see going on among the members of the congregation more informally as well as formally by the leadership.

5. Recognise that all of us need teaching

A further point to be made is that we all need teaching. Paul doesn't simply say train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, etc, ... Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. He clearly expects Titus to teach the older men and the older women as well. “You can't teach an old dog new tricks” is not a saying Paul would agree with. He clearly believed in what is sometimes called lifelong learning. Even older people still have things to learn about being temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith, in love and in endurance and being reverent in the way they live, not ... slanderers or drunkards but those who teach what is good. I don't think this is just because many of them were new converts. Rather, even in old age, we have things to learn. In 1 Timothy 5:1 Paul says to Timothy Do not rebuke an older man harshly, teaching older folk has to be done with care (especially if you are younger than they are) however he does say but exhort him as if he were your father. In Titus 3:8 Paul says after his trustworthy saying, And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone

6. Recognise the impact that sound teaching can have

Why is Paul so keen for Titus to do this teaching? There are many reasons no doubt – not least so that they will be competent to teach one another. In 2:5 he adds that one of the reasons it is important for the older women to teach the younger women to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands is ... so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, in 2:11, after setting out what must be taught to slaves he says it is so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive. What Paul has in mind here is that if the churches in Crete have a reputation for encouraging in women a lack of self-control, a lack of purity, a lack of business at home, a lack of kindness; if Christian women are known for refusing to be subject to their husbands and Christian slaves are insolent, light fingered and untrustworthy then it is going to do the gospel message harm. If that sort of thing happens it will give pagans an excuse to denounce the gospel. It will repel people rather than attracting people to the message.

When we talk about sound teaching, we tend to think of the good it will do to those who receive the teaching first hand, however we ought to remember that good teaching has an impact way beyond its immediate audience. If the lesson taught finds its target than it has an effect on all those who that person comes into contact with. That is something we should never forget.

It is obvious really when you think about it.
Here is Ingrid. She is a Christian woman but she is badly taught. She can be a little wild at times. She is at home with flirtatious remarks at work. Although she is married she seems to be out several nights a week at parties. She has a sharp tongue and can be quite thoughtless sometimes and is quite happy to contradict her husband in public. Isn't such a person going to give people an excuse to malign the word of God?

Or here is Eric, another badly taught Christian. He is a lowly paid worker on minimum wage. He doesn't really like his rather dead end job but there seems to be no way out. This makes him rather cheeky to his bosses and they don't consider him very reliable. They also think he is on some sort of fiddle although they haven't worked out exactly what he is up to yet. Again, it is not going to make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive to unbelievers.

Karen and Derek, however, are quite different. Both well taught Christians. She is a housewife – a little straight-laced for some, perhaps, but happily married. She's always doing some act of kindness or another. He doesn't have a great job but he puts his heart into it and is known to be very trustworthy. There is talk of him being promoted soon. How attractive he makes the gospel just by his very way of life.

Never underestimate the impact for good that a well taught Christian can have.

Important teaching for older women and others

2011-06-15T01:51:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 2:3 Time 28/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We are looking at the letter of Paul to Titus and we have begun to look at the second chapter. Chapter 2 begins with a call to Titus to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Paul spells out what the various groups in the church need to be taught in particular.

We looked first at verse 1 and also touching on some of the verses that follow. We made some general remarks on teaching in the church. Our main point was that we need to Recognise the need of appropriate, sound teaching by the pastor and others to all members.

We said six things altogether. We spoke of the need to recognise 1. The need for teaching 2. The need for sound teaching 3. The need for appropriate teaching.

We then spoke of the need to recognise that 4. Teaching is not the sole province of the pastor 5. All of us need teaching. And finally 6. The impact that sound teaching can have.

After this opening verse, Titus is told what he needs to teach to four different groups - the older men ... the older women ... the younger women ... the young men.

As I said last time some years ago I made a study of this matter and you will find that when the Bible speaks about young men or young women, it is talking about people under the age of 40 and when it talks about older men and women it is talking about people 60 and over. Many of us are in that middle age bracket 40-60, if you are under 50 you are nearer the young people, if you are over 50 (as I am) nearer the older ones.

Last time we saw that Paul wants four things in particular to be taught to the older men in the congregation. Obviously as with elders in Chapter 1 we are not saying that these are things that should only be found in older men. Rather, these are matters that in particular should be stressed to the older men. We said that older men and others need to remember

1. The importance of being temperate
2. The importance of being worthy of respect
3. The importance of being self-controlled
4. The importance of being sound in faith, love and endurance

This time we will consider the older women and what Paul says in a similar way.

1. Older women and others remember to be reverent in the way you live
Having spoken about what the older men were to be taught Paul goes on in verse 3 Likewise, teach the older women to be and then follow some four instructions particularly for them. The first thing they were to be taught was to be reverent in the way they live. The word reverent is only found here in the New Testament. The idea is that they should behave in away that is appropriate for a sacred place. Reverence is to mark the way that older women go about things. They should act in a way that fits with being holy. That would include the things just mentioned with regard to the older men - being temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Obviously holiness is an inward thing but it must show itself outwardly to some extent.

Calvin says “We very frequently see, that females advanced in age either continue to dress with the lightness of youthful years, or have something superstitious in their apparel, and seldom hit the golden mean. Paul wished to guard against both extremes,by enjoining them to follow a course that is agreeable both to outward propriety and to religion; or, if you choose to express it in simpler language, to give evidence, by their very dress, that they are holy and godly women.”

There is a tradition of calling ministers (like myself) reverend. It is a term of respect. I always think that if it is used it ought to be a reminder to me that I should be reverend in fact not just in name. Of course, it is not only the minister who should be reverend. It obviously is not something that applies only to ministers and older women, it should be seen in all Christian people, men and women, old and young.

@ So what about us? Are we increasingly marked by reverence in the way we live?

2. Older women and others remember not to be slanderers

The second thing he mentions is negative. These women are not to be slanderers. Literally, he says they must not be devils. As you know, the word devil like Satan means accuser or slanderer.

One feature of life for many older women is the time to sit and talk a bit more. The danger of such an opportunity is that your tongue runs away with you and you start saying things you shouldn't including slanderous things against others. Older women, like us all, need to take care not to fall into that sin of the tongue. We live in a culture where slander and gossip are felt to be quite acceptable and it is easy to start thinking like those around us. We must rather resist. Whenever we start speaking about others we need to take great care that we do not speak against them. If we do, we need to be doubly sure we are not falling into the sin of slander, which is condemned so often in the New Testament. See Titus 3:1, 2 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

@ Are you a slanderer? Are you guilty of doing the devilish work of gossiping and running down other people?

3. Older women and others remember not to be addicted to too much alcohol or other drugs

Then he warns (verse 3) against being addicted to much wine. The ESV translates or slaves to much wine. An addiction is like being a slave to something. I think that it is clear that at that time and in that place alcoholic wine was drunk. Paul never condemns the drinking of wine. He does, however, condemn drunkenness and here he warns against this danger of being addicted to much wine. Again, older women were no doubt in this danger because of the extra leisure time to sit and to talk. Thankfully, today, tea and coffee are still the order of the day and so the danger is lessened – “the cup that cheers and doth not inebriate” as Cowper called tea. There are other dangers, however – too much prescription medicine, too much watching worldly soap operas on TV. The danger of addiction and over consumption is everywhere, especially for people with a little extra time on their hands.

Again this is something that we all need to take care over. People often speak of an addictive personality and some do seem more prone to addictions than others. We are all capable of addiction, however, because we are all creatures of habit. One way in which our bodies and personalities work is by means of habit. Habit is a great thing if we are in a good habit – habitually reading the Bible, praying, going to church, showing kindness to others, being thoughtful and so on. If, however, the habit is a bad one - habitually not reading the Bible, not praying, not going to church, being unkind and thoughtless and so on – that is no good at all. We all need to look out for little addictions that creep into our way of life and that can be harmful. When we have time on our hands it is important that we make good use of it and not endanger our souls by becoming addicted to what is ultimately unhelpful.

4. Older women and others remember to teach what is good

The other main thing that Paul wants Titus to encourage the older women to is rather to teach what is good. By this means (4) they can train the younger women. Rather than squandering their time on slandering people and getting addicted to too much wine, older women should see their later years as a golden opportunity to do some teaching, especially with younger women.

I don't think Paul has in mind a classroom setting here but something altogether more spontaneous and informal. As we have said, teaching cannot all be left to the pastor, others must play their part. Titus has to teach the older men and women and the younger ones to some extent but the older ones themselves must also be teachers of what is good. In particular Paul envisages the older women teaching the younger women. First and foremost this will be their own daughters, of course, but clearly Paul envisages something beyond that.

Again, there is a broader application here. We are all to be teachers of what is good. We are to model goodness in our lives and use the opportunities that come our way, formal and more informal, to teach by words. What is included in this training programme for younger women is briefly spelled out here - to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. These are really subtle hints at what should characterise the younger women in particular, however, and we will look at these things another time, God willing. The main final point for now is the importance of us all being teachers of what is good.

So here are four things to pray for older women in the church. Pray that they will be reverent in the way they live, not slanderers or slaves to drink or anything else that would only harm them in the end. Pray rather that they will be great teachers of what is good especially so that the next generation of women is well trained in self-control, purity, being busy at home, being kind and being subject to their husbands.

At the same time let us consider what we can do to be more reverent in the way we live, more careful against slandering others or getting addicted to things that may harm us. And what about teaching good things to others and training the younger members of the church up. What can we do there? How can we promote the sort of things that are mentioned here?

Further characteristics of false teachers

2011-06-12T15:48:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 1:12b-16 Time 30/06/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We've begun to look at Paul's Letter to Titus, who he's left in Crete to complete the work already begun on the island. After opening greetings (1-5) Paul first calls on Titus to see that elders or overseers are appointed in all the places where churches have been founded. He sets out what sort of things should characterise elders or indeed anyone who engages in Christian ministry (6-9).

At the end of that section Paul says the final requirement for an elder is that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught. This is for two reasons – first, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and second so that he can refute those who oppose it. Paul then takes up this latter point – the need to refute those who oppose the trustworthy message as it has been taught. He says that the reason that such negative work is needed is that there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, etc.

Even in those early days for the gospel in Crete there were false teachers who wormed their way into the churches and led people astray with their false doctrines, teachings not in accord with the trustworthy message as it has been taught. And it is the same today.

Although false teachers differ from age to age and in many other ways they all have certain characteristics that are typical. It is useful to consider these characteristics and remind ourselves of how wolves in sheep's clothing operate. Here in verses 10-16 there are about 15 or 16 characteristics that come out altogether. Paul also says something about opposing them. We looked at some seven characteristics last week and I want us to consider some nine more this week. I also want to say something briefly about acting against such people.

Last time we considered the need to watch against people who are rebellious, mere talkers and deceivers. Such people are usually religious but teach ruinous false doctrine, are eager for dishonest gain and are liars. This time I want to say

1. (8) Watch against evil brutes

We noted that Paul quotes Epimenides a Cretan poet saying that Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons and declaring the testimony to be true in the case of the false teaches on the island. We considered their lying last time. Not only are false teachers deceivers but what they say is lies too. Then they were saying that circumcision was an important thing and faith alone was not enough. Still today people downplay faith and want to add to it all sorts of other things. They tell lies about what God wants and how he deals with people. They lie and say there is no after life or that everyone goes to heaven or that there is a purgatory where even very bad people can eventually be fitted for heaven. We must not listen to such lies.

These people are also evil brutes. This is similar to what Peter and Jude say

2 Peter 2:12 But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.

Jude 10 says such people are like unreasoning animals. All they are concerned with is their bodies – what they will eat, what they will wear. They have no thought for their souls or anyone else's.

This is all directly from Jesus's saying that they are wolves in sheep's clothing. They simply want to feed themselves.

Positive lesson: We must remember that we are not animals but in fact human beings- beings created in the image of God. To become a Christian is to have that shattered image restored not to become an animal.

2. (9) Watch against lazy gluttons

If evil brutes emphasises how dangerous false teachers are lazy gluttons emphasises their self-indulgence. They are “idle bellies”. As he says elsewhere their god is their stomach. Laziness and greed are typical of false teachers.

For greed take the example of the prosperity teacher Creflo Dollar. He apparently has two Rolls-Royces which he says his congregation has given to him. He flies in a $5 million private jet to his speaking engagements in the US and Europe (the church also owns a Gates Learjet. Estimated value: $985,000). He, his wife and five children live in a $1 million home behind iron gates in a smart Atlanta neighbourhood. He also owns another mansion worth $1.27 million. The church has amassed a fortune in real estate. Like other "word faith" teachers Dollar is often accompanied by bodyguards in public.

Laziness can come out in different ways. Often with the false teacher it is an intellectual laziness shown in an unwillingness to do the hard work of studying God's Word to see what it really says.

Positive lesson: This is a reminder of the need to work hard and to be temperate not greedy.

3. (10) Watch against followers of myths

In verse 14 Paul goes on to say that Titus needs to get the people to pay no attention to Jewish myths. Paul has in mind the Jewish myths – probably the endless stories that the Jews told that had no basis in fact and yet which so fascinated them. Sometimes the false teachers believe the myths themselves, sometimes they just make them up. Peter talks about how (2 Peter 2:3) In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.

Such things are found in the Talmud for example. There exists there (Chullin 59b) a discussion about a giant deer and a giant lion, both from a mythical forest called “Dvei Ilai”. The deer is called "keresh", the lion, "tigris". It is said to be so big that there is a space of 9 feet between the lobes of its lungs. The Roman Caesar Hadrian once asked a Rabbi to show him this lion, since every lion can be killed, but the Rabbi refused and pointed out that it is not a normal lion. The Roman Caesar insisted, so the Rabbi called for the lion of "Dvei Ilai". It roared once from a distance of 400 cubits and all the city walls of Rome tumbled down. Then at 300 cubits it roared again and the front teeth and molars of Roman men fall out.

The false teachers believe stories today too – stories of tongue speaking and healing and people being raised from the dead.

In 2002 Reinhard Bonnke had a story headed “Nigerian certified dead, but revived days later at evangelist's meeting”. It goes like this

The dramatic documentary of a modern-day Lazarus has been released by international evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. The German preacher who has led crusades in Africa for 30 years says that the remarkable resurrection of Daniel Ekechukwu is so well-documented that no one can be unaffected by the report.

Bonnke's Christ for All Nations (CfAN) ministry has released a 45-minute video of Ekechukwu's testimony, and also reported at its Website how the Nigerian pastor had been certified dead and injected with embalming fluids before reviving three days later at a Bonnke meeting.

Ekechukwu's wife was so sure that God would bring her husband back to life after he was fatally injured in an auto accident that she persuaded the local mortuary to allow her to take his body to the church where Bonnke was preaching.

There pastors lifted Ekechukwu from the coffin in which he had been laid, and were amazed when the man started to breathe again as they prayed for him. The CfAN video includes footage of Ekechukwu beginning to stir, and later returning to the mortuary where his body had been laid out.

The "Raised from the Dead" report, subtitled "A 21st Century Resurrection Story," features interviews with one of the doctors who certified Ekechukwu dead, and the mortician. "It's shocking," one of them tells the video team. "Seeing a dead man, someone that was once dead and is now alive ... it is very shocking. To God all glory should go."

Nneka Ekechukwu says that when her husband was pronounced dead after last November's accident, she remembered promises God had given her that she would not suffer any more misfortune. "I said: 'This can't happen. I must do something, to prove God again.'"

On the third day after the accident, Ekechukwu's body was taken in its coffin to a church in Ontisha, where Bonnke was preaching at a service. The body was taken out of its coffin and put on a table in the church's conference centre, where several pastors began to pray.

Senior pastor Pat Nwachkuw Sr. tells the CfAN documentary makers that when members of the church learned about Ekechwuku's resurrection, a woman who had been on crutches threw them away and started running, and her husband ran to the church altar to ask God to forgive him his sins.

Interviewed by CfAN, Ekechukwu says when he was being taken to the hospital in the ambulance, he was visited by two angels and taken to heaven. There he saw a "multitude" of people dressed in white who were singing and praising God. Then he was taken to hell, he says.

The angel told him that he had "another chance" to go back, and that the rich man's request to Lazarus - to warn those still alive about hell - had been "granted to this generation." Ekechukwu said that he had been told he could return to the living to give "a last warning to this generation."

In commentary on the video, Bonnke says that the testimony - which has been reported in Nigerian newspapers - spoke of "stubborn faith and the miracle power of Jesus." Ekechukwu's story is a "sign from heaven," he says.

The man is in fact a pastor and knew Bonnke and his work. There is no reason to believe it is true. If it is, how come people apparently die at Bonnke rallies and how come this sort of thing is so rare?

Positive lesson: Believe the Bible not stories made up by men.

4. (11) Watch against the commands of those who reject the truth

Paul goes on to say that Titus must warn people against paying attention to the commands of those who reject the truth.

Both among Romanist and Charismatics as well as others one can find many example where people are certainly very submissive to their supposed religious superiors. One hears stories of people giving up money and homes and great fortunes to be monks or to be more committed in their local churches at the insistence of others.

Heavy shepherding is a phenomenon in many settings. This is a false understanding of submission to spiritual leaders. Numerous groups have used "shepherding" as a method of discipleship, holding that the shepherd should be consulted for all life decisions and failure to do so, or to follow the counsel of the shepherd is the sin of rebellion and a sign of spiritual immaturity.

Another way submission is required is through the teaching of a "chain of command" in one's church and family relationships. It is also called "delegated authority." These terms have been associated with abusive, controlling authority in the Discipleship, Shepherding groups.

This false teaching is found in Watchman Nee's book Spiritual Authority. Nee says (p 71) "If God dares to entrust His authority to man, then we can dare to obey. Whether the one in authority is right or wrong does not concern us. The obedient one needs only to obey. The Lord will not hold us responsible for any mistaken obedience, rather He will hold the delegated authority responsible for his erroneous act." In addition, he states, "We should not be occupied with right or wrong, good or evil; rather should we know who is the authority above us" (page 23). This is Confucianism not Christianity.

Positive lesson: Again it is the commands of God that we must listen to not the commands of men.

5. (12) Watch against the corrupt and unbelieving in mind and conscience

Verse 15 says To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. It is perhaps no surprise that false teachers are corrupt (deeply stained) and lacking in faith. Yet at the same time they often go on about how incorruptible and full of faith they are. In order to do this they have to twist the truth. But no, they are, on the one hand, like a badly stained cloth, where the dye cannot be removed and, on the other, like a wrung out rag with not a drop of moisture left, so devoid are they of real faith.

Sometimes with false teachers you wonder how they can be so stupid, some of the things they teach. For example, those who teach that the word Easter in the AV is inspired and that Holy Spirit means something different to Holy Ghost or Mrs Baker Eddy and her idea that Adam means A DAM, which means an obstruction, in which case, Adam signifies "the obstacle which the serpent, sin, would impose between man and his Creator." Do they not have a mind?

At other times you wonder if they have a conscience when they know that they are clearly taking advantage of people's gullibility.

Positive lesson: It is important that we are free from corruption and full of faith in our minds and consciences.

6. (13) Watch against those who claim to know God but deny him by their actions

Verse 16 sums up false teachers well They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.

In the case of false teachers there will again and again be seen a discrepancy at some point or other between what they say and what they do. They do not practice what they preach.

Positive lesson: Do our actions match what we say we believe?

7 (14). Watch against the detestable

Paul adds that these people are detestable. This word is only found here. It means abominable. There is something entirely obnoxious about these people.

Let me give you an example again. This is from The Vancouver Sun, May 4, 2000

4 Kenyans die waiting for miracle-cure man: The victims, including two young children, were hoping to be cured by a visiting American evangelist.

NAIROBI - Four Kenyans, including two young children, died at a religious meeting while they waited for miracle cures from a visiting American evangelist, a paper said Wednesday. Police told the Kenya Times the four had been released from hospital to be cured at Benny Hinn's ''Miracle Crusade'' in the Kenyan capital on Sunday, but they died before Hinn could pray for them. The dead included a four-month old baby girl and a three-year old girl who was reported to have been suffering from a heart complaint. Ten other people suffered serious injuries including broken jaws after falling from trees they had climbed to get a view of the American preacher, who was reported to have attracted up to a million people to his two-day weekend meeting. Hinn regularly preaches to vast audiences across the United States and his shows are broadcast on Kenya's terrestrial religious channel every night. Preachers promising miracle cures from ailments ranging from AIDS to blindness have become increasingly popular in recent years in Kenya, a country where health care is out of the reach of many ordinary people and living standards have been gradually falling for years.

Abominable!

Positive lesson: We need to do all we can to distance ourselves from such abominably horrible evil. We must seek to be the very opposite of such people.

8. (15) Watch against the disobedient

These people are disobedient. Again it is a general description. These people do not do what the Word says, they do what they want to do. This is something else that gives them away again and again.

Positive lesson: We on the other hand must be obedient to the Word.

9. (16) Watch against those unfit for doing anything good

Finally, Paul says they are unfit for doing anything good. People sometimes excuse the false teachers by saying "but they do some good". But these people are so far gone in sin that they are not capable of doing good. Another example from a report found on the Internet.

KINGSPORT — Evangelist Ted Haggard asked the parishioners of a Kingsport church Sunday to forgive him for his 2006 sex and drug scandal, which made national headlines.

As president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Haggard said he represented each person in attendance at Grace Church Sunday morning — and “misrepresented and shamed” them whether they knew it or not.

“I just want to apologize to you this morning if that scandal caused you shame, or pain, or made your witness more difficult, or embarrassed you in any way, or caused grief in your heart, or even caused you to be judgmental or angry,” Haggard said.

Redemption and forgiveness were recurring themes of Haggard’s guest sermon at Grace Church, 1189 N. Eastman Road.

Haggard and his wife, Gayle, spoke to parishioners about how the “crisis” affected their lives, both personally and spiritually.

He said the process of receiving forgiveness from the Lord has been much easier than receiving forgiveness from people.

In 2005, Haggard was listed by Time magazine as one of the top 25 most influential evangelicals in America. He is the founder of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., which at the time of his crisis had 14,000 members.

In 2006, Haggard resigned from all of his church leadership positions after admitting to soliciting a male prostitute for sex and methamphetamine.

“I need to know, are you willing to forgive me?” Haggard asked the congregation. His question was met with applause.

The Haggards would not answer media questions Sunday, but the Times-News was permitted to listen in as they testified to the Grace Church congregation.

He described the crisis as a “moral failure involving sex and drugs.”

“There’s incredible shame and pain, and in this Internet age, nothing ever goes away,” he said. “There’s not time, nor is there distance because of the Internet.”

Haggard noted that the Lord will always forgive our sins, but people here on Earth aren’t always so forgiving. He added that the forgiveness he has received, especially from people close to him, created an atmosphere in which he could be healed.

It’s a lesson that everyone can learn from, he added.

Among those who gave Haggard forgiveness were his wife and their five children. He said the crisis allowed one daughter to see him as less than perfect.

Haggard said, “When the crisis happened she (his daughter) said ‘I am so relieved. I have always seen you as so perfect. Now I can relate to you.’ Before, people thought so highly of me that when they met me they’d be disappointed. Now they think so poorly of me when they meet me they’re relieved.”

One of the main points of Haggard’s hour-long sermon was not to turn your back on a person who sins.

Gayle Haggard said that when she was told about her husband’s involvement in a drug and sex scandal, she felt as if her life — which she described as perfect to that point — was over. She’d lost her husband, the dignity of her children, and the church she loved.

“That first night was my point of decision, and that was when I decided I am not willing to negate the 22 years we spent building this church, to negate 28 years of marriage, or our family because of this crisis,” Gayle Haggard told the Kingsport congregation. “I felt, these are the things I value, these are the things worth fighting for, and this is my test to do what I’ve taught all these women all these years — what I really do believe.”

Gayle Haggard recently wrote a book titled “Why I Stayed.”

She added, “We’re really missing it when we think that Christianity is about our own righteousness. I love the way Martin Luther says we’re at the same time saints and sinners. When Ted and I were pastoring we tried to be as compassionate and merciful as we knew how to be — as much as we understood. But what we did not know was what it felt like to be the person who needed mercy and compassion, until we walked through this.”

Ted Haggard used as an example a situation from a TV show he watched recently in which the daughter of a religious family who is part of a teenage abstinence pact becomes pregnant. The father then throws the daughter out. Haggard said that unfortunately the program depicted the way many fathers would react.

When the father was confronted with his daughter’s sin he reverted to “arrogance, highmindedness and judgmentalism,” Haggard said. The father’s hurt was more important than communication of the Gospel and the application of the Gospel.

“I think we can always evaluate where we are by how we respond to somebody else’s sin,” he said.

He added, “Are we the gathering together of the redeemed and the perfect with our righteousness? Or are we the gathering together of people who are so grateful to be redeemed and so grateful for what Jesus has done for us, and so grateful for the word of God, and because of that we welcome others who have been under the weight of sin, and we can provide a hopeful redemption for every one of them.”

Haggard noted that Jesus died on the cross for a reason, and the reason is all around us every day. “We all equally need the Lord,” he said. “That’s not to minimize my sin. My sin is great and severe. I need all of the blood of Jesus that’s available to me, and there’s an adequate amount available. But so do all of us.”

Again, it would be hard to make it up. Unbelievable. Instead of hiding away in shame, the sin is paraded before everyone.

Positive lesson: Don't unfit yourself for doing good.

10. Be prepared to act against such people

Paul says two things about dealing with them. We have no time to go into this tonight but

1. They must be silenced (11) They must not be given a platform. We must do what we can to silence them.

2. Rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith. (13) Brave action is called for. Faithful ministers must stand up and denounce the false teachers, showing them their error and hoping for a restoration.

Seven characteristics of false teachers

2011-06-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 1:10-12a Time 23/06/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the Letter of Paul to Titus who he has left in Crete to complete the work already begun on the island. After his opening greetings in verses 1-5 Paul first calls on Titus to see that elders or overseers are appointed in all the places where churches have been founded. In verses 6-9 he sets out what sort of things ought to characterise elders or indeed anyone who is to engage in Christian ministry, and we have spent some time looking at verses 6-9. At the end of that section Paul says that the final requirement for an elder is that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught. This is for two reasons – firstly, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and secondly so that he can refute those who oppose it. Paul then takes up this latter point – the need to refute those who oppose the trustworthy message as it has been taught. He says that the reason that such negative work is needed is that there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, etc.

It is not entirely clear which people Paul has in mind here when he speaks of those of the circumcision group who were ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach. These could involve a range of people and that is how it has continued to be down the ages.

1 Sometimes the problem is a true Christian under bad influence who is teaching what is false

2 Sometimes it is a false teacher within a Christian congregation who has gone wrong

3 Sometimes it is a false teacher outside the fellowship who claims still to be one of us

4 At other times it is a straightforward case of an outsider who doesn't even claim to be one of us

Take as an example Romanism. That is a false system that puts tradition on the same authority level as the Bible and teaches a form of salvation by works. Some advocate it from outside Protestantism and rightly say it is quite different from Protestantism. Others promote it from outside Protestantism but claim it is not really very much different. Romanists have been known to infiltrate supposedly Protestant churches and teach what is false and certainly it is possible for someone exposed to such teaching to start preaching it as if it was in the Bible.

Or take the health and wealth prosperity gospel (the view that God wants every believer to be healthy and wealthy here and now). Some are advocating it from right outside the Christian mainstream. Others are in what otherwise appear to be regular Christian churches and organisations. Such people can sometimes infiltrate churches that are perfectly good otherwise and teach this false view. Certainly it is possible for someone to read the books of Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, T D Jakes, Benny Hinn and others or take it in via conferences and other means and to start preaching it as if it was in the Bible.

These false teachers will all have certain characteristics that are peculiar to their time and place. We don't know the exact nature of the false teaching that was having such an influence in Crete. It sounds more like the Colossian heresy than the Galatian one. It is unlikely to be exactly the same, however. It certainly won't arise in that exact form again today. Satan is able to inspire all sorts of variations on a fairly limited theme. However, having said that, what characterised the Cretan heresy in general terms is likely to characterise false teachings today too. It is useful, therefore that we pick out these characteristics and remind ourselves of the way in which those wolves in sheep's clothing that Jesus and his apostles warned us about operate. Here in verses 10-16 there are about 15 characteristics that come out altogether. Paul also says something about opposing them. What I want us to do is to look at each of these in turn and so remind ourselves of the way that false teachers within or without are likely to operate in our day. We will look at seven characteristics this week and, God willing, eight more next time. So we say

1. Watch against the rebellious

Paul begins by saying (10) that there are many rebellious people. They are unruly, insubordinate. They refuse to submit to control. They are basically unwilling to knuckle under to the Word. They have an unsubmissive, unteachable spirit. Now we all have this streak in us to some degree. We rebel by nature. Part of becoming a Christian is to submit to God and his Word. False teachers, however, oppose God and his gospel. It is not always obvious. In some groups there is a tight authority structure and so some people can appear very humble and submissive. Think of nuns and monks, certain JWs we have met, perhaps. But what are they submitting to? If it is not to God and his Word then it is only a subtle form of rebellion, not true submission at all.

Positive lesson: Be humbly submissive to the Word of God.

Colossians 3:16 says Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. That should be our attitude to the Word.

2. Watch against mere talkers

Paul calls them mere talkers – empty or vain talkers. 1 Timothy 6 similarly talks of people who have turned aside to meaningless talk. False teachers can often be fluent and eloquent speakers but the substance of what they say is empty and false. Benny Hinn once got carried with his own rhetoric and proclaimed that each person of the Trinity was also a Trinity. As he put it “There's nine of them”. Of course, that is not only complete nonsense but false doctrine.

I read an interesting statement by someone supporting the health and wealth preacher Joel Osteen that said “Because of his motivational charisma and eloquence many might think that Joel Osteen is not spreading the gospel, yet his detractors only show their ignorance in Biblical knowledge. While most of the world study and dwell in the doomsday, painful parts of the Bible, Joel Osteen only preaches and teaches the upbeat parts of the Bible.” Eloquence does not prove a man is a false teacher but if it is mere talk then it must be ignored. The same thing can be said for intellectual and academic skills. The new perspective on Paul is something being pushed by scholars but that fact should not unduly influence us. Scholars can be wrong. Such things do not prove a man is a false teacher by any means but if it is mere scholarship then it must be ignored.

Positive lesson: Speak as well as you can but speak the truth.

In Ephesians 4:14, 15 Paul envisages a day when we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. Aim for that.

3. Watch against deceivers

Paul also refers to these men as deceivers. More literally they are mind deceivers. With their seductive teaching, their fascinating but perilous lies, they lead people astray. Exaggeration, under statement, embellishment, misinformation – these are all weapons in the armoury of the false teacher. We must take care that we are not deceived by such lies.

The story of the German American TV evangelist Peter Popoff is an obvious example of this sort of thing. The so-called faith healer based in California was very popular minister in the 1980s but went bankrupt in 1987 when sceptics James Randi and Alexander Jason exposed his method of receiving information about attendees at his meeting from his wife via an in-ear receiver. He would also have people get up out of wheelchairs at his meetings who were able to walk. He has since returned to his ministry.

That is a blatant example but there are many other cases of such deceit and we ought to recognise that such things go on.

A number of incidents involving California-based televangelist Morris Cerullo caused outrage here in the 1990s. Cerullo's claims of faith healing were the focus of particular concern. At a London crusade in 1992, he pronounced a child with cancer to have been healed, yet the girl died two months later. Multiple complaints were upheld against satellite channels transmitting Cerullo's claims of faith-healing. A panel of doctors concluded that Cerullo's claims of miraculous healing powers could not be substantiated. Cerullo also produced fund-raising material that was condemned as unethical by a number of religious leaders, as it implied that giving money to his organisation would result in family members becoming Christians.

Positive lesson: We must do all we can to be honest and upright before God and men

What a contrast with Paul's own ministry. He says in 2 Corinthians 4:2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

4. Such people are usually religious but this proves nothing

Paul says that the people he has in mind are especially those of the circumcision group. These were mainly Jews then. I think that we have to accept that such rebellious and deceitful and empty talk is more likely to come from religious people than others. Perhaps we are tempted to think that religious people are more trustworthy then others – more honest, more biblical – in fact there is no reason to think like that. Indeed in some ways false teachers are more likely to be found among the religious than elsewhere.

Positive lesson: Let us not think that being religious is some sort of achievement

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless James reminds us (1:27) is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

5. Watch against teachers of ruinous false doctrine

Paul goes on they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach. The false teachers trade on the fact that people are so ignorant The problem often begins in people's homes. In the past a personal visit was necessary. Today people can worm their way in through TV and radio broadcasts or the Internet. The JWs are a prime example of the old fashioned method with their door to door work, deliberately designed to catch out the unwary. The so called God channel is full of all sorts of other false teachers who are using more modern methods. Wherever false teaching raises its head, however, it will ruin not just individuals but whole households too.

Positive lesson: See the importance of the home and the need to establish godliness there

Already in Titus 1:6 we have had the statement An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

6. Watch against those who are eager for dishonest gain

Perhaps one of the most obvious marks of the false teacher is that they teach what is false for the sake of dishonest gain.

We just mentioned Popoff. Reliable figures reveal that in 2005 he received $628,732, his wife Elizabeth received $203,029, his son received $182,166 and his daughter received $176, 290 with $23,556,469 in revenue.

In 2007 Senator Chuck Grassley opened a probe into the finances of six televangelists who preach a prosperity gospel. The probe is expected to investigate reports of lavish lifestyles by televangelists including: fleets of Rolls Royces, palatial mansions, private jets and other expensive items purportedly paid for by television viewers who donate due to the ministries' encouragement of offerings. The six under investigation include Kenneth (and Gloria) Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer.

Positive Lesson: God will provide all that we need if we simply look to him. Money is not something we need to worry about.

1 Timothy 6:10 famously warns us that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

7. Watch against liars

In verse 12 Paul begins Even one of their own prophets has said, Cretans are always liars, etc. The quotation is from Epimenides who was born in Cnossos on Crete. To "play the Cretan" was in those days to tell lies. Paul says later (13) This testimony is true. The Cretans had a reputation for lying. It all began with their claim that Zeus was born on the island. For Paul it chimes in well with the fact that false teachers teach lies. Not only are they deceivers but what they say is lies too. Then they were saying that circumcision was an important thing and that faith alone was not enough. Still today people downplay faith and want to add to it all sorts of other things. They tell lies about what God wants and how he deals with people. They lie and say there is no after life or that everyone goes to heaven or that there is a purgatory where even very bad people can eventually be fitted for heaven. We must not listen to such lies whoever they come from.

Positive lesson: This reminds us of the need to stick to the truth and to only believe and teach what we know is really true.

Remember Jesus's prayer in John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Holding firmly

2011-06-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 1:9 Time 09/06/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at Titus 1:6-9, the list of qualifications for elders that is parallel with the one in 1 Timothy 3. We have said that there are two obvious ways to use such verses

1. If you are an elder or would like to be one then here is the standard - quite forbidding in some ways but impossible given the grace of God.

2. Further, we can use these verses to examine ourselves, elders or not.

We've already asked several questions

1. What is the situation at home? The elder must be

1 The husband of but one wife. This suggests a strong marriage and precludes an immoral man.

2 A man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. If he has children they must not be obvious rebels who break out in obvious ways.

2. How are you doing in these five areas?

An elder is not only like a father over his family but also a steward or manager over a household.

1 Using authority - Not overbearing

2 Not quick-tempered

3 Not given to drunkenness. We must be hospitable not over indulgent.

4 Not violent or not a striker. Violence and intimidation are out of court for any who engage in Christian ministry.

5 Avoiding pursuing dishonest gain.

3. How are you doing in these areas? In contrast to the five negatives Paul lists some six positives:

1 What about hospitality? Rather he must be hospitable.

2 What about loving what is good? One who loves what is good.

3 What about self-control? Who is self-controlled.

4 What about being upright? Upright. However, Paul is using the word here in the sense of being just and fair and honest towards all men.

5 What about being holy? The word Paul uses for holy is not the more familiar one that points to being separate or distinct. This word means pure, unsullied, unspotted, free of pollution. Holiness is absolutely vital if we are ever to be of any use to God.

6 What about being disciplined? The word used here evokes similar ideas to those of being self-controlled. Literally it means one in control of strength. Masterful. What are you doing to take control of your body? How disciplined are you in your daily living?

The final statement comes in verse 9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

This applies most of all to elders but also suggests the direction in which all believers should be headed.

There are a number of things to notice

1. Consider the requirement to hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught
There are really two things to notice here
1. There is a trustworthy message that has been taught

Some people would deny that the New Testament really has a coherent message. Others are happy to accept that it has a coherent message but they do not consider it trustworthy or reliable. Others suggest a certain vagueness about the message and so suggest that it is difficult to be sure how the message should be proclaimed today. In fact, a careful study of the New Testament shows that there was a definite and clear cut message that was preached consistently and clearly in New Testament times and that is preserved for us today to also believe. This is why Paul refers here to the trustworthy message as it has been taught. He also speaks (2:1) about the need to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. All the way through the pastoral letters you get this sort of language

In 1 Timothy 1:10, 11 he talks about whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. He speaks of himself (2:7 ) as a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles and urges Timothy to be (4:6) a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Command and teach these things (not anything else) he says (4:11). These are the things you are to teach and urge on them ... the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ ... godly teaching, (6:2, 3).

In 4:3 he speaks of how the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

So we have The trustworthy message as it has been taught ... what is in accord with sound doctrine ... the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me ... the true faith ... the truths of the faith ... the good teaching that you have followed ... These are the things you are to teach and urge on them ... the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ ... godly teaching ... the pattern of sound teaching ... the good deposit that was entrusted to you ... sound doctrine.

That conjures up a very distinct body of teaching. It is the same elsewhere in the New Testament. Elsewhere Paul writes of wholeheartedly obeying the form of teaching to which you were committed and the teaching which you have learned (Romans 6:17, 16:17). In 1 Corinthians 11:2 he speaks of holding to the teachings (traditions) just as I passed them on to you and in more than one place he talks of what he received as a tradition and passing it on to them. In 1 Thessalonians 3:6 he speaks of the teaching you received from us.

Finally, don't forget 2 John 9, 10 and Jude 3 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him ... the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

The actual phrase here in Titus 1:9 is the faithful or trustworthy word. Here is a word that you can trust and this is the word that has been taught. What is that word? Well, more extensively it is what is found throughout the New Testament, the apostles' teaching (as it is called in Acts 2:42). In four places in the pastorals we have trustworthy or faithful sayings that seem to be attempts to sum up the vital elements in this body of doctrine. These are teachings that all Christian should know and believe and be eager to pass on.

1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

1 Timothy 4:8, 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labour and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, and especially of those who believe.

2 Timothy 2:11-13 Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him.

If we disown him, he will also disown us;

if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

Titus 3:3-8 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying.

2. Those who wish to be useful in serving God must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as taught

Now concerning this word or message, Paul says elders must hold firmly to it. They must cling to it. They must cuddle it or nurse it. These things must be closer to them than their own breath. They must eat, drink and sleep these things so that they become so much a part of him that they can talk about them in their sleep.

I'm sure we don't know some doctrines nearly as well as we ought to – the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, the way of salvation, the doctrine of the last things. Theology, Christology, Pneumatology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology, Eschatology – they all need work in most cases. There are lots of helps for us in this direction today. One way we can help ourselves is by learning to explain these things.

Take justification by faith. Can you explain how we are sinful by nature, not only because we do things that are against God's law but also because we are are fallen in Adam and need to be put right? Can you explain how by coming as the God man Jesus of Nazareth who lived a perfect life and suffered a penal substitutionary death on the cross has opened up a way for all who trust in him to be justified? We who are elders should be able to do this but so should most Christians if they have been believers for any length of time. Sometimes we do know but find it hard to articulate and part of being an elder is that you are able to articulate. We all need to get to know our doctrine better, however.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

How can we improve our grasp? We need to get to know our Bibles better. We need to read more, meditate more, memorise more. It is important too to listen to sermons. Reading good books can also help. Be on the watch for error.

2. Consider why we must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, for two reasons. Someone has put it this way “The shepherd must be able to tend the sheep and drive away wolves”.

1. So that he can encourage others by sound doctrine

Some people don't think of doctrine as encouraging but it is – or it can be at least. Isn't it encouraging to know that God has sent his Son into the world (the incarnation we call it)? Isn't the doctrine of election encouraging once you understand it properly? Certainly the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints ought to cheer us. Even doctrines like original sin and total depravity and the last judgement at least make sense of what is a fallen and wicked world? Doesn't the doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture and the coming of the Holy Spirit encourage you? And think of the fact of the resurrection and the Second Coming. What about the doctrine of the church – the church militant and the church triumphant, the church on earth and in heaven. Doctrine can be very encouraging indeed if we hold firmly to it. Elders should do all they can to inform and remind the people of sound doctrine so that they may be encouraged.

2. So that he can refute those who oppose it

This is the other side of the coin. It is important that elders spend part of their time warning against error. Just as in New Testament times so today there are all sorts of errors about – errors from without and errors from within; errors of Romanism and so called Orthodoxy, errors of the cults, errors of liberals on one hand and certain fundamentalists on the other.

Today, because the world is global village, the errors seem to come thick and fast and it is not always easy to decide which to mention and which to simply ignore. Partly this depends on the congregation. When I first came here I was keen to debunk the charismatic movement because some had been exposed to it where as now I rarely mention it as it does not appear to be the draw it once was for most, although the health and wealth gospel, for example, is so widespread that I often want to seek to refute it.

In recent years the false doctrines that have been most conspicuous among evangelicals have been what is called "open theism" (which is basically the idea that God is not omniscient), the new perspective on Paul's understanding of justification by faith (which threatens once again the biblical doctrine that a person is made right with God by faith alone) and the onslaught on the traditional doctrine of the atonement that came to prominence with Steve Chalke's unhelpful reference to penal substitutionary atonement as a case of “cosmic child abuse”. We have not attacked these false doctrines as far as I am aware directly but I have sought to keep up with the debates so that my preaching is informed by an awareness of the issues. In stating our doctrines we will sometimes have to be negative and say that the Bible teaches this but not that, that but not this.

Christian doctrine is a wonderful thing – it is, paradoxically, to be held on to and passed on. It is there to encourage believers and to refute false teachers.

Upright, Holy and Disciplined

2011-06-10T03:09:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 1:8b Time 02/06/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We are looking at Titus 1:6-9. Titus you remember has been left in Crete to “straighten out” certain things, as Paul puts it, following the planting of churches on the island. Especially, there was a need to appoint elders in every town, as Paul had previously directed. This leads Paul to list the qualifications of elders in verses 6-9. It is one of two such lists in the New Testament. The other is in 1 Timothy 3. The list in Titus is really in three or four parts.

1. (6) An elder must be blameless and a good family man - the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.

2. Then (7) Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless – followed by some five negatives and six positives. He must not be overbearing, quick- tempered, given to drunkenness, violent or one who pursues dishonest gain.

3. Rather (8) he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.

4. Finally, he says (9) that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, the reason being so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

As we have said, there are two obvious ways to use such verses

1. If you are an elder or would like to be one then here is the standard - quite forbidding in some ways but impossible given the grace of God. Elders should regularly look at such a passage – as painful as it is. It also serves as a guide to praying for present elders – that they will be as described here and for future elders - that they will attain to what is set down here.

2. Further, we can use these verses to examine ourselves, elders or not. Am I in my family setting all I ought to be? Am I seeking to be blameless – not overbearing, quick- tempered, given to drunkenness, violent or pursuing dishonest gain. Do I seek to be hospitable, a lover of what is good, ... self-controlled, upright, holy ... disciplined? And may be there are other applications too.

We have already asked at least 3 questions

1. What is the situation at home? There are two things. The elder must be

1 The husband of but one wife. This suggests a strong marriage and precludes an immoral man.

2 A man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. If he has children they must not be obvious rebels who break out in obvious ways.

2. How are you doing in these five areas? An elder is not only like a father over his family but also like a steward or manager over a household.

1 Using authority - Not overbearing – not self-willed, not self-pleasing or arrogant.

2 Not quick-tempered. An elder must not be the sort of person who easily gets angry.

3 Next we have not given to drunkenness. We must be hospitable but that can bring is the temptation to over indulgence. Take care.

4 The call not to be violent or not to be a striker may seem a little obvious. Why is it there? Perhaps because of the opposition that inevitably comes to most elders. Violence and intimidation are out of court for any who engage in Christian ministry.

5 The call to avoid pursuing dishonest gain.

3. How are you doing in these three areas?

In contrast to the five negatives Paul lists some six positives. We looked at these three last time

1. What about hospitality? Rather he must be hospitable. Hospitality is something that is spoken of very positively throughout the Bible and is something that all Christians are expected to give themselves too, not just elders.

2.What about loving what is good? one who loves what is good. This is very generalised. The actual word Paul uses is only found here but the idea is everywhere in the Bible.

3. What about self-control? who is self-controlled. The primary meaning of the word used here to be sane or in one's right mind. It means to have your faculties under control. It then came to be used for being temperate, sober-minded, having control of one's desires and impulses. Sensible in an ethical sense.

Tonight I want us to consider the other three points in verse 8. So

1. What about being upright?

Upright. The word used for upright or righteous or innocent is one found in many, many places throughout the Bible. To be righteous is to be as one ought to be. It is to be just, to be correct. Now in the fullest sense only Jesus Christ is righteous. He is the Righteous One. To be righteous before God it is necessary for us to trust in Christ and so be justified.

However, Paul is using the word here in a secondary sense – in the sense of being just and fair and honest towards all men. Obviously you cannot really have the one without the other. If you are not upright in the way you live – fair in judging yourself – then you will not be fair or just towards others.

Are you upright? Do yo lead a moral life, a good life? Are you obedient to God's Word? How are you in dealing with others? Are you fair? Are you just? Or are you biased – showing favouritism to one and being prejudiced against another? The people God uses are fair, upright, honest, true. They can be trusted to weigh up matters judiciously and to do the right thing.

2. What about being holy?

The word Paul uses for holy is not the more familiar one that points to being separate or distinct. This word means pure, unsullied, unspotted, free of pollution, untainted by sin. Those who serve God are to be pure and pious people who have been set free from what is wicked and seek to do what is morally pure. Again, we have to say that ultimately it is only Christ who reaches such a high standard. He is the Holy one. However, it is the duty of every true believer to seek to emulate that holiness in his daily life.

Think of how Paul writes, for example, in Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

In 1 Thessalonians 2:10 Paul wrote You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. What he himself practised he expected all elders to seek to live out.

Again we have to ask ourselves how well the word describes us? Are you holy or pious? Could you speak in the way that Paul does writing to the Thessalonians? Are you constantly seeking to put off the deceitful desires of your old self? Are you seeking to be made new in your attitudes, putting on the self and so seeking to be like God in true righteousness and holiness? Holiness is absolutely vital if we are ever to be of any use to God.

3. What about being disciplined?

The word used here evokes similar ideas to those of being self-controlled. Literally it means one in control of strength. It is used for being strong in a thing - masterful. Masterful is a word that the sports journalists like to use. So earlier this year one wrote about Andy Murray in the Australian Open
“The 22 year-old Scot gave a masterful display in dismantling giant American John Isner 7-6 6-3 6-2 to make the last eight at Melbourne Park, where he was awaiting the winner of Rafael Nadal's match against another member of the giant brigade, Ivo Karlovic.”
In other words, Andy Murray has honed his tennis skills to such a degree that beating the American was still difficult but not that difficult – it was something he could do without too much apparent trouble. The strength in mind here is that which is able to resist carnal desires and appetites so that they do not lead to sin. Such self-discipline or self-control is part of the fruit of the Spirit. It is one of the things that Peter (2 Peter 1) urges believers to add to their faith - make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;and to knowledge, self-control .... Remember again Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

What are you doing to take control of your body? How disciplines are you in your daily living? Do you sleep when you ought to sleep and wake when you ought to wake? Do you work when you should work and relax when you should relax? Have you built into your life time for the Lord on the Lord's day and then on the other days of the week – time for prayer, time for the Word? Are there times for the various things you have committed yourself to week by week? Are you using your time well? Are you making the most of every opportunity? Are you punctual and regular in your habits? The people God uses exhibit such characteristics.

Conclusion

I trust then that you have some idea of the graces Paul is speaking of here. Now how should we respond to this? What should we do? How should we react? In conclusion I want to say four things

1 First, we need to look again at our priorities and particularly our understanding of what makes a person useful to God. What sort of elders does a church need? What sort of deacons and Sunday School teachers, etc? Perhaps we think that what we need is people who are dynamic, men and women with vitality and enthusiasm – good speakers with fine personalities. Sometimes we are tempted to just look for anyone willing.

We need to look at ourselves too. What sort of people are we? What sort of people are we aiming to be? We can all have ambitions but what sort of people are we aiming to be? What qualities are we seeking to develop in ourselves? God is not interested so much in personality and great talents. What God's Word stresses is being upright and holy and disciplined. These are the things that count.

2. Second, clearly there is the need to confess our failure. We are guilty of quite wrong attitudes so often and in particular tonight we should be ashamed of our lack of uprightness, holiness and discipline.

3. Confession should lead to repentance. Merely to confess and not to repent is no good at all. We must change. We must turn away from our lack of uprightness and holiness and our ill discipline.

4. Above all we need to get a renewed vision of Jesus and what he has done. Think of his uprightness, his holiness, his discipline – seen every step of the way while he was here on earth. We need to focus on our Saviour and on his greatness. That is the only thing that will do us any good in the end.
It is only the grace of God that will enable us to say no to wickedness and impiety and ill-discipline. It is those who await the blessed hope – the return of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ – who will learn to be upright, godly and disciplined. Why did Christ die? To redeem for himself a people to be his very own. All who trust in him are part of that great company. They are being won back from wickedness and sin and being purified and disciplined to serve him.

Are you in that number? Have you put your faith in Christ? That is the only way to be upright and holy and disciplined. That is the only way to salvation. Only Christ can make you upright, holy and disciplined. No-one else can do it. Trust in him and in his power to enable you to say no.

Hospitality, love of good, self control

2011-05-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 1:8a Time 19/05/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

Last week we began to look at Titus 1:6-9. Titus you remember has been left in Crete to “straighten out” certain things, as Paul puts it following the planting of churches on the island. Especially, there was a need to appoint elders in every town, as Paul had previously directed. This leads Paul to list the qualifications of elders in verses 6-9. It is one of two such lists in the New Testament. The other is in 1 Timothy 3. The list in Titus is really in three or four parts.

First Paul says that (6) An elder must be blameless and a good family man. He must be the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
Then he repeats (7) that Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless – and gives some five negatives and six positives. He must not be overbearing, quick-tempered, given to drunkenness, violent or one who pursues dishonest gain. Rather (8) he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
Finally, he says (9) that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, the reason being so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

As we said last time when we come to this passage in the Bible there are two obvious ways to use it.

1 Paul is talking about elders and so if you are an elder or would like to be one then here is the standard. It's quite forbidding in some ways but Paul is really not setting the bar at an impossible height given the grace of God. Elders like me should regularly be looking at such a passage – as painful as it is. Those of us who are not elders can also use it to pray for present elders – that they will be as described here and for future elders - that they will attain to what is set down here.

2 As we've said, Paul does not set the bar remarkably high and surely we can all use this verse to examine ourselves, elders or not. Am I in my family setting all I ought to be? Am I seeking to be blameless – not overbearing, quick-tempered, given to drunkenness, violent or one who pursues dishonest gain? Am I seeking to be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined? And may be there are other applications too.

Last week we looked at verses 6 and 7 and we asked two questions

1 What is the situation at home? There are two things. The elder must be

The husband of but one wife. This is against polygamy not being single or a widow or even divorced necessarily. It suggests a strong marriage and precludes an immoral man.

A man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Paul goes further and says that the way a man conducts himself in his home is another clue to whether he is suitable as an elder in the church. Again, the point is not that he must have children but that if he does they must not be obvious rebels who break out in obvious ways.

2 How are you doing in these five areas? An elder is not only like a father over his family but also like a steward or manger over a household. Paul gives five negatives. These point first to something of what the work of an elder involves or of anyone who engages in Christian ministry then negatively the way of holiness for all believers. So we said

1 Consider the matter of authority and the danger of abusing it

Not overbearing – not self-willed, not self-pleasing or arrogant.

2 Consider the matter of frustration and the need to take care over it

Paul goes on not quick-tempered. An elder must not be the sort of person who easily gets angry.

3 Consider the matter of socialising and some of the dangers it can cause

Next we have not given to drunkenness. Later on Paul talks about the importance of being hospitable. That is a part of being an elder. One of the dangers that can bring is the temptation to over indulgence.

4 Consider the matter of opposition and the danger of reacting in the wrong way

The call to not to be violent or not to be a striker may seem a little obvious. Why is it there? Perhaps because of the opposition that inevitably comes to most elders. Violence and intimidation are out of court for any who engage in Christian ministry.

5 Consider the matter of rewards and some of the dangers it can cause.

The call to avoid pursuing dishonest gain.

This week then I want us to come on to verse 8 and I want to ask a further question.

How are you doing these areas?

In contrast to the five negatives Paul lists some six positives. We will consider three tonight.

1. What about hospitality?

Rather he must be hospitable. Hospitality is something that is spoken of very positively throughout the Bible and is something that all Christians are expected to give themselves too, not just elders. Now when we talk about hospitality we tend to think of “inviting someone to your house for a meal”. We also usually mean someone you know and who will probably invite you back. But that is not what the Bible means. The word used here is literally one that refers to love to strangers. It is translated more literally in Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

Presumably Paul mentions hospitality here because of the situation at the particular time.

Firstly, there was no modern welfare state in Crete as we have it today. Widows and orphans and other vulnerable members of society were dependent on what charity they could find. Elders, like all believers, should be willing to do what they can to help people in such circumstances.

Then there was also fierce persecution from time time and many believers had to flee from their home towns. Once they reached places of safety they were very much in need of help and sustenance.

Besides, these there were, of course, servants of God – Apostles, evangelists, prophets – who stood in need of financial and other practical help.

Now the situation has changed very much by our day and no doubt it will change again as the years go by. Nevertheless, the principle is clear – the elder must love strangers. Indeed, all Christians should love strangers. As we have said it is a biblical principle. Think of the examples of

Abraham (Genesis 18) receiving and entertaining angels.

The widow at Zarephath who looked after Elijah (1 Kings 17)

Obadiah who hid the hundred prophets in Elijah's day (1 Kings 18)

The Shunammite who urged Elisha to stay for a meal and went on to provide a room for him (2 Kings 4)

Job (29:16; 31:32) I was a father to the needy; I took up the case of the stranger. ... no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveller -

Onesiphorus 2 Timothy 1:16 May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

Lydia Acts 16:15 When she and the members of her household were baptised, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

Ananias and Sapphira Acts 18:26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

Home life and Christian service - a challenge

2011-05-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Text Titus 1:6, 7 Time 12/05/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We looked last time at Titus 1:5 and what Paul says there about leaving Titus in Crete, where churches had been planted but where certain unfinished things still needed to be “straightened out” as Paul puts it. Especially there was a need to appoint elders in every town, as Paul had previously directed Titus. That leads Paul then to list the qualifications of elders in verses 6-9. This is one of two such lists in the New Testament. There is a similar one in 1 Timothy 3. This list is really in three or four parts.

First Paul says that (6) An elder must be blameless and a good family man. He must be the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Then he repeats (7) that Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless – and gives some five negatives and six positives. He must not be overbearing, quick-tempered, given to drunkenness, violent or one who pursues dishonest gain. Rather (8) he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. Finally, he says (9) that He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, the reason being so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

When we come to this passage in the Bible there are to obvious way of using it.

1. Paul is talking about elders and so if you are an elder or would like to be an elder then here is the standard. It's quite forbidding in some ways but Paul is really not setting the bar at an impossible height given the grace of God. Elders like me should regularly be looking at such a passage – as painful as it is. Those of us who are not elders can also use it to pray for present elders – that they will be as described here and for future elders - that they will attain to what is set down here.

2. As we have said Paul does not set the bar remarkably high and surely we can all use this verse to examine ourselves, elders or not. Am I in my family setting all I ought to be? Am I seeking to be blameless – not overbearing, quick- tempered, given to drunkenness, violent or one who pursues dishonest gain. Am I seeking to be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined and may be there are other applications too.

So with these ways of application in mind let's look at these qualifications and consider ourselves in their light. We can ask four questions. We will just consider two of them this week.

1. What is the situation at home?

When Paul says (6) An elder must be blameless he is not suggesting that only perfect people can be elders. There would be no elders on that basis. When he says they should be unaccused or irreproachable he means that they should not be open to any obvious charge against them.

The fact that he begins with family life would suggest that Paul sees the church as an organisation to be run very much on family lines. I think that comes out elsewhere in the New Testament. Take 1 Timothy 5, which begins Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. We should remember that right at the very beginning the church, the state and the family were all one. That is how it will be at the end of time too. At the present the separation of family, church and state is important to maintain but we must not think that these three God ordained institutions are so very different in the way they operate.

So there are two things here. The elder must be

1. The husband of but one wife
There is no way that Paul is saying that widowers are excluded from office. It is unlikely that he is even saying that a person who has been divorced cannot be an elder. Rather, his point is a simpler one. No polygamist can hold church office. Perhaps our instinct confronted by polygamy would be to say a man must get rid of all his wives except the first one but the biblical pattern seems to be that the situation should continue but that such a man cannot hold office in the church. It also suggests surely a strong marriage and precludes an immoral man.

2. A man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient
Paul goes further and says that the way a man conducts himself in his home is another clue to whether he is suitable as an elder in the church. Again, the point surely cannot be that someone who has no children cannot be an elder. Paul is making a general point. What about this statement that his children must believe? This should probably be rendered a man whose children are faithful. It should be parallel to not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. We cannot say that a man cannot be an elder if his children grow up to be unbelievers. As John Gill points out salvation is in God's hands not ours! Surely the point is that children of elders must not be obvious rebels who break out in obvious ways. I have heard of men whose children were in trouble with the police or something like that offering to resign. Although it is far from being straightforward in such a case I think that is the sort of area we are in.

Here is a reminder to us all then about family life – to be obedient and respectful children, to be faithful, submissive, co-operative and caring wives and mothers, to be faithful, loving, caring husbands and fathers.

2. How are you doing in these five areas?

In verse 7 there is the repetition - Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless. This time, having stressed that the elder must be a good family man, Paul goes on to speak of the elder as one entrusted with God's work – a steward or manager, if you like, responsible for the fair distribution of God's grace. Remember Paul's words back in 1 Corinthians 4:1 So then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.

He gives five negatives. These point first of all to something of what the work of an elder involves or of anyone who engages in Christian ministry and then shows negatively the way of holiness for all believers. We can say then

1. Consider the matter of authority and the danger of abusing it

Paul says that the elder must not be overbearing – not self-willed, not self-pleasing or arrogant. One of the dangers of authority is that it can be abused. It is a danger that an elder or other holder of office can easily fall into. It must be avoided says Paul. A humble authority is the sort we are to look for.

2. Consider the matter of frustration and the need to take care over it

Paul goes on not quick-tempered. An elder must not be the sort of person who gets angry very quickly. Perhaps that is there because Paul knows how easy it is to get frustrated with things and with people in particular when they do not respond in the way that we want. Too often an elder can be so full of dreams that when they are not fulfilled – there are few conversions, little growth in grace, people let you down, he even feels that he is himself not what he should be – he is tempted to get angry with himself and with others. That is no good. Be warned against a short temper.

3. Consider the matter of socialising and some of the dangers it can cause

Next we have not given to drunkenness. Literally, it is "not a tippler", "not someone who stays near the wine". A man can get drunk alone, of course, but it is more likely to happen in company with others – especially in a Mediterranean culture. This is an obvious warning in some ways. Later on Paul talks about the importance of being hospitable. That is a part of being an elder. One of the dangers that can bring is the temptation to over indulgence. Drunkenness is the most obvious example of this sort of thing though one can think of other ways in which hospitality could be abused – endless time wasting over tea or coffee, for example. Paul expects elders to socialise, to be with people. The minister is not to be six days invisible and the seventh incomprehensible as the saying goes. As attractive as the ivory tower may seem he is not to stay there. He has to be involved with the people. That is true of all Christian service. Even seminary professors have to interact with their students and work with the churches. At the same time the danger of over-indulgence must be guarded against.

4. Consider the matter of opposition and the danger of reacting in the wrong way

The call to not to be violent or not to be a striker may seem a little obvious to some of you. Why is it there though? I think perhaps because of the opposition that inevitable comes to most elders. Even if he escapes opposition from within there will certainly be opposition from without. Now the way to react to that is never to engage in fisticuffs.
In August 1972 the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin apparently sent a famous telegram to the Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere challenging him to a boxing match. That is not the way we expect national leaders to exercise diplomacy and it is certainly not the way that elders should approach difficult situations either. Of course, violence is not always of a physical sort. There are other ways of intimidating an opponent. Such an approach is out of court for any who engage in Christian ministry.

5. Consider the matter of rewards and some of the dangers it can cause

Finally, we will consider tonight not pursuing dishonest gain. Now for many elders even today such a statement may seem slightly strange in that they could make far more money if they were not ministers. It is clear from the New Testament, however, that the policy was to make sure that elders were well rewarded. That verse in 1 Timothy 5:17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching is speaking not just of respect and honour but of financial reward too. Such rewards do put the minister in a difficult position sometimes. Therefore he must be very careful to be scrupulously honest and not to take advantage of his position of trust.
You hear sometimes, for example, stories of men cultivating a relationship with a wealthy widow or someone similar apparently in order to help themselves. There are even cases of men becoming entirely corrupted by the lure of financial reward. We all must beware of pursuing dishonest gain. Remember how Bunyan describes Demas in his Pilgrims Progress

"Then I saw in my dream, that a little off the road, over against the silver-mine, stood Demas (gentleman-like) to call passengers to come and see; who said to Christian and his fellow, Ho! turn aside hither, and I will show you a thing.

Christian: What thing so deserving as to turn us out of the way to see it?

Demas: Here is a silver-mine, and some digging in it for treasure; if you will come, with a little pains you may richly provide for yourselves.

Hopeful: Then said Hopeful, let us go see.

Christian: Not I, said Christian: I have heard of this place before now, and how many there have been slain; and besides, that treasure is a snare to those that seek it, for it hindereth them in their pilgrimage.

Then Christian called to Demas, saying, Is not the place dangerous? Hath it not hindered many in their pilgrimage?

Demas: Not very dangerous, except to those that are careless; but withal he blushed as he spake.

Christian: Then said Christian to Hopeful, Let us not stir a step, but still keep on our way.

Hopeful: I will warrant you, when By-ends comes up, if he hath the same invitation as we, he will turn in thither to see.

Christian: No doubt thereof, for his principles lead him that way, and a hundred to one but he dies there.

Demas: Then Demas called again, saying, But will you not come over and see?

Christian: Then Christian roundly answered, saying, Demas, thou art an enemy to the right ways of the Lord of this way, and hast been already condemned for thine own turning aside, by one of his Majesty’s judges; and why seekest thou to bring us into the like condemnation? Besides, if we at all turn aside, our Lord the King will certainly hear thereof, and will there put us to shame, where we would stand with boldness before him.

Demas cried again, that he also was one of their fraternity; and that if they would tarry a little, he also himself would walk with them.

Christian: Then said Christian, What is thy name? Is it not the same by which I have called thee?

Demas: Yes, my name is Demas; I am the son of Abraham.

Christian: I know you; Gehazi was your great-grandfather, and Judas your father, and you have trod in their steps; it is but a devilish prank that thou usest: thy father was hanged for a traitor, and thou deservest no better reward. Assure thyself, that when we come to the King, we will tell him of this thy behaviour. Thus they went their way.

By this time By-ends and his companions were come again within sight, and they at the first beck went over to Demas. Now, whether they fell into the pit by looking over the brink thereof, or whether they went down to dig, or whether they were smothered in the bottom by the damps that commonly arise, of these things I am not certain; but this I observed, that they were never seen again in the way."

Church planting and ordering

2011-03-08T03:39:00.000-08:00

Text Titus 1:5 Time 21/04/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have looked then at the opening verses of Titus (1-4) – Paul's introduction of himself and his greeting to Titus. This week we will look at verse 5 and Paul's statement

The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

This verse tells us where Titus was when Paul wrote to him and the two main things that Paul wanted him to do at this time. What we have here is descriptive rather than prescriptive – Paul is simply describing the situation and what needs to be done in it. However, if we read carefully there things here to learn about the conduct of church life – church life at its beginning first of all and then also as time moves on. Perhaps we can get at the message best by saying these two things.

1. Recognise the importance of evangelism and church planting

Titus, we learn, was in Crete. Crete is a large island in the Mediterranean. At this time it was a part of the Roman Empire and was populated by Greek speakers including Jews of the Diaspora. Paul visited Crete during his journey to stand trial in Rome, you may remember, and presumably revisited the island at some point to engage in evangelism and church planting work. We have no description of this work but this verse suggests it very strongly.

Paul's ambition was to preach Christ wherever he had not been preached before and although there were people from Crete present in Jerusalem when Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost the Cretans as such, who had a reputation for godlessness (Paul quotes Epimenides in verse 12 Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons) were not evangelised until Paul came to the island (presumably with Titus and with others) and preached to them. Such a fact is a reminder of the need for evangelism and for church planting.

1. Evangelism

Behind this letter lies Paul's evangelism in Crete – his going regardless of the danger or difficulty and preaching to the see pagan people the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where the whole thing began. No doubt the work came, as always, in two stages

1 Seeing the need

Acts 27 tells us how Paul first came to Crete. It is part of the exciting story of his trip from Caesarea to Rome. Due to the winds being against the ship they had had to work their way along the south coast of the island, eventually anchoring at a place called Fair Havens near Lasea. Paul did warn against setting out from here with winter coming on but he was ignored as the pilot thought Fair Havens unsuitable to winter in and wanted to press on to Phoenix, further up the coast. However, the ship was soon caught in a fierce storm and they were eventually shipwrecked on another island, Malta.

No doubt it was at this time that Paul first met Cretans and saw the great need on the island. May be there were believers among them but if so probably not many. We can imagine Paul seeing these people and their idols and being distressed by that and longing to be able to bring them the gospel.

Here is a challenge for us. Do we look with similar eyes? Do we recognise people's need of the Lord? Are our eyes open to their spiritual need? How aware are we of the needs in this world? Do we know what the situation is in our own country? In London? Are we aware of the needs of our neighbours and family and friends? Even as a prisoner Paul saw the need.

2 Meeting the need

As we have said there is no record of the evangelisation of Crete but it seems pretty clear that when he had opportunity Paul came back and he preached the gospel to these people. He not only saw the need but he did something about it. He not only prayed but he came and preached.

Now we are not all called to preach, of course, but we ought to be doing what we can to let others know about the Lord Jesus Christ. This must not be allowed to slip down our agendas. What are we doing to let people know the good news – both in formal and in informal settings? Let's not neglect this. Pray to be a faithful personal witness. Pray for opportunities, take opportunities when they come.

2. Church planting

Paul's way of evangelism whenever possible was allied to church planting. There are examples of his just preaching and not really getting round to church planting, I suppose, but the norm was to plant an assembly of Christians in every town where he preached the gospel. Paul believed in the gathered church principle and he planted or founded churches wherever it was possible. I think it is important for us to think in these terms. Not only are we seeking to see individuals converted but also either for them to become involved in a local church or, where appropriate, for them to become part of newly formed churches.

There is perhaps quite a good awareness of the need to plant churches in our day. We are aware here especially of the work in Soho and Covent Garden and in Cranford. Some still seem not to see how important the local church is, however, and it is good to underline it once again.

This is what we should be seeking then and praying for – for the planting of more and more churches.

2. Recognise the importance of well ordered church life and the role of properly qualified and appointed elders

So here is Titus on the island of Crete. He and Paul have been evangelising, preaching the gospel, and people have been converted. Fledgling churches have been founded in most if not all of the towns on the island. However, there is still work to be done. Paul instructs Titus that there are things to be done – things in general and specific things too.

1. In general there are things left unfinished that need to be straightened out

The reason I left you in Crete says Paul was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished. For some reason Paul had had to leave before the initial work was complete. There was still more that needed to be done therefore. Things needed to be straightened out. The expression is an interesting one. It was used for setting a bone or straightening out a limb. When a church is formed it does not immediately fall into place very easily. Certain things need to be worked on and some order needs to be brought in – no doubt things like regular preaching, regular prayer meetings, financial matters, etc. It was Titus's task to see that these things were done. We talk often enough about church panting but there is church straightening out or church finishing too, getting churches into order – that is important too.

2. Specifically, he is to appoint elders everywhere

Paul adds and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. It is clear from Acts and from elsewhere in the New Testament that when churches were planted they were led at first by the church planter. However, they then soon had their own leaders appointed. These leaders are referred to in the New Testament either as elders (presbyters) or as overseers (bishops). The first term refers to their office, their dignity, the second to the actual work. The word for elder is firstly literal (the grey heads). It was usually the older men ho became leaders in their communities in Israel and elsewhere. It is that wider meaning that is in mind here. Early on in the history of the church people began to make a distinction between presbyters and bishops but in fact there is no such distinction. One can only argue for episcopacy – having a Bishop over a certain area with elders under him in each local church from tradition not just from the Bible. Presbyterians also have a more hierarchical system that involves a leadership over and above the local church, even after the time of the apostles, although they would say their system is biblical.

Congregationalists and Baptists have rather seen elders as being those appointed, as here, both in the time of the apostles and later on, over each local church. In most Baptist churches the pastor is considered to be an elder and the only other church officers are the deacons who deal with the practical matters. That is the situation that currently prevails here. I am the only elder in the church and there are three deacons. One argument against this is that the pastor is usually a single individual not a plurality, which seems to be the pattern, although this verse could be taken to mean one elder should be appointed in every town.

As you know, many other independent churches, including Baptists, have a system where the eldership is shared between the pastor and a number of others who may or may not be pastors or preachers. This was the case when I first came to the church here as Steve Mitchell had been appointed as an elder. He subsequently trained for pastoral work, however, and is no longer in the area. Since that time, we have often thought about appointing another elder but it has never happened. It strikes me that in another church our fine deacons may well be considered elders but as they carry out their diaconal work well I have always been slow to initiate a move in that direction.

The verse does not give us too much. It does not reveal how elders are to be appointed or how many were chosen for each congregation. The list of qualifications is fairly minimal though there is an expectation of consistency, hospitality and the need to (9) hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

Having thought about it and studied it for many years it would seem to me that the pastor/deacons model is a biblical one. It would be an extreme position to say that this was an ill-ordered church because we lacked a plural eldership. However, the idea of a plurality is there in the New Testament and as a congregation we should think and pray in such terms. There are obvious errors to avoid

1. Hastiness – 1 Timothy 3:6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgement as the devil. 5:22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others.

2. Thinking of it as a panacea

3. Failing to distinguish pastors and elders – 1 Tim 5:17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honour, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

Seek the eldership, honour the eldership, pray for it.

Paul's son Titus and God 's grace and peace

2011-02-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

Text Titus 1:4 Time 24/03/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at Paul's letter to Titus. We have considered 1:1-3 where Paul introduces himself. I want us to look this week at the way he goes on (verse 4) to say who he is writing to and to wish God's blessings on him.

1. The man to whom this letter is addressed

To Titus, my true son in our common faith

1. Titus – who was he and what can we learn from his story?

One of the oddest things about Titus is that like Luke he is never mentioned in the Book of Acts. There has been some conjecture as to why that is. It has been suggested that it is because he was Luke’s brother but there is no reason to suppose that is the case. All that we know of Titus then is found in Paul's letters – here and in 2 Corinthians and Galatians. We only have a few glimpses of Titus but enough to get some idea of the man.

Where was he from? There is no definitive answer to this question but the most likely answer is that he was a Greek from Antioch who was converted under the ministry of Paul in that city. We come to that conclusion in the light of Galatians 2:1 where Paul tells how 14 years later after his first visit to Jerusalem as a Christian he went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. He says I took Titus along also. As Paul came to Jerusalem from Antioch it is likely that Titus was from there. He was certainly a Greek because Paul says so in Galatians 2:3. In Antioch you remember many Greeks with no Jewish background had become Christians. This was rather a shock to the Jewish Christians as up until then those who had been converted were either Jews or proselytes. Now absolute pagans were coming to faith. From time to time the churches go through periods when they fail to see that the gospel is open to all.

Paul and Barnabas went down to Jerusalem to discuss this problem and no doubt they took Titus as a live example to show that grace was as sufficient for Gentiles as it was for Jews, circumcised or uncircumcised. The question of circumcision arose because there were hypocrites among the brothers who insisted, like the false teachers in Galatia, that all Christians men must be circumcised and follow certain other Jewish laws. However, as Paul says in Galatians 1:3-5 he refused to have Titus circumcised, Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. Some have read into not … compelled ‘but he was circumcised’. He voluntarily underwent circumcision as in the case of Timothy, who having a Jewish mother and Greek father Paul thought better to circumcise. This cannot be maintained, however. Paul is trying to impress on the Galatians that, despite the false teachers, there is no advantage in circumcision. If Titus was circumcised he would have been wiser not to mention him. Surely his point is that Titus was not circumcised. The only reason the matter arose is because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. But, he says, We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.

No doubt Paul’s choice of Titus to accompany him to Jerusalem was not accidental. In this young man he had found a godly companion and fellow worker who he could rely on. We do not know exactly when the visit to Jerusalem that Paul talks about in Galatians was and we can't be sure when Titus began to travel with Paul on his missionary journeys but we know that he was involved in the planting of the church in Corinth and in subsequent dealings with that church. No doubt being from a pagan background himself he was not surprised by the sexual immorality, idolatry, thievery and drunkenness that we know was typical there. What a joy it must have been to see such people turning to the Lord as he had done himself.

As you know, Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians was a difficult one and he had to send them a painful letter (1 Corinthians) written out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve them but to let them know the depth of his love for them. The letter was either taken to Corinth by Titus or he was sent hard on its heels to gather information as to how it was received. Paul was very anxious for news, waiting for Titus. So anxious was he that he went from Ephesus to Troas, hoping to meet Titus there. Although he preached he really could not give himself to that work because of his eagerness to meet Titus and know what the situation was. See 2 Corinthians 2:12, 13 Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia. No doubt Paul had hoped Titus would be able to come by sea. When it was clear that he would not, Paul went on by road to meet him in the mountains. As soon as he met with Titus he wrote again to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians) to say how glad he was to know that things were alright. 2 Corinthians 7:5-7 For when we came into Macedonia, he says this body of ours had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn - conflicts on the outside, fears within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever. Paul’s letter had brought the right response – repentance; and that made all the difference. He goes on (13, 14) By all this we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you. I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.

In the light of this restoration of good relations Paul decided to come back to the matter of giving – there was great financial need in Jerusalem. The Corinthians had shown eagerness at the beginning but had waned in enthusiasm. Now while things were good he (2 Corinthians 8:6) had urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. As they excelled in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in … love for us – he wanted them now to excel in this grace of giving. Paul’s plan was that Titus should come to them again with two other unnamed brothers - the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel who had been chosen by the churches and our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. He says Titus (16, 17) has the same concern I have for you. He not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. Paul calls him (23) my partner and fellow-worker among you.

Paul makes another reference to Titus at the end of 2 Corinthians, in 12:18 I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not act in the same spirit and follow the same course?

There is a passing reference to him in 2 Timothy 4:10 for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia ie the coast of the former Yugoslavia. Presumably Paul is writing from Rome. The next thing we know is that Titus is on the island of Crete, where many traditions about him have been preserved. It is while he was in Crete that Titus received this letter from Paul. In 3:12 Paul says As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. He obviously appreciated Titus’s fellowship. Whether he ever arrived there we do not know.

There are some obvious lessons here then.

1. Despite his unbelieving background Titus became a true believer.

Again and again this has happened in church history. Think of George Whitefield - born in a pub, John Newton – a slave trader. Isn't it true too of people in the Bible like the dying thief or the Philippian jailer or Abraham for that matter. We should be encouraged by the fact that God often chooses to save complete outsiders.

2. He was a man who became competent at straightening things out in church life and taking a work forward. Titus 1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. He was not only good at sorting out problems but dealing with young churches too. One gets the impression that although not necessarily a great evangelist Titus was a great pastor. How we need great pastors – not just regular pastors but those who can pastor others in the church as set out in Titus 2:4.

3. He was a man who despite opposition continued to serve the Lord. Are you of the same spirit?

Titus 2:7,8 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.

2. How did Paul describe him - my true son in our common faith

Paul claims Titus as his true son – not an illegitimate one. He uses the same description at the beginning of his two letters to Timothy. Paul uses a similar expression in at least two other places

1 Corinthians 4:15 Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Galatians 4:19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,

This way of looking at conversion is full of insight. We are told by Jesus to call no man father but the person through whom you hear the gospel is in some ways a father figure to you – someone a little like your own father. This is at least so when it is through one particular person, especially an older man. That's certainly how I always felt about the man through whom I was converted.

This is a reminder of the way the church is to be structured a little like the family. We are the family of believers. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. In some senses we are also fathers and mothers and children – in respect of age and authority.

There is also some instruction here perhaps about conversion. The picture is of begetting and bearing children. This is something very delicate, very intimate. When you speak to someone unconverted about the gospel there is a sense in which you are saying “be my child” “let me be your father”. It can't be entered into lightly then.

That phrase common faith is telling too. Paul was a Jew and Titus a Gentile but ti was a common faith they shared. Faith is for sharing then – with all sorts of people. To see someone converted is something that surpasses the joy even of having children.

2. Paul's Greeting Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour

1. What Paul wishes for Titus

Grace and peace In Paul's day,as you know, letters usually began with a greeting. Paul speaks here, as usual, of

Grace – which originally meant a kindness done to a friend, a favour but came to refer to a spontaneous and generous gesture. It was taken up by the New Testament writers to refer to God's favour – not to friends but to those who by nature are his enemies. Undeserved love. It was grace that had converted Titus – it is the only way to be converted. He stands in continued need of God's grace in order to reach heaven. All believers continue to stand in need of God's grace.

Peace – Whereas grace was the natural greeting for a Greek speaker, Jews, of course, greet one another with the word peace. The word Paul uses seems to have its roots in the idea of binding together what was separated. It is justification that leads to peace with God, reconciliation with him. It is God's grace that leads to perfect peace and we should expect to know more and more of it.

This is one good way to pray for one another – for grace and for peace.

2. Where he expects it to come from from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour

There are some things you can buy from various shops but some things can only be got at one particular shop. When it comes to grace and peace, they cannot be got just anywhere but we need to look to God for such things. He alone has them to give.

Paul served God (the Father) and was an apostle of Jesus Christ. He knew that the source of all grace and peace is in them. Their origin is in God the Father and they come to sinners only through Jesus Christ. By his death he purchased grace and peace for all his people.

He calls Jesus our Saviour. Paul uses the word saviour no less than six times in this short letter. He also uses it in his letter to Timothy written around the same time. It was obviously a favourite word at this time. The Greek would use the word for their gods and heroes. It was also used for the Emperor for example. Paul seems to have taken it up an used it as an appropriate title for the Lord Jesus Christ – what a Saviour he is for all who come under his protection. This is who we preach – Jesus the Saviour of the world, the one who saved Paul, the one who saved Titus, the one who can save all who call on him.

Faith and Knowledge in the Elect: Rest, Roots, Revelation

2011-02-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

Text Titus 1:1-3 Time 17/03/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the Letter of Paul to Titus and we have begun by concentrating on what Paul says to introduce himself in verses 1 and 2. He is by name Paul, a converted man working among the Gentiles and both a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. His purpose, we saw last week in serving God and going in the name of Jesus Christ is described as being for the faith of God's elect or to put it another way and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. Paul rounds off his self-description in verses 2 and 3 by saying that this faith and knowledge rest on the hope of eternal life. This hope he speaks of as something that, on the one hand, God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and, on the other, that at his appointed season he brought ... to light through the preaching entrusted to Paul by the command of God our Saviour.

I was reading something this week where the writer (Don Carson) spoke of some verses in Scripture being quite loose and easy to understand and others being rather tight and needing to be unpacked. This idea of unpacking has become a bit of a jargon phrase, I guess, but it is a good way of describing some of Paul's sentences especially where without doing some unpacking, some loosening up if you like, then we don't really grasp quite what is being said.

We've done a bit of this work already but let's look now at the whole section from for the faith of God's elect through to through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour. We'll be more brief on the parts we've looked at already and go into more detail with what follows. Altogether I think the section can be divided into five parts and we can use one word in each case to remind us of what that part contains. So I say

1. Recipients: Look in - who are we focusing on?

We saw last week that Paul was a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect. God's elect were his great concern. He cared about all people but it was especially God's chosen people that he was concerned to find and to help. These are the ones who know and believe. The gift of faith and knowledge is not given to everyone but only to the chosen few, those God chose before the beginning of the world. God's elect are more special to him than any others – more than any earthly or heavenly creature, more than all the reprobate. It is on them that he showers his gifts, and especially the gifts of faith and knowledge. The presence of faith and saving knowledge suggest a person who is elect.

@ How much do we think about God's elect? Perhaps for various reasons we shy away from thinking about the subject. Let's rather seek to find the elect by telling the good news to all and let's seek to support those who are elect in every way that we can, as Paul did.

2. Results: Look ahead - what does their faith and knowledge lead to?

As we saw last time Paul speaks of this faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth as something that leads to godliness. This is the result of real faith and real spiritual knowledge. It is not that godliness leads to faith and knowledge but the other way round. The way to a godly life is through faith in Christ and the knowledge of his name. In 2:11-14 Paul says that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. We stand in desperate need as a nation of moral revival but that revival is only going to happen if people in large numbers turn to Christ in faith and come to know him.

@ Let's see then that God's elect are marked not only by faith and knowledge but also by godliness. Indeed, this is where faith and knowledge are to lead. It should be so in our own lives and in the lives of others. Let's do all we can to make it so.

3. Rest: Look beneath – on what do their faith and knowledge rest?

This faith and knowledge says Paul are resting on the hope of eternal life. Christian hope is not like mere worldly hope – I hope so, but I doubt it. No, it is something positive and definite. It is an earnest yearning, a confident expectation and a patient waiting. The hope is – eternal life. For the believer, there is a sense in which eternal life has already begun but he still longs for the continuation of that life in heaven forever. That is what Paul is talking about here – not just entrance into heaven but the abundant life of glory.

People in this world put their hope in all sorts of things but the one great hope is the hope of eternal life. In 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Paul says to Timothy Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Are we holding on to the right thing? There is not a hope that compares with this hope. It is because of this hope that the elect believe and know the truth.

@ What a wonderful thing it is to have hope! In Ephesians 2:12 Paul describes unbelievers as separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. That is their hopeless situation. What a horror. On the other hand as the Psalmist puts it (Psalm 25:3) No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, ... To have the hope of eternal life is to be blessed indeed.

4. Roots: Look back – what are the roots of these teachings?

Paul goes on to speak of this faith and knowledge as something with a past and a present or future. First, a past. It is something which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time. So note that the roots are

1. In God who cannot lie

Literally Paul speaks of the unlying God. Part of God's unchanging nature is that he does not and cannot lie. Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. 1 Samuel 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind. Sometimes a negative statement can be stronger than a positive one. God is a God who makes promises. In these promises it is impossible for him to lie.

2. In promises made before the beginning of time

We often revere things because of their antiquity. Well, as far as the gospel is concerned, it has a very ancient history indeed. It goes back, says Paul, to a time before time itself. Because God's purpose is so ancient we can say that his promise really goes back to a time before time. He speaks similarly in Romans 16:25 of the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past and Colossians 1:26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, and 2 Timothy 1:9 This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, ... . In Matthew 25:34 the king in the parable says to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Here it is, what was promised before the beginning of time.

@ These truths are rooted in God himself, God who cannot lie and in the unbreakable promises he made before the beginning of time. This further encourages us to believe these truths and to live in the light of them.

5. Revelation: Look here – How have these teachings now been revealed?

The final thing that Paul says is in verse 3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour. This is like the verses that follow the ones we just quoted in Romans, Colossians and 2 Timothy.

Romans 16:25, 26 the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him. Colossians 1.26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the saints. 2 Timothy 1:9 This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

If we concentrate just on what Paul says here in Titus we can get at the material by asking those three great questions – what, when and how.

1. What?

Paul says that God brought his word to light. He who made promises before the beginning of time kept it hidden in darkness for some time but then brought his word to light. The coming of the gospel was like the shining of a light in a dark place. All the wonderful promises of God were at last clearly revealed.

2. When?

Paul says that what God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time he brought to light at his appointed season. He is clearly referring here to the New Testament era which began with the coming of Jesus Christ and was in full swing at the time that Paul was writing. This is the time that God had appointed from all eternity for his light to shine.

3. How?

How did the light shine at that time? It was, says Paul, through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour. Paul wasn't the only preacher, of course, but he was one of the main ones and this is how the truth was revealed then – by preaching.
@ How thankful we should be that these wonderful promises have been revealed in the New Testament. We, too, have a duty to let everyone know.

The Faith of the Elect: Truth and Godliness

2011-02-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

Text Titus 1:1b Time 10/03/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the Letter of Paul to Titus. We began last week with the opening words Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ and we talked about Paul and his wonderful conversion and about being a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul was such in a very special way but there is a sense in which all believers are to be not only servants of God but also apostles of Jesus Christ – those sent out in his name.

Now this week I want us to look at more of what Paul has to say about himself, as it is found in these opening verses. He is not simply Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ but he is those things (1, 2) for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

Paul is not a servant of God or an apostle of Jesus Christ just in some general sense. He has a sense of being those things with a definite purpose in view. This appears to be the power of that little word for. Little words like that can sometimes be quite important, especially in Paul's writings. There is an end in view in his servanthood and apostleship, a purpose. Everything Paul is and does has a purpose – a goal, an aim. He wasn't interested in being an apostle simply for the kudos. As he explains elsewhere it was hardly a glamorous or desirable role. No, everything is geared to this one end - for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

As believers we are in danger often of being unfocused. We can be so taken up with the fact that God has saved us and the benefits that brings that we forget that there is work still to be done. We too need to learn to be focused like Paul was. We need to be clear on our aims and goals and get rid of fuzzy and vague thinking that simply says "I serve God and want to go out in his name somehow". We must do this rather with a specific purpose.

So let's consider Paul's two aims and learn from him

1. Learn to focus on the faith of God's elect and be a promoter of faith

Paul is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ firstly for the faith of God's elect. The elect are the chosen ones, God's people, of course. Some people object to this idea even though the Bible teaches it very plainly. I think that part of the problem is the way people think about it.
For many it seems like that scene in the first Toy Story movie. Woody and Buzz, the protagonists, end up in one of those fairground claw or grab machines. All the prizes are identical green alien dolls with large eyes. Buzz asks “Who's in charge here?” The aliens look up and point and say “the Claw!”. “The Claw is our master” says one. “The Claw chooses who will go and who will stay” says another. Sid, the nasty boy, then comes to the machine and puts in money. Inside one of the aliens says “The claw. It moves.” Sid works the lever and the claw comes down choosing one of the alien dolls. He says “I have been chosen! Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place” and up he is pulled.
Now election is nothing like that! There is nothing random or mechanical about it. Rather, before the world began God chose a people for himself in Jesus Christ. It was in love that he predestined certain ones to belong to him, to belong to his own special people. This fact is revealed to us in order to magnify the love of God. Isn't it an amazing thing to think that God had me in mind before the beginning of time, that he loved me before the world ever began? What a privilege it is to be one of his chosen ones.

Augustus Toplady wrote of being “Chosen of Thee ere time began” so that “I choose Thee in return!”

Josiah Conder wrote “'Tis not that I did choose Thee for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse Thee hadst Thou not chosen me.”

John Kent's hymn is well known

Sovereign grace o’er sin abounding! Ransomed souls, the tidings swell

’Tis a deep that knows no sounding; Who its breadth or length can tell?

On its glories, Let my soul for ever dwell.

What from Christ that soul can sever, Bound by everlasting bands?

Once in Him, in Him for ever; Thus the eternal covenant stands.

None shall take Thee From the Strength of Israel’s hands.

Heirs of God, joint-heirs with Jesus, Long ere time its race begun;

To His name eternal praises; O what wonders love has done!

One with Jesus, By eternal union one.

On such love, my soul, still ponder, Love so great, so rich, so free;

Say, while lost in holy wonder, Why, O Lord, such love to me?

Hallelujah! Grace shall reign eternally.

Paul talks about election here to emphasise the sovereignty of God. It is like Acts 13:48 where it says When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

That brings us to the matter of how we know who are the elect? Clearly the elect are those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. This seems to be the way Paul is using the word faith here – not “the faith”, the things to believe, but the act of faith, "trusting". Putting your faith in Christ is evidence that you are chosen. Those who continue to refuse to trust in Christ show that they never were elect. It is by being joined to Christ in faith that we find forgiveness.

Now Paul's whole life was given over to bringing the elect to faith and encouraging those who believed to make their election sure. He had no more idea of exactly who was elect before hand than we do. There was that time in Corinth when God assured him that he had many people in the city but Paul was only able to find out who they were by preaching the gospel and seeing the response they made. Once they professed faith he did all he could to help them to go on from faith to faith. This was how he served God then. This is what he went out to do – to preach Jesus Christ and faith in him and to help believers sustain their faith in Christ.

Not of all of us are called to give ourselves to such work full time or specifically as preachers but we are all to do what we can to encourage faith in him. At home mothers and fathers are to teach their children the truth. In our dealings with the wider family and with friends and neighbours we seek to bear witness to Christ and urge faith in him. We don't know who are the elect but we seek them out by pointing people to Christ. Those who respond in faith we have good reason to believe are elect. Those who do not are not necessarily not elect but if they persist in unbelief then we will have to assume that is their position. Those who profess faith we endeavour to encourage in that faith as best we can.

What are we doing to promote the faith of God's elect? We need to examine our lives and see what there is.

2. Learn to focus on the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness and promote that knowledge

Paul adds and the (full) knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. He is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

This phrase a knowledge of the truth comes up in each of the three pastoral letters.

1 Timothy 2:4 refers to God as one who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2 Timothy 2:25 says that the man of God must gently instruct those who oppose him in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.

Here in Titus it is for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

This second statement is in some ways just another way of saying what he has already said. for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness are really parallel phrases. However, the two bring out quite different things. What is it for one of God's elect to come to faith? It is for that person to come to a knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. To be a Christian, to have faith is to know the truth.

Philosophers often distinguish between beliefs and knowledge. Usually the distinction is that you can believe something whether it is true or not. On the other hand, to actually know something it categorically cannot be false. A person believes that a particular bridge is safe enough to support them, and attempts to cross; unfortunately, the bridge collapses under their weight. It could be said that they believed that the bridge was safe, but that this belief was mistaken. It would not be accurate to say that they knew that the bridge was safe, because plainly it was not. By contrast, if the bridge actually supported their weight then they might be justified in subsequently holding that he both believed and knew the bridge had been safe enough for his passage at that time.

The Aristotelian definition of truth states: To say of something which is that it is not, or to say of something which is not that it is, is false. However, to say of something which is that it is, or of something which is not that it is not, is true.

Many today have a different idea of truth. There is your truth and my truth, they say, but no objective truth. That very statement makes no sense, of course, if everything really is relative. The fact is that there is such a thing as objective truth and to be a Christian is to know the truth and that truth leads to godliness.

It was Paul's great desire to bring people out of the ignorance that they are in by nature and that he had once been in himself and for them to know the truth, a truth that would lead them to godliness. Unbelievers are in ignorance and do not know how to be godly. Believers know the truth and the door to godliness is open to them.

It is important to get the order right. Paul does not say that he was a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the godliness that leads to the truth. Some have suggested that the way to the truth is by this route. The fact is that without knowing the truth godliness cannot be found. The two go together. If you really have the truth it will lead you to godliness. If there is no godliness then it cannot be the truth. G K Chesterton's Father Brown says in one place that heresy always does lead to immorality – if it is heretical enough! There is truth in that – believe the wrong thing and in the end you will be ungodly, believe the truth and it will lead to godliness.

The word for godliness or piety is one found only in the pastoral letters (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus). It is in contrast to the ungodliness all around that Paul emphasises it.

True faith then is not ignorant or superstitious. It is a knowing faith. True knowledge is not a mere head knowledge. It is a knowledge that brings about a change in our behaviour so that we walk in the way of godliness.

Being a Christian begins with election and leads to faith and knowledge of the truth. Such faith and knowledge produce godliness in the individual. It is like a golden chain. Without election there can be no faith or knowledge of the truth. Without faith and knowledge there can be no godliness. One leads to another. For the most part we deal with that middle part – faith and knowledge of the truth. We cannot peer into the secret of election and the only way for there to be godliness is by beginning with faith. We must do all we can to promote these.

This is what we should be seeking to promote then faith in God's elect and a knowledge of the truth that will promote piety or godliness. We need to examine our lives and see what there is.

Conversion, Service, Going out

2010-12-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Text Titus 1:1 Time 03/03/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I would like us to begin to look this evening at the Letter of Paul to Titus. The letter is a fairly brief one written by Paul to his fellow worker and true son in their common faith Titus. Titus is not mentioned in Acts but Paul refers to him in his letters and here we have a whole letter to him. He appears to have been a Gentile convert and one for whom Paul had the highest regard. He often acted as Paul's deputy.

The reason for the letter was that Paul had sent Titus to the island of Crete to complete the work of evangelism that he himself had started there. The book is a very practical one, dealing with the appointment of elders, dealing with false teachers and handling various types in the congregation.

The letter was probably written around 64 or 65 AD between Paul's first and final imprisonments in Rome.

Typically the letter begins with the name of the writer Paul. He describes himself as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is a typical way for Paul to write

Romans 1:1 is very similar Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle. He begins most of his letters with a reference to being an apostle. In Philippians, he simply calls himself a servant.

Peter is similar to Paul here in his second letter

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ

It is worth thinking, perhaps, of how you might introduce yourself in the situation. How would you begin? A servant of Christ Jesus? In whose name do you carry out your life and work? Someone once told me that people who work for IBM, that's the first thing they tell you, not “I'm British” or “I'm from London” but “I work for IBM”. What's the first thing you want to get across?

A name itself can have a powerful affect by itself when it is well known. Adolf Hitler, Elvis Presley, Napoleon, Tony Blair, Charlie Chaplin, etc. What do people think when they hear your name? Certainly Paul's was a name to be reckoned with. Here he gives his name, his character and his calling. Let's think of these for a short while.

1. Consider the name Paul had and the importance of conversion

Paul is a Greek name meaning small. It doesn't mean that Paul was small any more than for us a Mr Little has to be small. I would guess, however, that it began as a family joke. Paul was Jewish and from the tribe of Benjamin and so Saul was an obvious name when he was born there in Tarsus. Being a Roman citizen too, he needed a Roman name and as Paul sounds a bit like Saul and he was quite small, Paul it was.

As you know, Paul was born in Tarsus. Like his father he was a Pharisee and when quite young he was sent to Jerusalem to study under a leading Pharisee, Rabbi Gamaliel. Not only was he a Pharisee but he saw it as his life's work to oppose Christianity. That is, until he himself was converted. It all built up quite gradually no doubt (the witness of Stephen had a powerful effect) but he was dramatically converted in the end on the road to Damascus where he had intended to persecute Christians.

There are certain unique features to Paul's conversion but at the heart of it is that great change from opposition to Christ to devotion to him – a great change that so many have known. It is important that we keep conversion to the fore in our thinking. We ourselves must be converted but it is something we ought to be praying for in others too. Before anyone can be a servant of God, as Paul was, he must first be converted.

2. Consider the character Paul had and the need for a spirit of service to God

After his name, the first thing Paul says about himself is that he is a servant of God. The word he actually uses means slave but that translation could give the wrong idea. Although in Romans 6 he does speak of Christians as slaves in Galatians 4:7 he says of the Christian you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. Perhaps servant is the best word then.

By nature we are all slaves to sin. Jesus himself says (John 8:34) I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Once a person is converted, however, he is set free - not free to do as he wishes but to be a slave or servant to God, as Paul was. As Bob Dylan once put it, "whoever you are - you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord But you’re gonna have to serve somebody."

Paul once served the Devil but now he was a servant of God. Every Christian is in the same position. He is saved, as it has been put, to serve. Paul reminds the Corinthians at one point (1 Corinthians 6:20) you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. The classic passage on this is Romans 6 which we were looking at on Sunday. Romans 12:1 makes the same point Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

What an example to us Paul is in this respect. From the moment he was converted it would seem his motto was For me to live is Christ. His one great concern was to serve God in all he did. This ought to be our concern too.

As in all things our greatest example is Jesus Christ himself.

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself ....

The servant must be like his Master. If we follow Christ we must be servants to God in all we do.

3. Consider the calling that Paul had and the need to go out in Christ's name

The other thing that Paul says about himself is that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. The word apostle is from a Greek word meaning to send. I remember how in the days when people used snail mail I would sometimes get a letter from Cyprus, from the Burgesses, and they would write in Greek on the back Aposteleas (Sender). We can think of four more specialised uses of the word Apostle. Think of

1. The archetypal Apostle, Jesus Christ

Christ is not only the supreme example of what it means to be a servant of God but also of what it means to be an apostle. In Hebrews 3:1 we read

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.

Christ is the one sent from the Father into this world. In John 8:42 he says of himself I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Between John 4:34 and 9:4 Jesus refers to his Father as the one who sent him no less than 10 times.

And why was he sent? To preach the good news about salvation and to redeem his people. Praise God it is so.

2. The general way the word is used in the New Testament for someone sent on a mission

Sometimes the word apostle is used in a more general way in the New Testament. Titus himself was an apostle of that sort - 2 Corinthians 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives (apostles) of the churches and an honour to Christ. In Philippians 2:25 Paul refers to Epaphroditus as my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger (apostle), whom you sent to take care of my needs.

3. The technical and specialised way the word is sometimes used in the New Testament

The Apostles. This is clearly the way Paul uses it when he uses it of himself. In 1 Corinthians 15:9 he says I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. See 1 Thessalonians 2:6 As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you. This is the way the New Testament uses the word in places such as

1 Corinthians 12:28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles

Ephesians 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Ephesians 3:5 which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.

Jude 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold

There are Christians who dispute this technical use but it is quite clear that the apostles were the founders of the church and no longer exist nor are such people needed.

We would have to say that anyone claiming to be an apostle in this fullest sense today is a false apostle. Even then, of course, there were false apostles.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15 I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Revelation 2:2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

It was possible to tell who was an apostle and who was not and that is so today. Some years ago the late Victor Budgen pointed out that Apostles of this sort were marked by five qualifications

1 Authority - 1 Corinthians 14:37, 38 If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored.

2 Corinthians 13:10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority - the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

1 Thessalonians 3:14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.

This authority was not absolute, however. 1 Corinthians 16:12 Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.

2 Ability to speak infallibly and infallibly interpret God's Word - Much of what Paul wrote (his various letters) is now part of Scripture. Not everything he said or wrote was infallible or inerrant but what we now have in Scripture is. The remark in 2 Peter 3:16 is fascinating. Peter says of Paul His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. In Paul's letter we find him interpreting Scriptures too. Such interpretations are infallible too.

3 Witness to the resurrection - This comes out in Acts 1:22, of course, when they are looking for a replacement for Judas. In Paul's case his sight of the risen Lord was as to one abnormally born (1 Corinthians 15:58). Earlier in 1 Corinthians (9:1) his statement Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? suggests that the founding of the church in Corinth was not enough to make him an apostle in the fullest sense but seeing the risen Lord was. The last of all in 1 Corinthians 9 warns us against looking for apostles today.

4 Directly called and commissioned by God - Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle - sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead -

1 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God .... That by the will of God is found at the beginning of 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians and 2 Timothy too. 1 Timothy 1:1 has Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope.

5 Able to do signs and wonders - It is clear that very few in New Testament times were able to perform signs and wonders. Although not exclusive to the Apostles, it was one of their characteristic abilities and should surely be expected from any latter day apostle. In 2 Corinthians 12:12 Paul says The things that mark an apostle - signs, wonders and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance. In Acts 9:38 we read that Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, Please come at once! with the hope that he could heal Dorcas. There was no thought of healing her themselves. In Acts 5:12 we read that The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. In verse 15 we read that people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Similarly, later on, in Acts 19:12 we read of Paul that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. Such things have been claimed since but there is no hard evidence for such things.

In 2 Timothy 4:20 Paul says I left Trophimus sick in Miletus so the apostles clearly could not heal at will. However, the impression we get is that when they tried to heal or perform wonders, they were successful. Paul and Peter also had revelatory visions and were able to give people the Holy Spirit by laying hands on them.

We do not want to give the impression that this is a simple question. There is room for debate. Acts 14:14 refers to the apostles Barnabas and Paul. Was Barnabas an apostle in the fullest sense? Budgen says yes, Hendriksen says no. (The subject was hotly debated in the Middle Ages). Similarly the reference in Galatians 1:19 (I saw none of the other apostles - only James, the Lord's brother) could suggest that James the Lord's brother was an apostle too. As for apostles today, however, it is impossible. It is not necessary, either. Once the foundation has been laid for a building there is no need to lay it again.

What Paul writes to Titus here then is not just good advice then but the Word of God. It must be taken as that.

4. The more general apostleship that is the calling of all true believers

There is a sense in which all true disciples should also be apostles. When the risen Christ said to his disciples (John 20:21) Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you his words applied to all believers. The same thing must be said of the Great Commission All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. None of us are apostles like the Twelve or like Paul. We have never seen the risen Christ. However, Christ sends us by his Spirit into all the world.

It was part of Paul's consuming passion. Is it part of yours? Perhaps every time he used his name Paul it reminded him that he was the Apostle to the Gentiles. His aim was by all means to save some. He never forgot his calling. We must seek to be the same.

Things we should know about God and his work

2010-11-27T12:37:00.000-08:00

Text Romans 8:28 Time 07/11/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

Romans 8:28 is one of the great texts of the Bible, a verse worth knowing and learning. Down the years it has been a comfort and blessing to countless believers. It’s often likened to “a soft pillow for a tired heart” and is one on which many a weary traveller has laid his head.

In many ways it stands on its own and I want to treat it separately this evening. It acts as a sort of summary of Romans 8:1-27 but also anticipates the great climax at the end of Romans 8. Paul has already said that there is no condemnation for Christians, for those who are in Christ Jesus. They have the Holy Spirit who will even one day raise their bodies from the dead. They are God’s children and heirs. Though they presently suffer they will one day share in Christ’s glory, glory incomparable with any suffering known in this life. It is for this end that creation is groaning and believers groan too. By nature we are very weak but the Holy Spirit helps us and effectively prays with us and for us.

Now before we go any further we ought to say something about what Paul actually says here. We are probably wisest to accept the NIV margin for the first part - And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God. What seems to have happened is that early on someone objected to this phrase all things work together for good as if it somehow happened automatically and so some very early manuscripts do read (as NIV) in all things God works for the good. If you would prefer the NIV text that’s fine. For the rest of the verse the NIV is excellent.

So our text is

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to his purpose.

We want to say five things about the verse

1. Here is something we ought to be in no doubt about

Paul begins And we know …. It’s a favourite phrase with him. He has already used it three times in this letter (see 8:22) and uses it at least another five times elsewhere. It contrasts rather with verse 26 where he says we do not know what to pray for. Yes, there are things Christians do not know. We should not be afraid to admit it. Many things are hidden from us. But it’s a little bit like an exam in school – what matters is not what you do not know but what you do know. That is where the emphasis should lie in our thinking. These are things we know, things about which we are certain.

The question arises as to how we know these things and, of course, we know them because they have been revealed. God revealed this truth to Paul and through Paul to all believers. If we enquire further as to how Paul learned it, we cannot be far wrong when we say that he learned it from the Scriptures and from his own experience.

1. Scripture

He knew, for example, the story of Joseph and how despite everything seeming to be against that boy and despite his father Jacob’s despair, God worked it all together for the good of his people. All the way along, despite the evil intentions of others in the wonderful words of Genesis 50:20 God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Or think of the story of Daniel's three friends and how King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown into the fiery furnace and yet not a hair of their heads was even singed but God brought about a miraculous deliverance from them. Think of Daniel himself and the way God rescued him from the mouths of the lions.

2. Paul’s own experiences of the Lord’s dealings with him had taught him the same thing. He had been in trouble time and time again but later on writing to Timothy he says Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them (2 Timothy 3:11). Again and again Paul had seen God use impossible situations for the advance of the gospel. Many of us could share our own experience in this same way.

2. We ought to know that God is at work

The verse begins God works or all things work. Everything that happens from the mightiest earthquake to the silent movement of the wings of a butterfly; from the most insignificant action of the most insignificant person to the decisions of the world’s most powerful leaders, God is at work in it all. God is at work and we ought to be alert to that reality. God has not wound the universe and left it to turn like some gigantic clockwork time-piece. No, he is actively at work in everything. Nothing happens apart from him being at work in it. We had that catechism question this morning -

“What are the decrees of God?” The answer: “The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory, He has fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass.” The catechism goes on to ask “How does God execute His decrees?” The answer is that “God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.” Providence is then defined as “His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures, and all their actions.”

3. We ought to know that he works for good

God works for the good or all things work together for good. Knowing what we do of God this should come as no surprise. He not only works but he also works for the good of his people. All his efforts are bent in that one direction. We must be convinced of that. He is the one who was proclaimed to Moses (Exodus 34:6, 7) as

The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.

In the New Testament James says (1:17) Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

Let's never doubt the goodness of God.

Allen Gardiner is one who did not. Gardiner was an officer in the Royal Navy and a faithful missionary to Patagonia in South America. He experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Saviour. Despite his troubles, he said, “While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me.” In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of his hunger, thirst, wounds and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”

4. We ought to know that he works all things together for good

Importantly, Paul says that all things work together for good. He is not simply saying that there are certain things in this life where we can be sure God is working for good but there are other things, of course, where either he is not at work or where, despite the Lord these work for our harm. No, it is a much more extreme statement than that. He is including

1. All things positive. This is perhaps the easiest to understand. Why is there such a thing as the Bible? Why is the Holy Spirit at work doing the things he does? Why are there such things as prayer and Christian fellowship and Christian witness? Where does a desire to serve others and family love come from? Marriage and friendship, food and clothing, the joys of music and art and conversation and games and sport, etc. All these good things and countless others are among the all things that work together for the good of God’s people. Whenever anything good happens we ought to see that God as done it. He has brought it about. Every good and perfect gift is from above.

2. All things neutral. With that we can include all the things we are perhaps not sure about or that are neutral or indifferent – such as the rain and the wind and various inventions such as radio, TV, microphones, recorders, computers, the internet; the size of your family, how much money you have. We could perhaps put the ability to read and education in general here along with the religious impulse in man and his desire to be creative. We can think, no doubt of many things that are neither good nor bad in and of themselves but that can be used in good ways and so without too much difficulty we can see fairly easily how they work together for the good of God’s people.

3. All things negative. But those two categories do not exhaust the phrase all things. All things surely also includes all the things that we would instinctively label as bad such as all forms of evil and suffering and sin. This is perhaps where we find some difficulty in going along with Paul. ‘What? The Devil and the Fall and all my troubles and sins are actually working together for my good? This is clearly what the verse says, however. If you are ill or have to go into hospital for an operation; if you are affected by a gale or a flood; if your car breaks down or you have an accident; if you are the victim of a burglary or some other crime; if you fall into depression or have doubts; if you are not married but would dearly love to be or you cannot have children though you long for them; if you are persecuted for your faith or face hostility; even if you sin by word or deed – all this God will work together for your good. This does not mean for one moment that we should be indifferent to what happens to us or whether we sin or not. It is no more right for a Christian to sin than for unbelievers to persecute believers but God can and does over-rule all things for good. This verse is here for encouragement not for licence. When things go wrong we have a tendency to despair and even when things are going well we can be prone to worry and anxiety. Here God tells us to put away our anxieties and not to give into despair. Whatever it is, God says, it is all part of his glorious plan and that plan is to do good to his people. And he will do his will. We can count on it.

Spurgeon says

"Did you ever hear of a man who got his health by being sick? That is a Christian. He gets rich by his losses, he rises by his falls, he goes on by being pushed back, he lives by dying, he grows by being diminished, and becomes full by being emptied. Well, if the bad things work for him so much good, what must his best things do? If he can sing in a dungeon, how sweetly will he sing in heaven!"

So our attitude to our troubles and our sins should be one that recognises and keeps in mind that God will do us good – despite our troubles, despite ourselves even. We can be sure of this.

5. We ought to know that he does this for those who love him and whom he has called

Now it is important finally to add that this is not some general law that applies to everybody. Paul does not say that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. He is careful to make clear that what he has to say does not apply to everyone but specifically to Christian believers.

If you are an unbeliever this verse is not for you. In fact, the very opposite could be said. Despite what good you may receive in this life, all things are actually working against you for you will be judged if you go on in sin. Repent! Turn to the Lord now before it is too late. Despite all your rebellion and sin God can work it together for your good. He speaks of believers as

1. Those who love him. Do you love the Lord? It is not an easy question in some ways. If you know anything, you know how treacherous your heart is. However, is there some reason to suppose that you love God? Are you at least committed to loving him and serving him? Do you want to please him? Are you trying to obey his command to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do love the Lord, even though the level of your commitment may leave a lot to be desired, then you can be sure this promise is for you. All things are working together for your good. Despite all your troubles, despite all your sins, despite the Devil’s desperate efforts – God is at work and he is working for good, for your good! Oh what an encouragement this is, especially on the darkest days. Of course, we need faith to believe it. Some things have happened in our lives may be and we simply can’t see how it could possibly have been for our good. There are things and we still wonder why. I’m not saying, and this verse does not say, that we will always see how God is working things negative to our good.

Sometimes we will. Sometimes we will see how God has used trouble and adversity and even our own sins to wean us from this world and to teach us humility before God and compassion towards others.

At other times we will not see it at first but eventually we will at least have some idea of how it has worked for our good. Do you know the story of the northern Puritan Bernard Gilpin breaking his leg when arrested during the reign of Queen Mary? Gilpin preached in a place called Houghton far from London but worked of his faithful preaching reached the authorities in London and so he was arrested and had to make the journey to London to face almost inevitable martyrdom. Somehow on the way as he mounted his horse he managed to break his leg. Perhaps some questioned at that point how a broken leg on top of everything else was working for his good. What happened, however, was that his arrival in London was delayed. Apparently it was a s they finally reached Highgate that news came of the death of wicked Queen Mary and so he was safe from further danger.

Sometimes, in this life, we will never see it. I think I have mentioned to you before how one preacher has mentioned how his mother died 20 minutes before he arrived to see her for the last time and his question as to why in God's purpose he was not allowed to see her alive one last time. Who knows? However, this is where faith comes in again. We must believe this verse. We must trust that God truly is working all things together for our good. Who would not love a God like this?

The testimony of Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch lady who was so faithful in the last war in sheltering Jews from the Nazis, is powerful. She wrote

"Often I have heard people say, “How good God is! We prayed that it would not rain for our church picnic, and look at the lovely weather!'” Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But God was also good when He allowed my sister, Betsie, to starve to death before my eyes in a German concentration camp. I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us. “No, Corrie,” said Betsie, “He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: 'For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.'” She concludes, “There is an ocean of God's love available - there is plenty for everyone. May God grant you never to doubt that victorious love - whatever the circumstances.”"

2. Who have been called according to his purpose. Who have been called according to his purpose. We must not miss that final bit. In the end it is not that we love him but that he first loved us. That is what makes the difference. Yes, our choice is a free one but not in the sense that God had nothing to do with it. No, he works out everything according to his own will. It is according to his purpose that he calls people to himself. He has a good purpose and part for that purpose is to call people to himself. That call is always for their good. It is important to remember this.

I love the story of Drew Garner and the rough and unorthodox usual evangelist Rolfe Barnard in the United States. In 1954 Rolfe Barnard was taking a series of meetings in a Southern Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky, where a man called Drew Garner was the pastor. Lots of interesting things happened that week but at one point Barnard preached on Romans 8:28. He began his sermon by asking if anyone could quote Romans 8:28. Well, Drew Garner was fresh out of seminary and he was pretty sure he knew what Romans 8:28 was. And so he raised his hand and said And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and then sat down. Barnard looked at him and he began to read the verse again. Yes, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God just as Garner had said but there is more … to them who are the called according to his (and here Barnard boomed) PURPOSE!!!

That is the thing to remember. In Jeremiah 29:11 God says For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. This how he speaks to us all who are believers. What comfort such a fact should give us.

Perhaps this whole truth is seen most clearly in the cross of Christ. Remember Peter's words in Acts 2:33, 34 you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him and 3:15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. Yes, those who put Jesus to death were guilty before him. It was an evil act. And yet God worked it together for good. What he did with the cross he does with all things – for his own glory and for the good of his people.

A warning against being luke warm

2010-11-23T08:50:00.000-08:00

Text Revelation 3:14-22 Time 01/08/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the seven letters to the seven churches found in Revelation 2 and 3. So far we have looked at six letters – those to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia. This evening I want us to look at the last of the churches – Laodicea.

We've done ESP-TSP- now it's just L. We've looked at Mixed, Praised, Mixed/Mixed/Mixed more Blame and Mixed mostly Praise. Now it is Blamed.

With Laodicea we have a loud blast against complacency and a call to wholehearted recommitment.

Once again we will look at the description of the church and consider ourselves as a church and as individuals in the light of it. Verse 14 says To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

Laodicea was the leading city of the region of Phrygia, about 40 miles south east of Philadelphia. It is almost due east of the first church Ephesus by about 90 miles. Situated where 3 important highways met Laodicea was in an ideal place commercially and became a rich commercial and financial centre. So wealthy was it that when it was damaged in an earthquake the citizens declined to receive aid from the Emperor’s coffers. Interestingly, its water was piped in from hot springs about six miles away. By the time it reached Laodicea it was luke warm. Also a famous medical school grew up not far away. It developed an eye medicine called Phrygian powder which brought fame to Laodicea. Again it was in a valley, the Lycus Valley. Just to the north was Hierapolis, where there was also a church and just 10 miles away was the church in Colosse. In Paul's letter to the Colossians he urges them to read his letter to Laodicea. That could be what we call the letter to the Ephesians, Paul having written the same letter to both churches. Paul had never been to Colosse or Laodicea. The church in Laodicea was founded by a man called Epaphras. Perhaps he founded the church in Laodicea too.

Clearly the church was in bad way by this time. It wasn't necessarily due to heresy as such or persecution but they had fallen asleep on the job there in Laodicea and they needed this very stern letter to wake them up. Perhaps we need something like that too. Let's hope not. So we say a number of things growing out of what is in this letter to ourselves as individuals and as a church.

1. Consider the character of Christ and the fact these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness and ruler of God's creation

For the final time we have these words These are the words of .... This time it is These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. This again mostly taken from Chapter 1. Amen is, of course, a Hebrew word. It means “it is”. We are familiar with it ax the word we use at the end of our prayers or the prayers of others, meaning “it is so” or “I agree”. It is the word Jesus would often use to introduce something important that he was saying. We often translate “Truly, truly”. He is the one then who is true. That is what makes him a faithful and true witness. He is also the ruler over God's creation, the one through whom all was created and the one who sustains it all.

In Laodicea they had rather forgotten all this and they needed to be reminded. Perhaps we too need such a reminder.

2. Consider his word of condemnation for a luke warm church

In verse 15 we get that famous statement I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! Throughout the letter we get these statements – I know, I know. Whatever the state of a church it is something known to the Lord, whether it is something good or something bad. Here it is something bad. The church in Laodicea is described as being neither cold nor hot. The expression is sometimes misunderstood because we tend to think of being hot – being on fire for Christ – as something good and being cold as something bad. You could think that Jesus was saying better cold then luke warm. If you can't be on fire, do nothing. In fact the idea is of refreshment. On a hot day you want something cold to cool you down. On a cold day you want something hot to warm you up. What is never refreshing is something tepid or luke warm. Have you ever left a cup of tea too long. You go to taste it and it is tepid. Yuk! Or think of putting on the tap to get cold water and only getting tepid water. I remember as a boy making that mistake – going to the gym on hot day expecting cold water and only getting warm. Yuk!

What Christ wants is that we should refresh him. There are different ways to do that but somehow we must refresh him by the way we live.

A surely apocryphal story is told that in the days when Soviet Russia was under organised persecution there was an occasion when secret police turned up at a meeting and said ‘Okay anyone who is not really all out for Christ can go, the rest must stay’. No-one moved. ‘Good’ was the response ‘We are not secret police actually but fellow believers. We wanted to be sure there were no compromisers present.’ How would that work out here? Certainly when Israel went out to war anyone who felt afraid was actually encouraged to go home and not come – he may discourage others. Here the sentence has not been passed yet. There is time to change.

3. Consider his word of warning for a luke warm church

Once we get the picture correct in our head verse 16 makes sense So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. That was the problem in Laodicea – not hot, not cold either, just tepid, luke warm. Just as a person getting a mouthful of tepid tea is likely to spit it out or someone after an ice cold cola will spit out the luke warm stuff, so Christ says he will react against such tepid believers by rejecting and ejecting them. They will have to go. He cannot stand such people. What a warning! Be hot, be cold, but somehow refresh the Lord. Otherwise, you cannot expect to draw near to the Lord.

4. Consider how it is possible to be self-deceived about your true state

How did they get to be so luke warm in Laodicea? It was a problem of not realising just how bad things really were. In their ignorance they had completely misread the situation. Verse 17 You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. That was how they felt about themselves. In fact they were totally misreading the situation. Christ says But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Their situation was the very opposite of what they thought it was.

I remember haring a comedian say once that he had heard that to be popular with girls it was important to smile. So he went out smiling at every girl he met. It was only when he came home and looked in the mirror he realised he had a piece of dark green cabbage stuck on his teeth! We can all identify with such faux pas. But what about a man who is sure his job is safe and so organises his holiday and starts buying a car, etc, when the company intend to make him redundant at the end of next year? What about someone who is convinced all is well with him when in fact he has cancer and has only months to live? Like these men Laodicea had completely misread the situation.

They did not realise that they were

Wretched, pitiful – They were to be pitied rather than envied. They were sad and miserable not happy and glad. They were the opposite of Smyrna. The poor Smyrnans were told that despite their poverty they were in fact rich. The Laodiceans who thought themselves rich are in fact:

Poor. They had nothing at all to give. They were hardly able to keep themselves alive. Far from being the well taught Christians they thought they were they were paupers! There are many today like that. In some ways very rich but poverty stricken in truth – no comfort to share, no inward strength, no spiritual power.

Blind. They were blind. What ignorance there was. For all their claims to discernment they could not even diagnose their own parlous spiritual condition. Even the most intelligent in Laodicea knew so very little of what really counts. Again, how common that is – spiritual myopia, spiritual blindness.

Naked. Finally, they were naked. There was nothing to cover their exposed sin. They thought all was well between them and God but it was not.

Now the obvious thing not to do here is to say ‘Well, I’m glad I’m not like that’. Can’t we see the danger? We pride ourselves on our knowledge, our discernment, our strong sense of assurance – but are we fooling ourselves? Are we in fact wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked? Remember the Pharisee who (Luke 18:11, 12) stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. Rather let’s be like the tax collector who beat his breast and cried to God for mercy.

5. Consider what those who have fooled themselves need to do to get right with Christ

If we examine ourselves and we find that, even if only in a small measure, there is something wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked about us what should we do? The Laodiceans are left in no doubt. Three things come out.

1. Go to Jesus for spiritual resources. Verse 18 I counsel you to buy from me … says Jesus. Three things follow. These are to deal with the spiritual poverty, nakedness and blindness that have already been identified.

1 Gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich. Some people talk about the riches of this particular tradition or that but real spiritual riches are found only Christ. Go to him. The gold he has is gold refined in the fires of his life of suffering and his death on the cross. There is none like it. Throw aside the gaudy baubles and imitation smack this world has to offer and find genuine treasure – knowledge, faith, hope, love – in and through Christ.

2 White clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness. All sorts of attempts are made to cover up man’s shameful nakedness but none of it works. It is Christ’s provision alone that cover us adequately. Laodicea was famous for its black wool and the garments made from it but what the Laodiceans was to be dressed in white, the white of holiness. Christ alone can provide such garments.

3 Salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see. As we mentioned the famous medical school near Laodicea had come up with Phrygian powder a great eye salve. Christ here calls on these Laodiceans to buy eye slave from him to enlighten them and clear their clouded vision. All who are outside Christ are spiritually blind. Those who come to him have their eyes opened to see their own sin and the righteousness that he alone can provide. You may wonder why it says I counsel you to buy. It is true that we cannot earn salvation but there is a sense in which it does cost. We need to give up on ourselves. We need to humble ourselves, recognising that by nature we are poor, naked and blind.
Have you done it? Do so now.

2. Be earnest and repent

Although this is a stinging rebuke for the church in Laodicea the Lord Jesus does not want to discourage them. He tenderly points out (19) Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. These words of rebuke and discipline grow out of his love for the Laodiceans. I punish my children from time to time not because I do not like them but because I love them. So with Christ and his people.

The proper way to react to rebuke and discipline is to repent. So be earnest, and repent. Waste not time but immediately turn from your sins. Don’t be half-heated about this, earnestly repent. That is the only proper response.

3. Open the door of your heart to Jesus

Then in verse 20 come those famous words Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Now these words have so often been used to speak to unbelievers that it is easy to forget that they were first addressed to professing believers. The actual picture here is of the Laodiceans gathered together at one of their meetings. All are present and as they look round at one another they are contented with themselves – they are quite contented. ‘Well’ they think ‘we’ve got things going pretty well here – good numbers, good singing, good preaching, plenty of amens.’ But then there is he sound of knocking at the door. Who can it be? Who has been left outside? ‘It is me!’ says Jesus. It was the same when the people went home. Oh how good it all was - they thought. But at the doors of their homes and their workshops this knocking keeps coming. It is Jesus saying ‘Let me in’. Can they hear him? Can you hear Jesus speaking to you today? If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, he says I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Oh what a feast there will be! All you have to do is just open the door.

Has the Lord Jesus been pushed out of your life? He is on the outside trying to get in? Open the door! Hear his voice today here in the Scriptures.

‘Behold me standing at the door, And hear me pleading evermore,

With gentle voice; O heart of sin, May I come in, may I come in?’ (Fanny Crosby)

6. Consider the promise here for those who overcome and the call to hear the Spirit

Finally as with the other letters there is a promise and a repeated command for overcomers – for those who take heed to what is said and repent.

1. The promise. John has already spoken of believers as those who have been made to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father (1:6) and in 2:26 the promise to the overcomer is authority over the nations. Here we read To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. The Laodiceans though they were rich but they were not. It is those who truly know Christ who have real riches. They share with Christ in his coming reign over the Kingdom of God. In one sense Christ already reigns and his saints with him but the final consummation is to come. We are still in the midst of mopping up operations following the great victory of the cross. Other New Testament verses teach the same thing.

Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with him. What a glorious future lays ahead for the persevering believer!

2. The command. Finally, do not miss that concluding command. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. If you have understood anything of what has been said this morning it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Now listen to the Word and do what it says – repent from any tendency at all to complacency, to lukewarmness, to self-sufficiency. Look entirely to Christ, trust in him alone and know his abundant blessing.

A call to hold on

2010-11-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Text Revelation 3:1-6 Time 25/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

There's an old Frankie Valli song. In it the singer is trying to persuade his girl friend not to give up on their relationship. He sings

“Let's hang on to what we've got Don't let go girl we've got a lot Got a lot of love between us Hang on hang on hang on To what we've got”.

There's another old song by Wilson Phillips that says

“Don't you know things can change Things'll go your way If you hold on for one more day Can you hold on for one more day Things'll go your way Hold on for one more day.”

Today's sermon is about something similar – the need to hang on, to hold on.

We are looking at the seven letters to the seven churches found in Revelation 2 and 3. So far we have looked at five letters – those to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis. Today I want us to look at Philadelphia and Laodicea, Philadelphia this morning.

We've done ESP-TS now it's P-L. We've looked at Mixed, Praised, Mixed/Mixed/Mixed more Blame,. Now it is Mixed more Praise and Blamed.

Once again we will look at the description of the church and consider ourselves as a church and as individuals in the light of it.

The name Philadelphia we associate best with the place in Pennsylvania, USA, but the original is about 28 miles south of Sardis in that same area of western Asia Minor (today Turkey) where the other six churches are found. The name means “brotherly love” and comes from the name of the city founder, Attalus Philadelphus. It has now been swallowed up by a larger town. Like Sardis it was in Lydia and very fertile. On the banks of a little river, it was dominated by Mount Timolus. It was in an area of volcanoes and earthquakes. Tremors were frequent.

Once again we do not know how the church began but it is clear that at this stage it was flourishing despite persecution. In a letter full of striking images, Christ is able to give the church almost unmixed praise. So To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write.

1. Consider the character of Christ and the fact these are the words of him who is holy and true and who holds the key of David

As is the pattern, we begin yet again with the phrase These are the words of him and this time it is him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. He adds What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

1. Holy and true. First then he is holy and true. These are terms, of course, that apply only to God. The Christ is God come as a man. Part of his being God is that he is separate, other. He is not like us. Another part is that he is wholly true.

2. Sovereign. He also holds the key of David. This takes us back to the prophecy in Isaiah 22:22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. It applies initially to Hezekiah's servant Eliakim but also to Messiah. Christ is ultimately the ruler over God's house and he is free to come and go as he wishes. He has the key.

It is this reference that means this church is sometimes referred to as the Church of the Open Door. What is an open door? An open door is a way of describing an opportunity. Here the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ asserts his authority in this area. He opens or he shuts the door of opportunity as he chooses. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. He is the one, then who gives opportunities to God's people to know him and to serve him and to get glory to his name. When he chooses that such an opportunity will come then nothing can stop it. It is part of his rule over history.

2. Consider the blessing that this church has known in the past and how it is commended

So here is a church that has known blessings in the past. There have been great opportunities and there has been great faithfulness. What an example they are to us in that. I know your deeds says Jesus just as he has said to other churches – and clearly here they are good deeds that are known. Are we doing good deeds? As we have said, we are saved by faith but true faith is never alone and always leads to good deeds.

Here are some other good questions for us too.

1. Are we aware of the opportunities we have, thankful for them and using them?

Verse 8 reads I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. How were they able to do the good they did? Only because Christ had given them the opportunity to do good. Paul says in Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. To do good we must first have the opportunity to do good and that is entirely from Christ. The church in Philadelphia had been given lots of opportunities to do good and they had taken them. As ever, we don't know the background detail but they did have opportunities there.

The same sort of attitude should take hold of us. Although some of the opportunities that we knew in the past are not still here there are still many opportunities for us and we must be thankful for them and take them. Yes, it is not the way it once was when most parents were still together and they were at least willing to send their children to Sunday School and when most people were free all day on Sunday. No, often families are now split and they are busy on Sundays. However, we are still free to tell people about Jesus, to give out tracts on the street and invite people in. Let's be thankful that door is still open and let's make use of it while we can. The Lord may not keep it open for us much longer.

2. Are we being faithful despite our weakness?

The second I know regards their perseverance – their willingness to be faithful despite their weakness. I know says Jesus that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Again, we don't know the nature of their weakness - whether they were a small fellowship or one lacking in many gifts or something else. Weakness is something we know but, however. Now like the church in Philadelphia we must resist any temptation to excuse ourselves because we are weak. Rather, like the Philadelphians, we must be determined to keep Christ's word and determined to refuse to deny his name, however much we are persecuted. Is that our attitude? Are we determined through him to stay exclusively with the one who is holy and true? Are we willing to persevere in his word and in his name? That is how it must be.

3. Consider the promise of future blessing that is given to them here

To encourage these godly believers to press on there are, as with the other churches, promises for them to take hold of. These are quite specific promises but ones that we can also to some extent take hold of and act upon.

1. The promise of vindication

In verse 9 Christ says I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars - I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. As elsewhere, a lot of the opposition to the believers in Philadelphia was coming from the Jews of the city. The same phrase used to describe the Jews in Smyrna (see 2:9) is used here to describe the ones in Philadelphia - a synagogue of Satan. They claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars. The risen Christ has something to say about people like this. I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. It's quite a note to strike but it is something we always need to remember when we are under attack from persecutors – there is a great change coming. It won't always happen in this life but it will happen at some point. Our enemies will one day come and humble themselves before us and acknowledge that they were wrong and that Christ did love us all along. All the Muslims and Hindus and the Romanists and the atheists will all come one day and acknowledge the truth. “Yes” they will say “what we taught was not right. We were wrong. All along you were right and what you said was right and you always had the love of Jesus Christ.” Sometimes it does happen in this life.

2. The promise of protection

Then in verse 10 there is another promise Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth. The promise is a reward for their obedience and their patient endurance. This is a very specific promise, of course, but it reminds us again that we are entirely in the hands of Christ who holds the key. At this very time we are being very much kept from the hour of trial that is presently on much of the world that is testing those who live on the earth. It is not like it is here in China or Burma or North Korea or parts of Indonesia or the Philippines or Pakistan of Israel. We must recognise Christ's protection over us and continue to obey him and endure and work patiently.

4. Consider the further promise and the word of instruction that is also found here

In verse 11 there is another promise and a word of instruction with it. Jesus says I am coming soon. Yes, one day he is coming again. It is nearer now than it has ever been. A verse like this does not refer only to that final coming but also to the way he comes to his people in special ways before that time too. At times there are delays, sometimes long delays, and our patience is tested. This is true in our lives as individuals and as churches. We are in a time now when it is as if Christ is away from us. We are not knowing his nearness as others have done in the past. At such times we need to take note of this word of instruction here – Hold on! Hold on to what you have. Why? So that no one will take your crown. There is always the danger of slipping away and losing the crown. We must not allow that to happen. Have you ever watched a game of rugby where Wales or whoever is playing against England or whoever you want to win are pressing towards the line and are about to score a try but then the ball slips out of the man's hands? For some reason he can't hold on to it. If only he could have held on it was a certain try. Well, in a similar way we need to hold on to what we have. Yes, we are not knowing Christ's nearness as we wish. Yes, the opportunities seem to be narrowing rather than broadening. However, we must continue to hold on to what we have. We must hold on to the Bible and its message, to the privileges that are ours in Christ, to the Holy Spirit. Don't let go!

5. Consider the promises here for those who overcome and the call to hear the Spirit

So we need to overcome, this time especially in the sense of enduring and being obedient and patient. The promises this time to Him who overcomes are twofold. Jesus says of the one who overcomes

1. He will be a permanent pillar in God's Temple

Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. As ever, this is a reference to heaven, to the everlasting Temple of God and to a permanent place in that temple. Of course, even now those who are faithful are part of the temple, indeed they are integral to it. They sound the praise of God – not just when they gather together but as they go abut their daily tasks.

2. Christ will write on him God's name, Heaven's name and his own name

The second promise is I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. So three names are written by Christ - the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, ... and ... the new name of Christ himself. You write your name on something that belongs to you. In a few weeks a new school term will start and so mothers up and down the country will be busy putting their children's names on all their clothing and equipment. If you ever see any of the Toy Story films you will notice that the character Buzz Light year has the name ANDY written on the sole of his right boot – because he belongs to Andy. The believers in Philadelphia are promised that all who continue in the right direction will have God's name on them and heaven's name (for that is where they are headed) and the name of Christ too, for he is their Saviour. Like those sticks of rock that have Brighton written all the way through so the name of God and heaven and Christ is on the overcomer, the true Christian who, having put his hand to the plough, does not turn back but keeps on going in Christ's own strength. What a call then, what an encouragement to hold on to what we have and not to let it go.

3. A final call to hear

Finally in verse 13 there is that repeated command He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We say again -

You have heard. What are you going to do about it? The call is to hold on to what you have. The promise is of a permanent place in God's Temple, of being in God and in Christ and in the New Jerusalem. Don't lose such a crown. Be patient. Endure. Be obedient. Press on in Christ. Hold on to what you've got.

Strengthen what remains

2010-10-26T00:32:00.000-07:00

Text Revelation 3:1-6 Time 25/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the seven letters to the seven churches found in Revelation 2 and 3. We have looked so far at the first four letters – those to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and then this morning at Thyatira. That leaves Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. We've done ESP-T but now it's SP-L. We've looked at Mixed, Praised, Mixed and Mixed. That leaves Mixed more Blame, Mixed more Praise and Blamed. Mixed more blamed is Sardis the church I want us to look at this evening. For Sardis it is mostly blame, though there is one note of encouragement unlike Laodicea, for whom Christ has nothing good to say. Once again we will look at the description of the church and consider ourselves as a church and as individuals in the light of it.

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: So Sardis - Sardis is 30 miles south east of Thyatira and 50 miles due east of Smyrna. At the foot of a mountain and in a fertile valley a number of roads converged on Sardis making it a busy centre for traffic and trade.

It had a distinguished history in that it was the capital of the old kingdom of Lydia and the home of the famous King Croesus renowned for his wealth. (You sometimes hear the phrase as rich as Croesus). This was until his defeat by Cyrus and the Persians around 547 BC. It was later conquered again by Alexander the Great and then fell on hard times reaching rock bottom in AD 17 when a terrible earthquake destroyed much of it. It was under the Romans by this point and the Emperor Tiberius exempted them from taxes for five years which helped towards recovery. We do not know how the church there was founded. One old writer says “Like the city itself, the church had belied its early promise. Its religious history, like its civil, belonged to the past.”

1. Consider the character of Christ and the fact he has at is command the Spirit and the minister in every church

As usual we begin with the phrase These are the words of and picking up from something mentioned back in Chapter 1. This time it is These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

1. The seven spirits of God or possibly the sevenfold Spirit of God refers to the Holy Spirit. See 1:4, 5a John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,and from Jesus Christ. Another old writer (Trench) explains the term seven this way - “he is regarded here not so much in his personal unity as in his manifold energies”. Seven, of course, is a number of completeness and no doubt ties in with there being seven churches too. He is active in them all. The message this sleepy and practically dead church needed to hear was about the life-giving Spirit who Jesus pours out on believers. As a modern writer puts it, he can refresh a stale church, he can a waken a sleepy church, he can strengthen a weak church, he can make a dead church come to life!

2. The seven stars. This is explained in 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. The stars are the ministers of the churches, who are, as it were, in Christ's other hand. Both the ministers and the Spirit himself are in Christ's hands. The great need is for the ministers to be filled with the Spirit. That was the great need certainly in Sardis. Whether things here are as bad as there or not, it is still the great need.

2. Consider his words of condemnation for a church that was fast asleep

1. Beware of having only a reputation for being alive

Jesus says again I know your and again it is I know your deeds; exactly the phrase he used about Thyatira which was so good. The context, though, shows that things were in a far less healthy state in Sardis than what they were in Thyatira. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. If you asked people about the church in Sardis most people would tell you what a good church it was. People were happy with it. If you went there on a Sunday you would not immediately think, Oh dear what a terrible church, how hopeless. No, you would think it was a good church, a sound church, perhaps even a loving and faithful church, one that had not lost its first love. However, that would be a mistake. And this is quite a disturbing thought. Some of us pride ourselves in knowing what a good church is. We have some experience and so even in just one service we feel we could gain a pretty good idea of whether a church was on the right track or not. In fact, you can be wrong.
It is like anything else, even the experts can get it wrong. You hear of these cases from time to time, sometimes quite tragically, where experts can make big mistakes because of unknown circumstances. Well, sometimes people who think they know what a good church is will tell you this is a good church and it will turn out not to be. There are churches that have a reputation for being alive – large congregations, big budget, lots of activity – but in fact are dead.

It is important that we as a church do not think our reputation with men is what matters – no what does Christ say? If he says we are dead then dead we are. To simply live for reputation si to be a hypocrite.

2. Be alert and strengthen what still remains and is incomplete

And so this church is told (2) Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. This church is half dead. It has fallen asleep. Its deeds are not complete in the sight of my God says Christ. We hear these days of failing schools and failing hospitals, well this was a failing church. In all the important areas it was falling below standard. As sleepiness, a deadness had descended and they were not doing anywhere near enough.

That can be the position of a church, of an individual. What about us? Are we falling asleep? Are we only half alive? Are we failing to live as Christians as we should? What a danger! Watch out!

If we are like that we need to wake up, we need to strengthen the little that remains and is about to die. It is like the embers of a fire – they need to be fanned into flame again. We need to get going again.

3. Give yourselves to obedience and repentance

What should an individual or a church finding itself in that position do? The instructions are quite clear (3).

1 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard. The people in Sardis were forgetting the message they had received. They had moved on to other things. Other matters were taking up their time and energy. They needed to remember where they had come from, their roots. It is a little like the church in Ephesus that had forsaken its first love. We must not be backward looking people but at times it is good to ask ourselves the connection between where we are now and where we first started. It is so easy to veer off at a tangent. You only have to go slightly wrong at a certain point and within a while you can be way off target. We must not forget what is in the Bible – the basics there. Perhaps we can go further and say that what the people received was the Spirit and they needed to remember that - as we do – and live as temples of the Holy Spirit.

2 Obey it, and repent. They needed to begin to obey again – obey the Word, obey the Spirit who speaks in the Word. They need to turn round from the direction they were headed in and to get back to God and to doing his will. Back to basics – that was the need. They needed to stop living as they were and get back to how it had been in the past.

3. Consider the warning to this church of what will happen if they fail to wake up

But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. If they fail to do this then Christ is going to come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. This is ultimately a reference to Christ's Second Coming but Christ can come in the sense of coming in judgement before then. He can judge at any time and we need to keep that in mind. It is vital that the church wakes up. Do you get the picture? Here is a man who has fallen asleep in the doorway of his home with the door wide open. At some point a thief is going to come and take from him all he owns. He needs to wake up! He dare not lay asleep any longer – or he will lose everything. Wake up! Get ready! That is the message, perhaps, that some of us need to hear more than any other.

4. Consider the brief word of commendation and promise that is given

Thankfully, things at Sardis are not utterly bleak, as Christ is able to add a commendation (4) Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. While everyone else was soiling their clothes rolling in the mud of sin and grubbying themselves in the dirt of the world, some were remaining pure and clean. Such people are given a promise, They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The promise appears to be for the world to come in particular.

If we are not prepared for heaven we will not enter heaven. Without holiness no-one will see the Lord. But if we keep ourselves pure then we will walk with the Lord in holiness and joy.

5. Consider the promises here for those who overcome and the call to hear the Spirit

Finally, again, following the previous pattern we have promises for the overcomer and a call to hear the Spirit.

1. The promises.

1 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. Again the focus is on the purity and the glory and joy of heaven. This is what awaits those who go on in the Lord.

2 I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. It was the practice of the Jewish cities to keep a list of every citizen’s name in a book. When that person died his name would be blotted out. Here Jesus speaks of The Book of life, mentioned several times in Revelation. The idea of blotting out a name is found more than once in the Old Testament. Overcomers live forever and so their names will never be blotted from that book. Rather, Jesus will acknowledge their names in heaven – before his Father and all the holy angels. Their names will be called. They will not be forgotten. They will be counted worthy through Christ.

When the roll is called up yonder will you be there?

2. The command

Finally in verse 6 there is that repeated command He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

You have heard. What are you going to do about it? Hypocrisy is a great sin. It is (literally) play acting. Christ knows the reality. Where we see any in ourselves our response must be to wake up, to strengthen what remains, to recall how we began and to begin to obey again wholeheartedly, to repent. What we all need to do if we seek to walk in white with Christ in the world to come.

It is a little depressing to think that a church can go so far wrong and not realise but the hope here is that all who sincerely repent and begin again to obey have hope.

An active but over tolerant church

2010-10-21T02:29:00.000-07:00

Text Revelation 2:18-29 Time 25/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the seven letters to the seven churches found in Revelation 2 and 3. We have looked so far at the first three letters – those to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum. That leaves Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. To remember the names try ESP-TSP-L or ESPecially Top SPeed Limit.

Most of the churches receive some praise and some blame, though Smyrna receives unmixed praise and Laodicea only condemnation. For Sardis it is more blame than condemnation and for Philadelphia more praise than blame. The order praise and blame wise is -

Mixed, Praised, Mixed/Mixed/Mixed more Blame, Mixed more Praise, Blamed

This morning I would like us to move on to the letter to the church in Thyatira found in Chapter 2 verses 18-29. To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

We travel another 40 miles south next to Thyatira, halfway between Pergamum and Sardis. The city seems to be the smallest, least significant and most obscure of the seven places represented. Someone has noted how interesting it is that the least important place gets the longest letter! Christ's perspective is not the same as ours.

Despite its obscurity Thyatira was quite a prosperous town. A lot of trade went on there and archaeologists have found a lot of evidence of various active trade guilds. It was, of course, Lydia's home town. She was converted in Philippi but may well have been involved in some way in the establishment of a church back in her home town of Thyatira.

Thyatira was not Smyrna but, as with Ephesus and Pergamum, on the whole the church was prospering but, as we shall see, had a particular outstanding problem that needed to be dealt with. Once again a consideration of what Christ writes to this particular church will help us to think through what the situation is here too and see how we are doing. So

1. Consider the character of Christ, his penetrating gaze and unstoppable progress

Once again we begin with a description of Christ drawn from what has already been said in Chapter 1. These are the words of the Son of God, it says whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Later on the Lord says I am he who searches hearts and minds and no doubt that is what the idea of eyes like blazing fire is meant to convey. Feet like burnished bronze is more difficult to follow and commentators differ. Perhaps it is best to see it, however, as speaking of his unstoppable progress in doing his will, especially in dealing with sinners. It is quite a frightening phrase really and fits with I will cast her on a bed of suffering and I will strike her children dead and I will repay each of you according to your deeds and He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery.

There is comfort in the I knows of these chapters but it is also a challenge. The Son of God sees it all. He knows exactly what is going on. It is important that we never forget that. Not only does he see what is going on but he is able to take things forward at his own pace and he is able to test it all, as in a furnace – and not everything will survive! Such thoughts ought to fill our minds as we consider these things.

2. Consider a New Testament church with some good points. Are they seen in us too?

1. Are we performing good deeds?

The one whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze knows firstly all about the deeds of this particular church - I know your deeds he says in verse 19. Clearly these are good deeds and he knows about them. The obvious question for us is what about our good deeds as individuals and as a church? Undoubtedly we are justified by faith. However, real faith never remains alone. It always leads to good deeds. That's how it was with the believers in Thyatira and that's how it should be with us. Is it?

2. Are we showing love and faith?

In particular Christ commends the believers in Thyatira for their love and faith. It is like the church at Thessalonica, of which Paul said in his first letter (1:3) We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love. We might tend to put this pair that way round – faith then love - as it is faith that leads to love. However, no doubt in the church in Thyatira it was their love that stood out. Whereas the church in Ephesus was first and foremost a sound church and Pergamum was perhaps a faithful church, with the Christians in Thyatira it was their love that stood out. They were loving and kind to one another and it extended beyond themselves to outsiders too. It was love rooted in genuine faith in God. They really trusted in him.

Now there's a challenge for us. Are we characterised by that sort of loving attitude? Is our faith lading us to love and our love based on a true faith? This is how it should be.

3. Are we serving and persevering?

The missing element here, of course, is hope. Faith, love and hope. It is covered here though when Christ goes on to speak of their service and perseverance. We saw something similar last Wednesday when we were looking at the opening of Titus 2 where Titus is told to encourage the older men to be sound in faith, in love and in endurance. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 is similar – speaking not only of your work produced by faith and your labour prompted by love but also of your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because the people in Thyatira were filled not only with love and faith but also hope they were people who served and who endured in their serving. That again is the sort of church we really want to see here – a loving, faithful, serving church that endures despite the obstacles and the difficulties that are bound to come.

4. Are we doing more than at first?

The fourth and final thing to notice here is that and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Clearly this was not just a church that was marked by love and faith and hope but a church that was really going forward. They were now doing more than they did at first. The phrase is a little cryptic because we do not know the background. It's implication is clear, however - they are going forward. They are not standing still or backsliding. Increasingly they were seizing opportunities to do good.

Here is the challenge for us then as a church and as individuals – to do more for Jesus. You come Sunday morning, how about Sunday evening and midweek? You spend time in prayer, how about spending some more time? You are helping with one aspect of church life, why not another?

3. Consider the flaw in this church. Are we guilty of a similar failing?

So lots of good things to say about Thyatira. However, it isn't all good news. In verse 20 we read Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. It appears that there was a woman in that church and she was having a really unhelpful influence there. She was enticing God's people into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. Her name wasn't Jezebel in fact, of course, but just as Jezebel had led Ahab into sin and been such an opponent to Elijah so this woman was causing similar problems in Thyatira. And yet the good people of the Thyatira church were doing nothing to stop it! You tolerate that woman Jezebel says the Lord. How on earth did that happen? It wouldn't have happened in Ephesus for sure! This can be the downside of being a loving church, I suppose. Sometimes we can be too tolerant of things that are in the end detrimental to the kingdom and leading people into sin. Clearly, on the one hand, we must be loving and kind to all sorts of people, yet on the other we cannot do anything that promotes evil.

I think there are lesser examples of this sort of thing happening right now. In New York there is a Reformed church pastored by a man called Tim Keller. One would question some things that Keller does but he is basically orthodox. Nevertheless they recently invited Bishop N T Wright to speak, even though he is the main proponent of a false view of justification. You may know the name of John Piper, an influential and popular Reformed pastor in America. He is involved with various conferences and for his next one has invited Rick Warren, the author of The purpose driven church to be one of the speakers. Warren promotes pragmatism and can be guilty of bending Scripture to suit his purpose. He has said “We let the unchurched needs determine our programs; the unchurched hang-ups determine our strategy; the unchurched culture determine our style; the unchurched population determine our goals.” No-one can really understand why Piper has done this but I would guess that with him, like Keller, it is the same sort of imbalance that existed in Thyatira, where love and faith and doing more are distorted so that they lead to unbiblical toleration of what is false.

4. Consider Christ's wrath against perverters of the gospel

In verses 21-23 we have a series of statements concerning Jezebel and her followers.

1. Consider his patience

He begins by saying (21) I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. This situation has been going on for some time now and it seems that all is well. That is not the case. We must always remember to consider things in the long term. God is very patient but his patience can run out if there is no change.

2. Consider his wrath

In verse 22, 23 he says So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. The references to a bed and to committing adultery with her and to her children are all graphic ways of picturing what was going on. This woman was encouraging idolatry and it involved sexual immorality. Punishment was going to follow for this – suffering, intense suffering, even death. This is the future unless there is repentance. Now again, we do not know the exact circumstances but clearly Christ had plans to exercise his wrath against this people in a very decisive manner and would do so if there was no repentance. We can say something similar today. It is very important indeed that we do not tolerate heresy or fall into it. Yes, we want to be loving and kind and it is very nice to be popular and liked but some things cannot be tolerated. We cannot condone heresy, things that are going to lead others into sin. It is a very difficult line to tread.

We have in our hymn books hymns by Stuart Townend and Graham Kendrick. I feel slightly uneasy about it because some of the things these men promote are quite wrong. It could give quite the wrong impression, as if we think the Charismatic movement is a good thing. We certainly must take great care not to tolerate what is false.

3. Consider his purposes

Don't miss the purpose of all this Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. It is the exaltation of Christ that is the end in view and when we look at it like that then being intolerant where we should becomes an obvious must. We cannot play around with these things.

5. Consider this call to hold on to what we have until Christ comes

Next, in verses 24 and 25 we read Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): Only hold on to what you have until I come. Although there was a group in Thyatira that had clearly gone for Satan's so-called deep secrets the rest had refused to do that. The guilty have now been given a clear warning. As for the rest, they must hold on to what they have until Christ comes. It is interesting how this is put. Christ says (I will not impose any other burden on you): Only hold on to what you have until I come. Sometimes there can be an over-reaction when we get into these sorts of issues. We can start coming up with man-made rules to keep us on the right track. The Pharisees were notorious for laying burdens on the people that were eventually impossible to lift. We must not go to extremes and become intolerant of anyone who does not agree with us on everything. Rather, we must hold on to what we have – the faithful record here in the Bible – until Jesus Christ comes again.

6. Consider the call to hear the Spirit and the promise here for those who overcome

Finally there are in verses 26-29 the words To him who overcomes which is defined here as doing Christ's will to the end – going on then in the faith.

The pattern is different to what we have had before in that the phrase (29) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches now starts to come at the end of the section not at the beginning. It is there to remind us that the Spirit of Christ gives these words and they are for all who hear and understand.

There are two promises. To the one who overcomes Christ says

1. I will give authority over the nations - He will rule them with an iron sceptre; he will dash them to pieces like pottery - just as I have received authority from my Father. The quotation is adapted from Psalm 2 and refers to Messiah's future triumph. Here the point is made that just as Christ has received authority from his Father so he gives authority to believers over the nations. How do they exercise this authority? On earth it is limited but when we bring the gospel to people and they are admitted to our churches or when we discipline those who appear not to be believers we are exercising authority. One day, as Paul reminds us, we will share in Christ's judgement at the end of the world too. Such a fact reminds us that we cannot remain neutral but must exercise our authority and make judgements. We must say, I will use a hymn book with the hymns of Stuart Townend and Graham Kendrick but they are errant brothers and we will not sing their songs or condone their teaching if it is false. We will read John Piper books but we will be very careful and distance ourselves from some of his statements and decisions. As for outright heretics like the health and wealth gospellers and the Roman Catholic church, while recognising that true believers may be caught up in these movements the teachers and the movements must be condemned uncompromisingly.

2. I will also give him the morning star. This is a little more difficult but in Revelation 22:16 Jesus himself is called the bright morning star. He is the star out of Jacob prophesied in Numbers. We are talking about having Jesus himself then to lead and guide us. If you have that then you have all. It is hard to show love and faith and hope and yet to avoid tolerating evil. How we must look to Christ always!

Being faithful and true

2010-10-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Text Revelation 2:12-17 Time 18/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We have begun to look at the seven letters to the seven churches found in Revelation 2 and 3. We have looked so far at the first two letters – those to the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna. This evening I would like us to move on to the letter to the church in Pergamum, found in Chapter 2 verses 12-17.

As we have said Smyrna, the church we looked at this morning, is the only one that receives unmixed praise just as it is only the church in Laodicea that receives only condemnation. Pergamum, like Ephesus, receives a mixture of praise and blame.

Incidentally, if you want to remember the seven churches try – Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, try ESP-TSP-L or ESPecially TSPeed Limit.

The order praise and blame wise is -

Mixed, Praised, Mixed/Mixed/Mixed more Blame, Mixed more Praise, Blamed

So verse 12 - To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

Smyrna was 35 miles north of Ephesus and Pergamum (called Bergama today) is another 55 miles north again, still on the western end of what we know today a Turkey. Unlike the first two places it was not on the coast but 15 miles inland and a mile or two from the River Caicus. It has been described as “a strong centre for paganism” and had, we know, a massive altar dedicated to Zeus and a Temple to the goddess Athena. There were also places dedicated to Dionysius and Aesculapius, the so-called saviour god or God of healing. Indeed, Pergamum was the centre for the worship of this god. This led to a medical school being founded there and a regular influx of people seeking healing so that it was like a sort of Lourdes of its day. There was also the Emperor cult which thrived as much here as in Smyrna. Pergamum was a centre for the cult, from the time they had a temple dedicated to the Emperor Augustus – the first provincial temple to be built in honour of a living Emperor.

Once we know these things, it becomes clear why in the letter Christ says that this is where Satan has his throne and where Satan lives. Perhaps throne is a direct reference to the altar to Zeus. The letter is of particular interest to a church like this one, existing also, as it does, where Satan has his throne and where Satan lives. Here we find Hindu temples and Roman Catholic churches. The Neasden Temple was the first purpose built stone temple in Europe. Westminster Cathedral is the chief Roman Catholic building and the Brompton Oratory is world famous. All are filled with idols. Here we also find Sikh Temples and Mosques, as well as so called churches where Christ is actually denied and opposed.

I want to say six things arising from this letter.

1. Consider the character of Christ and the power of his Word

Once gain the letter begins These are the words of ... and again something is picked up from Chapter 1. This time it is These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. Back in 1:16 we read that out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. That may seem rather a strange picture but the Roman short sword was shape a little like the tongue. The reference is really to the power of the truth. Paul writes in Ephesians of the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit. Hebrews 4:12 says that the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Throughout the letter there is an emphasis on truth then and this opening statement reminds us of how central it is. What a powerful thing the truth is. As Jesus said (John 8), If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

2. Consider a New Testament church with some good points. Are they seen in us too?

Next we have that (13) I know where you live - where Satan has his throne. Yet says Jesus you remain true to my name. He says You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city - where Satan lives. This was the great quality of that church – they remained true to the name of Jesus, despite the opposition.

What Smyrna had tasted and was about to fully experience, they had already experienced and, for the most part, had proved faithful.

In Ephesus they loved the truth. They would not tolerate wicked men and they had tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and ... found them false. However, they had forsaken their first love. In Pergamum, however, they did not simply love the truth, it was Christ's name that they were true to. It was faith in him that they refused to renounce, even if it meant death as was the case for this man Antipas.

We don't know anything else about Antipas but we can imagine what happened. He was called upon to come before a stature of Caesar, to sprinkle incense and to say “Caesar is lord” but he would not say it. Jesus was his Lord not Caesar and although he was happy to give to Caesar what was Caesar's, he was also determined only to give to God what was God's.

What an example to us then is Antipas and these other Pergamumians. Despite all the opposition, they stuck to trusting in Jesus. They remained true to his name. They would not renounce that.

What about us? Is that central for us too? Is faith in Christ at the heart of our lives?

3. Consider the flaws in this church. Are we guilty of similar failings?

Despite these good things that Jesus could say, he has to add (14, 15) Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

It would seem that the Nicolaitans are the same people as those who are also described as holding to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin although two different groups may be in mind. The Nicolaitans are mentioned back in verse 6 as a group whose practices the very orthodox Ephesians hated, as did Christ himself. We said then that we don't know anything about these Nicolaitans or who they were, although we can add that the word is probably symbolic as Nicolaitan can be taken to mean victory of the people or destroyer of the people. Balaam we read about in Numbers. He was some sort of prophet and the Moabites wanted him to curse Israel, which he failed to do only blessing them instead. He advised that the Israelites could be undermined nevertheless by sexual enticement, which is what happened. In John's day too there were false teachers who took a very liberal approach to the matters of idolatry and adultery and they were having an influence in Pergamum. Such people are around today.

The thing to note then is that even in a church like Pergamum, where the majority remained true to Christ's name and where people like Antipas would not renounce their faith in Christ yet there were others who held to false teaching. This false teaching involved not only false beliefs but involvement in idolatrous practices and sexual immorality of one sort or another.

The question for us is what about our attitude to such false teaching – are any of us being taken in by it. What great care we must take! If the devil is not rousing the opposition to persecute as in Smyrna then he is endeavouring to undermine Christ's cause with enticements to follow false doctrines. We must resist from wherever he attacks.

4. Consider what those guilty of such sins must do

As for what to do about such sins the message is very simple and straightforward, 16 Repent therefore! There is no other option. Full and immediate repentance – turning round from such sins completely. That must be the response. You cannot toy with false teaching and not get injured. If we have followed false teaching at all, we must repent. If we have taken idolatry or adultery lightly, we must repent.

5. Hear the warning for those who refuse to take such a step

If we do not repent what is threatened against Pergamum applies also to us Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. We are back to the the sword of Christ's mouth. If the people in Pergamum will not hold to the truth then the truth itself will, as it were, turn on them and they will suffer the consequences. To go over to false teaching is to set yourself up in opposition to Christ himself who is the truth. We must not do such a thing, even for a moment. Rather, we must be true to what is true – true to Christ himself, our Lord and Saviour. The gospel can save but it can also destroy – if it is rejected and not believed.

6. Consider the call to hear the Spirit and the promise here for those who overcome

Finally, we have once again those words (17) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches the reminder that these are the words of God the Holy Spirit himself and that they are not only for the faithful in Pergamum but for all God's people – all who have an ear to hear what the Spirit says. The message is a little strange To him who overcomes, the one who goes on being true to Christ's name or if he fails to do so repents to that one Christ promises I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.

We mentioned this morning that originally the ark of the covenant contained a pot of manna. Manna was hidden there. Manna is the bread that came down from heaven to feed the people while they were in the desert. It points ultimately to Christ, the true bread from heaven – the one who came down to this earth to feed us so that we would live forever. The promise is more of himself. That will happen in heaven. What we taste here on earth we will taste more deeply in heaven.

As for the white stone, commentators differ greatly. Given that such stones were used as tickets and that white stones were often sued with black stones to stand for yes and no when important decisions were made, I would guess this point sin one or another to gaining entrance – either a “yes” for “yes you can go into heaven” or a ticket guaranteeing entrance.

The new name written on it is no doubt the name of Christ. When a person is converted it is as if Christ's name is written on their heart so that they know him for themselves.

This is the freedom then that comes from knowing the truth and sticking to it. May we all know it now and forever.

The importance of preparation

2010-09-23T12:04:00.000-07:00

Text Ecclesiastes 10:10 Date 20/09/10 Place LTS, Finchley (Beginning of new year)

If I ruled the world. There's an old Tony Bennett song with that title. If I ruled the world I'd do many things I'm sure but one of them would be to have the text of tonight's sermon put up wherever students training for the ministry are found. The text is Ecclesiastes 10:10

"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success."

I'd love to see it up here in the Library, in the dining room, on a wall in each student's accommodation throughout the time of his study. Ecclesiastes 10:10

"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success."

(Textual preaching)
Why I say that, if it is not obvious, we will see in a moment but first let me say something about textual preaching. Probably most of the preaching you hear and practice involves preaching a passage of Scripture rather than a single text. It will be Ecclesiastes 10 or 9:10-10:11 rather than Ecclesiastes 10:10. Textual preaching is quite different. I would like to commend it to you as a good alternative way of preaching Scripture, as I am tonight, from Ecclesiastes 10:10

"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success."

(Using an axe)

I remember once hearing a man preach and at a certain point he brought out from behind the lectern an axe. It was quite a striking act but to tell you the truth I can't now remember why he did it or what was his point. It was one reason why I decided against bringing an axe with me tonight. I am assuming you can all picture an axe in your mind and can understand the picture that is being used here.
There are a few different translations around and there is some difficulty about the final part of the verse. But the basic idea is clear enough -
Here is a man who wants to chop down a tree. He reads here in 9:10 do it with all your might and so he grabs an axe, finds his tree and hacks and hacks. But the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened. He would be wiser to stop and sharpen the axe. Doing a thing with all your might does not mean rushing at things, it often involves taking time for preparation. As Abraham lincoln once put it, no doubt drawing on this verse, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six of them sharpening my axe"!
(Context)

Now, of course, if you take a text you must give the context. It's no good just plucking one from nowhere. As has been said “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text” and prof texts can be used to prove all sorts of things. Every text has an address, a location and we must say something about that location whenever we take a text.

This particular text is from the Old Testament Wisdom Book, Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes was probably written by Solomon, perhaps towards the end of his life after his fall into idolatry and his apparent restoration.

Some see the book as a sort of pre-evangelistic tract or apologetic work. Older commentators often saw it as a warning to backsliders and the unconverted. Some see it as deeply sceptical, even cynical or nihilistic. Some say the theology is so pessimistic that without the important epilogue it wouldn’t even be in the Bible. It is there chiefly as a foil to the rest of Scripture.

Rather, like Job, Ecclesiastes warns against taking the very positive wisdom of Proverbs in a superficial and simplistic way and failing to see how complex and difficult life can be. Here is life in the raw, life as it is. The writer is not looking at life without God in the strict sense but life as it is even though there is a God – something much more demanding and profound. The book is firstly for God’s people - to help them in their daily toils and struggles. It is not only hard-nosed but has many words of encouragement, calls on us to fear God and frequently draws attention to the coming judgement.

The whole book can be divided into four parts. These different sections say basically the same thing in different ways. Repetition is a fundamental feature of Scripture. You can summarise the first three main sections thus

1:12-2:26 True contentment is found in God alone not in man so look to him for wisdom, knowledge and happiness, refusing to go on any longer in our sins.

3:1-5:20 God wants us to live in a good and proper way. This way is satisfying; indeed, to know how to enjoy life and be content is God's gift. Such people are so taken up with God they have no time to worry about death, etc.

6:1-8:15 Prosperity is not always a good thing; adversity is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather we must avoid unwise extremes, thinking too highly of human power or giving up seeking wisdom because it is so difficult. Recognise the importance of obedience to the powers that be and the good it does but recognise their undoubted weakness. Also consider both the judgement of God and the unfairness of life now.

The final section (where our text is found) begins in 8:16. The section doesn’t really open up new arguments but confirms and enlarges on what has gone before, coming to some practical exhortations. Within the final section, 9:10-10:11 forms a subsection. Here Solomon starts to use more and more Proverbs. He produced a whole collection of proverbs, of course. These are not from there but additional and appropriate to his purposes here. We can see three things in this subsection

1. A leading principle for life with some balancing considerations

1 A leading principle (action) 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

2 Balancing considerations to keep in mind.

God’s sometimes surprising providence 9:11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

Our general ignorance 9:12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. Not just ignorance of death. We don’t know when we will die.

The public’s scorn and amnesia. The story in 9:13-15 starts off as what we expect to be a story of heroism but that’s not what it's about. You think – I wish I’d been that man! But no, it wasn’t like that, nobody remembered that poor man. Conclusion (16) Wisdom is better than strength. But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded. Wisdom truly is great, no question, but it doesn’t solve everything. We're in God’s hands and must look to him.

2. Two further points about wisdom’s limitations

1 The disproportionate influence of foolishness. That's really what 9:17-10:3 is about. Fools can be very influential. No matter how many wise you have one fool can make a terrible mess – in a company, a government, a family, a church, a seminary. What a disproportionate impact fools have.

2 Wisdom’s power to strengthen and its limitations. Solomon goes on with an example of wisdom in action. Wisdom demands diligence, demands that we are faithful, that we press on. We mustn’t panic. We need to be faithful but faithfulness isn’t going to solve all our problems. We must be realistic – faithfulness doesn’t guarantee success. We feel so powerless and frustrated sometimes, we wan t a revolution, but we must stay calm.

3. Final principles of wisdom to keep in mind at all times

Keep in mind the need for a balanced approach. 10:8, 9 refer to a series of activities where a danger is involved. Whoever digs a pit may fall into it; whoever breaks through a wall may be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones may be injured by them; whoever splits logs may be endangered by them. The wise person doesn’t say I’m never going to dig a pit, etc, because it is too dangerous. Rather he recognises that there is danger in these activities and so he takes care. 10:11 reminds us of the dangers of procrastination. If a snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer. Eg People who are perpetual students for the ministry.

(The text)

The other thing is our text, which speaks of the advantage of thorough preparation.
"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success."
There are many obvious examples of where this applies.
I saw this advert. It said
"True interior painting and exterior painting professionals realise the importance of surface preparation in achieving maximum paint performance. In this part of the world, a professional painter must consider a number of factors before specifying proper surface preparation: substrata (the surface and its condition); environment; expected service life of the coating system; surface contamination (if present); types of primers; types of topcoats.
Surface preparation is often the most tedious and time-consuming aspect of any interior painting or exterior painting project. As a result, many discount painters shortcut this stage of the process to save time and money. This is where most decorative painting jobs run into trouble. As high as 80% percent of all coating failures can be directly attributed to inadequate surface preparation which affects coating adhesion. Before choosing an interior painting or exterior painting contractor, make sure you understand their methods and the extent to which they prepare the surface. If their estimates are unusually low, this is one area where your custom painting job is likely to suffer."
Obviously there's a bit of hyperbole there but you recognise the point they are making.
Or to take another example. Donovan Germain made these comments on a Jamaican musician who died at the age of 28 some years ago:
"Garnet was the consummate professional in his whole attitude and approach towards the work. He was always well prepared and that's one of the greatest things about an artiste. He didn't come around trying to find the song. He always came prepared so it was just a mater of fine-tuning it when he got to the studio. I would normally give him the track in advance and he would go home and write the song and rehearse so when he came to the studio it wouldn't be any long drawn-out session."
(Application)
Now, of course, what I want to do this evening is to apply it to the Christian ministry. I think that this is one of the applications. Tree felling is a particularly appropriate metaphor for the ministry as it is hard work, work that involves a certain amount of skill and potentially dangerous work. Further, a good deal of it does involve that rooting out or chopping down work that has to be undertaken before the work of planting and watering can be properly entered into.
Now, I didn't come from a Christian home but I was converted when I was not quite 13 and from very early on I felt God calling me to be a minister. There was a certain urgency about this and it seemed to me that my best plan of action was to finish school as soon as I was allowed, at 16, do 3 years in a Bible College and then get out there as fast as I could. I was like a man who had some tree chopping to do and wanted to get on with it asap.
Though taking a generally sympathetic view of my desire to be a minister, my parents weren't so sure that this was the way to go about things. So we arranged for them to meet with my minister and, (would you believe it?), he basically agreed with them – Do 'A' levels if you can, then a degree and then think about some more specifically theological training. It seemed crazy advice to me at the time but I bent to it and ended up spending five more years studying than I had ever intended. From this perspective I can see that another year or two on top of that would not have been too much.
Now the very fact that you are students at LTS would suggest that you are at least partly convinced about the importance of preparation but as you sit there sharpening your axe as it were and still no trees have been felled it can be tempting to think that you are wasting your time. I want to prevent you from making that mistake by means of this text.
"If the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed but skill will bring success."
Take Greek and Hebrew for example. You all know that neither language comes easy to most people. When you are busy trying to learn their unfamiliar and intricate ways you may be tempted to think that you are wasting your time. "How it this contributing to my saving souls?" you may find yourself wondering. At such times you need to say to yourself "I am sharpening the axe. In the end this will save me time not waste it." None of you, I guess, will rise to be great Hebrew or Greek scholars but if you work hard while you can here over the next year or two, you will at least gain a facility in the languages that will enable you the quicker to follow commentaries and make your own decisions about whether versions are right or wrong. And sometimes the tree you are working on will come down that much more easily because your axe is so sharp.
Something similar can be said for the other subjects taught here – theology and church history, biblical studies and ethics and so on. Work hard to get the basic structure of the Bible and of theology and of church history and so on clear in your mind while you are here. It will stand you in great stead when you are in the minis try and there is rarely time to be learning Hebrew, exploring bypaths in church history or clarifying where you stand on creationism or traducianism, infra- or supra-lapsarianism or the parity of elders.
And I think something more can be said too. While you are here you are inevitably developing habits and patterns of life and thinking that will leave their mark on you for years to come. If you are prayerless here then what makes you think it will be any different in the ministry? The same thing can be said of Bible study and other things. If you are not walking close to Christ now then when will you?

Make the most of it

2010-08-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

Text Ephesians 5:15, 16 Time 07/08/10 Place Alfred Place Baptist Church Aber Conference Extratime Intro

When I was a boy long before Pop idol and Britain's Got Talent, etc, the big talent show on TV was called “Opportunity knocks”. They discovered Les Dawson, Paul Daniels and Mary Hopkin and Max Boyce from Wales among others. It was hosted by a man called Hughie Green, who turned out to be Bob Geldoff's father-in-law but that's another story. Hughie Green used to have a friend to introduce each act. He's interview them briefly to find out what it was all about and then he would introduce the act by saying something like “Tonight for The Beresford Brass band opportunity knocks”.
The phrase “opportunity knocks” is an idiom that pictures an opportunity as being like a person who knocks at your door. The implication, of course, is that you must open the door and take hold of the opportunity – not ignore the knocking or tell them to go away.
The Greeks and Romans had another way of describing it. They had this so-called god called Kairos or Fortuna and that god was quite distinct in that from the front he looked a bit like Justin Lee Collins or Russell Brand and from the back more like Larry David or Michael Stipe of REM. That is to say he had lots of hair at the front and was bald at the back. The message there is that opportunity can be grabbed from the front as it comes at you but once it has passed by there is nothing to hold on to.
Now this week of conference that lies ahead for you is a week of opportunity. This week you are going to be hearing a series of knocks – this is the first! It is opportunity knocking at your door. Or perhaps you can think of this week as a great creature all hairy at the front and bald at the back. It will fly by this week, be in no doubt. If you don't grab hold of it as it come in, you certainly won't get hold of it when it's gone.
So that's the basic message then but I know that some of you will be a little anxious at this point because we haven't opened our Bibles yet. “Where is this in the Bible?” you say to me. Well, I'm sure it's in many places.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 comes to mind - Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Or what about Revelation 3:7, 8? These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.
I thought it best, however, to turn to Ephesians 5:15 and 16 Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. This is the practical part of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. He is setting out how to live the Christian life and he has many things to say. He talks about being imitators of God, living a life of love, avoiding any hint of sexual immorality ... impurity, or ... greed or obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking ... He talks about living as children of light finding out what pleases the Lord and so on.
Then in verses 15 and 16 we have this statement that the NIV translates Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

The AV has See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

The ESV has Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

There are some variations there then. What Paul literally says is “Look then carefully at how you walk (ie how you live) not as unwise but as wise”. He then uses a word that means to buy up or ransom or redeem and the thing he wants us to by up or redeem is time but not time in the sense of 1 o'clock 2 o'clock, etc, (Chronos) but time in the sense of season or occasion or opportunity. The past phrase is that this must be done “because the days are evil”.
So I want to say four things to you from this text
1. Take care how you live always and this week especially
Be very careful, then, how you live or more literally Look carefully then how you walk. The way we live needs to be examined. We cannot go through life thoughtlessly. Socrates famously said that the unexamined life is not worth living. I don't know exactly what he meant by that remark but we really do need to give thought to the way we live. The Bible is always urging us to it
1 Corinthians 11:28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Galatians 6:4 Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else.
Here it is a call to be careful how you live. There is a famous story of one of the Puritans, a man called Richard Rogers. He was always notable for his seriousness and gravity in whet ever company he found himself. He was once with a very respectable gentleman who said to him, “I like you and your company very well, only you are too precise.” He thought Rogers was a bit of a precisionist, a Puritan, a bit too careful. “Oh sir,” came the famous reply “I serve a precise God.” Being very careful about how you live can be a pain sometimes but the God we serve expects it of us. Be very careful, then, how you live he says.
Some people say "take care" when they say goodbye these days. So I want to say to you take care this week. Walk carefully, thoughtfully, precisely. It can be a temptation to think – I don't need to be so careful this week, because I'm surrounded by Christians and by opportunities to hear the Word. That would be a mistake.
So, take care how you live always and this week especially.
2. Seek to be wise not unwise
Paul goes on Be very careful, then, how you live not as unwise but as wise. Wisdom is to do with a practical use of knowledge. It's a bit like the difference between science and technology. Science is knowledge but technology is the appliance of science. As you examine your life with care then you need to think through what is wise and what is foolish and obviously you need to do what is wise not what is foolish.
So how can you be wise this week? Here are some things you might like to think about.
1. This week is designed to help me in my Christian life or if i am unconverted to help me to come to Christ. An important part of that is daily Bible intake. So what am I going to do about that? Perhaps you follow a scheme for Bible reading, dated Bible reading notes, perhaps. Because, for most of you this will be a very busy week that might get squeezed out. It often happens for Christians like that and they can feel quite guilty.
You've really got two wise ways to go. Either be determined to snatch some time each day for your own reading or say it is not realistic for me to try and keep up my own readings so each day I'll make one of the public readings my reading of the day and take time to do some extra thinking about that particular passage each day. Be wise not unwise.
2. Private prayer is also important, again whether you area Christian or seeking to become one. You need to think through a way you are going to make sure opportunities for that don't disappear. Be wise not unwise.
3. Then there is the whole question of what meetings you are planning to go to. This really calls for wisdom. There are around 20 main meetings you could attend over the seven days, another, what is it, about 17 Extra-time events and not forgetting the 29 DVDs on show this week down at the Missionary Exhibition. Obviously attending all 66 of these events is impossible. So you need to decide. Perhaps it is wisest to have a general plan but be willing to adapt it as the week goes by. Be wise not unwise.
4. And that brings us to the matter of relaxation and sleep. Obviously for just one week you can perhaps get by on less sleep than usual but you will still need to sleep this week if you are not going to go completely barmy. Some need more sleep than others. John Wesley reckoned he needed six and a half hours. Mrs Thatcher could famously get by on four hours. For most of us, if we are not going to be sleeping in half the meetings we need somehow to fit in six or seven hours a night. If you go to bed after midnight on more than one evening then you are going to suffer for it – or someone else will, may be. Be wise not unwise.
3. Seek to make the most of every opportunity
Then we have this slightly difficult phrase making the most of every opportunity, redeeming the time or making the best use of the time. How can I make best use of my time this week? In the USA when they know there's a hurricane coming then they like to go out to Walmart or whatever and stock up. They buy batteries and torches (flashlights they call them) and bottled water and canned food, for example. They also like to get in beer and lots of pop tarts, apparently. Now let's be clear there's storm coming, as Jesus says, a great judgement, and now is the time to be stockpiling, buying up goods against the coming weather. And this is a good week to be buying. We need to ask ourselves, how can I make best use of my time this week? How can I make the most of this opportunity? I think there are at least three things we can say.
1. Do your best to grow in knowledge and understanding
Many of you are from good churches and so you already know a lot of good things but we all have gaps in our knowledge or we are not as clear as we should be on certain things. There are parts of the Bible we are not so familiar with, doctrines we do not know so well. Here is a great opportunity to fill some of the gap and to increase your knowledge. Make the most of this opportunity.
Knowledge has a tendency to puff you up, of course, so you need more than a mere increase in knowledge. Try and work on these two things too.
2. Do your best to draw near to God. This is the raison d'etre of the conference. A conference is literally a gathering to confer. We confer with one another but we ought to confer too with God. Here is an opportunity to tell God how much you love him as you sing the hymns and hear the messages and pray. Here is an opportunity to confess your sins and to repent. Here is an opportunity to talk to God about things that are on your heart. Don't miss this opportunity. Make the most of it.
3. Do your best to be a blessing to each other. Another part of this whole week is meeting one another – old friends, new friends, people you know but can get to know better. Give some real thought to this. How can I be a blessing to the people I am living with this week? How can I be blessing to the people I know? What about the people I don't know? In a conference this size there are always people who feel a bit out of it for one reason or another. Is there something you can do to help them? Make the most of this opportunity.
4. Remember that we live in evil days
And finally why you must make the most of this opportunity - because the days are evil. That come as a bit of a jolt when you take the text in isolation, although he has just been talking about the fruitless deeds of darkness and how it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. We do live in evil days. That is why it is important to Be very careful ... how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity. We need to keep this in mind while we are here and as we return home.
1. While we are here. We are a bit of a holy huddle here I suppose. Everyone is on their best behaviour and there is so much good going on that there isn't really much time for the other influences that are often there – from unbelieving family, from unconverted friends at school or college, the TV, the radio, the Internet, etc. It would be foolish to think, however, that we are somehow hermetically sealed off here behind a glass that is impermeable to the Devil and uninfluenced by the world. Even if that were so there is enough evil in each of our hearts to ruin the best part of a conference like this for everyone. Even here thoughtlessness, selfishness, jealousy and unkindness can creep in. Even if we don't infect others we ourselves can be so overwhelmed by sin that we hardly benefit from the good that surrounds us. So I'm saying beware. Watch out, even while you are here.
Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days including the next seven here in Aberystwyth are evil.
2. When we return home. It's when you go away from a conference like this, however, that it really hits you. Sometimes its gradual rather than all at once but it is when you're back seeing what people are doing and saying, what they';re watching on TV and the Internet and paying more attention to what is being reported on radio, TV or in the papers, etc that you remember what an evil world this is. It is because it is an evil world that we must make the most of opportunities like this one.

So, I say to you "This week my friends opportunity knocks!". Or, here comes an opportunity running by, be determined to grab it with both hands. It will soon be gone.

Be very careful ... how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

A suffering church

2010-08-04T04:52:00.000-07:00

Text Revelation 2:8-11 Time 18/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We began to look last week at the seven churches of Revelation. As many of you know, these are the seven churches to whom the Book of Revelation was originally addressed. All seven were in what was then called Asia Minor, the part of the world that we know now as Turkey or Anatolia.
Revelation has quite a long introduction but it reveals that it was written down by the Apostle John. He tells us (1:9-11) that he was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He was banished in exile there. He says that On the Lord's Day he was in the Spirit, and he heard behind him a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
The initial encounter is found in Revelation 1:12-19. John hears a voice first then he says I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man". He then describes the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, before whom he falls as though dead.
The whole book is 22 chapters long but in Chapters 2 and 3 we have the specific letters to the seven churches. The order is not immediately clear but a messenger carrying the messages from Patmos would travel 60 miles across the sea to get to the nearest of the churches – Ephesus (the one we looked at last week). If he stuck to the main road it would then be logical to travel north to Smyrna, the church we want to look at next.
Smyrna is the only church that receives totally unmixed praise just as it is only the church in Laodicea that receives only condemnation. The rest, like Ephesus, receive a mixture of praise and blame, Philadelphia being much more praised than blamed and Sardis being more blamed than praised.
Again, as we look at the suffering church Smyrna, we want to compare it with this church here and see how we measure up. So (8) we read To the angel of the church in Smyrna write.
Smyrna is know today as Izmir and is a large Turkish city. It is about 35 miles north of Ephesus, more or less due north. It was a splendid city and considered itself “the pride of Asia”. With a fine natural harbour and an excellent road into the interior it flourished economically and was “one of the most prosperous cities in Asia Minor” (R H Charles). The Apostle Paul may have planted the church as tradition suggests but we do not know anything from the Bible about its beginnings. The letter to the church at Smyrna follows the same pattern as the one to the church in Ephesus, beginning These are the words of him who is ... then an I know or two and ending with He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes ....

So
1. Consider the character of Christ and his eternity and power over death

Jesus begins These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. This description again draws on what has already been said back in the description of Jesus in Chapter 1. When John falls before him he puts his hand on him and says Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. That in itself echoes what God the Father says back in 1:8 I am the Alpha and the Omega. It is a reminder too of the amazing fact that though Jesus was crucified yet he also rose again on the third day.
The eternity of Christ is a particularly comforting doctrine when we come to the matter of suffering, as we do in this letter. Earthly suffering, even death itself, is in itself temporary and is to be distinguished from eternity, which is to come. The fact that Jesus died but then came to life again is also full of encouragement for all who belong to him. The one who overcame death can sustain us in suffering and even if we have to die for him then he can raise us up.
As we look at this mattering of suffering then, let's not forget who is speaking – it is the one who is the First and the Last, the one who who died but who came to life.
2. Consider a New Testament church and the troubles it knew

Are we prepared to suffer? The distinctive thing about the church at Smyrna was that it was a suffering church. We are not told in any detail why they suffered as they did but we can make an educated guess. We are familiar with the spectacle of cities competing to host the Olympic Games or the World Cup. Well, around about the year 25 many Asian cities were competing to see who would have the privilege of erecting a Temple to the Emperor Tiberius. In the end the privilege, if that is what it was, was given exclusively to Smyrna. This betrays a deep patriotism towards Rome and specifically to the Emperor and to the whole cult of Emperor worship as it had become by this time. We know that 200 years before they had had a Temple built to Roma, the supposed goddess of Rome.
Obviously that was not an easy climate for the Christians who came along some little while after this. When they were asked to offer incense to the genius of the Emperor, they refused such idolatry. How could they acknowledge Caesar as Lord when Christ was their only Lord? This didn't go down well with others. The Jews, of course, in the Roman Empire were exempt from such requirements and we can imagine that they did not make things easy for the Christians, especially Gentile Christians. The story of their opposition to the gospel is well documented and it is evident that they carried on in their usual way in Smyrna too.
We can pick out four sorts of trouble that had come or was going to come to the members of the church in Smyrna. In this church our sufferings are relatively non-existent and so it is hard for us to identify with such a church. We do know churches in different parts of the world that are facing these very same things at the present time, however. It ought to stir us to pray for them and serves also as a reminder of what may be around the corner for anyone of us who seek to serve the Lord today.
1. Christ knows when his people are poor

In verse 9 Jesus says I know your afflictions and your poverty - yet you are rich! As we have said, Smyrna was a prosperous city. The Christians, however, were generally poor. This was partly, perhaps, because the membership was drawn mostly from the lower ranks of society. May be their generosity left some out of pocket. The coupling of poverty with afflictions suggests, however, that the problem was chiefly something that arose from persecution. Jews and pagans worked together to shut the Christian out economically. Further, their unwillingness to engage in the corrupt business practices of the day would have told against them financially too.
There are parts of the world today where Christians are in real economic poverty. Last Christmas The Barnabas Fund which exists particularly to help persecuted Christians, reported that in the previous 12 months they had provided food for over 85,000 Christians! Some of it was to support Christians in need where famine had struck, places like Burundi and Ethiopia. They also gave aid to help needy Christians who cannot afford to feed their families due to high prices (such as in Zimbabwe) or extreme poverty, as experienced in Pakistan, Egypt and the Middle East. But they also gave food parcels to vulnerable families who had fled their homes following anti-Christian violence, such as displaced Iraqi Christians in their own country now living as refugees in Jordan and Syria. Poverty is a way of life for some Christians. We should be thankful that is not our situation and we should pray for those for whom it is.
Christ knows when his people are poor. He sees.
2. Christ knows when his people are slandered

The letter goes on with Jesus saying I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. To slander someone is to say something that will damage their reputation. It could possibly be true but much more often it is not. We have mentioned the Jews in Smyrna and clearly they were having a very damaging effect on the Christians by what they were doing. Things are so bad that Jesus says they are not Jews really but a synagogue of Satan. The word Satan, of course, means slander and one of the things that he does is to slander believers before God and, if he can, in their own ears. He has been a liar from the beginning. As the Jews are doing Satan's work they are said to be a synagogue of Satan. The Jews blasphemed Jesus and now they were slandering his servants. When they hurled their insults at him, Peter tells us he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. Like him they no doubt did the same – as we must, if we are slandered.
There are parts of the world today where Christians are slandered. In 2008 in Zimbabwe "many" church ministers were beaten, arrested and falsely accused of organizing anti-government rallies. In Pakistan, yet again, a 40-year-old Christian, Gulshare Masih, and his 19-year-old daughter from Gojra near Faisalabad were taken into police custody after an enraged Muslim mob falsely accused them of desecrating the Qur’an. About 500 Muslims, including students from a local madrassa, gathered around Gulshare's house, throwing stones and bricks and breaking windows and the front door. Then they apparently decided to set fire to the whole Christian area so that no Christian would be left to desecrate the Qur’an.
In that same year a prominent Hindu leader was murdered in Orissa, India. Although Maoist extremists claimed responsibility, Christians got the blame, and subsequent protests rapidly escalated into horrific anti-Christian aggression. Christians there often fear that Hindu nationalists will stir up violence against them once again on the basis of a false accusation.
Some Christians are regularly slandered. We should be thankful that is not our situation and we should pray for those for whom it is.
Christ knows when his people are falsely accused. He knows the truth.
3.Christ knows when his people are in prison

Already the Christians in Smyrna had experienced suffering then – poverty and slander were common. However, things were about to get worse not better.
Jesus goes on (10) Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.
From the gospel's earliest days being put in prison has been part and parcel of being a Christian. That's what happened to John the Baptist and to Peter and to Paul and to others. So it continued after the New Testament period. It was what was about to happen to some of the Christians in Smyrna.
Now as Baptists we have a good tradition of this sort of thing. There is not only John Bunyan (1628-1688) who wrote Pilgrim's Progress in prison but others like Benjamin Keach (1640-1704). He is another who was imprisoned and was also pilloried in the stocks. In America Obadiah Holmes (1606-1682) was not only put in prison but mercilessly whipped for his faith. I noticed that a book came out in 2007 called No armor for the back: Baptist prison writings 1600s-1700s by Ketih Durso. Besides the more well known men, he deals with other forgotten men such as Francis Bampfield, Hercules Collins, Thomas Delaune, Thomas Grantham, Thomas Hardcastle, Abraham Cheare, Vavasor Powell and John Murton.
Some Christians, of course, are in prison today. Rev Wilson Issavi was released on bail on Sunday March 28 this year after being held in prison for 54 days in Iran. He was arrested on February 2, accused by the Iranian government of "converting Muslims". Others are in prison in North Korea and China and some of the former Soviet Republics. We should be thankful that is not our situation and we should pray for those for whom it is that God will keep them and soon release them. The writer to the Hebrews says (13:3) Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Christ knows when his people are likely to put in prison.
4. Christ knows when his people are at the point of death
Jesus goes on Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. This seems to be intimating that for some of them it will be worse again. Some of them will actually die.
Once again we have to recognise that although we feel no immediate danger of death here, down the years Christians have actually died for their faith and even today there are cases where people even lose their lives simply because they believe the things we teach here Sunday by Sunday. In the 1550s a man called John Foxe endeavoured to bring together a collection of stories of all the various deaths that had taken place up until his time. Even with his limited research there were hundreds. The first edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs appeared in 1563 and was the largest publishing project undertaken in Britain up to that time. It went through many, many editions and became extremely popular.
As for today, let me give you just an example. This is from Iraq, from the northern city of Mosul, where, last February, anti-Christian violence resulted in the murder of eight Christians in the space of just 10 days. On Sunday March 14 Rayan Salem Elias was killed outside his home by armed assailants, and the next day a Christian greengrocer, Fatukhi Munir, was gunned down in his shop in a drive-by shooting. Then on Tuesday 16 two Christian students, Zia Toma (21) and Ramsin Shmael (22), were on their way to the local university when gunmen opened fire on them. Zia was killed and Ramsin wounded. They had already been displaced from their homes in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, by the instability there.
On Wednesday 17 Wissam George (20), another student, went missing on his way to the institute where he was studying to be a teacher. His body was found in the street that afternoon, riddled with bullets. On Friday 19 Sabah Yacob Dahan was found murdered, having been abducted from his shop five days earlier. And on Wednesday 24 Aiechoa Metoka and his two sons, Mukhlos and Basem, were killed in their home by three gunmen. They were the father and brothers of a prominent Christian leader, who was himself kidnapped (and later released) two years ago.
The Apostle Paul once said For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Christ knows when his children come home.
Are we prepared to suffer? Are we prepared to die? We should at least be willing.
3. Consider what a suffering church must do
With the warnings to the believers in Smyrna about what is about to come, Jesus has some words of encouragement and instruction for them too. In verse 10 he says Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer ... Be faithful, even to the point of death, .... You can imagine how the natural reaction to this letter in Smyrna would have been one of fear. If we were told the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days then we would certainly be tempted to fear. But no, Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer ... says Jesus. Rather concentrate on being faithful – even if it is to the point of death. That is all that is required of us. We simply need to look to him. You do sometimes wonder how martyrs could face death in the way they did. The answer is surely that they were simply looking to be faithful. They did not know for certain whether they would die for the stand they took. That is not the way they thought, though. It wasn't “What will happen if I do this?” but “I must be faithful to my Lord”. If we seek to be faithful, by God's grace all will be well.
4. Consider the comforts that a suffering church can be encouraged by

To encourage us to faithfulness, we must not miss the comforts that are strewn through this letter. We have already noted the opening words of Jesus - These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. We have also reminded ourselves that what ever we suffer Christ knows all about it - I know your afflictions and your poverty he says, I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not. If we are laughed at or mocked. If people say ludicrous things about our God and our religion and go apparently unrebuked, we need to remind ourselves that God knows.
Notice too how when he says I know your afflictions and your poverty he adds - yet you are rich! Whatever a Christian may miss out on in this life, he is still a child of God, he still has a glorious home in heaven. Christian, this morning, whatever you lack in this world's terms - you are rich! We have already read this morning Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Remember how Paul describes himself once (2 Corinthians 6:9, 10) dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. That is how we should seek to live.
Then what about that the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days? I don't think we should take the phrase 10 days literally, rather it means a short time (but not too short), a time that has already been set. It is important to remember that any period of persecution can only go on for as long as Christ allows it. He limits the length of time. Once the time of testing is over (and that is what it is) then the suffering will end. Even if a person suffered all his life it would still come to an end when Christ had decided it would. One reason why we panic in the face of suffering is that we feel everything is out of control. That is not the case.
Finally, remember that after we have suffered then comes glory. Be faithful, he says even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. We read about eating from the tree of life in verse 7. Here a different picture is used and it is the crown of life that is promised. The idea is now of the continuous glory that belongs to the faithful in heaven. What a prospect! We must keep it before us.
5. Consider the call to hear the Spirit and the promise here for those who overcome

Finally, we have the call to hear as before (11) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. This message is from God's Spirit, not just for the church in Smyrna but for all who are able and willing to listen. He who overcomes it says will not be hurt at all by the second death. The second death is, of course, hell and it is everlasting. We tend to think often enough about the first death but nowhere near enough about the second death. We need not fear the first death if we are sure that we are safe from the second death. That can only be the case if we trust in Jesus Christ. We must.

Don't forsake your first love

2010-07-31T04:33:00.000-07:00

Text Revelation 2:1-7 Time 11/07/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
I thought that over the next few weeks we could look at the seven churches of the Book of Revelation. As some of you know the Book of Revelation was addressed originally to seven churches in what was then called Asia Minor. That is the part of the world that we know now as Turkey or Anatolia. Revelation has quite a long introduction but it reveals that it was written down by the Apostle John. He tells us (1:9-11)
I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
We don't know the details but John was exiled by the authorities to the little island of Patmos off the coast there in the Aegean Sea and it was there that he had this tremendous vision of the Lord Jesus. The initial encounter is found in Revelation 1:12-19. John hears a voice first then he says
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.
There is much more, of course – enough to fill 22 chapters in our Bibles. Chapters 2 and 3 contain specific letters to the seven churches. The order is not immediately clear but a messenger carrying the message from Patmos would have to travel 60 miles across the sea to get to the nearest of these churches – Ephesus (the one mentioned first). If you stick to the main road it would then be logical to travel north to Smyrna and further north again to Pergamum before looping east to Thyatira, further south to Sardis and then on to Philadelphia and Laodicea. The archaeologist William Ramsay once wrote of “the great circular road that bound together the most populous, wealthy, and influential part of the Province, the west-central region”.
What we find with these churches is that only the church in Smyrna receives unmixed praise and only the church in Laodicea receives only condemnation. Philadelphia is more praised than blamed and the church in Sardis is more blamed than praised. The others have a mixture of praise and blame.
This week we want to look at the first church, Ephesus, and we want to compare it with this church here and see how we measure up.
Ephesus was at that time a port at the mouth of the River Cayster. It was not only the nearest church to where John was in exile but it was also the prosperous capital city of that region and a city that its citizens were very proud of. It was home to the great temple of Artemis or Diana as the Romans called her – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was also a church that John had close connections with. Although Paul had founded the church there (his letter to them is part of the New Testament) and Timothy had pastored there for many years (as is clear from Paul's letters to Timothy) it seems that John eventually worked there as Pastor. So let's consider what John is told to write (2:1) To the angel of the church in Ephesus. There are a number of things to note.
1. Consider the character of Christ and his presence among his people
In each case the letters begin with a description of Christ drawn from the initial description in Chapter 1. Here it is These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. This is mentioned back in Chapter 1 - I saw says John seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," ... In his right hand he held seven stars. The imagery is explained in 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Jesus promised that where two or three come together in his name that he would be among them and to be with his disciples forever. Here the churches are pictured as being like lampstands from the temple – they give out light. Jesus is like a high priest walking among them. Angel means messenger and the angels of the churches are probably their ministers. They are in God's hands. This was true of the church in Ephesus then and it is true of every church including this one. When we meet together Christ is among us and the minister is in his hand. That is something worth remembering.
2. Consider a New Testament church with many good points. Are they seen in us too?
This Christ goes on to speak firstly of the good characteristics of the church in Ephesus. He mentions at least three things. We should be seeking to emulate such good traits.
1. Productive
First, Christ says (2) I know your deeds, your hard work. The church at Ephesus was a working church. It was active. Everybody did something. We do not have any details here of what they did but they did things and they worked hard at doing them. It was a hive of industry. This is what churches that please Christ are like. He doesn't want us to be lazy or inactive but to work hard and to do what we can to take the work forward.
Are you playing your part? There is praying to be done, children's work to be organised and led, evangelistic outreach to be involved in. There is cleaning and repairing to be done to the building, rubbish to be cleared and weeds to be dug up, papers to be dealt with, etc. We need a small army of workers to get it all done. In Ephesus that is how it was. What is it like here?
2. Persevering
Christ also draws attention to their perseverance. In verse 3 he says You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Perhaps you can imagine what being a Christian in Ephesus was like. There was plenty of opposition to the church. People worshipped pagan gods and engaged in all sorts of occult practices we know. This led to strong opposition at times we can be sure. Despite the opposition, however, these people still persevered and endured in the faith. We know a certain amount of opposition too and sometimes it must get us down but we need to press on despite it. When we hear Jesus say I know ... your perseverance, it should encourage us to keep going. Don't give up!
3. Pure
The other great thing about the church in Ephesus was its doctrinal purity. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, says Jesus and that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. In verse 6 he adds this - But you have this in your favour: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. They were unwilling to tolerate those who practised wickedness. When people who were not apostles claimed to be apostles they tested their claims to see if they were true. We know nothing about the Nicolaitans but they were obviously a heretical group of the day whose teachings Jesus hated. The Ephesians were quite clear in their denunciation of this false teaching. They were determined to be orthodox and only to teach in the church what was true. Again the challenge is there for us. Isn't this what we should be aiming at? We cannot be indifferent to what is taught in the churches. We must seek to be orthodox and to conform to what is in Scripture.
So here is a church marked by productivity, perseverance and purity. What an example it is – an example we ought to follow.
3. Consider the one fatal flaw in this church. Is it something that we are guilty of too?
If the letter had ended there it would have been great but it could not end there for there was a problem in the church in Ephesus. In 2:4 we read Christ saying Yet I hold this against you. What is wrong? You have forsaken your first love. Whether this first love is human or divine is not spelled out but it would seem that it is their love for Christ that has been forsaken. The relationship between Christ and a church is to be like that between a groom and a Bride. We were at a wedding again yesterday in South Wales and I lost count of the number of times the groom told us he loved his bride. One of his best men made a joke about how John was willing to talk about Bethan ad nauseam. One hopes that he will continue to be as enthusiastic 40 years on. However, we know what married life is like. Sometimes you wonder if the husband really loves his wife at all, as he should. Something similar can happen in the relationship between Christ and a church or Christ and an individual for that matter. Certainly that is what had gone wrong in Ephesus.
Were they productive and hard working? They were.
Were they persevering – not giving up despite the trouble? They were.
Were they doctrinally pure, unwilling to tolerate any unsoundness? They were.
The problem was not a lack of productivity, perseverance or purity – the problem was the forsaking of their first love You notice it is forsake not lose as the misquotation often goes. This is not something that accidentally happens over night. No what happens is that the purity and the productivity become ends in themselves and the heart of the matter – love for Christ – is lost.
Is this us? Have we forsaken our first love? Are we like uncaring husbands or wives who have to say of their spouses – we're not in love with them any more? We must never forsake our first love. He must remain first and foremost. Nothing else must intrude.
4. Consider what those guilty of such a sin must do
In 2:5 Christ goes on to explain what must be done given that this problem exists in Ephesus. This time we can think in terms of two Rs.
1. Remember
The first thing is Remember the height from which you have fallen! We must not live in the past certainly but sometimes it is right that we look back and we see the changes that have come in our lives. Some of these changes are not for the good. As we have said, marriage is an example of a situation where a man may look back over his life and see that there has been a change and he no longer loves his wife as he once did. Such a realisation can save a marriage. Simply going on oblivious to the fact can be a disaster. So let's all look back and ask ourselves whether we have forsaken our first love. It is not a question of whether I do the same things I once did but whether I still love as I once loved.
2. Repent
The thing that should follow this remembering for the Ephesians is that they should do the things you did at first. This is real repentance – not just being sorry but trying to put things right. If we have forsaken our first love – as a church or as individuals – this is what we must do. We must turn around and start again. We mustn't be like a child that has fallen in a muddy puddle and is waiting to be picked up. We must get ourselves up and start getting back to where we should be – not in our own strength but in his – the one who was our first love. We need to stir each other up to it.
5. Hear the warning for those who refuse to take such steps
He goes on If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. If the lampstand is the church then it is pretty clear what that means. Verse 6 mentions the Nicolaitans - But you have this in your favour: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Christ is not saying that all is bad in the church in Ephesus. No, there are good things but to use football terms they have taken their eye of the ball. One can watch the ball and miss the man but one can also watch the man miss the ball. They have been caught watching the man instead of the ball. They are all taken up with these Nicolaitans instead of with Christ himself. We must not make that mistake. orthodoxy is important but not at the expense of forgetting Christ himself.
6. Consider the call to hear the Spirit and the promise here for those who overcome
At the end of each of the letters we have similar words as in 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Here it is To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. To overcome is to overcome ones difficulties. Here it is this forsaking of the first love. It can only be done by remembering and repenting. The overcomer is promised the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. This is a promise of heaven. Without a return to love for one's first love, heaven cannot be attained.

God's sovereign power

2010-07-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

Text Job 40:6-42:17 Time 28/09/03 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We come this week to the final part of the Book of Job and to the second of the two speeches that the LORD makes to Job. In this second speech the LORD begins by rebuking Job and challenging him regarding his attitude. He then gives two final examples of creatures, this time the Behemoth and the Leviathan, that demonstrate his sovereign power. Job then humbles himself before the LORD in dust and ashes and the LORD rebukes Job’s so-called friends for their failure to speak what is right about him. They are forgiven through the prayer of Job. Finally, we are told about how the LORD restored Job’s fortunes following his terrible troubles. There are six things to notice here then in all. We can divide them into two sets of three.
1. A rebuke to receive, a challenge to consider and lessons to learn
1. A rebuke to receive - Receive this rebuke all who accuse God of injustice

In 40:6 we read that God continued to speak to Job out of the storm. As we said previously the LORD’s coming is often accompanied in the Old Testament with stormy weather, a reminder of his power and greatness. It is the LORD who comes near, however, the covenant God of Israel who is full of love and compassion. In 40:7 here repeats what he had already said back in 38:3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. As we said then, the term used refers to preparation for any hard work but here refers to wrestling, a fight. ‘You want a fight?’ says God, as it were, ‘then get ready’. You’ve heard of duels in days gone by, two men shooting at each other from 40 paces. Here is a duel between God and Job and Job needs to be ready for the encounter. It’s going to be a rough ride. Here the fight continues.
In verse 8 two further questions are asked, Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Here is a rebuke then to Job for his questioning of God’s justice and to any who are tempted to question God’s fairness to them. We must take great care how we speak of God and his dealings with us. We must not be murmurers against him. This is a loving rebuke, however, and is intended to bring a person to his senses and see what he has done. Have we spoken out in such ways? Then we must be willing to be rebuked and to repent of such foolishness.
2. A challenge to consider – Consider this challenge all who accuse God of injustice

Further questions follow in verse 9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Do you have God’s power? Are you as strong as him? The LORD makes a challenge in verses 10-14 If you are so powerful Then adorn yourself with glory and splendour, and clothe yourself in honour and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low, look at every proud man and humble him, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you. If Job really does want to contend with the LORD then why does he not cover himself with glory? Does he really think that he can decide who should suffer and who should not suffer? Is he going to be the one who decides who goes to hell? The whole idea is ridiculous.

A Hollywood film recently appeared in which this idea is pursued. The basic plot of Bruce Almighty is that this TV presenter fails to get a promotion and then loses his job and gets beaten up, etc. Everything goes wrong and he blames God for it. Unexpectedly, he is summoned before God and is told that from now on he will be taking care of things. Of course, he soon finds that the task is much more difficult than he had ever realised. There are many faults and failures in the film but it does at least get this idea over. For example simply for Bruce to deal with all the often conflicting prayers of the people of one small town is a major job in itself. Now here we are being challenged by God. If we are so disappointed with the way that he is running our lives then what is our solution? Do we presume to advise him on how things can be improved?
3. A Lesson to learn - Understand God’s sovereign power

The LORD then goes on to demonstrate his sovereign power by reference to two particular creatures – the Behemoth and the Leviathan. Already our attention has been drawn to the way that the LORD provides for the lion and the raven and the way the mountain goats and deer procreate as he watches over them. We have also been reminded of the way God possesses the wild donkeys and oxen in a way that leaves them to freely roam at will. Then there was the rapid propulsion of the ostrich and the warhorse on the land and the hawk and the eagle in the sky. Here we meet two more creatures. Before we begin to look at them we must consider four introductory questions.
1 Are we talking here about two creatures or one?

Some wonder if the two words simply refer to the one creature first on land and then in the sea. However, it seems more likely that we are talking about two different creatures – one very powerful but quite placid, the second powerful and violent too.
2 Are we talking here about mythical creatures or real ones?

In some respects these do sound like quite fantastic creatures and may be the legends of such creatures are in mind here but in the light of verse 19 which speaks of the behemoth as ranking first among the works of God it is most likely that we are talking about real if rather exotic creatures in fact.
3 Are we talking here about creatures still around today or extinct ones?

It has been suggested that the behemoth is in fact the hippopotamus but the reference to His tail swaying like a cedar (17) does not fit and so others have wondered if this is may be an elephant, the trunk being the part that sways like a cedar. The elephant, however, does not eat grass. The leviathan, it is suggested, is a crocodile yet certain parts of the description again seem to take us beyond that.
4 Are we talking here about what we normally refer to today as dinosaurs?

I think that we are probably talking here about creatures now extinct, creatures like those that we most often refer to today as dinosaurs. The behemoth sounds something like a brontosaurus and the leviathan sounds something like a plesiosaur or even a stegosaurus. Our knowledge of dinosaurs is confined chiefly to what we can learn from fossils, of course. Sometimes the imagination of those who describe these creatures runs away with them but it is clear that many of them were quite magnificent creatures. There is no reason to believe that they were all wiped out at once. It is far more likely that each one became extinct at a different time, like the many other extinct animals that have died out in more recent years. As for dinosaurs on the ark, it is a well known fact that they start out as quite small creatures and there would have been no difficulty for Noah bringing them on board.
1 Behold the Behemoth and understand God’s sovereign power
The word Behemoth itself is a plural, probably to denote its large size. So we must imagine first a large animal quietly grazing (15) Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. It is then described, verses 16-18, What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail {or trunk} sways like a cedar; (referring to its size or perhaps its rigidity) the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. Each element points to the noble strength of this animal, the sort of thing you see in the hippo or the elephant. It goes on (19) to make the point that He ranks first among the works of God,(this is the largest of God’s land creatures) yet his Maker can approach him with his sword. The animal is no match for God himself, of course. The point is then that if Job wants to contend with God he can get some idea of what that will involve by thinking about this creature God has made. Would you want a wrestling match with a hippo or a rhino or an elephant? How do you fancy being confronted by one of the dinosaurs of long ago? No? Then why would you want to argue with God or rebel against his will for your life?
Verses 20-24 leave us with a beautiful description of this strong, noble creature surrounded by other animals that have no fear of attack from him. It is intended to set our minds on God and his sovereign power over all things. Verses 20-24 The hills bring him their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby. Under the lotus plant he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh. The lotuses conceal him in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround him. When the river rages, he is not alarmed; he is secure, though the Jordan should surge against his mouth. Can anyone capture him by the eyes, or trap him and pierce his nose? That last verse is very pointed. Are you trying to capture God and pin him down? Give up now!
2 Look at the Leviathan and understand God’s sovereign power
The word leviathan appears some six times in Scripture. The word seems to have at its root in the idea of coiling or twisting. Here in Chapter 41 we return to the straight question method. In verses 1-7 we have a series of nine questions. They are full of playful irony. They are meant to make you smile. They each serve to describe this powerful creature of God and teach us that his power is very great indeed.
Leviathan can’t be pulled in with a fishhook. You can’t even tie his huge tongue down with a rope. He won’t be tamed. Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? Will he make an agreement with you for you to take him as your slave for life? Can you make a pet of him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? No, (8-10) If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the struggle and never do it again! Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him is overpowering. No-one is fierce enough to rouse him.
And the application of this (10b, 11) Who then is able to stand against me? Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. We must recognise that we cannot stand against God. We couldn’t even wrestle against a large crocodile and win. Just as we cannot put such a creature on a leash and take it for walks in the park so we cannot tame God and make him our pet poodle. Everything is his and he does as he pleases.
The description then goes on at length in verses 12-34. It doesn’t really help us to get any clearer idea of what this animal looks like but all the images are of strength and power and underline the fact of God’s sovereign power. He is not only strong but is graceful in form. No tanner could skin it and Who would approach him with a bridle? It has fearsome teeth and (15-17) His back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. The description in verses 18-23 make him sound like one of those dragons of legend. This is poetry, however, and these verses should probably be understood metaphorically.
His neck and upper body are described in verses 22-24 Strength resides in his neck; dismay goes before him. The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. In verses 25-29 we return to the idea of trying to capture this beast. The very thought is madness. When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before his thrashing. The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. Iron he treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood. Arrows do not make him flee; slingstones are like chaff to him. A club seems to him but a piece of straw; he laughs at the rattling of the lance.
Finally, we see him like the beast emerging from the sea that John speaks of in Revelation. His undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing-sledge. He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; one would think the deep had white hair. Nothing on earth is his equal - a creature without fear. He looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud. Those final words speak of leviathan but the point is that it is God who made him. He is the one of whom it can be said absolutely that Nothing on earth (or in heaven or under the earth either) is his equal. He needs fear no-one but looks down on all that are haughty; he is king over all that are proud. Humble yourself before him now, confess your sin, seek his forgiveness.
What is your experience of God? Have you known him as the Behemoth? Are you aware of God but not as a God who invades your life? He is a God who is to be worshipped. Serve him by trusting in Jesus Christ and living for his glory. Perhaps you have known him as Leviathan. What a struggle is going on. You are trying to oppose the Almighty. Give in now and humble yourself before him before it is too late.
2. An example to emulate, a rebuke to receive and an encouragement to enjoy
1. An example to emulate - Join with Job in humbling yourself before God

At this point the book is practically over and only a few things remain to be covered. First (1-5), Job replied to the LORD: I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. You said, Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me. My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Here is a wonderful example of humility for us. Job knew he had done wrong. He knew he had failed. He acknowledges God’s absolute sovereignty to do just as he pleases, therefore. He confesses his sin in speaking as he did and how ignorant he had been of God’s greatness too. He repents with great sorrow before the LORD. Now this is how we ought to proceed, especially if we have been guilty in any way of murmuring against God and complaining about our lot. Many others, like Job, can speak of the things that they have learned through suffering. It is not right simply to say that God lets us suffer in order to teach us lessons. However, one of the things that often happens when Christians suffer is that they learn things about God that they could never have learned any other way. That was Job’s experience. At this point all his sufferings and loss are forgotten as he realises how much more he has already gained.
2. A rebuke to receive - Receive this rebuke all who fail to speak rightly of God and seek forgiveness

Next we have another rebuke – this time for Job’s so-called friends.
1 The wrong

Verse 7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Job was at fault in some of the things he said but he had not sinned in the way that the three friends had. They had persistently tried to explain Job’s sufferings in ways that were plain wrong. They had ended up making all sorts of terrible accusations against Job because they were unwilling to accept such a thing as innocent suffering. It is important that we remember what a serious thing it is to teach error. God is angry with all who teach what is false. To fail to speak what is right about the LORD is a great sin especially when a person claims to be speaking God’s truth. Such people deserve God’s wrath.
2 The remedy

This is given in verse 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. This was the Old Testament period and so before the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross therefore the way of atonement was through an animal sacrifice pointing forward to the coming of Christ. This was also before the establishment of the House of Levi as the priestly tribe and so Job the Patriarch is the one who was to perform the sacrifice. As a priest he was also to pray for his friends that God would not deal with them as they deserved. This was done, we read, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
Today a sacrifice and a prayer is needed if any of us are to find forgiveness for our folly. The only one who can do that is Jesus Christ. He has already made the sacrifice for all who are his by dying on the cross. He is also now praying in heaven for all those who are his. All we have to do is to confess our sins as Job did and as his friends did and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you doing that? If not you will remain under God’s wrath. Turn now to the Lord and find forgiveness. Job, then, is a type of Christ. When we think of Job and his patience we should think too of Christ and all he has patiently done for sinners.
3. An encouragement to enjoy – Be encouraged by the excellent things ahead all who patiently trust in God

Finally we read (10) that After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. In another wisdom book the Book of Proverbs we read these words (3:13-17) Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. Here we see a man who has found wisdom. Job has come to see the truth – not the truth about why he was suffering. That, it appears, was never revealed to him. However, he now knows God in a way that he never knew him before. Along with that matchless gift came other things too. Again, I remind you, we are in the Old Testament where things were often made more concrete and tangible. What happened to Job at the end of his sufferings is not guaranteed on earth for every believer. Some do suffer right to the very end. There is no guarantee that even if we do bow down to God and accept our situation that it will then pass straightaway. However, we know that this life is not all. There is a world to come. In that world these blessings will certainly be ours. What blessings?
1 Pleasant ways and peaceful paths

Verse 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. We may be tempted to ask where these all were when Job was in trouble but Job himself clearly forgave them their failing. We must do the same sort of thing where necessary.
2 Riches and honour

The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had 14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. Exactly twice what he had before. Verse 13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters. This was exactly the same as were lost in the tragic whirlwind. Often in the Bible girls’ names are not given. Here things are reversed. Verses 14 and 15 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. The three names actually suggest beauty – as in the gentleness of doves, the sweet smell of perfume and the beautifying work of cosmetics.
3 Long life

Verses 16 and 17 After this, Job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died, old and full of years. Of course, for the believer eternal life is his reward. That will more than make up for any loss here on earth.
There were times when Job had thought he would never be happy again. He was wrong. God is gracious and kind and if we look to him there is hope for us all.

Matters to ponder with a warning and example

2010-07-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

Text Job 38:39-40:5 Time 21/09/03 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We are in the final section of the Book of Job and we are looking at the speeches of the LORD found in Chapters 38-41. Last week we looked at most of Chapter 38 and the first part of the first speech. Then we noted how Job had longed for a meeting with God. Indeed, it is the obvious way for the book to end. God’s justice has been called into question, what is his answer? Now, when Job’s wish is finally being granted it is, no doubt, not really what he had expected. It is tempting for us too to be dismissive about what is said here as it is far from being what we might have expected. It is tempting to be disappointed. What is going on? Here is a man reduced to nothing and God wants to talk to him about donkeys and ostriches! Some go further. ‘A magnificent impertinence’ one writer called it. Others accuse God of waffling and the psycho-analyst Carl Jung accused God of bullying. For another it is like shaking a rattle at a baby to divert its attention.
As we said last time, however, it is important to remember that whereas up until now we have been considering human answers to the problem of suffering and the answers have been inadequate in both form and content, we now come to God’s own answer. It is, of course, a perfect one in both form and content even though it doesn’t do what we expect.
Part of the problem is our expectations. Instead of giving an answer to the problem of evil or talking about Satan or dealing with the errors of Job’s friends or whatever, the LORD meets with Job in his own world - a world of beauty, order, mystery and wonder - and asks a whole series of questions of his own. On further reflection it is perhaps what we might have expected – not more answers of the sort that man so readily gives but transcendental questions that lift us out of our own little worlds to see the folly of our own wrong attitudes and harsh thoughts towards God. What we have here is a Spirit inspired answer to the problem of suffering that clearly transcends the human wisdom of Job’s day and also of our own. Right up to the end of the book God has things he wants Job to learn, things that have been re-enforced by his sufferings. He reduces Job to silence. If we want to be wise, especially regarding this matter of suffering then we will pay close attention to what we read in these chapters.
Another problem is, perhaps, the way we read these verses. There is a lot of gentle irony here, even humour at times perhaps. It is not harsh sarcasm. He comes to Job as the LORD not as God Almighty.
Last week we looked at 38:1-3. We noted that it is the LORD who speaks, the covenant God, self-existent and yet full of love. He comes in a powerful storm and he demands that Job get ready for a fight.
To God our discussions of suffering are for the most part highly irrelevant and lacking in wisdom. They serve too often only to obscure his glory. We ought to feel rebuked for much of our grumbling and our pontificating on what we hardly understand. What he really wants from us in this matter is for us to meet with him, to sit and listen, to be overpowered by his greatness and our smallness.
We have looked at how that begins to happen in 38:4-38. There God asks Job questions about inanimate nature. We start with questions about the earth and then the sea. Then come questions about dawn falling on earth and revealing its features and then about the depths of the sea and the depths of the earth. Verses 19-21 are about light and darkness and are followed by a whole series of questions about the sky and its weather and where it comes from – first snow, hail, lightning and wind, then rain, dew, ice and frost. That leads on, finally, to questions about our control of the stars in the sky and the clouds and lightning bolts. So the general drift is from the LORD laying the earth’s foundation below us to us counting the clouds above.
In 3:38-30 we move on to animate nature or the animal and bird kingdom and questions related to that world. Some 10 creatures are mentioned altogether in this section, six animals and four birds. Most are wild or undomesticated animals. They may appear to be chosen at random but they are all quite different, showing characteristics of ferocity, helplessness, timidity, strength, bizarre behaviour and wildness.
1. Aspects of God’s dealing with his creatures to ponder
1. Ponder provision for creatures by God. He feeds lions and ravens.
Ponder lions. Verses 39, 40 Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? Lions have been in the news this week. People are concerned that there are so few of them relatively speaking - only 23,000 in the whole of Africa! There was a time when they were a lot more common than they are now. The lion is mentioned more often in the Bible than any other wild animal. It symbolises strength and dignity. Perhaps you have been to Longleat or somewhere like that and seen them quite close up. As you may know, it is the lionesses that do the hunting for food. They are the ones who hunt the prey. The point made here is that in reality it is the LORD who provides for the lions. Neither Job nor anyone else gives any thought to it.
Ponder ravens. Similarly, verse 41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food? Ravens are scavenger birds and are well known for their willingness to eat almost anything. Farmers consider them pests. Jesus drew attention to them, of course, as they teach us the folly of worrying. God provides for them and we can be sure he will provide for us. There are mysteries in life. We don’t know, in many cases, why we are suffering as we are but surely we can be confident that the God who provides for the lions and for the ravens will provide for us. If he satisfies the hunger of the lions then surely he will satisfy us, if we look to him? If he provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God then surely we can be confident that he will provide for us too whatever our need.
2. Ponder procreation in nature. God sees the mountain goats and deer give birth.
Ponder mountain goats and deer. The question in 39:1 is Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? There are various types of mountain goats around today such as the ibex, which we have seen down at London Zoo. Perhaps you have seen them too. Because they live in high and remote places they are seldom seen giving birth, although they obviously do. The companion question is Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn? Deer are very shy creatures and their giving birth is seldom seen either. And so these questions are asked in verse 2 Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth? Well, it would seem, Job didn’t know the gestation period for mountain goats or deer and he certainly could not tell you just when they were giving birth. But God had seen it, (3, 4) They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labour pains are ended. Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.
By now it has been possible to track creatures down and even film such things. Perhaps you have seen footage of deer giving birth to their young. The whole process is full of fascination as something like the Disney film Bambi and live action films show. The point here is that every time such a thing happens God sees it. He knows about it. He created these animals to procreate in this way and he has watched over every birth ever since. Now if God knows about such things then surely he knows all about you and your needs too? Nothing’s hidden from him.
3. Ponder possession of animals. God gives freedom to wild donkeys and wild oxen.
Ponder wild donkeys. By our day we are chiefly used to seeing domesticated donkeys. They are strong, if stubborn animals, and have long been domesticated for use in carrying burdens and pulling carts and so on. Wild donkeys are few and far between these days. Here the focus is on the wild donkey. Verse 5 asks Who let the wild donkey go free? Figuratively Who untied his ropes? God himself answers (6-8) I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat. He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear a driver’s shout. (Again figurative). He ranges the hills for his pasture and searches for any green thing. Yes, man may possess them and tame them, although not without difficulty, but God possesses them and gives them freedom. He lets them roam where they will.
Ponder wild oxen. What is said about wild oxen is similar. Oxen were used in similar ways for pulling carts and especially, of course, for ploughing. Verses 9-12 Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night? Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he till the valleys behind you? Will you rely on him for his great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to him? Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing-floor? Of course, all these questions have to be answered in the negative because while the ox remains wild then none of these things can be done with it. Perhaps we can apply it in this way. While God allows things to run wild, we cannot harness such things in the way that we would like. This is true of our sufferings sometimes. There are such things as pain management and coping with pressure but there are times when it is all beyond us. We should not think at such times that because things are out of our control that they are out of God’s control. We cannot make such assumptions.
4. Ponder propulsion on the ground. God makes ostriches and warhorses fast.
Ponder ostriches. There is quite a bit about the ostrich in verses 13-18. This time we have a description rather than questions as such. Ostriches are strange creatures, as you know, because although they are birds and have wings (they are the largest birds living today being 6-8 feet in height) they cannot actually fly. With their long gangly legs and prominent eyelashes that protect their eyes from sand and dust they are odd looking creatures. They are rather foolish too in the way that they treat their young, as is noted here. Their speed on land, however, is quite phenomenal. They can reach speeds of 60 mph or so and can run at 40 or 50 mph for up to half an hour. Verses 13-18 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork. She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand, unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them. She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labour was in vain, for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense. Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider. Although there is no question then, the obvious point is that it is God who has made the ostrich foolish in some respects but skilful in others – here speed in particular.
Ponder warhorses. Verses 19-25 revert in part to the question method as we think next of another speedy animal. This time the horse and particularly the warhorse, the one domesticated animal that we focus on. One writer calls it ‘one of the most outstanding eulogies of this magnificent creature in all literature.’ Here is speed again but something much more – here is strength, flair, élan, power, bravery, eagerness. Listen to verses 19-25

Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, (when the spurs dig in) striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, Aha! He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

Yes, men ride on horses. Over the centuries they have used them in battle. However, it is God who has made the horse strong and brave and fast and magnificent. There used to be stables in Childs Hill when I first came here but it is gone now and a horse is a rare sight in our streets. I remember early one morning, however, walking up towards the Heath when I came round a corner and there were some 20 or so horses with cavalry officers on horseback out for a morning trot. An amazing sight. You have been to Buckingham Palace or Horse Guards Parade and seen these magnificent creatures, I am sure. Who made them so magnificent? It is God who gave the horse its strong body, its flowing mane, its head and hooves. Now the God who does such things can be trusted. We can look confidently to him. We must.
5. Ponder propulsion though the air. God makes hawks and eagles fly.
Ponder hawks and eagles. Finally, we look up into the sky and to the hawks and eagles. Now you usually have to travel a long way to see eagles and hawks in this country but there are similar birds of prey. Where I come from you see kestrels and near Aberystwyth there are many kites. We went to see kites feeding at Nant-yr-Arian the year before last. It is a magnificent sight. I remember too visiting London Zoo where they had an eagle owl flying just above people’s heads as it swooped for food. So here’s the question (26) Does the hawk (or any other bird of prey) take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings towards the south?
Having begun with the king of beasts, the lion, the LORD ends with the king of birds, the eagle. Verses 27-30 Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high? He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is his stronghold. From there he seeks out his food; his eyes detect it from afar. His young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there is he. Again, it is a marvellous and evocative description. So we are thinking not only here of the eagle’s magnificent seed as it soars through the air but other matters – the way it builds its nest way up on a bleak crag which it then makes its home. Think of the splendid isolation, the grandeur of the cliff top. Think of its incredible eyesight. From way up in its rocky crag it can look down and see a small lamb or some other creature which it is able to swoop down and take in a moment providing food for its young. It is nature red in beak and talon and we may naturally turn from it in revulsion but here is evidence once more of God’s wisdom and power. The truth is that it is all around us, if we only have eyes to see it. We never need doubt the wisdom and power of God while we are able to see something of the animal kingdom and what it is like.
It is important when we study the Scriptures that we always look to see what we can learn about Christ. Here I think it is important that we remember that all things were made through Christ and for his glory. When we speak then of God’s knowledge, provision, sovereignty, power and wisdom, we are speaking of the knowledge, provision, sovereignty, power and wisdom of Christ. It is this same Christ who lived and died so that all who trust in him may not only be forgiven but know peace even in the midst of suffering.
2. A warning against contending with God

To close I want us to concentrate on 40:1-5. Firstly, there is a warning. Verses 1, 2 The LORD said to Job: Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him! This warning is implicit in what we have read and here it is spelled out. God has infinite wisdom and not only did he create this whole universe but he also manages this whole world as he pleases and with great skill. This consideration should convince us that to try and contend with the LORD or to make accusations against him cannot be right. Are you really going to fight against God? Are you really going to correct him and tell him how to run things. We know, surely, that the whole idea is crazy.
3. An example of how to react to God

So what do we do in the midst of suffering, especially if we feel we have spoken out unwisely or had thoughts accusing God of unfairness and injustice? Job is great example to us. Verses 3, 4 Then Job answered the LORD: I am unworthy - how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer - twice, but I will say no more. We need to realise our unworthiness and our insolence before God and be silent. We need to humble ourselves before him and recognise that he is in control and he will do as he wills. Surely this should be our attitude whenever we suffer. There are things in our lives that we don’t like, that we hate, things we want to see the back of. However, if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to say that God is in control and we need to humble ourselves before him and acknowledge his wisdom. He made the ostrich odd but fast, the warhorse magnificent and fast. He lets the wild donkey roam free. He provides for the lions and ravens. He also wisely acts in our lives so that if we trust in him all will work for our good.

Humility, silence, reflection

2010-06-29T02:12:00.000-07:00

Text Job 38:1-38 Date 14/09/03 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
We return this week to the Book of Job and to Chapter 38. At this point the LORD at last breaks his silence and speaks. In fact this is the first part of the first of two speeches found in Chapters 38-41.
In 13:20-22 Job had said Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply and in 31:35-37 he had cried out Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defence - let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him. Well, here Job’s wish is granted. We have had to wait for the speeches of the angry young man Elihu first but now the LORD does come and he speaks to Job. Job doesn’t approach him like a prince, as he thought he would, but God certainly does speak. And what does he say?
Well, again I don’t suppose it was anything like Job had imagined it and may be you will be tempted to be disappointed with what we read here. What is this? Here is a man reduced to nothing and God wants to talk to him about donkeys and ostriches! However, it is important to remember that whereas up until now we have been considering human answers to the problem of suffering and the answers have been inadequate in both form and content, we now come to God’s own answer. It is, of course, a perfect one in both form and content. In one way we have come full circle, back to the place where the book began – the LORD’s court. The name the LORD (Yahweh) has only been used once (12:9) since the opening chapters. If you remember, the book begins in the courts of heaven where the angels of God are appearing before the LORD and he takes opportunity to speak about his servant Job and how upright and holy he was. This leads, of course, to sneers from Satan and the request to test his loyalty to God by afflicting him, which is granted. That is how Job ends up in the mess he did, with one disaster after another coming upon him. In the intervening chapters we have heard Job’s so-called friends dispensing their human answers to the problem of suffering with very limited success. Now it is time to listen to God and to what he has to say about all this and as we have said the answer is not what we might have expected.
Instead of giving an answer as such or dealing with the errors of Job’s friends, the LORD meets with Job in his own world, a world of beauty, order, mystery and wonder and asks a whole series of questions of his own. On reflection, this is perhaps what we might have expected – not more answers of the sort that man so readily gives but transcendental answers that lift us above our own little worlds to see the folly of our own wrong attitudes and harsh thoughts towards God. What we have here is a Spirit inspired answer to the problem of suffering that clearly transcends the human wisdom of Job’s day and also of our own. Right up to the end of the book God has things he wants Job to learn, things that have been re-enforced by his sufferings. He reduces Job to silence. If we want to be wise, especially regarding this matter of suffering, then we will pay close attention to what we read in these chapters.
1. Seek the right attitude to suffering – humility before God, silence and reflection before him
Verse 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. The storm perhaps began further back when Elihu was speaking (37:1-5, 22) but now it comes to its height. The LORD’s coming is often connected with storms in the Old Testament. Think of Mount Sinai and the giving of the law. Ezekiel’s great vision of God begins I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north - an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. Psalm 18:7-13 is simialr The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him - the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. Or what about Nahum 1:3? His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
The very name the LORD is important, of course, signifying not only the unique and self-existent character of God but his covenant commitment to his people. He is the God who revealed himself to Moses not only in the burning bush as the Great I AM but also (Exodus 34:6) The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.
God spoke from the storm and said: Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Now this could be addressed to Elihu, the last speaker or to Job. It seems more likely that he is referring to Job who had also spoken with words without knowledge. He says, in 42:3, You asked, Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. God then says (3) Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. The term used refers to preparation for any hard work. Here it is for wrestling, for a fight. ‘You want a fight?’ says God, as it were, ‘then get ready for one’. You have heard of duels in days gone by, two men shooting at each other from 40 paces. Here is a duel then between God and Job and Job needs to be ready for the encounter. It’s going to be a rough ride. Here are two applications then
1. Consider what God thinks of our discussions of suffering. For the most part they are highly irrelevant and lacking in wisdom. They serve too often only to obscure his glory. We ought to feel rebuked for much of our grumbling and our pontificating on what we hardly understand. Do we?
2. Consider what God really wants from us in this matter. What he wants rather is for us to meet with him, to sit and listen, to be overpowered by his greatness and our smallness. Are you willing to do that?
2. Things to consider before you begin to ask questions about suffering
In 38:4-38 we have a series of questions that the LORD asks. The questions go on beyond that point but we will just concentrate on these first. They are all to do with nature, of course, here inanimate nature. I am sure there is a pattern but it is difficult to discern. We start with questions about the earth and then the sea. Then come questions about dawn coming on the earth and revealing its features. I suppose that the revelation of earth is then matched with revealing the depths of the sea but also the depths of the earth. Verses 19-21 are about light and darkness paralleling the previous verses about dawn. We then come onto a whole series of questions about the sky and its weather and where it comes from – first snow, hail, lightning and wind, then rain, dew, ice and frost. That leads on, finally, to questions about our control of the stars in the sky and the clouds and lightning bolts. So the general drift is from the LORD laying the earth’s foundation below us to us counting the clouds above.
1. Consider the earth’s foundation – who put it here and how does it stay put?

Firstly, God asks Job (4-6) Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Despite what some want to tell us we know that the world was created by God. He did it in the beginning when neither Job nor you or I nor any other human being was present. Only the angels saw it. They are the morning stars who sang together and the sons of God who shouted for joy. The earth’s diameter is apparently 7,920 miles across the middle and 7,900 miles top to bottom. Its circumference is around 25,000 miles. It has a mass of 6,600 million million million times. Who decided it should have those particular dimensions? Surely you know! Men have been measuring its distance since – the height of its mountains, the depths if its seas, etc, but who measured it out originally, who, as it were, set its footings and laid its cornerstone? Now do you think that the God who did all this makes mistakes or needs to be questioned or criticised about how he runs the universe and how he runs your life and mine?
2. Consider the sea – who put it there and what keeps it there?

The LORD continues in verses 8-11 Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt? We know that when God made the earth he made not only the land but also the sea. God was there when that screaming struggling baby burst forth from the womb. He put clothes on it at first – clouds and darkness. It was a monster that needed to be restrained. It is well known that there is more sea than land, so how come the sea (which can look so threatening at times) doesn’t completely drown the land as it once did at God’s command? It is because God has fixed limits for it and, as it were, set its doors and bars in place so that it cannot go any further. King Canute was famously unable to stop the tide coming in but when the King of Kings says This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt the sea listens. Do you not think he has the same power over Satan and over suffering? They can only do just as he wills.
3. Consider the dawn – who’s in charge of daily bringing it in?

More questions follow. Verses 12, 13 Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? We then have a beautiful description of the light revealing earth’s form (14) The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. When day dawns the righteous are glad but the wicked hate the light because it exposes their wicked deeds. Morning is like a great giant taking a sheet and shaking it. The wicked are revealed by it – they are shaken out. They are like nocturnal creatures. Darkness is their ‘light’ – their time to work and so when day comes (15) The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. They cannot do their evil deeds. Now the questions to us is whether we have ever been the ones to give the order for morning to dawn? There have been times when we have longed for it or wished for it not to come but our power over such things is non-existent. Only God can order the dawn about. It’s his army. It does his will.
4. Consider the remotest parts of earth – have you seen them and explored them?

More questions (16) Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Divers can go quite deep, of course, but only so deep. Beyond a certain depth divers are in danger of what they call ‘the bends’ and need to take great care. The bathysphere enables them to go very deep indeed but not to walk there. The deepest place in the oceans, indeed on earth, is probably the Marianas Trench, southwest of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. At 36,198 feet, it is deep enough to contain Mount Everest. No-one has ever plumbed such a depth. And, of course, beyond that is the depth of the earth itself. You have heard of Jules Verne’s Journey to the centre of the earth but that is fiction. Verse 17 Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Or (18) Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. Think of the Sahara desert or the Gobi or Kalahari, the arctic Tundra, the vast mountain ranges of the Caucasus or the Andes, the jungles of the far east, the vast Australian outback. There are still plenty of virtually unexplored areas. With all this unexplored territory why should we be surprised that we do not know the answer to the problem of evil and suffering? We are surrounded by mystery.
5. Consider the light and darkness – with all your experience how well do you know them?

In verses 19-21 God asks What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Then with the most sarcasm we will find here Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years! Job demanded light on the subject of suffering, release from his darkness, but he hardly knows the first thing about light and darkness in fact and nor do we. We know that with a prism you can divide it up into its various colours but can darkness be divided in the same way? Although the study of light and darkness has undoubtedly made many strides since Job’s day, there are still many mysteries. Is light made up of rays or particles? How does light bend? It is able to pass through glass without loss of quality or speed but not through wood; why? If you have a dark room and put the light on there is light, but where does the darkness go? When you switch the light off again where does the light go? And what about the bounds of light and darkness? Is there a place in the universe beyond all light? What are black holes?

Do you know that by nature you are in the darkness of sin and death. When his light dawns then every shadow disappears. Jesus is the light of the world. Whoever follows him will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Do you realise that?
6. Consider the snow, hail, lightning, wind – do you know where they come from?

Meteorology, the study of the weather, is an endlessly fascinating subject, especially for some. I picked up a best seller from the library this week called Encyclopaedia of snow. It’s not quite what the title may suggest but it is certainly about the endlessly fascinating subject of snow and is decorated with snow crystals each of which, as you know, God has made unique. The question then (22, 23) is Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? A man called Erich Durschmied has written a book on this called The weather factor showing how crucial it has been in determining the outcome of certain strategic battles. What is said of snow and hail can also be said of lightning (24) What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? How ignorant we are about all sorts of things.
7. Consider the rain, dew, ice and frost – do you know where they come from?

In verses 25-30 we consider several other aspects of the weather and are asked what we know about them. Here Job is not being asked about things outside his experience but things he knew well such as rain and dew. Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no-one in it, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? The rain falls even in uninhabited lands. It is all part of God’s good purpose for this earth. Sometimes the waters are frozen, of course. Think of ice and frost (29) From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen? You have seen such a thing perhaps. Frost in the garden, ponds on the heath frozen over. Ice does not have a mother any more than rain and dew has a father, of course. God brings such things about. He can send a downpour or make lake solid at will. Remember his skill and his power.
8. Consider the stars – how much control do you have over them?

In verses 31-33 having thought of the snow and rain from heaven we turn from meteorology to astronomy and think of the stars. From time immemorial men have given names to the constellations. We cannot be sure exactly what figures are in mind here but the general point is clear. Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth? The Pleiades are the seven sisters, a cluster of seven stars often visible in our hemisphere. Orion’s belt is a distinctive line of three stars easily spotted and the Bear, also known as the Plough, is another distinctive formation. We don’t see the stars so well here in London but whenever it is not cloudy there is a wonderful display in the sky. Who orders it? Who brings it about? It is God. Look to the stars – see God’s skill and wisdom, his greatness and power.
9. Consider the clouds and lightning bolts – how much control do you have over them?

Finally, as we think of the sky let’s think of the clouds and the lightning bolts that come from them. Again clouds are an endlessly interesting subject. One can look at them for hours. They are ever changing. There was a famous artist, as you know, who used to paint in this area. He painted a picture of Childs Hill once. I’m thinking of John Constable. He was fascinated with painting clouds. I think they have some of his studies in Kenwood House. The study of clouds was developed in the 19th Century by a Luke Howard (as revealed in the book The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies). He gave names to the different sorts of clouds – cumulus, stratus and nimbus and so on. His ideas have been developed but there is still a lot to learn about clouds and even if we knew everything currently known we could not answer these questions. 34-38 Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? They can send up planes to move clouds and to burst them now but to speak and to have a cloud burst …. Verse 35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, Here we are? This leads to verse 36 Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? And back to Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together? How hard we find it to relieve one another, to help one another but God can pour a whole storm out in a moment. He can make clods of earth that have been stuck together for ages suddenly wet and muddy in a moment. What can he not do for you, if you look to him?
When Jesus died on the cross he is described in one place as saying (Psalm 22:14) I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. Why did God let him be poured out like that? He did it so that all who trust in him might be delivered from the deadness and dryness of sin. Trust in him and you will live. He will be like water poured out on dry ground to you. He promises to refresh the weary and restore the faint.